I missed Nikki Finke’s first report yesterday (which went up around 2:50 pm) about poor John Lesher getting fired as president of Paramount’s Film Group and Adam Goodman taking his place. The somewhat notorious Brad Weston (i.e., the guy who wasn’t interested in Twilight) has also been demoted.
I was out of the loop due to suffering through an obscene traffic jam on Sunset (allegedly due to a couple of accidents on the 10 and the 405). I had to cancel an appointment because of my entrapment; it also kept me from checking for online updates. You can’t fume and swear in the midst of stop-and-go traffic while surfing on your iPhone — being angry consumes you 100%.
A friend called and told me about the Lesher whacking around 4 or 4:30 pm, as I was heading over to the Fox lot for that 500 Days of Summer screening. But when I got out I figured nobody cared that much and it could wait. I care personally — Lesher always treated me decently and seemed a reasonably humane and responsive guy. (Plus I related to his neurotic temperament.) But I’ve never understood how the firing of another suit affects the price of rice in any meaningful way. Finke and Sharon Waxman and Kim Masters and Claudia Eller positively live for these stories…whatever, fine, go for it.
For me the bottom line is that the door is constantly revolving at the big studios — always has been, always will be — and none of these guys is Irving Thalberg so where’s the fire?
So when I got out of the film I said, “You know what? Fuck it.” I arranged to meet a good friend over at Typhoon, that cool exotic restaurant located on the Santa Monica Airport runway. The proprietor is Brian Vidor, son of director Charles Vidor. Excellent vibe, good people, delicious eats. My favorite L.A. haunt.