Reported in late May by N.Y. Times stalwart Laura Holson, rotely repeated by yours truly after speaking to a Disney employee at a party a week and a half ago, and now reiterated by Variety and also CNN Reuters: whackings, whackings…big whackings at Disney are soon to happen. “Plans to slash annual movie production by more than half — film production will drop from 18 films annually to eight — and eliminate jobs to ttrim costs and improve shareholder returns.” L.A. Times reporter Claudia Eller has written that “people familiar with the studio’s plans [estimate] that the workforce will be reduced by 20% to 25%.”

One of my absolute favorite things in this town (or any town, for that matter) is being invited to a party that’s supposed to start at 10 pm, as I was to Tuesday night’s Clerks 2 soiree at the Avalon on Vine Street, only to be kept waiting for five or ten minutes outside the damn place because the people in charge don’t feel like letting the guests in just yet, even though they’ve had a couple of hours to prepare for their arrival — 7.11.06, 10:08 pm.

(a) A ’70s or ’80s style sub-run theatre on Hollywood Blvd. near Vine — Tuesday, 7.11.06, 9:50 pm; (b) 1950s Mickey Spillane-styled sleazy sex shop and strip joint; (c) Surprise reaction to snapping of a photo during breakfast at Urth Caffe on Melrose — Monday, 7.10.06, 9:15 am; (d) Old Capitol records building on Vine Street opposite the Avalon — Monday, 7.11.06, 9:50 pm; (3) I beat a hasty retreat to the old 1949 Bob’s Big Boy on Riverside just after the Lady in the Water screening last night — Wednesday, 7.12.06, 10:20 pm; (4) ditto — Wednesday, 7.12.06, 10:23 pm

I’m very, very sorry to report this because I admire M. Night Shyamalan‘s crazy courage — the guts to follow through on a way-out-there vision of a film that he believes in 110%, despite the risk of complete failure. There are very few filmmakers like him. But after the word gets out about Lady in the Water, a lot of filmmakers are going to be very, very relieved that they don’t resemble Night at all.
I saw Lady in the Water Wednesday evening. I don’t know when the right time will be to post a review, but I know one thing: Disney chief Nina Jacobson is looking like one very smart, very prophetic executive. There’s an already-famous Jacobson quote in Michael Bamberger‘s book (“The Man Who Heard Voices”), and after coming home from tonight’s screening I read them over again, and I’m really sorry to write this because it makes me feel like Bob Balaban’s “Farber” character to do so, but much of what she said about Shyamalan’s Lady script way back when still holds.
“You said it was funny — I didn’t laugh.,” Jacobson told Night. “Your’e going to let a [film] critic get attacked? They’ll kill you for that. Your part’s too big — you’ll get killed again. You’ve got a writer who wants to change the world but doesn’t, but somebody reads the writer and does? Don’t get it. Lin Lao Choi is going to explain all these rules and all these words? Not buying it. Not getting it. Not working.” I don’t want to get started, but there are many, many more issues of concern besides these.