Aimee Mann– I love — is on a solo tour right now. But this summer she was supposed to open for Steely Dan.
But Aimmee says in a cartoon posted to her social media that she’s been dropped because she was told Steely Dan fans wouldn’t like a female performer.
She’s not angry, but philosophical.
As a fan of both Aimee and Donald Fagen, I’m surprised. I would have loved seeing them on the same bill. They are each consummate musicians.
Before Lady Gaga spoke last night at the New York Film Critics Awards, I got a couple of minutes to talk to her. Dressed in a very elegant black frock, her blonde hair upswept, Stefani Germanotta told me how thrilled she was to get a prestigious award from the NYFCC– for “House of Gucci.”
She was without a doubt the biggest star of the night at Tao Restaurant. She laughed recalling the original version of this hip place, uptown on East 58th St. “We were always trying to sneak into Tao. Now here I am!”
I asked her about the Grammys. She and Tony Bennett are up for several for their album, “Love for Sale.” “I’m really thrilled to be nominated with Tony for best pop duo,” she said, and did a little shimmy of excitement. She told me it’s not clear anymore if Bennett– who has Alzheimer’s — recognizes her. But, she said, at 95 and a half, “thank God we still have him!”
Not only did Gaga — who brought her mom as her date–Â stay through the whole three hour ceremony, she remained afterward and took pictures with everyone, from Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard to Jane Campion, and “Drive My Car” director Ryusuke Hamaguchi. In his speech accepting Best Picture from Jim Jarmusch, Hamaguchi said — through his interpreter — how unreal the whole night seemed with Gaga sitting in front of him and Martin Scorsese in the room. (Scorsese came to give Campion Best Director for “The Power of the Dog.”)
Here’s Gaga’s speech:
If all this was surreal for Gaga and Hamaguchi, wait: Campion, receiving Best Director, was fighting back tears not altogether well after Scorsese gave her her award. She talked about how Susan Sontag took her out 30 years when her first movie, came out in 1989. She said she’d had a rough time with the critics back then. Not anymore! Campion has racked up all the directors’ awards this season and is headed to a certain Academy Award on March 27th.
Aside from Gaga, no other actor winners were present. Benedict Cumberbatch, Kodi Smit-McPhee (who sent a very nice video), and Kathryn Hunter were all no-shows because the NYFCC dinner had been moved from January because of COVID. The other biggest winners in attendance were Joachim Trier, director of “The Worst Person in the World” (Best Foreign Language Film) and Paul Thomas Anderson, whose screenplay for “Licorice Pizza” was awarded. Both young stars from that movie, Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman, were present but said nothing. (The really rude MGM publicists were there, too, not making any friends.)
One highlight of the night was an introduction speech from “Worst Person” star Renate Reinsve, who is Norwegian but showed she has no problem with English. She is not only beautiful but hilarious in her delivery. American directors should find something for her immediately.
Star veteran comedian and actor Robert Klein appeared to give a special award to film critic Marshall Fine, who made a documentary about Klein a few years ago. Robert Klein has just turned 80! He looks a lot younger, and “killed.” He was very, very funny. Later, Fine received a shout out from Hamaguchi, a fan of Fine’s book about director John Cassavetes.
Update coming– keep refreshing — with pictures and video to come…
PS A great night, thanks to Janice Roland and Falco Ink for putting it together. For most it was the first large gathering of note in two years, and it went off perfectly…
PPS A couple of people who attended the National Board of Review fans dinner two nights ago, said that conversely, the room was hot at Cipriani 42nd St. no one could breathe…sounds like fun! I guess they really packed in those $600 ticket buyers…
Cover photo courtesy of Star Pix/ Marion Curtis c 2022
“We Don’t Talk About Bruno” is not nominated for Best Song at the Oscars. Another song from “Encanto” – Dos Oruguitas” — is.
But this year’s Academy Awards will feature a live performance of “Bruno” because it’s a massive hit on the radio and in sales. Maybe “Dos Oruguitas” will be tacked onto it. I have a feeling a lot of people will vote for “Dos” thinking it is “Bruno.” It is not.
This year’s Oscars will also feature anniversary tributes to “The Godfather” and to the James Bond series. That’s 50 and 60, to be exact. That’s a good idea, although what the audience wants to see is a reunion of Spider-Men. I hope producer Will Packer will give them what they want.
If they’re putting on songs that weren’t included in the nominations, The Oscars should also take a page from the BAFTAs and have Emilia Jones sing Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” from “CODA.” And what about “West Side Story”? They had no new song, but “Tonight” would make a good show opener. And so on.
Already FilmTwitter is complaining that this time for all these specials should go to the 8 categories that will be presented in the pre-show. But this is a TV SHOW, not a trade convention. The show has to be entertaining. Please keep that in mind. Later when everyone says “The Oscars are so boring.” remember you can’t have it both ways!
PS Orugutias are caterpillars.
Brad Pitt and Channing Tatum are smart stars.
The pair wisely skipped the so-called premiere Monday night of a new movie they’re in called “The Lost City.”
The “Raiders of the Lost Ark” rip off stars Sandra Bullock, Tatum and Pitt in a a guest star role.
Of the three big stars, only Bullock showed up at the mini premiere in the basement of the Whitby Hotel. The only other big name was Daniel Radcliffe, of “Harry Potter” fame.
Tatum is riding high right now with his movie, “Dog,” a box office hit. He didn’t need to get involved. For Pitt, “The Lost City” is not a main attraction. And he’s got plenty of other things to worry about.
“The Lost City” ads feature Bullock trying to pull leeches off Tatum’s back. It’s pretty much the only scene that’s being featured in the film. So it seems appropriate that this screening, from the looks of the pictures, was full of real life leeches– models, has beens, and so forth. I remember when these tastemaker screenings would feature really cool actors, broadcasters, newsmakers, writers, whom you would rarely otherwise see in screening rooms. Not anymore. Now it’s globs of hangers-ons, the same all the time.
“The Lost City” opens sometime soon, it’s unclear from Google.
Kanye West has posted a racist message on Instagram to Daily Show host Trevor Noah. He’s written:
There’s still good news for HBO’s Julian Fellowes soap opera, “The Gilded Age.” They’ve found an audience.
Monday night’s episode has 701,000 viewers. That was down from the prior week’s 750K, but for a scripted show on cable that number of viewers is impressive. “The Gilded Age” plays on Mondays and there is a lot of competition from “NCIS” and “The Bachelor.”
There is also, alas, bad news. The audience found by “The Gilded Age” is not one advertisers or TV execs want. They are OLD. They are over 55, just about all of them. On Monday night, only 20,000 of the 701,000 were between 18 and 55. Almost the entire audience watched the show from bed, some from hospital beds. Everyone who saw “The Gilded Age” was taking Lipitor, and not buying new cars or clothes or homes.
Indeed, the key demo rating for “The Gilded Age” was so bad the show fell off the list of the top 150 cable shows of the night. The total viewers didn’t matter. It was the key demo. Nine other shows — including “Killing Eve,” which no one knows is still on– tied for 30,000 viewers between 18 and 49. That was the bottom cut off of the chart.
“The Gilded Age” has no appeal for young people, or even middle aged people. It’s very chaste, nothing happens. There’s a lot of talk about the class system, and a little about race but otherwise this is the opposite of “Bridgerton” Season 1. Fellowes and HBO will no doubt take a look at that problem if they plan to get through a second season and try for a third. They’re going to have to turn Turner loose– Kelly Curran’s potential mistress and mischief maker– and hook her up with Mr. Raikes, get her to bed Mr. Russell, and more. Otherwise “The Gilded Age” is going to get buried in a gilded cage.
You can’t do better to launch a summer film than have a premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.
With Cannes returning to mid- to-late May, the time is right to launch at least two big Hollywood films out of competition.
Tom Cruise’s “Top Gun: Maverick” and Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis” with Tom Hanks as Colonel Parker will take over the Croisette, cause a huge celebrity uproar and drive the red carpet crowd crazy.
(I wish I could be there this year but I have two college graduations in May and so, c’est la vie, what can you do?)
Neither film is a slam dunk. With Elvis, the kid playing him is new, the story has been told a lot, and Hanks’s accent seems weird in the trailer. Will it work? Who knows? But the Cannes premiere audience will love it, give it a 15 minute standing ovation, and the studio will pray that the good vibes will spread quickly before any negativity can take root.
With Tom Cruise, there are rumors that Cruise and producer Jerry Bruckheimer took the movie away from director Joseph Kosinski and remade it. Hence the many delays in release. When this gang hits Cannes, Cruise will glad hand all the fans falling over the barriers to meet him. He’ll wear his little blue suit and say patriotic things. Val Kilmer will no doubt be on hand, and he’s now a popular, sympathetic player in this drama. Thus, “Maverick” will get a huge send off, Cruise will proceed to do lots of international press — they don’t question him about anything tough– and the studio will hold its breath hoping for great things.
In the case of “Maverick,” maybe they’ll do a stunt where Cruise lands plane on the roof of the Hotel Carlton. With Elvis, maybe Paramount will send a hundred Elvis impersonators down the Croisette singing “Don’t Be Cruel.”
In each instance, let’s hope so. Viva Cannes! Viva Hollywood! Neither of these pictures will win the Palme D’Or, and no one cares.
Dolly Parton knows what she’s doing.
The country superstar asked yesterday to be removed from consideration for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The result is that Dolly’s jumped from 5th to 4th place on the Rock Hall’s public fan vote. She’s now ahead of the Eurythmics and behind Duran Duran, Eminem, and Pat Benatar.
Dolly says she’s not rock and roll. But to me she’s more appropriate to the Hall than Eminem, who doesn’t play instruments or compose music can’t actually sing. Dolly can do all those things brilliantly.
The fan vote doesn’t really matter. In the end, the Rock Hall voters will cast their ballots and whoever gets in, gets in. I’m voting for Carly Simon, Duran Duran, Benatar, Dionne Warwick, and the Eurythmics. If you could vote for two more, I’d add Dolly, and Eminem just for fun.
Marshall Mathers will get in no matter what I do because he’s current and the voters are getting younger. There’s an HBO TV show to think of, so the Rock Hall wants those people now. But still so many real heroes of pop and rock are still not in, including Neil Sedaka, Chubby Checker, the late Mary Wells, Rufus and Carla Thomas, and so on.
As for Dolly, so far the Rock Hall has not responded to taking her name off the ballot. So she may have to turn up in Cleveland and accept her award anyway.
There wasn’t a more controversial movie in 1998 as “American History X.” The director, Tony Kaye, was divisive and a lightning rod for trouble.
Kaye came from commercials and videos. And when “American History X” receded into history as a flop, that’s where Kaye returned. He’s made a few films since then, some unreleased, all unattended. It’s been a decade since his last offering, “Detachment,” which was unrated, undistributed, and unseen. “Detachment” had an all star cast with Adrien Brody, Marcia Gay Harden, Blythe Danner, James Caan, and Christina Hendricks. But over six weeks in 2012 it made just $70,000.
Now I’m hearing that Kaye has signed to direct his first film in years that will really get off the ground. “The Trainer” stars and was written by someone we don’t think of as an actor: Vito Schnabel, the art gallerist son of famed painter Julian Schnabel. Vito is 35 years old, and, aside from having four iterations of his galleries, is best known for dating hot women including Heidi Klum, Irina Shayk, and Amber Heard.
Vito, I’m told, wrote “The Trainer,” and had planned to direct it. But to write, direct, and star in a first movie is a tall order. Enter Kaye. Schnabel’s film will feature Julia Fox, who recently dated Kanye West, and a bevy of famous people from Schnabel’s world.
Vito comes from a movie family. His dad has made some amazing films like “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,” “Basquiat,” “Before Night Falls,” and “At Eternity’s Gate.” Vito’s sister, Stella, has a long list of film credits. So the genetic predisposition is there.
Again, “The Trainer,” I am told, will have a lot of surprise cameos including one from “Soprano’s” star Stevie van Zandt, aka the leader of the E Street Band and the Disciples of Soul. Filming, I’m told, is imminent. Mark this one under “want to see ASAP.”
The Oscars are adding more and more presenters from different worlds.
New t0 the list today for the March 27th broadcast are rap entrepreneur Sean “Diddy” Combs and pop star Shawn Mendes. All they have in common is the same first name spelled differently. But they will definitely pique the interests of new Oscar viewers.
Also on today’s list are Samuel L. Jackson, who’s getting a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Academy on Oscar weekend and Jamie Lee Curtis. Plus pop star Halle Bailey (coming soon in her first three movies), Woody Harrelson, Tyler Perry, and Tracee Ellis Ross.
Previously the Academy announced Ruth E. Carter, Kevin Costner, Anthony Hopkins, Lily James, Daniel Kaluuya, Zoë Kravitz, Mila Kunis, Lady Gaga, John Leguizamo, Simu Liu, Rami Malek, Lupita Nyong’o, Rosie Perez, Chris Rock, Naomi Scott, Wesley Snipes, Uma Thurman, John Travolta and Yuh-Jung Youn.Â
I told you exclusively that Dame Judi Dench would be attending the ceremony. Even thought she’s in the Oscar nominated “Belfast,” it would be very classy to have her announce Best Picture. Maybe she could be paired with Hopkins, who won Best Actor last year but wasn’t able to attend because he was off sheep herding.
Amy Schumer, Wanda Sykes, and Regina Hall are hosting the show.