Categories
Television

I’d like more ‘Curb’, but I don’t need it.

Larry David on ‘Curb’: ‘I No Longer Feel a Need to Wrap Things Up’

Larry David admitted the odds are against another season of Curb Your Enthusiasm, telling Bill Simmons in a recent chat with Grantland the line is about “six to one.” While Simmons suggested one last 90-minute mockumentary to wrap up the beloved HBO series, David seemed unsure, recalling the negative reactions to the infamous Seinfeld finale.

“I got so much grief from the Seinfeld finale, which a lot of people intensely disliked, that I no longer feel a need to wrap things up,” David said. When asked if he was still mad about the reaction to the last episode, David added: “I wouldn’t say I’m mad about it, but it taught me a lesson that if I ever did another show, I wasn’t gonna wrap it up.”

While David didn’t remember any of the specific criticisms leveled against the Seinfeld finale — in which the four main characters end up in jail essentially for being terrible people — he said he was glad to hear Simmons had come around to it, adding he hoped it would start a groundswell.

As to why Seinfeld ended the way it did, with a cavalcade of past characters airing their grievances against Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer, David said neither he nor Jerry Seinfeld were interested in ending the show on a mushy, emotional note à la Cheers. “Let me toot my own horn for a second: I thought it was clever to bring back all those characters in a courtroom and testify against [the four] for what they did, and then show those clips,” David said.

Fittingly, David has skirted a Curb finale for a new endeavor: The comedian will make his Broadway debut when his new play, Fish in the Dark, opens next year. David wrote the comedy, about a death in the family, and will also star in it after producer Scott Rudin urged him to take on the role. He described his character, perhaps unsurprisingly, as “somebody very similar to Larry David — it might even be Larry David with a different name.”

Fish in the Dark also stars Rosie Perez, Jerry Adler, Jayne Houdyshell, Jonny Orsini and Jake Cannavale. It begins previews at the Cort Theater on February 2nd and opens on March 5th.

Categories
Movies

They are classics, one and all!!

‘The Big Lebowski,’ ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ Added to National Film Registry

The National Film Registry of the Library of Congress has selected a new crop of movies that it deems culturally, historically or aesthetically significant enough for preservation. Among the 25 films selected are two cult-favorite slacker adventure epics: the Coen brothers’ The Big Lebowski and John Hughes’ Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. The Library praised the “highly quoted” Lebowski’s themes of “alienation, inequality and class structure” and for positioning star Jeff Bridges in a career-defining role, and it described Hughes’ first film on the registry as a “career highpoint” significant for its depiction of “late-20th century youth.”

Other noteworthy movies include Steven Spielberg’s war film Saving Private Ryan, Roman Polanski’s horror Rosemary’s Baby, Mel Stuart’s beloved fantasy Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and Arthur Penn’s Western drama Little Big Man. The new additions bring the number of motion pictures the Film Registry recognizes, which span the years 1913 to 2004, up to 650. The full selection of movies is viewable here.

“The National Film Registry showcases the extraordinary diversity of America’s film heritage and the disparate strands making it so vibrant,” James H. Billington, the Librarian of Congress, said in a statement. “By preserving these films, we protect a crucial element of American creativity, culture and history.”

In addition to the movies’ cultural significance or otherwise, the film must be at least 10 years old to qualify for inclusion into the registry. The Librarian of Congress decides the titles each year after reviewing nominations from the public, Library film curators and the National Film Preservation Board.

Categories
Letterman

I will miss this next year!!

Letterman pulls curtain on holiday tradition

NEW YORK (AP) — With the curtain soon to fall on David Letterman’s late-night television career, the end comes Friday for an odd and emotional holiday tradition that involves comic Jay Thomas, the Lone Ranger, a giant meatball and, most indelibly, singer Darlene Love.

Love will sing “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” for the 21st and final time on Letterman’s annual holiday show. He’s retiring from the “Late Show” next May.

“I’m looking forward to it this year more than any other year, with mixed feelings, of course,” said Letterman’s longtime bandleader, Paul Shaffer. “It’s been incredibly meaningful for me.”

Letterman’s holiday show has traditions, just not the ones you see in most households. Thomas comes by to repeat the story of giving a ride to Clayton Moore, television’s Lone Ranger. Then, as he’s done since 1998, Thomas tries to knock the meatball off the top of a Christmas tree with a football.

The centerpiece is Love’s performance of the song that identifies her as the “Christmas queen,” primarily because of the annual exposure on Letterman.

“Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” was the single off “A Christmas Gift For You,” an album by producer Phil Spector and the artists in his orbit. Now considered a classic, it was a flop upon its release on Nov. 22, 1963, the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

Shaffer never forgot it, though.

“The Phil Spector album has always been the one that has gotten me through the Christmas season, which can be depressing for people in show business, who are often working instead of being with their families,” he said.

Love hadn’t even performed the song onstage until the mid-1980s, when she was part of “Leader of the Pack,” a tribute show for Ellie Greenwich, writer of “Christmas” (with Jeff Barry and Spector) and other 1960s hits like “Be My Baby.” Shaffer was part of the show. Letterman came to see it one night and was blown away by Love’s version.

Letterman invited Love to sing it on his show in 1986, then on NBC. She hasn’t returned every year, but was there more often than not.

“David is nothing if not a traditionalist,” Shaffer said, “and he kept asking for her year after year. It’s as simple as that.”

Shaffer had his own, private ritual. Every year, the day of the holiday show, he called his good friend Greenwich for spiritual support. That ended with her death in 2009.

The song has been covered multiple times — by the likes of U2, Mariah Carey, Michael Buble and Joey Ramone — since Love began making her Letterman appearances. She moved from California to New York for “Leader of the Pack,” and does a holiday show in theaters each year.

Shaffer and “Late Show” director Jerry Foley, meanwhile, begin preparing for the song’s annual performance weeks in advance. Shaffer always tries to bring different elements — a military choir one year, children in another. In true Spector “Wall of Sound” tradition, Shaffer’s “CBS Orchestra” has greatly expanded to a stage filled with musicians.

Each year’s surprise is the choreographed entrance of the saxophone player for his solo. He’s emerged from a gift-wrapped box delivered by a sleigh-full of showgirls, come down a chimney and flown across the stage hoisted by cables.

Love intentionally keeps herself in the dark about unique elements of each year’s version until arriving at the theater.

“I just show up and sing the song,” she said.

She has a sweet spot in her heart for the first year, when she performed with Shaffer and a small band.

“The first one really sticks out to me as special,” she said, “and there was no glitz or glamour to it.”

Categories
Bruuuuuuuuce!!

I’m dying to see it, but I don’t want to just watch the last episode!!

Van Zandt fretted directing Springsteen in ‘Lilyhammer’

NEW YORK (AP) — It’s always a bit uncomfortable having to tell your boss what to do.

So imagine how Steven Van Zandt felt when he directed his longtime friend and E Street Band mate Bruce Springsteen when The Boss made his acting debut — appearing in the third season finale of the Netflix dramedy “Lilyhammer.” (Springsteen also briefly appeared in the 2000 film “High Fidelity,” but as himself rather than in an acting role).

He says he was honored that Springsteen agreed to appear in the episode, which began airing on Nov. 21 and marked Van Zandt’s directorial debut, but there was “a little bit of anxiety involved.”

“I know we’re friends for 50 years but still it meant a lot to me that he chose me and trusted me enough to direct him when literally everybody on earth’s been wanting to do it ,” said Van Zandt, who stars, writes, produces and composes music for the show.

“Lilyhammer” is a fish out of water story about fictional New York gangster Frank “The Fixer” Tagliano (Van Zandt), who is trying to start a new life in the Norwegian city of Lillehammer.

Springsteen played Frank’s older brother Giuseppe — a small role that was key to the plot, Van Zandt said.

“He’s really acting,” says Van Zandt. “It’s not some cameo. He’s not playing himself. It’s a real thing.”

Van Zandt says it all went well and Springsteen “did great” as Giuseppe.

“Was if fun? Yeah, but it’s more fun when it’s over,” he says with a laugh. “It’s fun now.”

Categories
Movies

I still really want to see it!!!

Sony Has ‘No Further Release Plans’ for ‘The Interview’

Sony Pictures Entertainment has chosen to stand down for “The Interview,” deciding against releasing the Seth Rogen-James Franco comedy in any form — including VOD or DVD, as U.S. officials reportedly link Sony’s massive cyber attack to North Korea.

“Sony Pictures has no further release plans for the film,” a spokesman said Wednesday.

The studio issued the statement a few hours after pulling the planned Christmas Day release of “The Interview” in the U.S. in response to the hackers who threatened a 9/11-style attack against U.S. theaters and moviegoers if the comedy were released.

By late Wednesday afternoon, the studio had removed any mention of “The Interview” from its official web site.

The move could open the door for Sony to sell the rights to a rival distributor — though Hollywood is still reeling from Tuesday’s invocation of a possible terrorist attack on exhibitors if they screened “The Interview.”

Prior to the decision to pull the controversial movie, a Sony Pictures insider had told Variety that the studio was weighing releasing the film on premium video-on-demand. Such a move would have allowed the studio to recoup some of the film’s $42 million budget and tens of millions in promotion and advertising expenditures.

Sony’s nightmare began on Nov. 24 when the “Guardians of Peace” hackers disabled the studio’s computer system and began disclosing internal documents, email messages, film budgets, executive salaries and the social security numbers of thousands of employees.

“The world will be full of fear,” the group’s Tuesday message said. “Remember the 11th of September 2001. We recommend you to keep yourself distant from the places at that time. (If your house is nearby, you’d better leave.)”

In response, most of the country’s largest theater chains — including AMC, Regal, Cinemark, Carmike and Southern Theatres — announced they would either delay showing the picture or would drop it altogether.

“The Interview” centers on an assassination attempt on North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.

On Wednesday, several published reports said that federal authorities had determined that hackers working on behalf of the North Korean government were behind the hack attack. CNN’s Evan Perez said that an announcement is expected on Thursday that would “assign attribution” to the country.

“The Interview” has been scheduled for release in foreign markets starting in late January.