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“General Hospital” Star Steve Burton Says He Was Fired from Show for Not Taking Vaccine–He’s Out, Already Removed from Credits

Roger Friedman
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“General Hospital” Star Steve Burton Says He Was Fired from Show for Not Taking Vaccine–He’s Out, Already Removed from Credits

Steve Burton is out at “General Hospital.” He says he was fired by Disney ABC for not taking the vaccine. The company has a vaccine mandate for all employees regardless of star status, etc. Burton says in an Instagram video he applied for different exemptions and was rejected, properly. Burton has already been removed from the show’s opening credits.

Burton has been on and off the soap since 1990 playing Jason Morgan Quartermaine. He’s the second actor to be let go from the show for going against the Disney ABC vax mandate. The other was right winger Ingo Rademacher.

What is wrong with these people? I don’t get it. The vaccine is totally safe and can only prevent COVID. Burton has already had COVID, which isn’t to say that he can’t get it again without the vaccine. According to Burton today or tomorrow will be his last day on the show. He hopes to return one day. But in the meantime, the word is ABC is recasting the role if they haven’t already.

Here’s the List of Top Grammy Nominees for 2022 In Pop, Country, Rock, R&B, Rap, Etc

Roger Friedman
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Here’s the List of Top Grammy Nominees for 2022 In Pop, Country, Rock, R&B, Rap, Etc

Wow, Kacey Musgraves really got the shaft. She complained when her album was ruled ineligible for country and was moved to pop mainstream. And then got nothing.

ABBA, with a terrible song, got a nomination.

 

Record Of The Year
“I Still Have Faith In You” — ABBA
“Freedom” — Jon Batiste
“I Get A Kick Out Of You” — Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga
“Peaches” — Justin Bieber Featuring Daniel Caesar & Giveon
“Right On Time” — Brandi Carlile
“Kiss Me More” — Doja Cat Featuring SZA
“Happier Than Ever” — Billie Eilish
“Montero” (Call Me By Your Name) — Lil Nas X
“drivers license” — Olivia Rodrigo
“Leave The Door Open” — Silk Sonic

Album Of The Year:
We Are — Jon Batiste
Love For Sale — Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga
Justice (Triple Chucks Deluxe) — Justin Bieber
Planet Her (Deluxe) — Doja Cat
Happier Than Ever — Billie Eilish
Back Of My Mind — H.E.R.
Montero — Lil Nas X
Sour — Olivia Rodrigo
Evermore — Taylor Swift
Donda — Kanye West

Song Of The Year
“Bad Habits” — Fred Gibson, Johnny McDaid & Ed Sheeran, songwriters (Ed Sheeran)
“A Beautiful Noise” — Ruby Amanfu, Brandi Carlile, Brandy Clark, Alicia Keys, Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna, Linda Perry & Hailey Whitters, songwriters (Alicia Keys And Brandi Carlile)
“drivers license” — Daniel Nigro & Olivia Rodrigo, songwriters (Olivia Rodrigo)
“Fight For You” — Dernst Emile II, H.E.R. & Tiara Thomas, songwriters (H.E.R.)
“Happier Than Ever” — Billie Eilish O’Connell & Finneas O’Connell, songwriters (Billie Eilish)
“Kiss Me More” — Rogét Chahayed, Amala Zandile Dlamini, Lukasz Gottwald, Carter Lang, Gerard A. Powell II, Solána Rowe & David Sprecher, songwriters (Doja Cat Featuring SZA)
“Leave The Door Open” — Brandon Anderson, Christopher Brody Brown, Dernst Emile II & Bruno Mars, songwriters (Silk Sonic)
“Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” — Denzel Baptiste, David Biral, Omer Fedi, Montero Hill & Roy Lenzo, songwriters (Lil Nas X)
“Peaches” — Louis Bell, Justin Bieber, Giveon Dezmann Evans, Bernard Harvey, Felisha “Fury” King, Matthew Sean Leon, Luis Manual Martinez Jr., Aaron Simmonds, Ashton Simmonds, Andrew Wotman & Keavan Yazdani, songwriters (Justin Bieber Featuring Daniel Caesar & Giveon)
“Right On Time” — Brandi Carlile, Dave Cobb, Phil Hanseroth & Tim Hanseroth, songwriters (Brandi Carlile)

Best New Artist
Arooj Aftab
Jimmie Allen
Baby Keem
FINNEAS
Glass Animals
Japanese Breakfast
The Kid Laroi
Arlo Parks
Olivia Rodrigo
Saweetie

Best Pop Vocal Album
Justice (Triple Chucks Deluxe) — Justin Bieber
Planet Her (Deluxe) — Doja Cat
Happier Than Ever — Billie Eilish
Positions — Ariana Grande
Sour — Olivia Rodrigo

Best Dance/Electronic Recording
“Hero” — Afrojack & David Guetta
“Loom” — Ólafur Arnalds Featuring Bonobo
“Before” — James Blake
“Heartbreak” — Bonobo & Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs
“You Can Do It” — Caribou
“Alive” — Rüfüs Du Sol
“The Business” — Tiësto

Best Alternative Music Album
Shore — Fleet Foxes
If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power — Halsey
Jubilee — Japanese Breakfast
Collapsed In Sunbeams — Arlo Parks
Daddy’s Home — St. Vincent

Best R&B Performance
“Lost You” — Snoh Aalegra
“Peaches” — Justin Bieber Featuring Daniel Caesar & Giveon
“Damage” — H.E.R.
“Leave The Door Open” — Silk Sonic
“Pick Up Your Feelings” — Jazmine Sullivan

Best Progressive R&B Album
New Light — Eric Bellinger
Something To Say — Cory Henry
Mood Valiant — Hiatus Kaiyote
Table For Two — Lucky Daye
Dinner Party: Dessert — Terrace Martin, Robert Glasper, 9th Wonder & Kamasi Washington
Studying Abroad: Extended Stay — Masego

Best Rap Performance
“Family Ties” — Baby Keem Featuring Kendrick Lamar
“Up” — Cardi B
“m y . l i f e” — J. Cole Featuring 21 Savage & Morray
“Way 2 Sexy” — Drake Featuring Future & Young Thug
“Thot S***” — Megan Thee Stallion

Best Rap Album
The Off-Season — J. Cole
Certified Lover Boy — Drake
King’s Disease II — Nas
Call Me If You Get Lost — Tyler, The Creator
Donda — Kanye West

Best Country Album
For albums containing at least 51% playing time of new country recordings.

  • Skeletons
    Brothers Osborne
  • Remember Her Name
    Mickey Guyton
  • The Marfa Tapes
    Miranda Lambert, Jon Randall & Jack Ingram
  • The Ballad Of Dood & Juanita
    Sturgill Simpson
  • Starting Over
    Chris Stapleton

Best Country Song
“Better Than We Found It” — Jessie Jo Dillon, Maren Morris, Jimmy Robbins & Laura Veltz, songwriters (Maren Morris)
“camera roll” — Ian Fitchuk, Kacey Musgraves & Daniel Tashian, songwriters (Kacey Musgraves)
“Cold” — Dave Cobb, J.T. Cure, Derek Mixon & Chris Stapleton, songwriters (Chris Stapleton)
“Country Again” — Zach Crowell, Ashley Gorley & Thomas Rhett, songwriters (Thomas Rhett)
“Fancy Like” — Cameron Bartolini, Walker Hayes, Josh Jenkins & Shane Stevens, songwriters (Walker Hayes)
“Remember Her Name” — Mickey Guyton, Blake Hubbard, Jarrod Ingram &Parker Welling, songwriters (Mickey Guyton)

Best Jazz Vocal Album
Generations — The Baylor Project
SuperBlue — Kurt Elling & Charlie Hunter
Time Traveler — Nnenna Freelon
Flor — Gretchen Parlato
Songwrights Apothecary Lab — Esperanza Spalding

Best Gospel Album
Changing Your Story — Jekalyn Carr
Royalty: Live At The Ryman — Tasha Cobbs Leonard
Jubilee: Juneteenth Edition — Maverick City Music
Jonny x Mali: Live In LA — Jonathan McReynolds & Mali Music
Believe For It — CeCe Winans

Best Latin Pop Album
Vértigo — Pablo Alborán
Mis Amores — Paula Arenas
Hecho A La Antigua — Ricardo Arjona
Mis Manos — Camilo
Mendó — Alex Cuba
Revelación — Selena Gomez

Best Música Urbana Album
Afrodisíaco — Rauw Alejandro
El Último Tour Del Mundo — Bad Bunny
Jose — J Balvin
KG0516 — KAROL G
Sin Miedo (Del Amor Y Otros Demonios) 8 — Kali Uchis

Best Global Music Performance
“Mohabbat” — Arooj Aftab
“Do Yourself” — Angelique Kidjo & Burna Boy
“Pà Pá Pà” — Femi Kuti
“Blewu” — Yo-Yo Ma & Angelique Kidjo
“Essence” — WizKid Featuring Tems

Best Spoken Word Album (Includes Poetry, Audio Books & Storytelling)
Aftermath — LeVar Burton
Carry On: Reflections For A New Generation From John Lewis — Don Cheadle
Catching Dreams: Live At Fort Knox Chicago — J. Ivy
8:46 — Dave Chappelle & Amir Sulaiman
A Promised Land — Barack Obama

Best Opera Recording Album
Bartók: Bluebeard’s Castle — Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
Glass: Akhnaten — The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; The Metropolitan Opera Chorus
Janáček: Cunning Little Vixen — London Symphony Orchestra; London Symphony Chorus & LSO Discovery Voices
Little: Soldier Songs — The Opera Philadelphia Orchestra
Poulenc: Dialogues Des Carmélites — The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; The Metropolitan Opera Chorus

Best Music Video
“Shot In The Dark” — AC/DC
“Freedom” — Jon Batiste
“I Get A Kick Out Of You” — Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga
“Peaches” — Justin Bieber Featuring Daniel Caesar & Giveon
“Happier Than Ever” — Billie Eilish
“Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” — Lil Nas X
“Good 4 U” — Olivia Rodrigo

Best Music Film:
Inside — Bo Burnham
David Byrne’s American Utopia — David Byrne
Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter To Los Angeles — Billie Eilish
Music, Money, Madness…Jimi Hendrix In Maui — Jimi Hendrix
Summer Of Soul — Various Artists

2022 Grammy Awards Nominees: Snubs for Drake, Lana Del Rey, Bruce Springsteen, Bo Burnham, Kacey Musgraves– No Country In Album of the Year!

Roger Friedman
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2022 Grammy Awards Nominees: Snubs for Drake, Lana Del Rey, Bruce Springsteen, Bo Burnham, Kacey Musgraves– No Country In Album of the Year!

UPDATE There no country albums in the general Album of the Year category! Kacey Musgraves, who won Album of the Year a couple of years ago in 2019 for “Golden Hour,” didn’t make it for “StarCrossed.” Neither did Chris Stapleton or Sturgill Simpson! Kacey complained to the Recording Academy that “Star Crossed” wasn’t let into the country category. And now it’s been eliminated from the mainstream, too.

Earlier:

The 2022 Grammy nominations are a little different than in past years. This is the first time in 3 decades that the entire Recording Academy voted for the nominees. The special committees are gone.

But somehow Lana Del Rey’s “Chemtrails Over the Country Club,” which was highly praised and a hot seller got nothing.

Bruce Springsteen’s “Letter to You,” released in October 2020, was totally forgotten.

On the plus side, Paul McCartney, age 79, got Best Rock Song and Rock Album nominations for “Find Your Way” and “McCartney III.”

Kanye West scooped several nods for Album of the Year for “Donda” and Best Rap Melodic Song for “Hurricane.” His songs, however, were not in the general categories.

Drake had R&B nominations but his album, “Certified Lover Boy” was not nominated for Album of the Year.

Bo Burnham’s “Inside Bo Burnham” got a Comedy Album nod. But it also didn’t make the general Album of the Year category. None of its songs were nominated either despite being a bestseller.

Full list to come…

Rock Hall Show Scores Half Million Viewers, American Music Awards Same as 2020 Low

Roger Friedman
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Rock Hall Show Scores Half Million Viewers, American Music Awards Same as 2020 Low

What will make the January 30th Grammys show a hit? One word: Adele. At least, if Adele and Taylor Swift perform, and they will, the rating should be healthy.
7.4
They weren’t healthy for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame show on HBO Saturday night. A total of 518,000 people watched. Of that 100,000 were in the key age demo 18 to 49. It’s no surprise. The RRHOF is for older people. When you have legends like Tina Turner, Carole King et al and Paul McCartney leading the finale, of course the viewership would skew older.

On Sunday night, the American Music Awards, the B list Grammys, had about 4 million viewers. That’s the same as last year which was an all time low for the AMAs. It’s cheesy show, so this also nothing new. And no big artists performed because they save it for the Grammys. But on the plus side, at least the ratings didn’t drop any lower!

On Sunday the big hit again was “Yellowstone” on cable’s Paramount Network, with 7.4 million viewers. If Viacom would allow CBS to have to have a “Yellowstone” special of some kind on the main network, then a parade would go up West 57th St. “Yellowstone” itself on CBS would be getting 12 million viewers a week.

UPDATING Live Watch Grammy Nominations Here 12 Noon: Snubs and Surprises

Roger Friedman
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UPDATING Live Watch Grammy Nominations Here 12 Noon: Snubs and Surprises

The 2022 Grammy nominations will be live streamed at noon. Watch them here to see the snubs and surprises. Don’t worry, there should be plenty of each!

The Grammys are on CBS in two months, on January 30th.

Peter Jackson’s Beatles “Get Back” Is a Mind-Blower: In Part 1, Yoko and Linda Bond, “Get Back” is a Protest Song, George Finds His Voice

Roger Friedman
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Peter Jackson’s Beatles “Get Back” Is a Mind-Blower: In Part 1, Yoko and Linda Bond, “Get Back” is a Protest Song, George Finds His Voice

The first part of Peter Jackson’s “Get Back” airs on Disney Plus Thanksgiving Day. It’s two hours and thirty seven minutes. I just finished it and I am reeling. It’s like going back and watching Shakespeare write “Hamlet” and “Macbeth.”

This takes place in 1969. The Beatles are disenchanted after “The White Album” and “Hey Jude.” They’ve also made “Sgt Pepper” and “Revolver” and “Rubber Soul” and all the early stuff like Help!, Hard Day’s Night and Yesterday.

Like what now? Don’t forget, when this is over they record their masterpiece, “Abbey Road,” and release it before any of this stuff. (Yes, when they made “Abbey Road,” the “Let it Be” songs were sitting in a vault.)

They decide to perform live on TV for the first time in three years. It will be a documentary shot by Michael Lindsay Hogg, who is the son of actress Geraldine Fitzgerald and, allegedly, Orson Welles. He’s taken his stepfather’s surname. But if you look at him, he looks just like Welles and has grandiose plans for this film.

click here to read the review of “Get Back” Part 2

The Beatles meet at Twickenham Studios to write 14 songs in 14 days. Seriously. The songs include Let it Be, Get Back, The Long and Winding Road, two pieces by George– I Me Mine and For You Blue. There are also I’ve Got a Feeling and Two of Us. John, who is attached to Yoko with Velcro and seems checked out emotionally, brings back “Across the Universe,” which he wrote and recorded the year before.

At the start of Part 1, Paul and George have a famous tiff. Paul is already a superstar writer. George is just coming into his own. They don’t know it yet, but in two years he will release his triple album of hits including “My Sweet Lord” followed by “The Concert for Bangla Desh,” and take his place as a superstar. But now, his frustrations are simmering, and about to boil over. George also introduces “All Things Must Pass,” which will a become a masterpiece. He’s on the verge of something thrilling. (And when you see them hiss at each other, remember– it was Paul who sat at George’s beside as he died 30 years later.)

If you’re a Beatles fan, you can’t miss this film. Really, it is mind blowing. For a while Yoko Ono seems very annoying. She sticks herself in with the band while they’re writing. Or John is using her as a security pet. She reads a newspaper while the band composes “Don’t Let Me Down.” You want to scream. But later when Paul is writing “Let it Be” in real time, Yoko and Linda Eastman sit and animatedly gossip, Yoko smiles and laughs in ways you’ve never seen before. She and Linda are yak yak yak. What are they talking about? Well, they each grew up in Scarsdale, New York. This may be when they figured it out. It’s like finding the Holy Grail. We always assumed they were enemies. Not after seeing this.

We watch famous songs being written out of thin air. Long and Winding Road, Another Day, She Came in Through the Bathroom Window. Paul says of that one, This really happened. (Did a girl really sneak through his window?) We learn that “Get Back” had all different lyrics, it was supposed to be against the anti-immigration movement sweeping the UK courtesy of evil Enoch Powell. What? Sweet Loretta Martin came later.

Lindsay Hogg suggests that this live show– which will end up being the famous rooftop concert– should be for a charity. Now, this is really funny. George poo-poos that. He says, “Charity begins at home.” Two years later George will lead the enormous fundraiser for Bangla Desh, start his Living in the Material World Foundation, and become heavily associated with charity. His life completely changed. Crazy.

There’s a lot of tension in Part 1. But then there’s John and Yoko waltzing around while “I Me Mine” is being written.  And then Ringo says to someone, as Paul plays what the future “Let it Be” on the piano, “I could watch that all day” or something to that effect. He has a beatific look on his face. It’s a startling moment of sweetness.

There’s so much more, and I still have five hours to watch, I think. So after all, this is not just “Let it Be.” This is an extraordinary, unprecedented look into this, the most important popular music group of our lives. And I do think Lindsay-Hogg thought he was making his “Citizen McCartney,” which I’ll talk about later. But if you listen carefully to what’s being said, there are revelations upon revelations.

Really, Part 1 comes Thursday night. Don’t eat too much. You want to stay alert for “Get Back.”

Review: Lady Gaga Grabs Ridley Scott’s “The House of Gucci” By the Shutters, And Rattles It Til the Doorknobs Fall Off

Roger Friedman
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Review: Lady Gaga Grabs Ridley Scott’s “The House of Gucci” By the Shutters, And Rattles It Til the Doorknobs Fall Off

It takes Ridley Scott at least two hours and change to tell the story of how Patrizia Reggiani, a maybe social climber and  gold digger finagled her way into the House of Gucci.

Then it takes just a relatively short time to discuss how or why she had her ex-husband killed and she went to jail.

That’s a lot of time to build up to something that is then glossed over quickly. But I think Scott may have been mesmerized by Lady Gaga, pretty much the only appealing part of his long and often fact free movie. I know everyone else will be equally mesmerized by her.

You need to know the end of the story first: Reggiani is alive and well and out of jail despite hiring the hitman that murdered her ex, Maurizio Gucci, played by Adam Driver. In the movie, which opens on Wednesday, Patrizia and Maurizio eventually have a child, a daughter. In real life, they had two daughters. In real life, the Guccis were well divorced when Patrizia ordered the hit. Their settlement was finalized. She had nothing to gain and everything to lose. (The movie makes it seem otherwise.) She was either completely deranged or maybe there was something wrong with her.

It turns out, she did have a benign brain tumor. When she stood trial, there was much discussion of whether the tumor pressed against something in her avaricious head that caused her to make such a bad decision. None of that is in this movie. It seems like a major point, doesn’t it?

But let’s get back to “The House of Gucci,” a far cry from Ridley Scott’s’s really great, cleanly told 2017 movie “All the Money in the World” about the Getty family. That movie had a fully realized script. This one does not. The credited writers were not up to this task.

Luckily, Lady Gaga was: she got it. She went for it. She grabs the whole house of Gucci by the shutters and rattles it til the door knobs fall off. She gives a sensational performance clearly invented by her while everyone else tries to figure out what the hell is going on.

That would be: we have two Gucci brothers, played by Al Pacino and Jeremy Irons. Pacino’s Aldo — a real Al character, if you will —  has a dimwitted son (Jared Leto, over the top, LOL). Irons’s Rodolfo (the actor’s accent wanders like Marco Polo) has Adam Driver’s careful, boring, plodding Maurizio. (In real life, Aldo Gucci had three sons and a daughter. Again, a missing fact.)

Aldo knows his son is a fool, so invests in Maurizio to lead the next generation of the fashion house. He also decides he likes Patrizia, even though brother Rodolfo looks down his nose at her and doesn’t trust her. Rodolfo is correct but he’s the brother enjoying the fruits of everyone else’s labors. He lives in a castle surrounded by tapestries. Aldo is the garmento who makes the deals and gets things done.

But “House of Gucci” is a bit of a House of Cards. Is it about the murder? Or is it about the family? Scott is so fascinated by the long linear roll up to the murder he should have made a miniseries. Patrizia and Maurizio marry, Rodolfo kicks them out, Aldo brings them back. She has no business experience but is right in the middle of everything. The company falters, Maurizio grows tired of her and leaves her for another woman. Why? How do I know? It’s not explained! Marone!

The standout in the massive cast of supporting players is Salma Hayek as Pina Auremmia, a psychic and bloodsucker who helps Patrizia set up the hit. She recurs throughout and is a clear note in a cacophony. I also liked seeing Reeve Carney, from Broadway, as a young Tom Ford. Of all the colorful main players, it’s an unrecognizable Jared Leto people will remember as Paolo, a needed distraction covered in prosthetics and regret.

Adam Driver looks the part of staid, clueless Maurizio, but when he’s killed no one is unhappy. He isn’t missed. Maurizio, not a visionary by any means, sells the family’s legacy to a corporation. He’s a one dimensional character. He just seems greedy and a little stupid. When he and his next wife (“Call My Agent”‘s Camille Cotin) are on screen by themselves, all the air rushes out of the movie. That’s how much Gaga informs the proceedings. Her Patrizia is right (and so did Aldo see somethign in her): without her, they are nothing. She is more Gucci than the Gucci’s.

“The House of Gucci” is no “Gotti,” it’s not a disaster. This is Ridley Scott, after all. But it’s neither so campy you can make fun of it, nor serious enough to be “The Godfather.” It’s trapped somewhere in between. It’s under cooked, I think, because like another MGM movie this fall, “Respect,” the writers were not well versed in the material. They depended on the actors to fill in the blanks. (Jennifer Hudson did that for “Respect.” Gaga does it here.  “House of Gucci” proves she can act up a storm and carry a film. She holds the camera and it responds to her in kind. “A Star is Born” was not a fluke. She’s got an Oscar coming, but maybe not this time.

Taylor Swift Sets a Record for Hitting Number 1 with the Longest Single Ever, “AII Too Well”

Roger Friedman
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Taylor Swift Sets a Record for Hitting Number 1 with the Longest Single Ever, “AII Too Well”

Once upon a time, “Hey Jude” was the longest hit single ever at 7 minutes, 11 seconds.

Then came “American Pie,” clocking in at over 8:37. The Don McLean hit was broken into side A and side B, but generally it was played at its full length.

The same thing happened to Iron Butterfly’s “In A Gadda Da Vida.” The full length version was 17 ungodly minutes. But the radio hit was 2:55. And no radio station ever played the full one unless it was the middle of the night and the deejay went to the bathroom.

Last year Bob Dylan gave us “Murder Most Foul” at 16:56, but it wasn’t an actual single meant for radio play.

But now we have Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well,” clocking in at 10 minutes. Billboard has made it number 1 on their top 100, and on iTunes and elsewhere the Swiftian epic is also at the top.

In the halcyon days of pop we had some others. Harry Chapin’s “Taxi” was a door buster. Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely” ran at 6:33. Motown wouldn’t put it out as a single unless Stevie agreed to an edit, and he wouldn’t. So it wasn’t. “Bohemian Rhapsody” was “only” 6 minutes. “Stairway to Heaven” is 8:02 but it wasn’t a single, even though it was played endlessly on FM radio.

No, Taylor wins. Producer Jack Antonoff writes on Twitter: “the takeaway of a 10 minute song hitting number 1 is to not accept the narrative that people have no attention spans. that idea is created by herbs who sell crap. long live the audience who wants it ALL i love you” He adds: “wild to be a part of a 10 minute number 1! “

I’m amazed that Adele didn’t think of this. Her new songs only go to 6:30 or so. When she releases “36” in 7 years, I’ll bet she comes in at 11 minutes.

Report: Netflix’s Satire “Don’t Look Up” Budget Includes $55 Million for DiCaprio, Lawrence

Roger Friedman
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Report: Netflix’s Satire “Don’t Look Up” Budget Includes $55 Million for DiCaprio, Lawrence

Netflix’s “Don’t Look Up,” directed by Adam McKay, will have to be a big, big hit to break even.

In the new Vanity Fair cover story about Jennifer Lawrence, writer Karen Valby reveals that Leonardo DiCaprio was paid $30 million to play an astronomer scientist. Lawrence was paid $25 million.  That’s $55 million. (Guess who’s paying for that, Netflix subscribers?)

We can infer from this information that “Don’t Look Up” cost twice that number, at least $110 million. That’s a huge leap for a modest comedy that won’t really even play in theaters. Netflix is gambling on home viewers watching this thing as if it’s “The Crown” or “Squid Game.” I’m not sure that’s going to happen.

We can’t review “Don’t Look Up” yet but it’s not “Dr. Strangelove” or even “Wag the Dog.” The latter also had big stars DeNiro Pacino, Hoffman, plus Woody Harrelson. It had modest returns.

“Don’t Look Up” has a big cast following DiCaprio and Lawrence, starting with Meryl Streep (three Oscars, Queen of all Hollywood),  Cate Blanchett (two time Oscar winner), Jonah Hill (very popular), Mark Rylance (Oscar winner) and plenty of others. So $110 million might be a low number. And when those others read all this, they’ll be calling their agents.

Meantime, Vanity Fair has a winner in the Jennifer Lawrence cover. It’s their  Hail Mary shot after a desultory year of covers that included some strange choices like Puff Daddy for the September issue. (What the heck was that about?) The magazine’s online traffic has plummeted, and none of their covers this year was a hit. At least this end of the year double issue has a chance. But wow, Vanity Fair’s whole gestalt has been whittled down to who to keep out of their parties.

Reports: Kevin Spacey Will Have to Pay “House of Cards” Producer $31 Million Over Sex Scandal Cancellation

Roger Friedman
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Reports: Kevin Spacey Will Have to Pay “House of Cards” Producer $31 Million Over Sex Scandal Cancellation

Kevin Spacey is now in a special class with OJ Simpson.

Spacey has lost an arbitration appeal over a case he already lost brought by the producers of “House of Cards,” his Netflix TV series.

Producer MRC — which also owns Dick Clark Productions, lots of awards shows, is in business with Variety publisher Penske Media, etc — sued Spacey when they had to scrap the first two episodes of the final season of “House of Cards” and rewrite the entire season without him.

Spacey apparently lost the case and appealed. Now he’s lost the appeal and will have to cough up $31 million. That’s the same amount the families of Ronald Goldman and Nicole Brown were awarded in their civil case about Simpson. They’ve never seen a dime and neither will MRC.

The news of the appeal amount came in a filing from MRC about the case. The Wall Street Journal reports “MRC said it conducted an investigation into Mr. Spacey’s behavior on the set of the show and determined he “had breached provisions of both the Acting and Executive Producing Agreements that set standards for his workplace conduct, including by breaching MRC’s Harassment Policy.”

So that’s it. Spacey’s career has been basically ruined by a number of allegations and lawsuits all accusing him of being a sexual predator. He was a double Oscar winner and a Tony Award winner.

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