T H E R I C H & F A M O U S
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Fran Drescher Says Studio Execs Had a ‘Come to Jesus Moment’ During Strikes: ‘They Didn’t See This Coming. They Didn’t See Me Coming’
SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher was a model of fearlessness last year during the union’s 118-day strike — the longest in its history — facing down the leaders of the major studios, while maintaining membership solidarity on the picket lines. But she’s quick to admit that the “unrelenting stress” took its toll. Two months after the union ratified its new contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, her body is still paying her back for what her brain put it through. Recently recovered from a “cold from hell” she brought back to Los Angeles from New York, she’s now dealing with a torn meniscus in her knee.
“I try to be a superwoman, but sometimes my body reminds me that I’m not,” says Drescher. 
Revelations Entertainment has explored a wide variety of topics since Morgan Freeman and computer-programmer-turned-producer Lori McCreary founded the production company two decades ago: The projects have been both global and universal, tackling South African politics (the 2009 feature “Invictus”) and women in power (CBS’ “Madam Secretary”) in addition to fundamental issues such as love, belief, rebellion and peace (the National Geographic docu-series “The Story of Us”).
But the impetus to form the company came from a deeply personal place in Freeman. Like many men of his generation, Freeman grew up playing cowboy and watching Westerns. But, as an African-American, he didn’t see many people who looked like him riding high in the saddle on the big screen, literally or figuratively. There were a few who were given respectable but not necessarily fully developed roles, including “Spartacus” gladiator Woody Strode and “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” co-star Rex Ingram, but most high-profile black actors appearing in mainstream films, such as Stepin Fetchit, Mantan Moreland and Willie Best, played subservient, stereotypical characters. “There was no historical evidence that anyone black was doing anything other than nothing,” says Freeman. Also, check out my feature about Freeman's production partner Lori McCreary, and learn about her journey from computer programmer to film producer.
Can the Dude outdo the Duke? In this "Anatomy of a Contender" feature from The Hollywood Reporter, filmmakers Joel & Ethan Coen and stars Hailee Steinfeld, Matt Damon and a very Lebowski-esque Jeff Bridges talk about the challenge of bringing Charles Portis' True Grit to the big screen, while working in the shadow of John Wayne, who won an Oscar for his performance in the 1969 adaptation of the novel. Click here to read the article.
In my first piece for Nylon Guys magazine, titled "Bigger Than Elvish," I interview Evangeline Lilly (“The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug," TV’s “Lost") over drinks and guacamole at Mercado Restaurant in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, I had to leave out the part where she jumped up and asked me to feel the fabric of her gaucho pants.
Read my 60th birthday tribute to Muhammad Ali from The Hollywood Reporter, exploring what made the champ "The Greatest" with noted actors (Michael J. Fox, Gregory Hines, Kris Kristofferson, Rod Steiger, etc.) authors (George Plimpton, Budd Schulberg, Gay Talese), TV journalists (Ed Bradley, Bryant Gumbel) and rapper Chuck D.
Mark Wahlberg talks about how members of his real life "Entourage" came together to make his fact-based Afghanistan war drama "Lone Survivor" in this article I wrote for Variety.
 Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston in "Wanderlust."
Jennifer Aniston has done a lot since "Friends," but for some reason I had a weird '90s flashback when I talked to her for this article in Variety in which she and various collaborators (including "Wanderlust" c0-star Paul Rudd) discuss her affinity for ensemble work.
 Sofia Vergara and Julie Bowen on ABC's "Modern Family."
I discuss "The Rise of TV's 'Anti-Mom'" with Julie Bowen ("Modern Family"), Julia Louis Dreyfus ("The New Adventures of Old Christine"), Marcia Cross ("Desperate Housewives"), Lauren Graham ("Parenthood") and Rachel Griffiths ("Brothers & Sisters") in this article from The Hollywood Reporter.
To a visitor to Stage 24 at the CBS Studio Center in Studio City, the situation for Fox's "The Bernie Mac Show" looks dire: The title character smiles from a painting next to a coffin adorned with a plaque reading, "Bernie Mac, 1957-2006."
Fortunately, it is only a dream sequence, and the man in the coffin isn't even Mac but body double Hamilcar Crosby. "I said, 'No, sir, I ain't getting in there,'" Mac says emphatically. "I don't mind telling a story that makes people use their imaginations, but I'm not going to paint the picture that vivid and strong like that -- no." ... 
Julianne Moore talks about being the indie film "it" woman in a Q&A for The Hollywood Reporter.
Click here to read the interview. 
Did the Jim Morphesis painting Benicio Del Toro bought with his first big acting paycheck survive the lean times that followed? Click here to read the interview from The Hollywood Reporter and find out.
In my Q&A with Nicolas Cage for The Hollywood Reporter, the actor advises his younger self, "Be careful you don't intense yourself right out of the business." One has to wonder if his older self was listening. Click here to read the interview.
Michael J. Fox talks about his memoir Lucky Man and coming to terms with Parkinson's Disease.
Click here to read the article from Satellite Direct Magazine. 
Martin Scorsese talks about Gangs of New York, improvisation, moonlighting as an actor and the prospect of turning 60. Click here to read the interview from The Hollywood Reporter.
Writer/director Christopher Nolan ("The Dark Knight," "Inception") talks about the strange goings-on in his garage.
Click here to read the interview from The Hollywood Reporter. 
The idea that Sandra Bullock would give up on romantic comedies sounds as preposterous as John Wayne giving up Westerns or Gene Kelly abandoning musicals.
But that's precisely what the actress vowed to do after making Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous. Click here to read the entire article from the New York Post. 
Director Peter Jackson reflects on his long journey with the Lord of the Rings trilogy and looks forward to new projects.
Click here to read the Q&A from The Hollywood Reporter. 
Writer/director Lawrence Kasdan (The Big Chill, Grand Canyon) takes a break from chronicling the travails of the Baby Boom generation to try his hand at genre filmmaking with his adaptation of Stephen King's Dreamcatcher.
Click here to read the article from CFQ Magazine. Ten years after the critical and commercial failure of Dreamcatcher, Kasdan has returned to chronicling the travails of the Baby Boom generation with his upcoming film Darling Companion, starring Diane Keaton and Kevin Kline, which he discusses with me in my recent Made in Utah feature from The Hollywood Reporter.  Corbin Bernsen on the set of his film "Rust."
In this article in Filmmaker Magazine, I find out how Corbin Bernsen — yes, former "L.A. Law" star Corbin Bernsen — is demonstrating that community building can not only help movies get made but strengthen local economies, while he works to establish himself as a writer/director.
Also check out my previous articles for Filmmaker, Instant Cinema and Slush Pile.  Click image to view article from The Hollywood Reporter. I talk movie gangsters with Viggo Mortensen ("Eastern Promises"), Josh Brolin ("American Gangster") and other tough guys. Cllick here.
Writer/director M. Night Shyamalan talks about shooting in his hometown of Philadelphia, taking his own sweet time with the pacing of his films and his skills for giving the chills.
Click here to read the interview from The Hollywood Reporter. 
When I interviewed T-Bone Burnett in 2002, he was riding high as the producer of the soundtrack to the Coen Brothers film "O Brother, Where Art Thou," which sold 5.9 million copies in the United States, hit the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 album chart and won five Grammys, including 2002 album of the year, beating out U2, OutKast and his friend and onetime boss Bob Dylan. Still, The Hollywood Reporter only gave me enough space to squeeze in two or three quotes into my profile of him. Click here to read our conversation in its entirety.
I interview writer/director James L. Brooks ("Terms of Endearment," "Broadcast News," etc.) about his intimate working relationship with his editor Richard Marks in a 2005 article from The Hollywood Reporter.
Few directors have explored the full range of filmmaking like [2010's] DGA motion picture direction Lifetime Achievement Award honoree
Norman Jewison. From light comedy (1964's "Send Me No Flowers") to dark
drama (1984's "A Soldier's Story") to musicals (1971's "Fiddler on the
Roof"), the Canadian native has done it all -- though that doesn't mean,
as he told The Hollywood Reporter's Todd Longwell, he's quite done yet.
Click here to read the interview from The Hollywood Reporter. |
Martin Scorsese Praises Golden Age Producer David O. Selznick’s Ahead of PGA Award Honor: ‘He Had A Producer’s Showmanship and Sense of Grandeur’
Over the course of his long career, Martin Scorsese has amassed scores of producing credits on projects ranging from “Uncut Gems” to “Once Were Brothers” and “Vinyl” in addition to his own work on films such as Oscar and PGA nominee “Killers of the Flower Moon.” His love of cinema and preservation of it is well established, making him a more than worthy recipient of the PGA’s David O. Selznick Achievement Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures.
But, technically speaking, Scorsese wasn’t much of a producer during the first three decades of his career. He’s listed as a producer on his early short films “Vesuvius VI” (1959) and “The Big Shave” (1967) and an associate producer on the music documentary “Medicine Ball Caravan” (1967). But he didn’t take another producing credit until the 1990 feature “The Grifters,” directed by Stephen Frears, and he didn’t take one on a film he directed until 2010’s “Shutter Island.” What changed? Not much, according to Scorsese. Hollywood Power Attorney & the Birthday Gift Battle Between Sandra Bullock & Dick Wolf
If one had to point to a single metric that sums up how much Clifford Gilbert-Lurie is valued, it would be a British luxury car topped by a large red bow.
More specifically, a Bentley, gifted to him by producer Dick Wolf. Sandra Bullock vividly remembers the night. The year was 2004. She had come to Gilbert-Lurie’s 50th birthday party armed with what she thought was the perfect gift, an 18th century silver wine sediment sifter. “They’re hard to find intact,” explains Bullock, a Gilbert-Lurie client since 1996. “I was walking up to his house, so excited, holding it like it was the holy grail, and there was that gorgeous black Bentley with the big-ass bow. I was just… the rage.” 
"Why would I want to make decapitation believable and then not want to make sex believable? Sex is the best thing ever," Lauren Cohan told me during our interview for the October/November 2014 issue of Nylon Guys. Wearing a faded t-shirt and jean shorts, she looked a lot more like the tomboyish zombie-slaying Maggie on AMC's "The Walking Dead" than the sex bomb she portrays in photo shoots, but that probably made it a lot easier for me to focus during our talk. The important thing is that she was refreshingly fun and candid, discussing everything from childhood traumas to the joys of a fast Corvette.
England's The Daily Mail also got into the sex 'n' decapitation action, using the article (titled "Dead Sexy") as the basis for a feature. 
In Nylon Guys magazine, I interview "Black Panther" star Chadwick Boseman about how he went from portraying saintly Brooklyn Dodger Jackie Robinson in "42" to funky wild man James Brown in "Get on Up."
Tom Cruise is elusive, giving off a vaguely "Mission: Impossible" vibe. He's charming, playful and generally effusive, but one gets the feeling that if he gets too specific about the plot of "Minority Report," his highly anticipated collaboration with Steven Spielberg... the tape that's recording the conversation will self-destruct in five seconds.
"It's an action-mystery that's Spielberg at his Spielbergian finest," reveals Cruise. Click here to read the entire article from The Hollywood Reporter. 
Find out what Pierce Brosnan does when he's asked for autographs while doing his business in a public restroom in this Q&A from the James Bond 40th Anniversary Special Issue of The Hollywood Reporter. Oh, yeah -- and he discusses his philosophy about 007, too.
Click here for the interview. Also check out Back in Bondage, my in-depth look at Brosnan's fourth and final go-round as 007 in Die Another Day. 
In my first assignment for The Hollywood Reporter, I interview fifteen show business legends, including Kirk Douglas, Shirley Mac Laine, "Chinatown" screenwriter Robert Towne, Catherine Deneuve, Carl Reiner (click here to read our entire conversation), Aaron Spelling, Robert Wise, Liv Ullmann, Roger Corman and Steve Allen. I talk Bogart with Lauren Bacall (click here for the entire conversation) and hear Quincy Jones tell me I'm "a real 360 dude." (It took a week for me to figure out he was complimenting me for being "well-rounded.") Click here to read the article.
Jodie Foster has been a working actress since the age of three, but is she more temperamentally suited for a career behind the camera? Click here to read the interview from The Hollywood Reporter.
As part of my exploration of the state of set safety for Variety, I talked to '70s superstar Burt Reynolds about the various broken bones, burns and near-misses he's had over the course of his career. Read it here.
Also check out the Q&A with Reynolds I did for The Hollywood Reporter back in 2010, in which he talks about working in his home state of Florida for his return to television in USA Network's Burn Notice, starring Jeffrey Donovan.
I corralled Owen Wilson (aka "The Butterscotch Stallion") for Variety's International Star of the Year profile. No, I didn't address him by his equine sobriquet or ask about his brush with death four years back, 'cause I want to keep working in this town. But I did get him to talk about childhood encounters with photographer Richard Avedon, working with Woody Allen on "Midnight in Paris" and whether he'll ever pen a follow-up to his Oscar-nominated script for 2001's "The Royal Tenenbaums."
Steve Martin (Shopgirl), Larry McMurtry (Brokeback Mountain) and James Mangold (I Walk the Line) explore the challenges of adapting books for the big screen. Click here to read the article from The Hollywood Reporter.
In this interview for The Hollywood Reporter, I talk to Laurence Fishburne about his four-decade career, from working with Francis Ford Coppola on 1979's "Apocalypse Now" to his then-current role in 2006's "Akeelah and the Bee."
The joys and pitfalls of sharing the screen are examined with actors Jeff Daniels, Rosario Dawson, Ralph Fiennes, William Hurt, Frank Langella, Emily Mortimer, Tony Shalhoub, Jimmy Smits and David Strathairn and writer/directors Paul Haggis and Stephen Gaghan. Click here to read the article from The Hollywood Reporter. 
Read my interviews with four Oscar-nominated actors -- John Hawkes (Winter's Bone), Lesley Manville (Another Year), Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit) and Jacki Weaver (Animal Kingdom) -- and one that should've been, Andrew Garfield (The Social Network), here in The Hollywood Reporter's special report on the 2011 Santa Barbara International Film Festival.
Kirk Douglas
knows all about "runaway production" to foreign locales. Sitting on a
striped couch in
the living room of his Beverly Hills home, surrounded by paintings by
Balthus, Vuillard and other modernist masters, the screen legend can
still feel the sting of betrayal 50 years later.
Click here to read the entire article from The Hollywood Reporter. 
USO tours weren't all showgirls and golf jokes for Bob Hope. Read how he and his troupe narrowly missed being blown to bits by Viet Cong car bomb that took the lives of 20 people in this article from The Hollywood Reporter, featuring a canned quote from 99-year-old Old Ski Nose, whose "vital signs [were] good" at the time, according to a friend.
Catherine Deneuve talks about her gritty turn in Lars Von Trier's surreal Palme d'Or-winning musical drama "Dancer in the Dark" and shows me that French women really do say "oo-la-la"in this Q&A from Vu Magazine
My 1998 interview with Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman began with him excusing himself to use the bathroom, which was a little surprising because, according to former band mate Keith Richards, "he has one of the biggest bladders in human existence" (which the guitarist blamed for a 1965 bust), But, to be fair, it had probably filled up during back to back phone calls. When he returned, presumably a gallon lighter, he was ready to talk about his 31 years as the bass player for the “Greatest Rock & Roll Band in the World" and Struttin' Our Stuff, the first album by his new group Bill Wyman & The Rhythm Kings.
Click here to read the interview. 
Doug Fieger of The Knack discusses the band's 1998 album Zoom and gives me an account of his lost years following the release of their blockbuster debut Get the Knack (featuring "My Sharona"), including the most chilling description of the hollowness of success I've ever heard. Click here to read the interview.
I'll be honest with you. I'm a Michael York fan. For my money, I don't know if it gets any better than when he has a sword fight in the dark with Christopher Lee in "The Three Musketeers," and a "Logan's Run" poster on my office wall above my computer. So I was happy to have get the opportunity to interview him back in 2000 when he he was promoting his book
The Shakespearean Actor Prepares. Click here to read the interview.
Patrick Warburton (CBS' Rules of Engagement) talks about his transition from playing lovable lummox Puddy on Seinfeld to a sociopathic wannabe filmmaker in the big screen adaptation of Charles Willeford's noir novel The Woman Chaser. Click here to read the interview.
Mary Hart takes a sunshine-y look back at 20 perky years on Entertainment Tonight in this feature from Satellite Direct Magazine. Click here to read the article.
Jorja Fox (CSI's Sara Sidle) talks about TV forensics, working on the The West Wing and the simple method she used to transform herself from a chubby kid into a successful teen model. Click here to read the article from Emmy Magazine.
Smooth jazz saxophonist Dave Koz reflects on his career on the eve of receiving his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Click here to read the Q&A from The Hollywood Reporter. 
I call on an illustrious list of former Academy Award-winners and nominees to get their opinions on the 2002 Oscar race, including Ernest Borgnine, Jon Voight, Chloë Sevigny, Marlee Matlin, Benicio Del Toro, Rod Steiger, Anne Archer and Elizabeth Taylor.
Click here to read the article from The Hollywood Reporter. 
If lofty expectations are putting a heavy burden on Emma Roberts, she isn't showing it. But, then, as the daughter of Oscar-nominated actor Eric Roberts and the niece of top star (and Oscar winner) Julia Roberts, she's been carrying that kind of baggage since she first stepped in front of the cameras at age 10 to play Johnny Depp's daughter in 2001's "Blow." But when the 16-year-old actress spoke with The Hollywood Reporter, she did admit to feeling a bit concerned about taking on the role of the titular teen sleuth in Warner Bros. Pictures' upcoming "Nancy Drew" ...
Click here to read the entire article from The Hollywood Reporter. |
