A bulletin from Hamptons resident and HE friendo Bill McCuddy…
“After debuting at Telluride on 8.30, Ivy Meeropol‘s Ask E. Jean had a big hot-ticket screening at the Hamptons Film Festival on Saturday, 10.4.
Carroll to McCuddy: “This is a film about how to beat Donald Trump, and that’s basically what my director Ivy Meeropol has done…she reveals what it will take to stop what’s going on today.”
Will Carroll ever see a dime of the nearly $90 million smackers the President owes her? “Oh yeah…have you met Robbie Kaplan?” she asked, referring to her pitbull lawyer and one of the documentary’s headliners.
“FUCK, yeah,” chimed in pal Ellen Barkin, standing by Carroll’s side. “Look at her lawyer.”
Barkin’s not in the film — she was just there for support and said, jokingly, “I’m playing E. Jean in an afterschool special so I have to really embrace her.”
Barkin then got serious about the gravity of Carroll’s lawsuits, the admission that J.C. hasn’t had sex since the attack, and how the film has affected the women’s movement.
Barkin: “It’s only the most important thing that’s happened, for me, since civil rights. The 70’s riots. This comes next for me.”
A number of familiar scenes played well (i.e., Trump identifying Carroll as Marla Maples in a photo). It also reveals the two people E. Jean confided in after the attack — newscaster Carol Martin and ‘Preppy Handbook’ journalist Lisa Bernbach. Other talking heads in the 91-minute film include Bill Boggs, Geraldo Rivera, and the entire Carroll legal team.
Trump’s deposition, considered ‘fair use’ footage because it was part of the trial, was “ripped from YouTube” according to the director. When someone from the audience asked if the Trump appeals — he has one left, according to the film — will be settled while The Beast is still in office, Kaplan said “Yes, I believe so.”
McCuddy worked with the Elle magazine author during the time of the assault in the mid 90s. She and he were both picked by Roger Ailes to host television shows on the now defunct NBC channel “America’s Talking.” She had the advice show “Ask E. Jean” and McCuddy had the afternoon talk show right before hers called “Break A Leg.”
McCuddy: “Carroll and I have kept in touch with social media and via an off-Broadway show I did before COVID that she came to see. She gave me a big hug on the red carpet for the HFF premiere. Pic is still looking for a distributor and gets a second viewing on Sunday.”