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disaster of the week
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disaster of the week
the prodigal son
Tom Cruise Lunches With Sumner Redstone, Calls Dibs on DreamWorks' Parking Spots
In a rumored attempt at brokering the type of fragile, public peace not seen since the Camp David accords 30 years ago, Tom Cruise and Sumner Redstone apparently had lunch together Thursday at the Beverly Hills Hotel's Polo Lounge. Or so report spies for The Wall Street Journal and Page Six, alluding to the star's blockbuster drought since leaving Paramount. We didn't believe it at first, but when you think about it, wouldn't those soon-to-be-vacated DreamWorks offices at the 'Mount make a decent home for Cruise's fledgling United Artists revival?More »
fun with numbers
United Artists Mogul Tom Cruise Reportedly Buried Under Mountain Of Thousands Of Scripts
One studio in Hollywood, at least, may not think that this strike situation is really all that bad. A Defamer operative tells us there's a rumor floating around that since it struck its side-deal with the Writers Guild earlier this week, Tom Cruise's United Artists has been deluged with "2,500" scripts as idling agents frantically abandoned their Scrabulous games and retaliatory werewolf attacks to get their clients' projects in front of pretty much the only people who can get anything done at the moment. Is that figure merely the fantasy of some tracking board poster who decided to arbitrarily assign a numerical value to "a shitload"? Probably! More »
short ends
Rupert Murdoch Not Going To Let The Strike Ruin His Xmas Party Plans
· Tom Cruise's career as a studio mogul is off to an inauspicious start, as poor box office results for Lions for Lambs suggest he hasn't quite cultivated the hitmaking instincts MGM believed he had when they handed him United Artists. Next up: Tom tries to kill Hitler! [Variety]
· Entertainment companies are facing a difficult choice as the year draws to a close: Should they continue on with their holiday party plans despite the presence of nearby striking writers, pelting them with cocktail weenies and cups of eggnog purchased with money they're saving on internet residual payments? Or should they shut down their galas, recognizing the economic hardships brought about by the work stoppage? For its part, Fox will continue on with a somewhat scaled-down version of the weenie-and-eggnog assault plans, as Rupert Murdoch was especially looking forward to drenching a couple of strikers himself. [THR]
after the couch
So How's The Studio Mogul Thing Working Out For Tom Cruise?
When MGM turned over the reigns of its moribund United Artists label to Tom Cruise a few short months after the actor/producer/freelance detox technician was cruelly cast out of the Paramount family, we just assumed that the burgeoning mogul would effortlessly greenlight himself up a few blockbusters that would quickly restore him to his former position as the Biggest Movie Star in the World. But with early reviews of the forthcoming Lions for Lambs, his first UA-branded release seeming tepid at best, Slate's Kim Masters looks at the studio's next projects, finding little that would make one want to stomp a talk show sofa in joy:
More »
trade roundup
Tom Cruise Vs. Germany III: The Benderblock Lockdown
· In the latest development in the increasingly hard-to-follow story of Valkyrie's Tom Cruise and Bryan Singer's attempts to obtain shooting permits for German government sites in Berlin, the production has been denied permission to film in the historic Benderblock building, where the revered Nazi-hunter to be portrayed by the actor was executed. But not because Cruise is a Scientologist! Government officials understandably just want to preserve the dignity of their memorial, realizing that everything Hollywood touches is instantly desecrated. [Variety]
· Actors who may or may not be joining the cast of Desperate Housewives: Dana Delany, Nathan Fillion, and Lyndsy Fonseca. Fun fact: Delaney was the first choice for the role eventually given to Marcia Cross. [THR]
· Transformers gets a "six-day weekend" to squeeze as much money as possible out of the Fourth of July holiday. [Variety]
· Sad news: We may be falling slowly out of love with the most promising show of the summer, NBC's Kittens Vs. Cougars: The Battle To Bone Onetime Tennis Star Marc Philippoussis, which felt a little desperate and saggy after last night's low-rated, back-to-back installments. (And what happened to companion show Boner Vs. Science?) [THR]
· Spike Lee angry. [Variety]
Wonder what Tom Cruise has been up to recently besides scrapping with the Scientology-hating Germans who want to stop him from killing Hitler? Fighting with Meryl Streep, apparently, in Lions for Lambs. [Moviefone]
trade roundup
German Government Now More Welcoming Of Tom Cruise's Hitler-Hunting Movie
· Contrary to a previous report, the head of Germany's Bundesanstalt fuer Immobilienaufgaben says that the government won't stop Tom Cruise and his Valkyrie production from shooting on their historical military sites because he's a Scientologist, and should grant the movie a film permit as long as Cruise promises that any massage-and-Dianetics tents he plans on installing on their set won't distract members of the Ministry of Defense from their day-to-day duties. [Variety]· On Wednesday night, Fox's dancing competition triumphs over ABC's celebrity-impersonator and insane-inventor competitions, as well as NBC's struggling-comedian competition. Please, do yourself a favor and cover your television in a sheet that you swear not to remove until September. [THR]
· The following elements have been attached to Body of Lies, an adaptation of a CIA-set novel by David Ignatius: actor Russell Crowe; actor Leonardo DiCaprio; director Ridley Scottl screenwriter William Monahan. [Variety]
· Do you ache for more Tom Selleck MOW appearances? Suffer no more, for CBS has ordered another installment of the actor's Jesse Stone series. [THR]
· Hunky-but-still-serious actor Ryan Gosling joins Mummy refugee Rachel Weisz in Peter Jackson's adaptation of The Lovely Bones. [Variety]
tom cruise
Government Opposes Tom Cruise's Plan To Assassinate Hitler On German Soil
While the German government long ago named acting legend and adult-contemporary pop idol David Hasselhoff its Honorary Chancellor for Cultural Affairs in recognition of his many contributions to the arts, it has largely ignored the work of onetime international megastar Tom Cruise because of his controversial association with Scientology, a faith they narrow-mindedly refuse to recognize as an official religion, even though it has provided many generous American celebrities with a safe place in which to charitably invest their excess wealth. In addition to this ongoing and profound institutional slight, the government is now refusing to allow Cruise's latest movie, Valkyrie, the story of a WWII plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, to film at their military sites, denying exacting director Bryan Singer the Teutonic verisimilitude required to properly execute his cinematic vision: More »
trade roundup
Trade Round-Up: Cruise Taps Himself
· After careful deliberation, Tom Cruise decides to insert himself into the WWII-set thriller (from The Usual Suspects team of director Bryan Singer and writer Christopher McQuarrie) he acquired for shiny new toy United Artists last week, taking a role in the ensemble piece as a character who struggles to diffuse his blinding star power for the sake of his fellow castmates. [Variety]· Blockbuster's CEO is stepping down by the end of the year over a dispute about his bonus. Scintillating! [THR]
· New Line wins the rights to make an inevitably terrible movie from the Xbox game Gears of War; CAA ran the auction, which seems to have been free of messengers wearing elaborate costumes, perhaps in hopes of not repeating the Halo debacle. [Variety]
· Today in bad ideas for potential hero franchises: Columbia options the rights to The Green Hornet in an attempt to prove that the kids will go wild for characters originally appearing in 1930s radio plays. [THR]
· Clear four or so hours (not including that all-important red carpet time) off your calendar on Sunday, February 24th of next year, as the Academy has chosen that now hallowed date for next year's 80th Anniversary Oscars telecast. [Variety]
trade roundup
Trade Round-Up: Woody Allen Cleverly Sets Up Johansson-Cruz Catfight For His On-Set Attention
· Scarlett Johansson will star (with Penelope Cruz) in her third Woody Allen movie, finally cracking the top tier of the pervy director's obsessive lust-objects. [Variety]· In announcing his attachment to new comedy project Part-Time Pirates for Fox, Click director Frank Coraci officially puts an end to an increasingly annoying era of buccaneer-positive culture: "Pirates are the original punk rockers. Politically and socially with everything going on in the world there's never been a better time than now to revive that spirit. Arrrrrrgh!" [THR]
· Tom Cruise's United Artists greenlights its second film (what, you thought Cruise wasn't serious about this pretending to run a studio thing?), getting into The Usual Suspects business by nabbing an ensemble thriller reuniting Team Soze's Bryan Singer and Chris McQuarrie. [Variety]
· Nielsen terrorist organization American Idol detonates a nuclear weapon that wipes out all television-watching life other than its nearly 30 million Tuesday night viewers. They'll truly stop at nothing to dominate their timeslot. [THR]
· CBS gets the most daytime Emmy nominations, with The Ellen DeGeneres Show squeezing out 12 nods to The View's mere 10. We blame Hasselbeck for the shortfall. [Variety]
trade roundup
Variety's Peter Bart, himself once the "nominal" head of United Artists, offers Tom Cruise some unsolicited career advice. Among the tips: Nurture maverick talent. Also: Shut the hell up about the Scientology stuff, and act like the nice Quakers and Mormons who don't shove their religions in Bart's face. [Variety]
Casino Royale shatters the first-day UK box office record for Bond films, bringing in a record $3.2 million. [THR]
· Meanwhile, China's censorship board approves Royale for release, despite fears that the repeated display of Daniel Craig's unclothed torso might cause an unwanted spike in birth rates. [Variety]
· And in former Bond news, Pierce Brosnan takes another spy-related gig, Spy vs Stu, in which he'll play a "handsome, debonair" secret agent out to steal the girlfriend of a fellow vacationer. [THR]
· Hollywood insiders are skeptical that Phillip Morris is sincere in taking out ads in the trades begging studios not to use their cigarette brands in movies, no matter how cool actors look while marketing their tobacco products to a new generation of potential smokers. [Variety]
Trade Round-Up: A Memo To Tom Cruise
Variety's Peter Bart, himself once the "nominal" head of United Artists, offers Tom Cruise some unsolicited career advice. Among the tips: Nurture maverick talent. Also: Shut the hell up about the Scientology stuff, and act like the nice Quakers and Mormons who don't shove their religions in Bart's face. [Variety]Casino Royale shatters the first-day UK box office record for Bond films, bringing in a record $3.2 million. [THR]
· Meanwhile, China's censorship board approves Royale for release, despite fears that the repeated display of Daniel Craig's unclothed torso might cause an unwanted spike in birth rates. [Variety]
· And in former Bond news, Pierce Brosnan takes another spy-related gig, Spy vs Stu, in which he'll play a "handsome, debonair" secret agent out to steal the girlfriend of a fellow vacationer. [THR]
· Hollywood insiders are skeptical that Phillip Morris is sincere in taking out ads in the trades begging studios not to use their cigarette brands in movies, no matter how cool actors look while marketing their tobacco products to a new generation of potential smokers. [Variety]
tom crusie
The NY Post reports that Daniel Snyder, the Redskins owner and amusement park magnate who helped suddenly homeless megastar Tom Cruise in his darkest, post-Paramount moments by offering the actor an unconventional exchange of production company overhead for high-profile mascot services, might also be interested in funding his pal's ventures at the newly resuscitated United Artists:
More »
Tom Cruise Still Might Get That Amusement Park Money
The NY Post reports that Daniel Snyder, the Redskins owner and amusement park magnate who helped suddenly homeless megastar Tom Cruise in his darkest, post-Paramount moments by offering the actor an unconventional exchange of production company overhead for high-profile mascot services, might also be interested in funding his pal's ventures at the newly resuscitated United Artists:
More »
tom cruise
Paula Wagner: The Creation Story
Ever since the announcement that MGM was pulling its United Artists brand out of mothballs and handing it over to the world's most famously unemployed actor, the headlines (and all the stunning UA watertower designs) have inevitably focused on Tom Cruise, not longtime producing strongwoman (and former agent) Paula Wagner, the person who will actually be charged with the responsibility of interpreting requests like, "Hey, let's do one where I sprint through the streets with perfect posture, and then maybe later I dangle from an airplane landing gear or something cool like that" into actual movie projects. The LA Weekly's Nikki Finke looks to bridge this yawning attention gap by filing us in on Wagner's personal history: More »
tom cruise
Let's Not Get Too Crazy Over This Tom Cruise Stuff Just Yet: A Lone Voice Of Sanity Round-Up
While scouring the roughly sixteen thousand stories trailing Tom Cruise's unexpected, imminent return to gainful employment this morning, we noticed a lone voice rising from the desert of media analysis, repeatedly countering all the prematurely exuberant chatter about how the actor and producing enforcer Paula Wagner are ready to revive United Artists' legacy, usher in a new, talent-fellating Hollywood Golden Age with their studio gigs, and summon down from the heavens a deluge of investor cash. Not so fast, says our go-to Cruise contrarian: More »
tom cruise
Defamer Studio Architecture Dept.: Designing Tom Cruise's UA Watertower
We realize that Tom Cruise's newly resurrected United Artists is merely a brand within the MGM family, but we still think that his parent studio needs to recognize their historic partnership with the star in dramatic fashion. What better way to celebrate Cruise's incipient moguldom than by erecting a UA water tower atop MGM's headquarters, the kind of iconic structure that already beautifies the property of several competitors' lots? We feel so strongly about the idea that we've devoted a good five or six minutes of our in-house design department's valuable time to conceptualizing such a monument, which would loom intimidatingly over Century City and be visible for miles in every direction, letting the entire town know where Cruise's new moviemaking power is centralized. Failing this, MGM could always opt for something on a smaller scale, like commissioning a tasteful bronze sculpture for their lobby depicting the actor kicking Sumner Redstone in the ass. More »
trade roundup
Trade Round-Up: The United Artists Of Tom Cruise
· It still hasn't totally sunk in that Tom Cruise is going to be running United Artists. We think we all still need some time with this one. [Variety, THR]Robert De Niro and 50 Cent are in "final negotiations" to star as partners in cop thriller New Orleans, a project that is screaming out to be immediately reimagined as a Lethal Weapon-style buddy comedy. [THR]
Producer Brian Grazer, Universal, and a dump truck full of cash are close to convincing Spike Lee that a sequel to seemingly self-contained bank heist flick Inside Man is a good idea. [Variety]
Madonna-founded Maverick Films is suing a film production company for stealing its ideas for a movie Maverick is making on the Stanford Prison Experiment, which they themselves originally appropriated from a Psychology 101 college textbook. [THR]
Universal's Rogue Pictures will distribute legendary video-game-adapting hack Paul W.S. Anderson's Castlevania movie. [Variety]
tom cruise
