June 26, 2009 | 5:53 pm

Scene with LaToya Jackson cut from ‘Bruno’

Posted by Danielle Berrin

Follow me on or

Days before its U.S. premiere, the makers of “Bruno” have permanently cut a scene involving LaToya Jackson from the film. A studio spokesperson told The Wrap that the move was “out of respect for the Jackson family,” wisely sensing that this is not the best time for the sister of the deceased to be seen eating sushi off of a naked man. Although a full cut of the film has already screened in Europe, the scene with Jackson will not appear in any further screenings. ‘Bruno’ premieres July 10.

More “Bruno” from Hollywood Jew:
Top Five Jewish Moments in ‘Bruno’
Does ‘Bruno’ expose homophobia?
Sacha Baron Cohen’s tussle with rapper Eminem

June 25, 2009 | 8:38 pm

Michael Jackson’s legacy

Posted by Danielle Berrin

A music legend has died today, and even though my colleague Brad Greenberg did well posturing the Jewish angle, I wanted to excerpt from this thoughtful piece by Richard Williams at The Guardian, which wisely attests to Jackson’s legacy as one of the most remarkable entertainers of all time. Jackson was an epic antihero, with a talent so brilliant and rare, he had to be just a little bit crazy. He was a galvanizing force in popular culture, a master entertainer who became one of the 20th century’s biggest stars. But despite his timeless talent, his immense celebrity became, for him, a form of self-worship. He was a lonely man with a lost childhood; the eternal outsider. And as an adult, he would create his own wonderland to try and grow up all over again.

From the Guardian:

Michael Jackson may have spent his last years mutating into an ever more freakish version of himself, eventually becoming a prize exhibit in the celebrity zoo, but under the outlandish surface was a singer who had come by his fame not via mere eccentricity or a stroke of luck, but through a genuinely remarkable talent that deserved to conquer the world.

For all his tragic flaws as a human being, Jackson could legitimately be seen as the greatest entertainer of his generation, the natural successor to Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley.

Soul music was the idiom from which he emerged, and disco was the vehicle that powered his solo career, but he was more than that suggests. The slender young man in spats who danced to the whip-smart rhythms of Billie Jean and Beat It, and crooned tear-stained ballads such as She’s Out Of My Life, seemed to span the modern equivalents of many timeless idioms, from vaudeville to torch songs.

First and last, however, he was a great singer. When the Jackson 5 burst on to the music scene at the beginning of the 1970s, Jackson was barely out of short trousers and his singing on I Want You Back, ABC and The Love You Save, their first hits, was that of a hyperactive juvenile lead. Listening to I’ll Be There, a quiet ballad that gave them their fourth hit, however, it was possible to detect the signs of something extraordinary.

2 Comments — Leave your comment

June 25, 2009 | 8:06 pm

What do Britney Spears and the Holocaust have in common?

Posted by Danielle Berrin

I’m not sure what to make of the director that thinks Britney Spears should star in a Holocaust movie (or any movie, for that matter) but rumors have the pop star returning to the silver screen to do just that.

Spears last starred in “Crossroads” which may sound unfamiliar because hardly anyone saw it.

According to Haaretz, Spears has been offered the lead in “The Yellow Star of Sophia and Eton,” which, according to the Israeli newspaper, “integrates time travel, concentration camps and a love story.” (Have you ever heard a stranger concatenation of plot points?) Spears would play the title role of Sophia LaMont, the female inventor of a time machine that whisks her to a concentration camp where she meets her beshert. Spears has yet to confirm her commitment because the snake-wielding chanteuse is currently touring in her “Circus” show. Although, I’m not sure why anyone would see the movie since it’s already been spoiled: the star-crossed lovers die at Nazi hands.

That’s too much Britney blues for me.

Read more at Haaretz

36 Comments — Leave your comment

June 24, 2009 | 6:10 pm

Nikki Finke sells ‘Deadline Hollywood Daily’ website for $14 million

Posted by Danielle Berrin

Nikki Finke is likely the most feared, despised and uncompromising journalist in Hollywood. She’s also one of the most respected, with a rolodex full of the industry’s most connected players and a penchant for breaking stories before they happen. Her website, Deadline Hollywood Daily is one of the industry’s most trafficked blogs, with a daily string of juicy insider-scoop and a hungry, opinionated audience. Earlier this week, Finke announced that Mail.com Media Corporation purchased her site for an undisclosed sum—later reported to be $14 million.

When The Wrap asked Finke to reveal details of the sale, Finke was either cagey or hyperbolic. “I don’t have to tell you anything,” Finke said to Sharon Waxman when asked how many visitors read her website. She had previously cited “50 million unique users,” but Waxman said faulty methods of tabulation could disprove her claim. 

Finke is famously controlling and reclusive; she’s fussy about minutiae when she’s on the hot seat and rarely gives interviews, reigning over her enterprise from a secluded spot at home. It’s well known that Finke gets her scoops over the phone, not on the town, in a strange turn for a woman once thought a socialite. Her preference to remain home bound fuels rumors she has health issues, but if anyone can deflect attention to more tantalizing information, Finke can.

For better or worse, Finke is a legend in Hollywood and even though the town is full of Finke-haters, they all read her blog.

1 Comments — Leave your comment

June 23, 2009 | 3:45 am

Bruno’s Top Five Jewish Moments

Posted by Naomi Pfefferman

Universal Pictures has issued an embargo on reviews until the day before “Bruno’s” July 10 release, but here are some top Jewish moments from Sacha Baron Cohen’s highly anticipated (and litigious) mock documentary about a flamboyant gay fashionista who aspires to become the “biggest Austrian superstar since Hitler.”

1) When Bruno fails to achieve uber-fame by solving the problems in Darfur, he comforts himself with the knowledge that “luckily, there is still one sh—hole left to fix in the world:  “The Middle East”  (or “Middle Earth,” as he calls it).  But he doesn’t make many friends while traipsing in a black hat, pais and a speedo through a religious area in Israel, where enraged residents chase him out of the ‘hood. 
2) Bruno conducts dialogues between Israeli and Arab leaders, including an ex-Mossad chief and a Palestinian mayor of Jerusalem.  Alas, he confuses the word “hummus” with “Hamas.”
3) Bruno decides the best way to become famous is to be kidnapped by Muslim extremists, and so visits a leader of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade in a refugee camp in Lebanon. “I want the best guys in the business.  Al Qaeda is so 2001,” he tells the man. “Your king Osama looks like a dirty wizard or a homeless Santa Claus,” he adds.  Needless to say, Bruno gets kicked out rather than kidnapped.
4) Bruno and his manager, desperate to land celebrity interviews, consult a chart they have made of top actors.  There is “Wilhelm Schmidt” (Will Smith), Adolf Pittler (Brad Pitt) and lastly, a man Bruno calls “Der Fuhrer.”  The camera pans to reveal the photograph of said star:  Mel Gibson.

5) After congressman Ron Paul pronounces Bruno a “queer,” the fashionista laments, “I couldn’t even shtup Rupaul (sic).  How am I going to get famous?

36 Comments — Leave your comment

June 18, 2009 | 2:20 pm

‘Bruno’ premieres in UK [video]

Posted by Danielle Berrin

Pardon my inability to get the embed code for this, but click the link and watch Bruno march upon a London crowd at the UK premiere of “Bruno.”

Link to The Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/video/2009/jun/18/bruno-sacha-baron-cohen-london-premiere

Apparently American journalists have been sworn to secrecy, and are forbidden from reviewing “Bruno” until a day before the North American premiere. But here’s an early glimpse of the film from a British perspective:

Brüno charges, or rather minces, into some of the least advisable situations imaginable - attempting to seduce a confused Republican congressman Ron Paul, telling a gayness-curing evangelist he has “blowjob lips”, parading through an ultra-orthodox area of Jerusalem in Hasidic-inspired hotpants (if there’s one thing Brüno does that Borat can’t, it’s costume).

And again, he lures the unsuspecting into shameful acts - getting Latoya Jackson to eat sushi off a naked Mexican gardener, for example, or gaining showbiz moms’ consent to dress their children as Nazis.

Beneath the idiocy, Baron Cohen is also a politically astute agent who’s devised an ingenious way to confront and expose serious social issues - and indulge his own exhibitionism.

Brüno is funniest, though, when it’s at its most politically incorrect, especially when it comes to homosexuality. There’s an eye-popping montage of extreme gay sex practices (imaginary, one hopes), a surfeit of waving penises, dildos, fetish gear, anal bleaching, and an excruciating mime in which Brüno fellates the ghost of a deceased member of Milli Vanilli in front of a psychic.

Much of it is unavoidably hilarious, but is he lampooning homophobia or perpetuating it?

0 Comments — Leave your comment

June 17, 2009 | 3:44 pm

William Morris Endeavor ousting some of its top Jews

Posted by Danielle Berrin

The new William Morris Endeavor is being run by one of Hollywood’s most powerful Jews—Ari Emanuel. But amid the shake-ups that have accompanied the merger he orchestrated, some of the former William Morris Agency’s top Jewish talent are being let go.

Back in April, there was news that David Lonner, the WMA agent that repped J.J. Abrams and Jon Turteltaub among others,would not be joining the new agency. The disappointment of Lonner’s ouster was informed by a back story: Lonner had worked at Endeavor before moving to WMA, and left over what can only be assumed a harsher version of creative differences. So when Endeavor’s leadership took over the new merged company, Lonner was back working for the people he ran away from. At WMA, Lonner used his position and his hot client list to organize A-list trips to Israel. 

The latest rumor has it that Irv Weintraub, WMA’s COO, may also be getting the ax. This one is surprising, because early news about the merger indicated that Weintraub might nab a spot on WME’s board of directors. But as Nikki Finke reported yesterday, Weintraub has been mysteriously absent from his office. The Wexner Heritage Foundation graduate and AIPAC supporter, is reportedly refusing to acquiesce to the dismissal. He isn’t interested in a please-go-quietly-payday and plans to challenge the new company with a lawsuit.

In any event, two of Hollywood’s biggest Israel supporters are now out of a job.

From Deadline Hollywood Daily:

... it’s been nearly a month since the controversial ex-William Morris Agency COO has been seen inside the old WMA. Nor has there been any official announcement about his not-joining-the-merger status. The reason everyone at WME Entertainment has been so close-mouthed is because he’s refusing to go away quietly in exchange for money like CEO Jim Wiatt. Instead, Weintraub is telling his former WMA pals that he has hired lawyers…Preparing for a legal battle, WME will take a hardline regarding Weintraub’s old WMA employment. I’m told everything Irv did at Morris can now be put under a microscope.

David Lonner leaving William Morris Agency

Q&A with showbiz power broker Irv Weintraub

0 Comments — Leave your comment

June 16, 2009 | 4:07 pm

Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber visit Israel [PHOTOS]

Posted by Danielle Berrin

Naomi Watts with her son, Samuel at the Western Wall.

Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber spent the early part of their summer visiting Israel with their two children, Alexander Peter (Sasha), 2, and Samuel, 5 mos. They enjoyed the usual tourist treats like visiting the Western Wall in Jerusalem, where Liev wrapped himself in Tefillin and Naomi prayed with her youngest son. And then they headed North to the Galilee, where the family planted trees with Jewish National Fund.

10 Comments — Leave your comment