Movie Gossip

oes ABC Have the Video Goods on Fox's 'American Idol?'

Competition among networks has always been part of television in-fighting, but the rivalry has usually expressed itself in the form of programming and counter-programming.

Not this time.

In an apparent effort to smack Fox right in the Nielsen, ABC will dedicate an entire "Primetime Live" program to doing an expose on Fox network's ratings grabber "American Idol." And the dirt will be dished just in time for May sweeps.

In a shrewd move, ABC dubbed the news show's hour-long special "Fallen Idol." Included in promo for the program is advertising and PR that are cleverly designed to pique the public's curiosity.

The network indicated that it plans to "explore explosive claims about behind-the-scenes activities at 'American Idol,' the hit television show that became a cultural phenomenon."

"Primetime Live" PR guru Adam Pockriss' lips are sealed tight, though. All anyone has managed to get from the guy is a measly "no comment."

However, reports have circulated about inappropriate contacts between judges and contestants on the "American Idol" show, the most detailed of which involves former contestant Corey Clark, who claims to have had an affair with "Idol" judge Paula Abdul.

Abdul's spokesperson said that the former contestant is "a liar and opportunist" trying "to generate interest in a book deal."

Time magazine reported that "Fox honchos are worried that ABC may have incriminating video of the couple."

Evidently, Simon Cowell and Ryan Seacrest were sent out to do damage control. And Abdul sicked a lawyer on ABC.

The Left Coast Report predicts that even though ABC will get big numbers for it's "Primetime Live" special, "American Idol"'s ratings will go higher rather than lower with the added attention.

2. Lib Filmmaker Rebuked for Allowing Pro-life Message

Like Mel Gibson, filmmaker Todd Solondz recently had to use his own money to make his latest film, "Palindromes," because no studio was willing to shell out the bucks.

Now that the film's been released many mainstream critics are being hard on it.

A.O. Scott of the New York Times thinks Solondz went too far and "seems to have no particular direction in mind, no artistic interest beyond the limitless ugliness of humanity."

Rex Reed of the New York Observer sneers that the Solondz work was "as amusing as lung cancer."

Carrie Rickey of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes that "Palindromes" is "the most misanthropic, depressing, hopeless film in memory."

Why would a Tinseltown guy who's used to getting atta-boys from his peers, and who had such a difficult time financing this particular movie, now become the target of savage reviews?

An industry source close to the production tells me that "he's [Solondz] been very hurt by their treatment" and feels as though "shots have been taken for political reasons."

My source also indicates that "it's been shocking how the mainstream media castigated Solondz, who's been a darling of theirs - - just for having what they think was a pro-life message."

The filmmaker himself revealed the source of his problem to the Chicago Tribune. He said this about the flick: "It's not pro-choice or pro-life. I know where I stand personally. If anything, it's more anti-anti-choice, given the drama that happens here."

Solondz added, "Certainly it's the most politically charged movie I've done; morally complicated, let's say."

Guess for so-called tolerant-minded abortion advocates a "morally complicated" stand is simply intolerable.

The Left Coast Report says once again it shows that liberals want speech to free unless they happen to disagree.

3. Rosie O'Donnell Defends Fonda, Condemns Bush

Rosie O'Donnell apparently wants to give a little gas to one of her many careers.

O'Donnell has been a standup comic, TV talk show host, magazine publisher and Broadway star, but now she's acting in movies again.

You may have seen Rosie recently in the made-for-TV film "Riding the Bus with My Sister." In it, she portrays a developmentally challenged woman.

While on a promo tour for the flick, O'Donnell took time out to come to the defense of Jane Fonda and her traitorous Vietnam conduct.

Rosie related a tale to Fox News Channel's Geraldo Rivera about how when she "was a kid and the Vietnam War was on," Fonda was "the only person standing up and saying what every kid that was 9 years old like I was knew -- war is wrong and we shouldn't go over and kill people."

It made me wonder whether the sight of Rosie making an appearance on the supposedly arch-conservative Fox News Channel, shooting the breeze with Geraldo and heaping praise on Hanoi Jane had liberals reaching for their smelling salts.

O'Donnell continued opining militarily, saying, "You know [President Bush] invaded a sovereign nation [Iraq] in defiance of the U.N. He is basically a war criminal! He should be tried in the Hague!"

She disclosed that her publicist recommended she "stop talking about politics."

Rosie is now expressing herself through her blog. In fact she writes that she recently turned down an invitation from the "Late Show with David Letterman" because executive producer Rob Burnett had accused her of trying to steal Letterman's job.

The Left Coast Report can't say it better than Burnett's counter, "The last thing I want to do is get into a fight with a powerful celebrity who has a blog read by tens of people."

4. Furry Epithet Flies at J.Lo's Premiere

It should have been just another Hollywood premiere. You know, bright lights, red carpet, paparazzi, adoring fans, and the like.

But it wasn't.

This was the premiere for the film "Monster-in-Law," which stars Jennifer Lopez and Jane Fonda.

Lopez's husband Marc Anthony was at the event, but so were a number of surprise attendees. Alongside the group of expected stargazers was a pack of PETA protestors.

Activists from the organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals are upset over the fur that is used in Lopez's Sweetface fashion line.

The anti-fur squawkers carried signs that displayed the words "Monster-in-Fur."

When asked what she thought of the protest, J. Lo replied, "I don't."

The Left Coast Report hears that when asked what she thought of the protest, Fonda looked at the signs and said, "Those Viet Nam vets just won't quit."

5. Santana Sued Over Supernatural Firing

Some say that listening to Carlos Santana play the guitar can be a spiritual experience.

But in a lawsuit brought by Bruce Kuhlman, one of Santana's former employees, Kuhlman claims he was fired because he wasn't spiritual enough.

Kuhlman's suit alleges that Carlos's spouse, Deborah Santana, consulted with a guru named Dr. Dan, and that employees were evaluated using "Dr. Dan's Neuro-Emotional Technique."

Unfortunately for Kuhlman, his "enlightenment/consciousness level" was too low, and apparently he was too old to raise it.

Kuhlman maintains that Mrs. Santana based her hiring and firing decisions exclusively "on evaluation by Dr. Dan and his measure of the applicant's 'consciousness level.'"

According to the suit, Dr. Dan said that "the more enlightened a person was, the closer to God he was and the better employee he was."

Deborah Santana recently penned a book entitled "Space Between the Stars." Her Web site states that "Deborah sought a path of illumination and justice and has remained committed to spread peace, wholeness and unfold her own spiritual transformation."

The Left Coast Report suspects that some of the employees think the book should have been called "Space Between Her Ears."

Liberal Hollywood Execs Ignore Women

The New York Times recently published a piece congratulating Hollywood for promoting more women as top movie studio executives. "Hollywood's New 'Old Girls' Network" by Nancy Hass reported that with the recent appointment of Gail Berman to head Paramount's creative team, "four of the six major studios have women in the top creative decision-making roles."

With all these women running movie studios in liberal Hollywood, why are so few movies made that feature women? And of those movies, why are the majority either mindless action films like "Kill Bill," "Catwoman" or "Electra" that feature women beating men to a pulp, or depressing "art house" fare like "Monster," "Vera Drake" and "Birth" that feature women as serial killers, abortionists, or pedophiles?

According to SAG statistics, men get 62% of all roles, while women today only get 38% -- even though they're a majority of the population. The top female actresses -- Julia Roberts and Meg Ryan -- still earn on average $5 million less per picture than top male stars like Tom Cruise and Russell Crowe.

Democrat-run Hollywood might be promoting more women than ever behind the scenes, but the status of women in movies and popular culture has never been worse.

Ice Cube Gets Political in 'XXX'

Sony's action-thriller "XXX: State of the Union" starring Ice Cube opens wide today, and very few people paying the price of admission are likely to know what they're getting.

This sequel to Vin Diesel's action thriller "XXX" features a renegade defense secretary, played by Willem Dafoe, who conspires to overthrow a popular U.S. president committed to defense cuts! (Maybe he should've cut the Agriculture Department?) Dafoe's villainous SecDef also has a vicious sidekick who happens to be an FBI agent -- so that our two premiere security agencies can be slandered equally, of course.

Sony's marketing team has chosen not to highlight these aspects of the plot, hoping instead to sandbag audiences with the film's cracked politics only after folks have paid their $10 admission charge. This strategy worked well for Warner Brothers in marketing "Million Dollar Baby" earlier this year -- that is, until conservatives on talk radio and in the blogosphere alerted audiences to the film's pro-euthanasia ending. We here at Hollywood Confidential want our readers to get the same sort of scoop on this turkey

Johnny Depp: A Well-Balanced Diet?

The Los Angeles Times brings us this news, from the set of Johnny Depp's "Pirates of the Caribbean" sequel:

"Some members of the Carib tribe on the island of Dominica, including the chief, are calling on fellow members to boycott the production of Disney's 'Pirates of the Caribbean' sequel because of a scene in which Johnny Depp's character is captured and tied to a skewer with fruits and vegetables 'like a shish kebob' ... Chief Charles Williams maintains that the film perpetuates the myth that the Caribs were cannibals."

This is a great shame, because it would be wonderful if the Caribs would adopt this tribal ritual just once, for the purpose of shish-kebobing Mr. Depp. Actually, this could become a new ritual for the Carib tribe: the ceremonial devouring of Hollywood liberals (we ran into Rosie O'Donnell this week -- she'd feed the whole tribe!). This would have the effect of both ridding LA's west side of undesirables, and also alleviating hunger in the Caribbean.

Clooney's Next Movie Exposes 'American Corruption'

This September, Warner Brothers will release writer/director Stephen Gaghan's "Syriana," part of Hollywood's next wave of films that will more directly 'engage' the War on Terror. The film stars George Clooney and Matt Damon, and takes place just prior to the first Gulf War.

Details of the film are sketchy, but this report from a private screening recently surfaced on Ain't It Cool News:

"It tells a complicated story about oil, the corruption in American government, and the Persian Gulf. Clooney and Damon each have their own story: George as an old school ... Middle East agent for the CIA and Matt as an oil trader working for riches in the gulf. Jeffrey Wright ... is a junior lawyer working for an oil company merging with another one, keeping the government off their backs. His story is complicated and murky, but we learn his business is too, very corrupt.

"There's also a young immigrant worker in the Middle East who gets inspired by a Muslim radical and ... ends up becoming a suicide bomber who blows up a tanker in the gulf. ... Don't know who that young actor was, but his story is arguably the most moving of the bunch."

Let us translate:

Oil companies are bad, government regulation of oil companies is good.
Muslim terrorists are tragic, 'complex' figures who are well intentioned, with good hearts.
The first Bush administration was the root cause of 9/11. Eight intervening years of Clinton foreign policy had nothing to do with it.

It's inconceivable that Gaghan -- writer of "Traffic" and the revisionist "The Alamo" -- will treat the War on Terror fairly. Conservatives should be on the watch for "Syriana," and take Warner Brothers to task for releasing it. For three years after 9/11, conservatives were told that the War on Terror was too sensitive a subject to address through film -- hence the total lack of movies supporting America after the attacks. With the passage of time, however, it seems Hollywood is comfortable enough to reveal it's real feelings about 9/11 -- and they're consistently anti-American.

Hollywood's Blacklist

We recently received an advance copy of Ron and Allis Radosh's new book, "Red Star over Hollywood: The Film Colony's Long Romance With the Left," coming out in May. The Radoshes' book challenges the prevailing mythology of Hollywood's 'blacklist' period of the 1950's -- namely, that the only victimized parties were innocent mainstream liberals.

This book is vital for two reasons:

1) The mythology of the 'blacklist' continues to inform the liberal critique of conservatives in Hollywood. ("Hey, aren't you guys guilty of The Blacklist? Aren't you a Menace to Free Speech?!")

2) There's a lively, ongoing struggle among conservatives as to the actual usefulness of Joe McCarthy/HUAC/the Hollywood 'blacklist' to the conservative cause (for example, Ann Coulter recently attacked Ron Radosh for criticizing Joe McCarthy).

The Radoshes argue that the communist threat in Hollywood was very real -- but that it would've died out without HUAC's interference. Thanks to the Radoshes, readers can now decide these things for themselves, based on the facts -- rather than the Left's mythology

An Iranian 'Passion'?

An Iranian film that dares to satirize the current theocracy in Iran is slowly making its way west. Titled "The Lizard," the film was released in Iran to a firestorm of controversy -- breaking box office records before the government decided to pull the film under intense pressure from the clergy.

In this comic film, a convict (known as "the Lizard") escapes from a prison hospital disguised as a mullah. He hops a train to a border town where folks are expecting a new mullah. The Lizard has watched enough Iranian television to pick up the clerical style, but he delivers an anti-clerical message -- promoting humanism, encouraging doubt about the Islamic regime, and encouraging people to watch Western movies.

When Iranian youth began addressing mullahs as "lizards," the film was quickly banned. Hopefully this playful, picaresque film will have a longer life in the West, if liberal film critics will give it a chance. After all, "The Lizard" satirizes the same regimes George Bush is trying to remove.