“If it’s true what’s reported [about Mel Gibson‘s anti-Semitic tirade], frequently hatred, bigotry and prejudice, which is controlled, explodes at moments of stress and crisis,” Rabbi Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, has told N.Y. Times reporter Allison Weiner. “Liquor loosens the tongue of what’s in the mind and in the heart, and in his mind and in his heart is his conspiracy theory about Jews and hatred of Jews.” Or to put it succinctly, “in vino, veritas.”

Watchers of Movie City News‘ front page may have noticed that David Poland has removed the link to Hollywood Elsewhere (which he always called “Jeffrey Wells”) from the Columnist links and has placed me under the Gossips, alongside Nikki Finke, Mark Ebner and Rush & Molloy.
No slight to the aforementioned (they’re all stand-up pros), but David seems to have shifted me out of the Columnist category (where my link has been sitting since ’02) because I’ve changed the HE format to emphasize the bloggy shorter-item stuff on top of my twice or thrice-weekly features, and — take this to the bank — because Poland is doing another one of his judgmental Rabbi Dave slapdowns, which are part of his basic M.O.
It’s an arbitrary call. Anne Thompson‘s RiskyBiz blog, which does pretty much the same thing as Hollywood Elsewhere (minus the colorings of my personality and the supplantings of her own, of course), is still listed among MCN’s Columns. Like Anne does with her regular Hollywood Reporter “Risky Business” column, I still run longish features except usually twice weekly (and sometimes even thrice) in addition to the short stuff.
Nothing has changed in terms of the longer pieces I’ve always done. And as Poland well knows, thousand-word dig-down pieces along the lines of, say, the new Taschen book about Roman Polanski or a coming indie superplex from Landmark or an explanation why the Snakes on a Plane cool factor is over are not commonly seen on Ebner’s or Rush & Molloy’s columns, or on Defamer or Page Six.
I’ve thrown stuff out there from time to time because it was “out there” and part of the hurly-burly and therefore allowed for a dissection of some kind, but I’ve never thought of what I write as gossip. HE has always been a kind of X-factor thing, but it’s mainly been about reporting, trend-spottings, early calls, straight reviews and attitude-personality. My point (and it’s okay to disagree) is that HE’s new MCN category has as much to do with David Poland’s high horse and that little chunk of broomstick lodged in his posterior cavity as anything else. This also has a little bit to do with it also, I think. And also this.

I don’t get why Warner Home Video is issuing their all-new DVD of Richard Donner‘s cut of Superman II — a fresh construction of the 1980 film — in late November. Because they figured everyone would be….what…Superman-ed out by late summer? I’m into seeing it now. Who wants to wait for Thanksgiving?

Donner never got to do his own cut because the notoriously eccentric producers of the first Superman series (Alexander and Ilya Salkind) dismissed him and hired Richard Lester to finish the sequel instead of Donner. The new DVD will have all kinds of restored footage (including some with Marlon Brando), some Chris Reeve audition footage, Donner’s feature commentary and introduction, a featurette, and deleted scenes.

Has anyone ever heard this song “I’m Easy” over the closing credits of any movie? No, not the Keith Caradine song from Robert Altman‘s Nashville but a Boz Scaggs tune off his 1970 “Boz Scaggs” debut album. I can’t remember which film it is, but I’m 85% sure I heard this tune on a soundtrack of some early ’80s film. I thought I might be Hal Needham’s Sugar Tits (1985) but I checked and I was wrong.

A 7.28 L.A. Times piece about how Paramount Classics marketers played the “swelter card” for Al Gore‘s An Inconvenient Truth by running a recent ad that asked, “How hot is your city today?” atop a blazing sun and bright red background. The ad reminded everyone that it had recently been 99 degrees in New York, 104 in Salt Lake City and 108 in Phoenix. The ad also ran reminders, according to Kelly-Ann Suarez‘s story, that “the Earth’s temperature is at a 400-year high, that the first half of 2006 was the hottest in history and that melting ice caps spell trouble for coastal cities.”

“When it comes to mass-market moviemaking, and especially at a time when the average cost of a studio release is creeping toward $200 million U.S., there is no room for originality in Hollywood. Never was and, barring some kind of wholesale revolution in industry thinking, never will be. It’s not wanted and, for the time being at least, not needed: after all, this summer’s most popular movie is also this summer’s most tediously uninspired, by-the-numbers retread: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. I mean jeez, even suggesting Hollywood isn’t original isn’t original. In some form or another, the point itself has been expressed so often it’s a clich√É∆í√Ǭ©. The difference is, you can’t get rich by repeating it. And that’s what separates Hollywood’s lack of inspiration from my own.” — the Toronto Star critic Geoff Pevere writing a feisty, original-sounding retread of a generic piece about why so many Hollywood movies blow the big one.

I first saw this via Anne Thompson‘s RiskyBiz blog, but here’s Mel Gibson’s apology statement about what happened in Malibu yesterday with the DUI and the reported anti-Semitic and “sugar tits” comments: “After drinking alcohol on Thursday night, I did a number of things that were very wrong and for which I am ashamed. I drove a car when I should not have, and was stopped by the LA County Sheriffs. The arresting officer was just doing his job and I feel fortunate that I was apprehended before I caused injury to any other person. I acted like a person completely out of control when I was arrested, and said things that I do not believe to be true and which are despicable. I am deeply ashamed of everything I said. Also, I take this opportunity to apologize to the deputies involved for my belligerent behavior. They have always been there for me in my community and indeed probably saved me from myself. I disgraced myself and my family with my behavior and for that I am truly sorry. I have battled with the disease of alcoholism for all of my adult life and profoundly regret my horrific relapse. I apologize for any behavior unbecoming of me in my inebriated state and have already taken necessary steps to ensure my return to health.”

“There is hardly any arthouse theatre left [in the U.S.], but I have a feeling that Hollywood is looking very closely at what I’m doing right now because in all these big action films with all the great special effects, real storytelling and real beauty and human depth are getting lost.” — Rescue Dawn director Werner Herzog speaking to The Australian‘s Rosalie Higson.

“I’m happy you brought up [Quentin] Tarantino. They say that I [am] influenced [by] Tarantino, so I had to go and rent Tarantino movies to see who was my influence. I think Tarantino belongs to the other kind of writers. It’s clear that he hasn’t suffered real violence in his life. I don’t have that sense of smell. I was cut by a knife before I was 14. So I know that violence is real. My cinema has nothing to do with Tarantino. You want to see one American influencing me? Go to William Faulkner.” — Babel screenwriter Guillermo Ariagga (also the writer of The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, 21 Grams, Amores perros) speaking to SF 360 writer Michael Fox.

They always say “never hold a drink in your hand when posing for a press photo” — here’s why. Little Miss Sunshine co-director Jonathan Dayton (l.) appears to be holding a bottle of Perrier, but the mere presence of a bottle in his right hand plus that vaguely smirky expression on his ruddy bearded face (he looks half-bombed) plus the straw pork-pie hat doesn’t make for a winning combination. If he’d put the bottle down and buttoned his jacket he’d be fine.

Sunshine co-director Valerie Faris (center) is also holding a Perrier bottle, but with both hands as if it the bottle is a piece of sculpture or an award she’s just won, and that makes all the difference. The lady looks sharp, elegant and reserved, like an art-gallery owner. L.A. Film Festival programming chief Rachel Rosen (r.) isn’t holding anything, and thank fortune for that.

Miami Vice did $8.8 million yesterday (Friday,7.28) with a projected $26.5 million by Sunday evening. Universal is probably going to end up with a gross of roughly $75 or $80 million at the end of the domestic run, which they’ll keep about 50% of which probably won’t cover their p & a (prints and ads) outlay. There’s foreign and video, of course, but there’s no way this Michael Mann pic, which cost over $135 million to make, isn’t a disappointer. A shame, too, for a film as rich and pleasurable as this one is — a rare instance of a sensual and sophisticated adult popcorn movie.
Pirates 2 was #2 with a $5,828,000 Friday and a projected weekend tally of $20,369,000. (Total domestic gross so far is $358 million.) John Tucker Must Die, a total stinker with the critics, came in third with $5,530,000 and a projected Sunday night tally of $14,106,000. Monster House was fourth with $3,589,000 and a projected weekend cume of $20,786, 000…off 46% from last weekend. The fifth-place The Ant Bully didn’t open (another black mark for WB marketing): $2,623,000 Friday, and a projected $7,774,000 by Sunday night.
WB’s Lady in the Water dropped 61% from last Friday, earning $2,230,000 yesterday for a projected $7,101,000 by Sunday night. Not only is M. Night Shyamalan’s drama not going to make $50 million, but it’s looking like it may be a push to hit $40 million. Add up Lady‘s failure, the weak Ant bully opening, the Poseidon mega-flop and the underperforming of Superman Returns (which is at $184 million but is losing screens big-time and is basically out of business) and we may be looking at an upper-level management situation with some rolling of heads down the road.
Another significant opening was the limited (seven theatres in N.Y. and L.A.) bow of Fox Searchlight’s Little Miss Sunshine. I’ve got $103,000 for Friday and a projected $359,000 by Sunday night with a per-print average of $51,000. (It opened on Wednesday, 7.26.) That’s very good. Definitely a hit so far.

This report on TMZ.com is terrible news for Mel Gibson, even though he was apparently loaded when it happened. Gibson reportedly lost his temper and became belligerent after he was arrested Friday on suspicion of drunk driving, and thereafter, a hand-written deputy’s report says, spewed anti-Semitic epithets. TMZ has obtained what is alleged to be four pages of the original report, written by L.A. County Sheriff’s Deputy James Mee, the arresting officer.
TMZ is also reporting that the L.A. County Sheriff’s department had the initial report edited to keep the real story suppressed. (TMZ’s report says that “sources say Mee was told Gibson’s comments would incite a lot of ‘Jewish hatred,’ that the situation in Israel was ‘way too inflammatory.’ It was mentioned several times that Gibson, who wrote, directed, and produced 2004’s The Passion of the Christ, had incited ‘anti-Jewish sentiment’ and ‘for a drunk driving arrest, is this really worth all that?’ TMZ was told that Deputy Mee was then ordered to write another report, leaving out the incendiary comments and conduct. Sources say Deputy Mee was told the sanitized report would eventually end up in the media and that he could write a supplemental report that contained the eliminated information — a report that would be locked in the watch commander’s safe.)
The most damning section of Mee’s alleged original report claims that Gibson “launched into a barrage of anti-Semitic statements. One tirade, the report says, went as follows: ‘F***ing Jews…the Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world.” Gibson then asked Deputy Mee, “Are you a Jew?”
I didn’t mention this initially because it sounds so incongruous and insensitive alongside the anti-Semitic comments, but there’s one small upside for Gibson in this whole mess — i.e., reportedly having said to a female police sergeant as he was brought into the station “What are you looking at, sugar tits?” I’m sorry but that’s funny.
The way people tend to process these incidents, I suspect they’re going to boil the Gibson thing down to the basics and consider the Big Inflammables as a simplistic side-by-side equation — “Jews responsible for all the wars” vs. “sugar tits.” Bad Jews vs. sugar tits…see? Sugar tits is funnier. Spin the racial venom as the unfortunate ravings of a guy who had too much to drink (haven’t we all said or done something terrible or idiotic when we’ve had too much to drink?) and “sugar tits” becomes a joke for Bill Maher, Jay Leno, David Letterman, etc.