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RIP Angela Lansbury, Beloved, Legendary Actress from “Manchurian Candidate” to “Sweeney Todd” to “Murder She Wrote”

Roger Friedman
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RIP Angela Lansbury, Beloved, Legendary Actress from “Manchurian Candidate” to “Sweeney Todd” to “Murder She Wrote”

Angela Lansbury was maybe the most popular actress in American history and one of the most gifted. She’s passed away today at age 96. But she will never be forgotten. Her role as Jessica Fletcher in “Murder She Wrote” immortalized her. The entertaining reruns will go forever.

She was our Judi Dench , excelling in TV, theater, and movies often at the same time. And in theater, she commanded drama, comedy and musicals. There as nothing she couldn’t do. So devious and cunning in “The Manchurian Candidate,” sweet and endearing Mrs. Lovett in “Sweeney Todd,” and then brilliantly charming as Jessica Fletcher. And those three roles were just a few highlights of a remarkable career.

Think of “Beauty and the Beast,” and her singing the famous title song. Or winning a Tony Award in 2009 for “Blithe Spirit” on Broadway. And that was just two years after a nomination in 2007 for Terence McNally’s “Deuce.” Certainly it’s time for a theater on Broadway to be named for her. (She did receive a Lifetime Tony Award this past season.)

What a life! Amazing lady! Condolences to her family and legions of fans around the world.

Game of Numbers: “House of the Dragon” Stumbles in Episode 8, Drops 150K Viewers

Roger Friedman
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Game of Numbers: “House of the Dragon” Stumbles in Episode 8, Drops 150K Viewers

UPDATED (Listen, kids, I’m hallucinating on flu meds). Maybe fans didn’t know the season was done. But for its final installment of Season 1, “House of the Dragon” fell in viewership at least on the main HBO channel for episode 8, with two more to come.

Sunday night ratings were down to 1.73 million, off by about 150,000 viewers from the last few weeks. It was the first week that things went sour.

But it’s not a shock. The prior episode was widely criticized for being unable to see through its darkness. Fans really complained and there was a lot of bad press. You wouldn’t think that would have an effect, but maybe it did.

Of course, there was a lot to watch on Sunday night, a lot of sporting events. So maybe “HoD” will make back numbers in delayed viewing, or viewing on HBO Max, whatever. But this installment was not the first choice of everyone on Sunday.

I really thought this was the end of Season 1. But it turns out there are two more weeks of this craziness!

“Saturday Night Live” Ratings Plummet Below 4 Million to New Low With New Cast, and Cecily Strong Still MIA

Roger Friedman
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“Saturday Night Live” Ratings Plummet Below 4 Million to New Low With New Cast, and Cecily Strong Still MIA

“Saturday Night Live” ratings plummeted this weekend, which is no surprise.

Total viewers were just 3.7 million. That’s down 300,000 from last week. “SNL” rarely if ever goes under the 4 mil mark, so this is alarming.

Brendan Gleeson was the host, and Willow Smith was the musical star. He was terrific, she was…uniquely awful. Colin Farrell made a surprise appearance, which made us think why wasn’t he the host? (No offense to Gleeson, but he’s not a draw.)

The show itself wasn’t terrible. But Cecily Strong is still out west appearing in Los Angeles theater. She posted a cryptic message to Instagram that said nothing about her return to “SNL.” I don’t think it’s clear she’s coming back.

There’s also the weird situation of James Austin Johnson, who should have been promoted to the main cast. It seems kind of an insult that he’s been left in the featured players group. JAJ should have been moved up instantly.

Not a great episode or moment in “SNL” history. The show has no leading man, which might help. Mikey Day, who I guess fills that role de facto, was also a little MIA. Very strange stuff.

PS My favorite piece was a filmed one about Lorne welcoming the new cast, but telling Molly Kearney she had to kill Vladimir Putin. Kearney did very well with it, the best so far of the new gang.

Just going back to Willow: what the heck was that? Does she have an English accent now? Is she trying to make a Pretenders record? As a performer, she makes no contact with the audience. Her performance was all about self excitement.

Nikki Finke, Self-Styled Gunslinger Gossip Columnist Who Ran Wild, Dies at Age 68

Roger Friedman
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Nikki Finke, Self-Styled Gunslinger Gossip Columnist Who Ran Wild, Dies at Age 68

Nikki Finke is dead at 68. I’m sorry if she suffered, but she made a lot of other people suffer during her reign of terror as Hollywood’s self styled gunslinger of gossip.

She had few friends, maybe none. It was impossible to be friendly with her. Before creating Deadline.com. Nikki held a few other positions starting at LA Weekly. She wrote a few articles for me at Fame Magazine in the late 80s, But mostly she didn’t turn in her articles. It was weird. One time I stood in front of a fax machine while she told me, over the phone from LA, that she sending an article through. Nothing ever came.

Nikki found a home for a while with Peter Kaplan at the real New York Observer. Peter somehow had patience for her assassinations until he didn’t. She went to the NY Post for a bit, where she wrote nasty things about me, among others, She was dedicated to destroying careers. It wasn’t about revealing the truth, it was about making people unhappy. That was it.

No one knows much about Nikki’s background. She kept it a mystery. Maybe was married once. She said she was debutante. (This is unlikely.) For a long time she lived in Studio City. That was where Jay Penske found her. When Penske offered around $5 million to buy Deadline and keep her on, she took it. She didn’t comprehend that if she left, she could start a new site or write about Hollywood. When Penske couldn’t take the hourly complaints about her, they severed their relationship.

And then, after causing so much grief for everyone, she drifted away. Nikki moved to Florida. Hollywood didn’t notice. She was a David to their Goliath. So many had come and gone in the last hundred years. Maybe Nikki didn’t watch “The Sweet Smell of Success” carefully enough. You actually don’t want to be J.J. Hunsecker.

There is exactly one photo of Nikki. You’re going to see it everywhere today. I see on Yahoo News they’re calling her “pioneering.” Nope. Sorry. But I hope she’s found peace.

Hamptons Film Festival Shows How Many Local Celebrities Want to See New Films — A Lot– And a Famous German Director Arrives

Roger Friedman
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Hamptons Film Festival Shows How Many Local Celebrities Want to See New Films — A Lot– And a Famous German Director Arrives

The 30th Hamptons International Film Festival took off Friday night hasn’t looked back. So far the big films, for better or worse, have included “The Whale,” “The Triangle of Sadness,” “Groucho and Cavett,” “Living,” There are more to come today including Hugh Jackman in “The Son.”

At a brunch at Nick and Toni’s on Saturday, director Peter Hedges popped in, and so did top doc director Nancy Buirski, and Oliver Hermanus, director of “Living,” a terrific film starring Bill Nighy.

But the surprise twist to the lunch was the very late arrival, through the back door, of an older gentleman who asked if he could sit with us. “Everyone’s gone,” he said, looking at all the empty tables previously occupied by the likes of Alec Baldwin, who plays a big part in the festival. (He emceed a Q&A with Dick Cavett later.)

So what do you do, I asked this nice man. “I make movies. I’m a director.” Anything .I’d know? “Maybe. I made The Tin Drum.”

OK, what???? My friend, Regina Weinreich, whose documentary about Paul Bowles was in the very first Hamptons Film Festival three decades ago, blurted out “Are you Volker????”

Indeed, he was Volker Schlondorff, one of the most important German directors or of any country. He made “The Tin Drumer” and “Swann in Love” and the TV version of “Death of a Salesman” with Dustin Hoffman. He lives in Berlin, but knows his way around the Hamptons. He’s brought a documentary called “The Forest Maker” to the festival. A giant of a movie maker, just hanging out.

Over at the screening of “The Whale.” the very large East Hampton Middle school theater filled up very quickly. Famed photographer Bruce Weber, “Interview” magazine publisher Sandy Brandt, and CBS’s Alina Cho were all there, as well as the Beatles’ and Bee Gees famous public relations man Peter Brown. (You hear him name in “The Ballad of John and Yoko.”) Some people wept, some harrumphed. Everyone swore off dessert at dinner.

Box Office Updates: “Bros,” “Amsterdam” Officially Dead, Beaten by a Crocodile Named Lyle

Roger Friedman
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Box Office Updates: “Bros,” “Amsterdam” Officially Dead, Beaten by a Crocodile Named Lyle

The box office remains a perilous place in this time of streaming and inflation.

As I told you Friday morning, David O. Russell’s “Amsterdam” with a cast of thousands, is officially dead. Weekend total was $6.5 million. On an $80 million movie, “Amsterdam” is a write off about $150 million. The movie came from Fox, which became Disney. And Disney has managed to send most of the Fox movies into the sea.

“Bros’ is also dead. “Bros” had incredible promotion. You couldn’t escape Billy Eichner and Luke Mcfarlane. They were everywhere and did everything. But no one wanted this movie– not straight people, not gay people. After two weeks “Bros” comes in with $8.8 million.

Both “Bros” and “Amsterdam” were beaten soundly by a crocodile called Lyle. “Lyle Lyle Crocodile” brought in $11.5 million on its opening weekend. It’s a nice turn for Shawn Mendes, the voice of Lyle, who earlier this summer cancelled his pop tour to “find” himself. And he did!

Among pop stars in movies, Mendes is the winner. He outpaced Harry Styles and Taylor Swift. Good work!

Disney Faces Massive Multimillion Write off on All Star “Amsterdam”

Roger Friedman
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Disney Faces Massive Multimillion Write off on All Star “Amsterdam”

This is a weekend Disney was not looking forward to. Last night the all star period piece “Amsterdam” made only $550,000 in previews.the David O.Russell directed feature cost at least $80 million.

Predictions now are for 6 to 8 million for the whole weekend. That’s basically a write off despite big stars like Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, Rami Malek and John David Washington and cinematography by Oscar winner Emmanuel Luzbeki.

But reviews are terrible. No one can really figure this film out. For Russell, it’s a rare failure. He’s had many hits and films that have brought Oscars to his actors. But this time instead of adapting existing material he created the story. It’s unwieldy and unfocused, leaving the audience with more questions than answers.

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Justin Bieber Cancels All Tour Dates Through March 2023 After Shutting Down Earlier Dates

Roger Friedman
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Justin Bieber Cancels All Tour Dates Through March 2023 After Shutting Down Earlier Dates

The Justin Bieber Justice tour is over.

Bieber has cancelled all the rest of his world tour dates through next March 2023. Previously he shut down all his summer dates through this month.

Bieber now has a history of cancelling or postponing dates that were sold or booked. Mental health was the stated reason, as well as a physical condition that paralyzed one side of his face.

But there are rumors swirling that Bieber and his manager, Scooter Braun, are looking to cash in on Bieber’s song catalog now before he turns 30. They obviously see the writing on the wall. If Bieber isn’t going to make money from performing live, he’s got to maximize whatever he can get out of the hit songs he collaborated on.

My guess is this the end of Justin Bieber as an international touring star. The pressure was too much for him. If Braun is smart, he’ll put Bieber in small venues with two other actrs, charge a lot of money to devoted fans, and space out the dates.

Netflix Sets “Knives Out: Glass Onion” for Only Thanksgiving Week in Theaters

Roger Friedman
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Netflix Sets “Knives Out: Glass Onion” for Only Thanksgiving Week in Theaters

I told you, the walrus was Paul.

Netflix is giving “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Spectacle” just one week in theaters at Thanksgiving. And only 600 theaters, really nothing.

The streamer figures of all their fall releases, “Glass Onion” — which takes its name from the Beatles song — will be the biggest inducement for Netflix subscribers.

The Rian Johnson film, starring Daniel Craig, Edward Norton, and a scene stealing Janelle Monae, runs two and a half hours. It takes place on a private island in Greece. There are more red herrings than you’d find in a fish store. Netflix has spent, spent, spent on this one. It makes the original “Knives Out” look like it was made in a basement.

The one actor you’ll want to watch in “Glass Onion” is Yuri Togkces. He plays the elusive Bob. I don’t want to give away his plot line. But I guarantee you everyone will be talking about him!

Justin Bieber’s Song Catalog For Sale: What Is It Actually Worth With So Many Co-Writers?

Roger Friedman
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Justin Bieber’s Song Catalog For Sale: What Is It Actually Worth With So Many Co-Writers?

There’s news today that Justin Bieber and manager Scooter Braun are jumping on the catalog bandwagon. They’re trying to get a piece of the billion dollar pie in music publishing.

Bieber, they envision, would join everyone from Bob Dylan to Sting to Fleetwood Mac, and so on. Bruce Springsteen got $500 million for his songs, so why not Justin Bieber?

Ok, when the laughing stops, let’s talk. Most Bieber hits have six to twelve co-writers. If they weren’t bought out in perpetuity at the start, then Bieber’s piece might be 50%. Take “Peaches,” a dozen credited collaborators. Some of these songs would require a conference room for a meeting of the writers, or a Zoom call that would fall off the screen. Even the ones with one or two people– the people are Benny Bianco and or Ed Sheeran.

So good luck with this plan. Bieber, of course, is in a financial bind (don’t worry, he’s rich) because he keeps cancelling tour dates. Selling his part of the catalog would be a backstop. Expect a crazy and unverified announcement of a sale — “biggest in history for a performer under 30 and five foot 8” — but take it with a grain of salt. Or a shaker.

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