Gawker
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dreamworks
Ron Meyer's Pissed: A DreamWorks and Disney Wedding Album
Disney and DreamWorks today sent out official confirmation of their shotgun wedding, issuing a release around town raising more questions about its relationship than it answers. More »
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By STVComment by SunnydaZe10 is BANNED!: I didn't realize Dreamworks Chief Executive was Alec Baldwin's daughter. 1 Responses | Other threads
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dreamworks
BREAKING: Universal Just Not That Into DreamWorks
Remember all those questions we had last year about how DreamWorks and Universal might bridge the financing gap in their tenuous new relationship? The answer's simpler than anyone thought: They won't. More »
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By STVComment by SunnydaZe10 is BANNED!: Maybe Speilberg should put a towel over his head and run into the street waving a gun? Worked for Martin Lawrence... more » | Other threads
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deals
DreamWorks Bell-Ringers Lagging on $750 Mil Holiday Goal
Variety today offers a disturbing memo to anyone who had "DreamWorks' resurgence FTW" in their forecast of industry predictions for 2009: Maybe next year.
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By STVComment by thomashenry: I'll laugh like the Joker if the India deal falls through and they have to go crawling back to the... more » | Other threads
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the soloist
Soloist Silenced Even Longer: Paramount announced Tuesday that it's pushing back The Soloist yet again, this time to April 24. The studio surprised even its former DreamWorks partners last month by drop-kicking the Robert Downey Jr./Jamie Foxx drama into 2009, culminating in an unceremonious dump-and-run in March and its withdrawal from the opening-night slot at last month's AFI Fest. The move is yet another slap in the face to the 'Works, whose loss of an '08 Oscar contender is only compounded by The Soloist's new, utterly insurmountable April competition Vanilla Gorilla. Insult, meet injury. [Variety] -
obamamania
David Geffen: You've Got Me to Thank for Obama
Though Hillary Clinton was once seen as the inevitable pick in this year's presidential election, the first stain on her pantsuit may have come as early as February 2007, when gay mafia don/beach hog David Geffen broke ranks with the Clintons to endorse Barack Obama. "I don't think that another incredibly polarizing figure, no matter how smart she is and no matter how ambitious she is — and God knows, is there anybody more ambitious than Hillary Clinton? — can bring the country together," Geffen told New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd then, as his second assistant provided a helpful yes-man chorus of "Oh snap!" and "No she did not just say that!" Now, the LAT's Patrick Goldstein has caught up with Geffen to get his thoughts on Obama's once-unlikely victory, and Geffen dropped this tidbit about his own kingmaking ability: More »
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Comment by jkinatl2: So.... where on that list is "overturn proposition 8?" Or am I missing "The Bog Picture" again? 1 Responses | Other threads
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steven spielberg
DreamWorks Remembers David Geffen as Loving, Studio-Shopping Father
A tender postmortem in today's New York Times reminds the world yet again that seriously — like, really, this time — David Geffen is leaving DreamWorks. Having shepherded the monolith through the Hollywood establishment from conception to its first marriage (and divorce) before giving the frazzled bride away a second time in an arranged marriage to its dashing Indian suitor, Geffen's tenure is remembered fondly by his 'Works co-founders Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg. Not that they'll admit to knowing what they're doing without him. More »
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By STVComment by WGARefugee: So what are they really not saying here? I don't buy Geffen not telling his best friend why he was... 1 Responses | Other threads
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trade roundup
Helen Mirren's House Of Ill-Repute
· Taylor Hackford is shopping around Love Ranch—a brothel drama starring wife Helen Mirren (oooh!) and Joe Pesci (ewww!)—to studios in search of a distribution partner. [Variety] More » -
the soloist
Robert Downey Jr. Saved, Jamie Foxx Doomed in 'Soloist' Oscar Oblivion
The fallout from Paramount's recent release-date shuffle continues today, with agents and saber-rattling DreamWorks brass continuing their protest over The Soloist's move to 2009. While we sustain our first impression that the Jamie Foxx/Robert Downey Jr. tearjerker will in fact be better than the diabetic-coma inducing trailers already in circulation, that's not much comfort to those who fear the bump from November to March will impugn Soloist's profile among critics and audiences alike. But now, as a peace offering to the angry gods at CAA who packaged the film for the 'Works with its clients Downey, Foxx and director Joe Wright, Paramount has forged a silver lining for one-third of that jilted braintrust. More » -
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robert downey jr
The Road to Oscar Hell is Paved With Dead Paramount Movies
What a mess: Paramount's reshuffling of 2008 awards bait including Defiance and The Soloist — the latter of which now won't open until next March — has left devastated Oscar watchers (including us) tossing out their carefully wrought Trophynomics™ calculations for the fall movies season. Few are more dismayed than the DreamWorks gang, whose hopes that The Soloist might at least cover the cost of hiring movers were met with the reality check that the 'Mount has more important, Brad Pitt-y things to do before year's end. We think this, along with other traumatic developments elsewhere over the last week, calls for an all-new Oscar scorecard; start over with us after the jump. More » -
dreamworks
It's Official: DreamWorks, Universal Hitched
The Dept. of Forgone Conclusions forwarded a memo this morning confirming that DreamWorks has settled with Universal as its new distribution partner for the next five years, officially ending months of speculation and finally slicing the last thread connecting the 'Works to its exes at Paramount. The partnership reinstates Steven Spielberg and Stacey Snider's working relationship with their old friends at the studio, but far more more importantly, it sets up a potential blood feud with a nemesis no one dares face when push comes to shove. More » -
dreamworks
Today in Foregone Conclusions: "Sources" are telling Sharon Waxman that DreamWorks has "all-but-officially closed" a distribution deal with Universal; an announcement could be forthcoming in days, along with the requisite TOLDJA! from Nikki Finke, and David Poland and Variety explaining how inaccurate and premature the reports actually are. [WaxWord]
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By STVComment by academyscreamer: hittin' the wacky tabacky a little early, are we, Seth? Some of us can actually read, ya know. more » | Other threads
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leonardo dicaprio
Today in Deadpan Hyperbole: "Why Revolutionary Road is going to be a big, practically zeitgeist-defining, hit," wherein Glenn Kenny deduces that because Mad Men is a hit (though not quite), the show's viewers will race to see Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet as an ad man and his wife splintering in early 1960s Connecticut. Titanic isn't mentioned. If he isn't serious, then it's the best poker face we've seen in a long, long time. [Some Came Running] -
dreamworks
DreamWorks Assistant Thinks 'Rosh Hashanah' Is Newest Hollywood Power Broker
As connoisseurs of Hollywood and its related spiritual practices, we at Defamer would expect you to be familiar with the traditions of American Jewry, so here's a pop quiz: is Rosh Hashanah a multi-day event commemorating the start of the Jewish New Year, meant to celebrate the creation of the world? Or is it what this DreamWorks assistant thinks it is? More »
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Comment by Mr-Busy: Holy Palin moose turds! Know her! From where I sit I can see these individuals from my desk! *(I can... 5 Responses | Other threads
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trade roundup
All The ऌs Have Been Crossed And The ऱs Dotted
· DreamWorks has finally closed their financing deal with India-based Reliance. Meanwhile, in a surprise maneuver, Paramount waived all of their former executives' commitments to the studio. A sovereign DreamWorks is born. [Variety] More » -
Steven Spielberg
To Catch a Thief: When you're done parsing the genetic heritage of Dane Cook's slightly doppelgangy new film, we've got another, bigger provenance for you to deduce: Steven Spielberg is one of several defendants named in a new lawsuit accusing the creators of the 2006 hit Disturbia of stealing the idea from Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window. Of course, they pretty much did; the Shia LaBeouf voyeurism thriller tied up a two-quadrant crowd-pleaser with a black ribbon of 21st-century paranoia, all on the way to grossing nearly $80 million domestically. The estate of Window source author Cornell Woolrich finally Netflixed the film over the weekend, it appears, alleging both copyright infringement and breach of contract in a suit filed today in New York. "What the defendants have been unwilling to do openly, legitimately and legally, (they) have done surreptitiously, by their back-door use of the Rear Window story without paying compensation," the suit claims, also citing DreamWorks, Viacom and Universal among the offending parties. And here you thought Fox took its sweet time torching Warner Bros. over Watchmen. Expect a settlement by 2014, probably around the time that DreamWorks/Reliance deal closes. [Reuters]
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By STVComment by Dimo: Didn't anybody see Brian DePalma's "Body Double"? It's a total rip off as well...but with tits! 1 Responses | Other threads
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dreamworks
The DreamWorks Deal: Steven Spielberg's Dream Deferred or Just Plain Old Lies?
From the Dept. of Mildly Pressing Questions Worth Asking on A Slow Wednesday Afternoon comes this new query: "Why Is This DreamWorks-Reliance Deal Taking So Long?" It features an accompanying clock and everything — 63 Days, 18 Hours, 34 Minutes and counting! — to emphasize the hold-up since Indian conglom Reliance Big Entertainment was reported to be within weeks of saving Steven Spielberg and co. from Paramount. Indeed, what is taking so long, and why do so many sources supposedly in the know keep jumping the gun? More » -
tropic thunder
'Tropic Thunder' Offensive Repelled at Box Office with $7.5 Million Opening
Attribute it to whatever phenomena you want — the potheads stayed away, the groupies weren't interested, RetardGate '08 — but Tropic Thunder opened softer than planned on Wednesday. Ben Stiller's Hollywood satire pulled in around $7.5 million, prompting observers to downgrade their weekend estimates that should nevertheless keep the film in first place above Star Wars: The Clone Wars and The Dark Knight this weekend. The turnout looked that much worse when compared to that of Pineapple Express, which drew more than $12 million last Wednesday — the best midweek, R-rated comedy opening in ages. More »
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By STVComment by Adora Belle Dearheart: I saw it on Saturday afternoon. There was a little girl sitting right in front of me, no more than 5... more » | Other threads
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tropic thunder
'Retard' Wars Heat Up as 'Tropic Thunder' Boycott Imminent
After two consecutive close calls, The Dark Knight's stunning box-office reign faces More » -
tropic thunder
DreamWorks Goes 'No Retard,' Yanks 'Simple Jack' Site
Well, that was fast: Mere days after first drawing attention on a disability issues blog (and eventually going under magnifying glasses at the NY Times and here at Defamer HQ), DreamWorks's mock Web site for Simple Jack is gone. The site had been part of the studio's complex interweaving of Tropic Thunder tie-ins, with its "Once upon a time... there was a retard" tagline tipping the story of a disabled farmhand whom Ben Stiller's character portrays in pursuit of an Oscar. But activist Patricia Bauer's vigil continued, culminating late Monday with a handy restitution checklist for Stiller, DreamWorks and their distribution partners at Paramount: More »
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By STVComment by EuroDad: all i have to say is... OOOOOOOOOKLAHOMA OKLAHOMA OKLAHOMA OKLAHOMA OKLAHOMA OKLAHOMA OKLAHOMA!!!! 1 Responses | Other threads
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tropic thunder
Rating Woes, August Blahs Threaten 'Tropic Thunder' Storm at Box Office
While we refuse to believe Nielsen actually spent money to discover that R-ratings hinder comedies more than horror films, the results of its recent survey dovetail interestingly today with a companion piece about Tropic Thunder's potential for August domination. We've seen Tropic and can vouch for it living up to most of its hype, from Tom Cruise's sociopath studio boss to Robert Downey Jr.'s otherworldly, meta-Method blackface turn. But rating and timing are everything, as always, prompting The Hollywood Reporter to foretell a relatively floppy future: More »
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By STVComment by spikespeigel: RDJ is the reason I'm going to see Tropic. Everything else? Not so much. more » | Other threads
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steven spielberg
Delicate DreamWorks Deal Hinges on Steven Spielberg's 'Stay Out of My Hemisphere' Clause
Theories abound in the NY Times recently as to why Steven Spielberg had to go all the way to India for a new and improved DreamWorks deal: Wall Street is skittish! DVD revenue is slipping! Spielberg is overpriced! So on and so forth — all and none of which are true at the same time. What's buried waaay at the end of Brooks Barnes's users guide to Spielberg 2.0, however, is the key chapter explaining his quest for the one backer in the world who will just give him a half-billion dollars already and leave him alone: More »
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By STVComment by Marjory Stewart-Baxter: @Citizen Kang: Yes. I will admit this much. And I still watch E.T. annually. more » | Other threads
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kung fu panda
'Flunky' Hero of 'Kung Fu Panda' Apparently Bears No Resemblance to Actual Chinese
On one hand, we're sort of ashamed to have doubled our knowledge of Chinese culture today with one glance at the Los Angeles Times. On the other, a spoonful of sugar — or, more specifically, of Kung Fu Panda — made the medicine go down that much easier as we learned the deep angst gripping China in the wake of the film's success. It's not frustrating enough, evidently, that DreamWorks usurped Chinese authority over everything from animation to the sacred panda itself; rather, the hero Po's abject laziness and mild prurience has an angry 1.2 billion souls searching as we speak: More » -
defamer
Wall Street Meanies Harsh On Paramount's Summer of Love
For every blockbuster this summer with Paramount's name attached — from Iron Man to Indy 4 to Kung Fu Panda — there's been a looming crisis to greet it at the studio gate. The latest wake-up call comes from Deutsche Bank, from whom we're learning the 'Mount split recently after the the studio balked at the conditions of a $450 million financing deal. This follows word that unhappy Wall Streeters wanted free-spender Brad Grey's head and that DreamWorks' Indian-funded defection was imminent. Mix The Love Guru in just for fun, and it's enough to almost make you forget Paramount is supposedly on a roll. More »
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By STVComment by SteamyMcFirecrotch: @Breadbowl: Weeee waaaant the Florie Dories! Weeeee waaaant the Florie Dories! more » | Other threads
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tom hanks
'Camp Rock' The New, Annoying Thing Your Kid Is Obsessed With
· Disney may have another "bankable tyke-and-tween franchise" (why does that phrase sound vaguely offensive and child-pornish?) in Camp Rock, says Variety, with 8.9 million viewers tuning in to watch the Jonas Brothers sing their newest hit, "(Yuck!) There's A Mosquito in My S'mores." [Variety] More » -
defamer
It's Always the Kids Who Suffer Most in a Vengeful Studio Divorce
Despite the defiant source who today told the LA Times the DreamWorks/Reliance deal could yet fall apart, we think we'll just go about retrofitting our office anyway in preparation for the worst. Like "custody battle" worst, as Claudia Eller mentions in parsing the 'Works divorce from Viacom/Paramount: Who gets Ben Stiller? Who gets Eddie Murphy? Who gets the retiring David Geffen's parking space and the office's unparalleled catalog of faxable lunch menus? And who gets the movies? More » -
defamer
Cash-Machine Manoj Saves His Best Twist Ending For Last
The day after DreamWorks was deported to the Asian Subcontinent was a bittersweet one around town — unless you're Steven Spielberg, we guess, who is a few signatures away from finally sticking it to Viacom, or maybe if you're CAA, which had previously wooed the Works' deep-pocketed Indian investors at Reliance ADA to throw money at projects for George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Tom Hanks, Nicolas Cage, Jim Carrey and a few of the agency's other heavy hitters. More »
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By STVComment by marmidukestank: Listen everyone. You have to stop with the "M. Night Shyamalan is obsessed with twist endings." thing. He has made eight... more » | Other threads
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defamer
Steven Spielberg, DreamWorks Ready to Join Other Hollywood Players Outsourced to India
Months of speculation over whom DreamWorks might be courting to help underwrite its ugly exit from Viacom ended late Tuesday when The Wall Street Journal reported that Reliance ADA Group, a massive Indian conglomerate, is close to sinking $500 million to $600 million into Steven Spielberg's breathless bid for autonomy. As presumed, the deal would expedite David Geffen's eventual departure from the DreamWorks fold and allow Spielberg to keep the DreamWorks name, if not the projects currently in development with Paramount/Viacom — alas, Transformers 2 stays behind. CEO and Spielberg right hand Stacey Snider would follow as well. More »
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By STVComment by SunnydaZe10 is BANNED!: Let's try this again . . . Here is a sneak peak at the first film which will be released under... more » | Other threads
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What Steven Wants
Steven Spielberg And The Search For DreamWorks' One Billion Emancipating Dollars
Like a temple of dormant extraterrestrial beings that accidentally took up residence in a South American jungle, the Steven Spielberg-led DreamWorks braintrust has restlessly been awaiting the arrival of a mystical object that will restore their autonomous movie-making powers and release them from the confines of a production-temple deep buried beneath the Paramount lot. In this case, that mystical object is a cool billion: More » -
defamer
Play the 'DreamWorks Free to Good Home' Sweepstakes
They say nobody in Hollywood knows anything, which is true in just about every situation but the one facing DreamWorks and its partners at Paramount — a pair about as likely to split in acrimony within the year as Nikki Finke is to wheeze "TOLDJA!" when it happens. Patrick Goldstein today offers a rough primer for the 'Works/'Mount divorce, with enough oversights and elisions to make it dispensable (for starters, whither UA in the potential coupling of DreamWorks and MGM?) but thought-provoking enough to ask: Where will the 'Works wind up? More »
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By STVComment by WGARefugee: I'm going to hate me for saying this but Dreamworks should call up Sergey Brin. Dreamworks gets backers with deep... more » | Other threads
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defamer
After A Failed First Marriage, DreamWorks Ready To Start Dating Again
It's been nearly six months since CompletelyImmaterialGate rocked the industry, and no amount of conciliatory gestures has yet managed to heal the wounds inflicted by Viacom CEO Phillippe Dauman's callous verbal flip-off of national directing treasure Steven Spielberg. With the expiration date on the frequently uncomfortable arranged marriage between Viacom-owned Paramount and DreamWorks nearing, the NY Times takes a hard look at the pretzled logistics of what becomes two powerhouse studios going their separate ways: More »
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By SethComment by Superstarsteve: Joint custody results in half baked, half hearted "pretend" families. This kids know what's going on because they know... more » | Other threads
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defamer
Personal Trainers Nervous About Beowulf's Breakthrough Belly-Eliminating Technology
There will be no shortage of glistening, lifelike CGI flesh on display in Robert Zemeckis's latest masterwork, opening today. The character of Grendel's Mother, for example—naked, dipped in gold, and outfitted with a prehensile braid and fuck-me pumps—will give audiences a reasonable approximation of things only Brad Pitt was meant to see. Others, however, such as the protagonist himself (voiced and performed by Sexy Beast star Ray Winstone), use their human inspiration as mere jumping-off points, after which a cutting-edge series of gut-reducing, ab-defining filters are applied, resulting in a ripped, battle-ready hero worthy of the name Beowulf. More » -
trade roundup
In Denial About The Coming Labor Apocalypse, Hollywood Keeps Announcing New Projects Like Nothing's Wrong
· In a badly timed announcement of blockbuster-derived profits, Viacom crows about the "phenomenal success" of "new global brand Transformers" that helped lift their net income by 80 percent, forgetting to transfer the revenues to a balance-sheet loss column and publicly lament that "there's no money to be made in this dying business of ours." [Variety] More » -
defamer
'Indiana Jones 4' Thief Gets Two Years In Jail For Crimes Against The Most-Anticipated Sequel Of Our Time
Rather than take matters into his own omnipotent hands by calling down a bolt of righteous lightning from the Southern California skies to smite the man who recently plundered his treasure trove of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull secrets and tried to sell them on the internet black market, Hollywood deity Steven Spielberg allowed the local justice system to punish the thief, who pleaded guilty yesterday to his crimes against cinematic archaeology: More »
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By MarkComment by schvitzatura: Hopefully, Shia Labeouf will speak a few select words of Hovitos... more » | Other threads
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box office
'Transformers' Well On Its Way To Cracking The Elusive 13-Figure Mark
It's not for nothing that Transformers should boast grosses on the high-end of 12-figures, as trumpeted by a seemingly endless succession of brushed-titanium zeroes on the pages of today's Variety: The studio has master blowingshitupologist's Michael Bay's passion and perfectionism to thank for that. More »
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By SethComment by raincoaster: See, and the powers that be are still afraid that outing yourself will hurt box office. Opti has put paid... more » | Other threads
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defamer
Possible Strike Quietly Rushing Ron Howard's Middlebrow Genius
· Ron Howard and Akiva Goldsman are frantically finalizing the shooting script of Da Vinci Code sequel Angels & Demons before the Oct. 31st deadline, hoping that the mad rush towards production won't jeopardize the duo's ability to produce the kind of easily digestible, crowd-pleasing entertainment that always results from their lucrative collaborations. Meanwhile, star Tom Hanks has been presented with a hair-growing schedule that will barely provide the actor with enough time to reproduce his character's signature demi-mullet. Truly, no one is immune from the pressures of the looming™ strike. [Variety] More » -
inside the creative differences
'Lovely Bones' Shocker! Ryan Gosling Accused Of Eccentricity
Sensing that there might be more to yesterday's announcement that Ryan Gosling's sudden departure from Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones adaptation than a friendly disagreement over competing visions for the film, the sleuths of Page Six dig deeper into this new Hollywood mystery, unearthing disturbing allegations of personality clashes and actorly eccentricity. Egads, we say! More » -
defamer
Mark Wahlberg Jumps Peter Jackson's Bones
· Peter Jackson's feature adaptation of The Lovely Bones suffers a severe cast downgrade as Mark Wahlberg steps in to replace Ryan Gosling, who's departing the project following the always-popular "creative differences." [Variety] More » -
defamer
'Indy 4' Golf-Cart-Driving Secrets Revealed!
· The guy who took this video of Harrison Ford and George Lucas on the last day of production on Indy 4 is probably going to wind up hanging on a hook next to that loose-lipped extra in the Universal lot commissary's meat locker. More » -
trade roundup
Jake Gyllenhaal: Handsome, Soulful Astronaut
· Jake Gyllenhaal joins director Doug Liman on DreamWorks' Untitled Moon Project, in which Gyllenhaal is dispatched to populate a lunar colony with a super-race of dreamy-eyed pioneers. [Variety] More » -
defamer
Getting To Know Philippe Dauman, Sumner Redstone's Right-Hand Hatchetman
Sunday's LAT provides the world with the fascinating backstory of Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman, the proudly uncool corporate kamikaze responsible for carrying out the public relations suicide missions Sumner Redstone dreams up while partially hypnotized by staring too intently at his collection of exotic fish, such as suing Google for copyright infringement, replacing a wildly popular executive, or blaspheming a Hollywood deity. But more impressive than the French-speaker's childhood language-acquisition skills (he learned English from Saturday morning cartoons!) and stunning promotion from kindergarten to Columbia Law School (there may have been a stop in college we're forgetting, but we don't have time to go back and double-check that part of the bio) is Dauman's uncanny ability to stay in the good graces of his notoriously prickly boss: More »
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By MarkComment by Sweet Panda Love: Executor of his estate...are they suggesting that Redstone is, in point of fact, actually already dead? I mean, that would explain... more » | Other threads
defamer
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Mon Jul 6
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