Sitting at the head of the political table in a one-party town is no mean feat, and for the men of Dreamworks, their lock on that much-contested position now looks to set to run into its third decade. Throughout the Clinton era, the President saw in Spielberg, Katzenberg and Geffen his veritable Hollywood soulmates in the international union of self-adoring baby boomers. The Dreamworks SKG company was in fact founded during a visit to White House, modeled in the heady sense of specialness that dominated those days.

After the diaspora for Hollywood Democrats of the Bush years, there was a mad scramble to see who would emerge as the new President's showbiz BFF, the 2008 campaign setting off a frenzy of industry fundraisers and check-writing. But when the dust cleared and when, just today, the ultimate announcement came, sitting at the head table once again was a certain trio of former partners, initialed SKG.

A couple others made the cut. Of course super-agent Ari Emanuel, having a certain White House Chief of Staff for a brother, got the nod. Also making the list, Sony Chief Michael Lynton, whom has been a heavyweight Democratic fundraiser with, as Nikki Finke outlines, ties to Obama since his first Senate run through his Chicago-raised wife.

Why however, did Obama give three of his five Hollywood seats to the retreads of the Clinton days? Why would he not use the dinner to elevate some brighter, younger activists?

Well, first there is always money. And they gives a lot of it. Katzenberg has written personal checks totally over $800,000 in the past decade while Geffen has shelled out over half a million out of his own pocket to various party coffers, not counting what they've raised from others (Interestingly, as is often the case with Hollywood fundraising the talent rarely feels the need to put much cash on the table, thinking they are doing more than enough by lending their name or showing their face. Steven Spielberg, in contrast to his partners, appears to have donated only around $100,000 from his deep as the Mariana Trench pockets.)

Geffen, of course, was a very vocal early, not just supporter of Obama's but detractor of Hilary's, publicly chastising his ex-friend in Maureen Dowd's column.

But most important perhaps, the former Dreamworks partners, perhaps more than any other showmen in the corporate age of Hollywood, look the part of elder statesmen. They have managed to consistently cultivate their public persona's — led by Spielberg's America's Director shtick — to keep themselves, through all the heavy turmoil of their career and company, looking like the grand old wise men of Hollywood; the boomers graduated into what passes in Hollywood for seriousness.

And even more than Hollywood, politics, above all, respects those who look the part. And so Hollywood's next generation of young upstarts will just have to cool their heels for a cycle or two more.

Oh good for you Carrie, girl! Chris Noth aka Mr. Big aka John James Preston has signed on to be in the next Sex and the City movie. So I guess that means he and Carrie have stayed together. Do I hear the pitter-patter of little Manolo-clad feet? (Hm, sort of!) [Variety]

Disney has picked up the comedy Boss about a dad whose 21-year-old son somehow becomes his, um, boss. Wasn't this movie already sorta made with Topher Grace and Dennis Quaid? Ah well. Expect some sadsack like Tim Allen to get involved and then some shitty little shit to play the little shit. [Variety]

Because disease is very dangerous in spaceships, Star Trek has delayed its Mexican release date due to the swine flu outbreak. [Variety]

Slow and steady actor Danny Huston has signed on to play Poseidon, god of the sea, in the new Clash of the Titans remake. Scottish actor Kevin McKidd is also playing Poseidon soon, this time for the Chris Columbus directed comedy Percy Jackson. It's reported that in both movies there's a volcano that erupts and then a meteor hits earth while Truman Capote looks on bemusedly. [THR]

Jeffery Katzenberg announced the strongest first quarter ever for his DreamWorks Animation, and that he'd be staying on as CEO for another four years. Hits at DreamWorks have included Monsters vs. Aliens, Bee Movie, and the Madagascar franchise. You know, all the not-Pixar ones. [THR]

A retirement home for aging actors and studio employees founded by Mary Pickford and Charlie Chaplin 87 years ago, the facility's shuttering requires the transferal of 100 frail patients in their 80s and 90s to other hospitals, while 290 full-time staff lost their jobs. The Wrap reports the devastating news led the patients to feel "tormented" and "reluctant to eat," and six patients died since the closure was announced—what they say is a far higher number than usual.

At the center of the controversy is DreamWorks Animation Chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg, who also serves as chairman of the MPTF Foundation Board and typically heads a fundraiser for the facility this time every year. Katzenberg until now had only spoken to Deadline Hollywood Daily (on the condition that they not quote him directly) about how "distressed and upset" he was over the news. He stressed that the Woodland Hills closure was just "one very small part of what [MPTF] delivers to Hollywood," and that it was a long time coming, the facility being "60 years old and in no way, shape or form up to the demands for first-class medical care needed by acute care patients today."

The PR damage had been done, however. Patients and staff were despondent. The Wrap poked holes in the board's story, offering tax return evidence that showed none of the $10 million losses due to Medicaid and Medi-Cal reimbursements the board had cited.

Katzenberg held a damage control press conference yesterday just hours after the fired health care workers staged a candlelight vigil outside Woodland Hills. In it, he and other board members admitted they did a bad job in releasing the news:

"We give ourselves a failing grade," said Katzenberg, speaking at a Wednesday news conference in his role as chairman of the MPTF Foundation Board. "We have really not done a good job in that area."

Katzenberg admitted that the Jan. 14 surprise announcement had created the mistaken impresssion that all MPTF facilities would be shuttered.

"Nothing could be further from the truth," he added.

They went on to deny The Wrap's claims that patients had refused to eat and were dropping like flies, and stressed that the fund will continue to operate its independent and assisted-care facilities in Woodland Hills and half a dozen health centers in the area. No mention, it seems, was made of the effects tearing these convalescing patients—former chorus girls, comedy writers, costume designers, mogul's secretaries—away from their friends and loyal caregivers might reap in their twilight days in Hollywood.

[Photo: Andrew Gumbel, The Wrap]

• Katzenberg addresses MPTF closures [Variety]
• Part I: MPTF residents despondent; six have died since closure announced [The Wrap]
• Jeff Katzenberg Explains MPTF Closures [DHD]

Look who else has been added to the victim list today:

Arpad Busson, the billionaire fiancee of Uma Thurman! Busson runs a hedge fund called EIM, which has more than $150 million in exposure in Madoff's funds. You can do better, Uma.


Hollywood mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg, the CEO of Dreamworks! He lost millions. It's the Hollywood thing to do—so did Katzenberg's pal...


Steven Spielberg! His charity got swindled out of an unknown amount. Sad. But not as sad as...


Elie Wiesel, Nobel laureate and humanitarian! His charitable foundation may have been almost wiped out. That's despicable. Then there's...


Mort "Mort" Zuckerman, real estate mogul and Daily News owner! More than 10% of his charitable trust was invested with Madoff. And finally...


Frank Lautenberg, ancient New Jersey senator! His charity also took a hit.

Of course there's also a laundry list of banks and rich individuals and whatnot, which can be seen in its fullest version here. God bless whatever unlucky WSJ drones were forced to assemble it.

Such modesty! To a point, anyway: If and/or when his Reliance Big Entertainment honeymoon ever tapers off, Spielberg and DreamWorks president Stacey Snider really won't have the Geffen touch to help woo another international conglomerate into bed. But by then Spielberg, 62, will probably be ready to scale back anyway, and survival will be less about braintrust than brand (and the library it manages to develop with its new distribution partners at Universal). He shouldn't even be there now, if one of his more illuminating disclosures today is to be believed:

In describing Mr. Geffen’s role at DreamWorks, Mr. Spielberg likened it to a family relationship. “Jeffrey and I were like the kids,” he said, while Mr. Geffen built the house and saw that the bills were paid. [...]

By his own recollection, Mr. Spielberg was initially reluctant to join in creating the original DreamWorks studio, which was conceived by Mr. Katzenberg shortly after he was fired as chairman of the Walt Disney Company’s studio operation in 1994. But Mr. Katzenberg begged for a meeting, and asked to bring a friend. The friend was Mr. Geffen, who not only did all the talking, but insisted to Mr. Spielberg: “I am representing your best interests.”

That assurance was to become the theme of Mr. Geffen’s dealings with Mr. Spielberg, who describes Mr. Geffen’s efforts for him over the years as a kind of “altruism.”

Aww! That shouldn't imply Spielberg was in a hurry to race out the door at Paramount, though, where Geffen reportedly had a short stay in mind even before he clashed with Brad Grey in 2006 over credit for Dreamgirls; "I do not like change," the director told the NY Times. And even if we have Tom Freston's firing and other, seemingly circumstantial evidence to vouch for that philosophy, everyone knows the bottom line: The sex just isn't the same off the Paramount lot. Wait and see — he'll be back.

• David Geffen Makes a Sudden Exit [NYT]

"I was at an NBA finals, Lakers versus the Celtics," Lee says. "[At] halftime [I'm] going to the restroom. I saw Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Eddie Murphy sitting together. I stopped by to say hi and Jeffrey jokes, 'Leave Clint alone' and we all laugh.

"But Steven and I went off to the side and discussed it, and I asked him to relay a message to Clint that I meant no disrespect, that I was extending the olive branch," he adds. "Steve called Clint in the morning the next day. And it's finito."

See? Think how much longer that DreamWorks deal would have dragged on without a guy like that at the negotiating table. Next up: Saving Mickey Mouse from Hamas.

• Sugar & Spike [NYP]

While the mogul's words seemed like a reasonably civil overture for Dauman to make everything right with boomboxes and baskets of baked goods yesterday, this morning all we can think about is Katz personally delivering the message in a flurry of surprisingly sharp fingernail-swipes and vicious blows with an overflowing manpurse, and Dauman showing up to the office today trying to sheepishly blame the ragged scratches on his face on a "shaving accident," but muttering, "Hasn't that little tramp ever heard of a manicure?" under his breath to a sympathetic assistant.

• Previously: Jeffrey Katzenberg Defends Pal Steven Spielberg Against Viacom CEO's Thoughtless Words [Defamer]

Jeffrey Katzenberg got his partner Steven Spielberg's back Wednesday, calling him "nothing short of a national treasure" and chiding Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman for implying otherwise.

"To suggest that not having Steven Spielberg is completely immaterial seems ill-advised," the DreamWorks Animation topper said at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia confab. "I think calmer heads need to prevail here."

Katzenberg went on to suggest that Dauman has any intention of salvaging their relationship, he should immediately grab his favorite boombox and stand underneath Spielberg's window, playing the love theme to The Terminal until the legendary director is convinced he won't be taken for granted in the future, as "a basket from Mrs. Beasly's and a 'I'm sorry' note with some hugging teddy bears on it isn't going to cut it this time, Phil."

• Katzenberg stands behind Spielberg [Variety]
• Previously: Viacom CEO Getting Ready To Have His Heart Broken By DreamWorks [Defamer]

• Studio chief scorecard [LAT]
• Previously: Angry Hollywood Ex-Wives On The Warpath! [Defamer]

At 4:30 a.m. Wednesday, DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg strapped himself into a harness, stepped off the eighth story of the Carlton Hotel and, thanks to a special rig, floated down across the Croisette to a jetty on the Carlton Beach. It was all part of the dry run for a stunt performed Thursday for the benefit of the international media, which witnessed Jerry Seinfeld, in puffy bee suit, fly across the main drag in Cannes to promote his DreamWorks animated film "Bee Movie," which Paramount Pictures will release Nov. 2 in the U.S.

As he floated gracefully from the roof of the Carlton in the dark of that very early morning, Katzenberg allowed himself a moment to imagine what it would be like if he, not Seinfeld, flew above the assembled throng of worshipful movie fans later that day, accepting their shouted, "You're the man, Jeff! No one runs an animation studio like you!" praise with an appreciative wave of his hand. His reverie, however, was cut short as he alighted on the pier and overheard one of the safety technicians mention to an associate, "Glad he's safe. Geffen said that if the line snapped we should just let his body drift away into the ocean so that it wouldn't distract from the Shrek opening, and that might have been a little annoying. We don't have another bee suit."

[Photo: Getty Images]

• Lots of buzz keeps Katzenberg aflutter [THR]
• Previously: Seinfeld Survives 'Bee Movie' Publicity Stunt [Defamer]

"I just caution everybody: for 'Shrek' it's not where we start, it's where we finish," Katzenberg told reporters at the Cannes Film Festival where he is promoting a new animated film, "Bee Movie," from comedian Jerry Seinfeld.

"I hope we have a very, very good weekend, but I don't expect us to set any records," Katzenberg added.

A visibly dejected Katzenberg then sighed, raised a hand to his furrowed brow, then continued. "I guess we'll have to see what happens. I've done all I can. If we don't open as big as we'd like, we'll have to try something different for the second weekend. Maybe I'll make Mike Myers put on a Shrek suit, take him up in a hot air balloon over the Ocean's 13 premiere next Thursday, then push him out and hope he crushes Brad Pitt to death while he's talking to a camera crew from E!. Maybe then people would care, go see my movie. I dunno, whatever."

• DreamWorks chief downplays Shrek box office record [Reuters]
Previously: Justin Timberlake Ducks Out of Shrek-Whoring 'Idol' Duty [Defamer]

Another photo follows after the jump, showing what could have been the final moment of the brave star's life:

[Photos: Getty Images]

• Cannes abuzz over Seinfeld's `Bee Movie' [AP]

At some point during American Idol's recent blockbuster-pimping Shrek-tacular, in which DreamWorks mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg and incomprehensibly accented sidekick Antonio Banderas consumed a puzzling amount of screen time in plugging their upcoming animated product, virtually every one of the show's millions of teenage fans probably found him or herself wondering, "Hey, who's this awkward little bald man trying to sell me on a movie I'm going to go see anyway?" Slate's Kim Masters claims to have solved the mystery: Katzenberg was supposed to drag Shrek star Justin Timberlake onto the show, but perhaps still feeling a little dirty from whoring himself out for a duet at the Grammys, the singer escaped the country, avoiding the promotional duty. All in all, we're pleased that's the way things turned out; had Timberlake shown, we might've been denied the wonderful moment (at about 43 seconds in the above clip) when Katzenberg—just moments after showing off his Oscar—somewhat bitterly remarks that the Idol hopefuls are achieving their dreams much faster than he did, stopping just short of adding, "But, you know, hard work and stuff like that takes a lot of time. You can't karaoke your way to running a studio. Just sayin'."

• The Missing Timberlake [Slate]

Just in case your assistant has forgotten to pencil it into your calendar, tonight is the $2,300 per person fundraiser/pre-coronation ceremony for Barack Obama that begins at the Beverly Hilton and ends at David Geffen's Malibu compound (the parade from the hotel to the beach, during which kingmaking DreamWorks billionaires Geffen, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and Steven Spielberg will take turns carrying the senator on their shoulders, is expected to be spectacular), where Hollywood's hottest presidential hopeful will officially receive his much-anticipated reacharound from industry players who were able to scare up 20 well-monied Friends of Barry for the event. In an effort to keep out undesirables, only those who've ponied up their tribute will be allowed to join in the festivities. Reports the NY Times:

The ticket price of $2,300 reflects the maximum individual donation to a federal campaign, and, unlike those behind so many other Hollywood galas, organizers of this one vowed to bar the door to freeloaders, no matter how famous.

"We've turned down people who asked to bring a guest," said Andy Spahn, a political adviser to Mr. Spielberg and Mr. Katzenberg, among other industry people. "There will be no comps. Celebs are writing checks. Everybody's writing." [...]

What is known is that there will be no red carpet or V.I.P. room, no sit-down dinner and scant opportunity for one-on-one conversation with Mr. Obama, except for those who make it to Mr. Geffen's home. "It's going to be very democratic, with a small D," Mr. Spahn said.

The conspicuous absence of a red carpet and the strict door policy have obviously been put in place to keep out the kind of scenewhores who might steal Obama face time away from the evening's more legitimate political-starfuckers; the last thing the campaign wants is for a studio head like Universal's Ron Meyer to stand impatiently by as their candidate is engrossed in a conversation about Britney Spears' bald head with Paris Hilton.

[Photo: Getty Images composite]

• The Hot Ticket in Hollywood: An Evening With Obama [NY Times]
• Previously: Obamamania: Hollywood Will Take Its Sweet Time Before Crowning Its Democratic King, Thank You Very Much [Defamer]

It's been a day full of big wins for the billionaires of DreamWorks SKG. Earlier, we pointed out that the California Coastal Commission granted David Geffen a much-needed ten-foot buffer between his Malibu Gay Mafia stronghold and the sun-worshipping Untouchables who dare to splay their unsightly forms upon his beloved, but distressingly public, stretch of Carbon Beach. Now word comes that bite-sized mogul and two-time intramural DreamWorks Animation wet t-shirt champion Jeffrey Katzenberg has tasted $2.17 million worth of bittersweet victory in a lawsuit against the rubber-pushing villains of Goodyear, whose faulty, leaking heating hoses did grievous damage to his Park City-adjacent vacation home:

"I have this treasure of mine, and I realize now it's flawed - significantly flawed. It breaks my heart that I have to rip this house apart," Katzenberg said of his 13,000-square-foot home in Deer Valley during testimony in U.S. District Court last week. "In my opinion it will never be the same." [...]

Katzenberg testified that replacing the hoses in his home will be costly because the floors and walls are finished with rare and expensive materials that will be destroyed. He estimated the market value of his house at more than $28 million.

It's not hard to see why a jury would sympathize with Katzenberg's (pictured here partaking in the kind of frivolity he'll never again enjoy) moving evocation of the despair he'll now feel each time he's forced to spend time in his quaint—but now tragically tainted—$28 million chalet. He'll forever be robbed of the comfort it once granted him when he was badly in need of a quiet place to recover from the bustle of Sundance, knowing that as he meditatively wiggles his toes upon the handmade area rugs woven from the hair of tow-headed Mormon children, they're not the original ones he commissioned during his mountain sanctum's construction.

[Photo: Getty Images]

• Rubber doesn't meet the code [Denver Post via Wiretap]

It's a question threatening to tear Hollywood's most prominent, liberal-kingmaking billionaires apart at the gilded seams: Do they throw a fabulous fund-raiser aimed at continuing the spread Obamamania, the sensation sweeping the industry, or do they fall back into the calming, emasculating embrace of longtime Democratic stalwart Hillary Clinton, a tragically unsexy, but arguably safer, choice? The answer, of course, is, "Why can't we do both? We have so much fucking money that no one can tell us to make up our minds until we're good and ready," but Slate notes that a recent Robert Novak column seemed to imply that the officially unbetrothed Steven Spielberg's hosting of a Clinton event means that he's already decided to abandon DreamWorks partners David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg's desire to call forth from the heavens a deluge of showbiz cash that will carry their beloved Obama to an easy nomination:

The Novak column is too silly to merit discussion—except, perhaps, about how it illuminates the real state of affairs in deep-pocketed Hollywood.

If Spielberg had abandoned the upcoming Obama event, that would be news. But he hasn't. Many expect him to commit to Hillary in the future. But one veteran Hollywood Democratic operative said skeptically, "There is no one on earth that would know that from Steven who would talk to Bob Novak."

The suspicion among some in the Obama faction is that this story came from the Clinton camp, eager to put a stop to the "Hillary Hemorrhages Hollywood Support" stories. In a recent visit to town, Clinton campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe conveyed the notion that folks should pick sides now. Most aren't. In fact, McAuliffe's admonishment prompted Norman Lear, who, like many, is contributing to multiple candidates, to ask a Los Angeles Times reporter, "What's Hillary going to do? Jail me?"

It's somehow reassuring that not even the manipulative tactics of a presidential hopeful's operatives can hurry Hollywood's thorough decision-making process, which requires months of deliberate political starfucking over two-thousand-per-plate dinners before an industry consensus can be reached.

• Democrats in Hollywood [Slate]
• Previously: Invitations To DreamWorks Obamamania Fundraiser Sent; Hillary Still Unwilling To Concede Hollywood [Defamer]