The Doctor in the Hallway News Report 11.14.07
Posted by Ben Moser on 11.14.2007
Writers' solidarity, Jada Pinkett Smith's directoral redundancy, Ben Affleck gets cheered up by his thoughts on public policy, and more in this week's edition of The Doctor in the Hallway News Report. Read it, or...um...[editor's note: the guy that writes Ben's threats is on strike]...
Why hello kids. I'd be remiss in my duties as a guy who writes stuff for your interweb viewing pleasure if I didn't welcome you back to the Doctor in the Hallway News Report. So welcome back.
I'm on a tight schedule, so the normal pleasantries and rants that fill the space beside the advertisement to your right so that the headlines aren't awkward must be dispensed with. Straight to the news...
Oh, so NOW they support a revolution
The Writers' Guild of Great Britain is standing shoulder to shoulder with its striking American comrades.
The WGGB is moving ahead with plans to stage its awards ceremony on Sunday, marking a return for the show after a 10-year absence. While organizers are keen for the show to avoid being entirely over-shadowed by the continuing cloud of uncertainty following the breakdown Stateside in relations between the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, they are eager for the event to serve as a reminder of the importance of writers.
"We wouldn't want it to turn into a rally but if anything it's a good chance to let the world know that writers exist and need nurturing and rewarding," said deputy general secretary Anne Hogben. "We are in solidarity with the WGA and we'll be doing anything we can to make sure there aren't any scab writers in our constituency."
I'm not sure what kind of deal the writers in Great Britain have, but it would be just plain bad business for them to not support the WGA strike. In the meantime, no new talks between sides in the strike have been scheduled and the first tests of the strike are starting to show with layoffs ahead for some of the late night television shows and a few soap opera writers preparing to cross the picket line.
I still support a strike, and hope that these guys get their fair share sooner rather than later...I'm just prepared to accept that it's going to probably come later.
Crossing Pinkett lines
Jada Pinkett Smith is making her directorial debut with the drama The Human Contract. Pinkett Smith wrote the script, and husband Will Smith will exec produce.
Pic will star Jason Clarke, Paz Vega, Ted Danson and Idris Elba.
A highly successful but personally tortured businessman (Clarke) has his life turned upside down after meeting a free-spirited, mysterious beauty (Vega), who tempts him to explore reckless love.
It may be Pinkett Smith's first movie as a director, but it's roughly the millionth movie to sport the description "A highly successful but personally tortured businessman has his life turned upside down after meeting a free-spirited, mysterious beauty, who tempts him to explore reckless love."
I mean, there may actually be more of these than movies with "Drunk teens go to a sketchy location to have sex and are systematically murdered by a mysterious figure," and that's saying something.
"So you weren't going to talk about me being in this movie? Did our time together mean nothing to you, Ben?
Shouldn't it be called Another Thomas Crown Affair?
Paul Verhoeven is set to helm The Thomas Crown Affair 2 for MGM. Pierce Brosnan will reprise his role as the world's most debonair thief and corporate raider in the sequel, which is set to begin shooting in January.
Rene Russo will not return as Crown's love interest. Instead, the follow-up to the 1999 film, which was a remake of a 1968 Steve McQueen-Faye Dunaway starrer, will feature a character named Nadia Badri as the new female lead. That role is uncast.
Latest installment is set in Europe and the Middle East and centers on Crown, who becomes entangled in a centuries-old feud and must decide how much he's truly willing to risk for love.
An old feud? Risk for love? Pierce Brosnan as Romeo? I have no idea why this needs to be a sequel to The Thomas Crown Affair and can't be a new Brosnan vehicle, especially with Russo not returning and a new love interest getting shoved in. Is the name The Thomas Crown Affairreally going to draw that many more people to the theater? Really? I remain skeptical. And awesome. I remain awesome, too.
That's the sound of the sky falling
Tom Cruise fears his new movie Lions For Lambs will be an expensive flop after it failed to break into the top three at the U.S. box office in its opening weekend. The star was hoping that the film - which cost an estimated $35 million to make - would be an international hit, but the Robert Redford-directed movie debuted at number four in the box office chart with takings of only $6.7 million. The movie is the first release from Cruise's United Artists studio, which he set up after he was sensationally dropped by Paramount last year.
If I were Cruise, I wouldn't be worried yet. Sure, Paramount may have a secret "I told you so" meeting where they pat themselves on the back for ditching Cruise before his crazy could lose them any more money; but I wouldn't call Cruise box office poison just based on the poor performance of an overtly political movie directed by Robert Redford. I'd call that combination performing poorly "the opposite of a surprise."
Those 56-year-olds with their rock & roll and their hippity hop music...
Actress Jane Seymour will face her British neighbors in court this week after locals complained about the "raucous" late-night parties held at her mansion in Bath, England. The former Bond girl, 56, holds a 24-hour entertainment license for the country home - but residents claim the round-the-clock gatherings are disturbing the peace of the area. Earlier this year, the British star branded her neighbors' accusations "a storm in a teacup," and maintains the last party held at her home was in 2004. The actress is currently living in Malibu, California, but rents the British property for $28,000-a-week to wealthy guests like pop star Robbie Williams and rock band Radiohead. The hearing will take place at the Bath and Wansdyke Magistrates' Court on Wednesday.
Maybe it was Radiohead that was making the noise. They've been quite the loud rockers lately. Except for not. At least blaming it on Radiohead is better than saying that the 56-year-old lady upstairs is throwing too wild a party for you. Jeez.
"Owen, do you think that the neighbors will complain that we're waltzing too loudly?"
This week's installment of CHEER UP, BEN AFFLECK!
You may have only been able to see your wife's first Broadway performance of Cyrano de Bergerac one time, but CHEER UP, BEN AFFLECK! You're joining Morgan Freeman and several insufferable Hollywood personalities for what is actually a good cause! From ecorazzi:
A flurry of Hollywood celebrities including Ben Affleck, Garth Brooks, Dakota Fanning, Morgan Freeman, Eva Mendes, Joaquin Phoenix, Jeremy Piven and Reese Witherspoon are joining the AARP's "Divided We Fail" campaign to bring attention to the domestic issues that worry Americans most: health care and financial security. In partnership with Hollywood's non-profits organizations, the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF) and the Motion Picture & Television Fund (MPTF), the campaign seeks bipartisan cooperation in finding solutions to achieving affordable, quality health care and financial security.
So while I may not care much for your skills as an actor or your choice in sports fandom, I totally agree with your attempts to bring health care more fully into the national debate. That ought to get you to sleep at night.
That'll do it for this week...
I'm kinda iffy about Beowulf, as all of the early reviews for it have been more "my what a pretty movie" moreso than "my what a good movie." After all, the Matrix sequels were pretty movies, but that didn't make them the least bit good. Still, I'm willing to give it a shot based on Zemeckis at the helm and Neil Gaiman writing the adaptation, and you should be too.
Until next week, don't do anything I wouldn't do...
