'Twin Peaks' Star Does 'ER' Rotation
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) Madchen Amick, a former star of "Twin Peaks," will check into NBC's "ER" this season.
Amick will have an extended recurring role on the long-running medical drama, according to The Hollywood Reporter. She'll play a social worker who encounters Dr. John Carter (Noah Wyle) at County General and becomes involved romantically with him.
This spring, she starred with John Stamos in a comedy pilot that picked up for midseason. It's unclear whether her commitment to "ER" will affect her role on the ABC show.
Amick played waitress Shelly Johnson on "Twin Peaks," David Lynch's surreal early-'90s ABC drama, and its feature-film prequel "Fire Walk with Me." Her credits also include "Sleepwalkers" and recurring parts on "Gilmore Girls" and "Dawson's Creek."
In other medical-show casting news, Justin Chambers ("The Musketeer," "Hysterical Blindness") has joined ABC's midseason drama "Grey's Anatomy." He'll play a new intern and potential love interest for series star Ellen Pompeo.
Van Halen Slugs Orioles With $2M Suit
Van Halen is suing the Baltimore Orioles for at least $2 million in damages, charging that the Major League Baseball team reneged on an offer for the band to play a concert Sept. 2 at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
The suit -- filed Aug. 10 in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles -- states that Orioles director of entertainment Don Mark, under the instruction of Orioles owner Peter Angelos, first contacted Van Halen's reps at the William Morris Agency in mid-April about playing at the stadium. According to the suit, "Van Halen was ambivalent about playing at the time requested by the Orioles," because the band would be performing in the southern United States, and playing Baltimore would "necessitate changing the tour routing previously planned."
The suit also notes that Van Halen was at the time engaged in a tour of mostly arenas, but "the Orioles insisted that they could more than compensate Van Halen for the expense and inconvenience scheduling the concert would cause."
According to court papers, the Orioles around April 27 made an offer in writing for $1 million, which the band rejected. The Orioles came back with an offer of $1.5 million, plus 80% of ticket revenues and 80% of gross merchandise revenues. Also included was a budget for expenses and a non-compete provision that prohibited Van Halen from performing in other venues in the vicinity of Baltimore.
The papers say that after numerous communications between the parties, Van Halen accepted the offer in mid-June. The band began making preparations for a Sept. 2 concert at Oriole Park; Van Halen claims it terminated any efforts to book another venue in the area, changed the dates of other scheduled concerts and did not pursue other opportunities.
The suit says that the Orioles in mid-July "repudiated the agreement, first by refusing to communicate or cooperate with Van Halen, and then expressly in a letter dated July 26 ... refusing to perform its obligations thereunder."
Mark tells Billboard.biz he had "no comment whatsoever" on the Van Halen situation. Van Halen attorney Howard E. King of King, Holmes, Paterno & Berliner in L.A., also declined to comment.
Van Halen's North American tour continues. A DVD of the 1986 concert film "Live Without a Net" arrives Sept. 14 via Warner Strategic Marketing.
KISSING star in ABC’s SCRIPT
KISSING JESSICA STEIN scribe and star Jennifer Westfeldt has sealed a deal with ABC to star in a one-hour drama project for the network. SCRIPT will be created and written by Westfeldt and her sister, Amy, and the story will be based on Westfield’s experiences as a reporter in New York.
Regis Sets World Record for Most TV Hours
NEW YORK (AP) — Regis Philbin has lived a lifetime on television. Logging 15,188 hours on the tube has yielded the talk show host fame, fortune, and now a place in the record books.
Friday's broadcast of "Live with Regis and Kelly" gives Philbin the Guinness World Record for most hours on camera. The talk show host passes broadcaster Hugh Downs for the record, as calculated by Guinness World Records researcher Stuart Claxton.
"Now it's all a big blur," Philbin told the Associated Press on Thursday as he looked back on his career that began as a San Diego news anchor in 1958. "When you look back that's a lot of hours on TV."
With now officially the longest resume in television, Philbin wonders, "You'd think it might make me better, but I don't know."
Philbin, who will turn 73 next week, has hosted the nationally syndicated "Live" in all 16 of its seasons — now with Kelly Ripa, and previously with Kathy Lee Gifford. In his 46 year career he has hosted numerous news and entertainment shows, as well as the hit prime-time ABC game show, "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?"
Of all the experiences, Philbin most remembers the interviews of other talk show hosts — people, he says, "that do what I do. People like Jack Paar, Steven Allen, Merv Griffin, Johnny Carson, David Letterman that know what being a talk show host is about."
Clearly all the years on TV are not a total blur — one evening broadcast from the 1950s still sticks in Philbin's memory. While doing the evening news in San Diego, Philbin and his fellow broadcasters were laughing together at a show that preceded the broadcast called, "The Big Party." When 11:00 p.m. came, Philbin was unable to control his still bubbling laugh as he was thrust into reading the headlines of the day, which began with a train wreck in the Italian Alps that killed 117.
"That is the nightmare that I remember," Philbin says with a grimace.
But the nightmares have been few for the energetic talk show host, whose record of on camera hours will only grow. He currently has two years left on his contract to host "Live."
One untelevised performance Philbin has uncoming is "roastmaster" at the Friar's Club Oct. 15 roast of real estate mogul turned TV star Donald Trump. Philbin says he may have to defend his friend from the onslaught of comedians, a suspicion concurred by Friars Club Dean Freddie Roman:
"Given the size of Trump's ego, we will be lucky to be done by Christmas."
'Exorcist,' 'Paddle' Battle for Late-Summer Scraps
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - As far as the box office is concerned, summer's over.
Neither of this weekend's two wide arrivals, the Paramount Pictures comedy "Without a Paddle" and Warner Bros. Pictures' "Exorcist: The Beginning," is likely to reach the heights typical of summer openers. Insiders forecast they will each earn in the low-teen millions for the three-day frame.
That means 20th Century Fox's "Alien vs. Predator" could rank No. 1 for a second weekend, even though it's expected to lose 60% of its audience. The double-franchise thriller, which scored $38.2 million in its opening frame, is likely to gross in the $13 million-$15 million range.
Meanwhile, Disney's "The Princess Diaries 2: The Royal Engagement," which bowed in No. 2 with $23 million last weekend, should take in $11 million-$13 million this time.
If there is a glut in the weekend's fare, it's the number of films targeting young males. "AVP" brought in droves of them last weekend, with its audience comprising 70% males. This weekend, those fans will be courted by both Renny Harlin's "Exorcist" prequel and the goofball comedy "Paddle," starring Seth Green, Matthew Lillard, Dax Shepard and Burt Reynolds.
For the R-rated "Exorcist," which will bow in 2,803 theaters, Warners is counting on a tremendous U.S. fan base that has found the original "Exorcist" from helmer William Friedkin to be one of the scariest horror films of all time. First released in 1973, then reissued in 2000 in a director's cut, the original "Exorcist" has grossed $232.7 million in its lifetime. Starring Stellan Skarsgard as Father Merrin, the prequel centers on his first encounter with the demon Pazuzu.
The film was originally directed by Paul Schrader ("American Gigolo"), but that version was scrapped after Morgan Creek Prods. judged that it wasn't scary enough. Both versions of the film are expected to be included in the DVD release.
Paramount's "Paddle," bowing in 2,730 theaters with a PG-13 rating, is targeting young males with its three comedic leads facing off against the forces of nature on a camping trip gone bad. The film was directed by Steven Brill, who helmed the Adam Sandler films "Little Nicky" and "Mr. Deeds."
Another contender is Lions Gate's expansion of "Open Water." Advertised as the scariest shark film since "Jaws," "Water" expands to 2,709 theaters this weekend. The low-budget film has made $2.5 million since it opened in 47 theaters two weeks ago and is hoping to capitalize on the buzz about its harrowing tale of two stranded scuba divers.
Fox Searchlight's "Garden State" also widens Friday. The indie fave from actor-writer-director Zach Braff has earned $3.3 million since opening July 28. The R-rated film co-starring Natalie Portman and centering on Braff's character's return home for a funeral is expanding to 652 theaters.
In limited release, Paramount Classics will bow "Mean Creek," an R-rated teen drama starring Rory Culkin from first-time writer-director Jacob Estes. The film has played to positive reviews at the Sundance, Cannes and Los Angeles film festivals.
Latino film company Arenas Entertainment unfurls its first nationwide release, "Nicotina," in 104 theaters today. Starring Diego Luna ("Y Tu Mama Tambien"), it was Mexico's top-grossing film last year.
Movie legend bonds with province
CHARLOTTETOWN — The yacht Aerie has shaken, not stirred, curiosity on P.E.I. The big white boat has been tied up at the Charlottetown Yacht Club for the last few days as its famous owner enjoys a quiet Island vacation.
"Well I guess you're referring to the big white one out there," said Vice Commodore Wellington Gay when asked about the boat. "That one belongs to Sean Connery formerly known, or better known perhaps, as James Bond."
Agent 007 has been making his way around the Island. And like any good secret agent he's been doing it quietly. Sightings of Connery, 73, are few and far between.
Staff at the yacht club have seem him, but are affording the James Bond star some privacy.
"I saw one gentleman with a beard, but it wasn't him," said tourist Pat Lynch.
The Aerie – which means eagle's nest — won't be moored in the harbour much longer.
The yacht club said it has the facilities to handle the larger yachts, and is always ready welcome the rich and famous people that sail them.
Elmer Bernstein, Film Composer, Dead at 82
LOS ANGELES - Film composer Elmer Bernstein, who created a brawny, big-sky theme for "The Magnificent Seven," nerve-jangling jazz for "The Man With The Golden Arm" and heart-rending grace notes for "To Kill a Mockingbird," has died.
Bernstein, whose prolific career spanned seven decades and earned him 14 Academy Award nominations, an Oscar win and an Emmy Award, died in his sleep at his Ojai home Wednesday, said his publicist, Cathy Mouton. He was 82.
Although he won an Oscar only once for the 1967 film "Thoroughly Modern Millie" — considered one of his weaker works — Bernstein was revered for experimenting with various techniques that bolstered the films.
"It's one thing to write music that reinforces a film, underscores it — the traditional sense of stressing, underlining — or gives it added dramatic muscle," director Martin Scorsese once said. "It's entirely another to write music that graces a film. That's what Elmer Bernstein does, and that, for me, is his greatest gift."
Among his more notable efforts were the scores for "Some Came Running," "Birdman of Alcatraz," "The Great Escape," "Hawaii," "The Great Santini," "Cast a Giant Shadow," "My Left Foot," "A River Runs Through It," "Devil in a Blue Dress" and "The Age of Innocence." He also composed several works for symphony orchestras.
In addition, he scored such movie classics as "The Ten Commandments," "The Magnificent Seven," "To Kill a Mockingbird," "The Great Escape" and "True Grit." Other credits included "National Lampoon's Animal House," "Airplane!," "Stripes," "Meatballs," "Ghostbusters," "Trading Places" and "The Rainmaker."
"Film music, properly done, should give the film a kind of emotional rail on which to ride," Bernstein told The Associated Press in a 2001 interview. "Without even realizing that you're listening to music that's doing something to your emotions, you will have an emotional experience."
"To Kill a Mockingbird" presented Bernstein quite a challenge. For six weeks he could find no way to approach the story, which concerned racism and the Depression in a small Southern town.
"Then I realized that the film was about these issues but seen through the eyes of children," he once recalled. "The simple score was played by a small ensemble, at times employing single piano notes, much like a child picking out a tune."
For "The Man with the Golden Arm," in which Frank Sinatra played a heroin-addicted jazz musician, he discarded the studio orchestra for a jazz ensemble. For the landmark western "The Magnificent Seven," Bernstein composed a galloping march that remained famous for years afterward in TV ads for Marlboro cigarettes.
A piano prodigy who studied composing under Aaron Copland in New York, Bernstein moved to Hollywood in 1950 to work on his first movie score, for the football film "Saturday's Hero." After a few more routine assignments he made his mark with the moody music for the Joan Crawford thriller "Sudden Fear."
Although both hailed from New York, he was no relation to the legendary composer Leonard Bernstein.
"That's a common question," Mouton said. "They were friends and fellow New Yorkers, but they were not related in any way."
A supporter of left-wing causes, Bernstein's career was nearly destroyed by the Hollywood Red Hunt of the 1950s when he was summoned before a congressional subcommittee and told to identify communists in the film industry. He refused, saying he'd never attended a Communist party meeting.
"I wasn't important enough to be blacklisted, so I was put on a gray list," he once said.
Still, major studios refused to hire him, and he resorted to turning out music for low-budget films like "Robot Monster" and "Cat Women of the Moon."
Ironically, it was the vocally anti-communist director Cecil B. De Mille who broke the gray list by hiring Bernstein to replace the ailing Victor Young on "The Ten Commandments."
De Mille asked him, "Do you think you can do for Egyptian music what Puccini did for Japanese music in `Madame Butterfly'?" The young composer accepted the challenge, earning the first of his 14 Oscar nominations in the process.
Through 200 movies and 80 television shows, Bernstein would prove that he could adapt to any kind of music. He won an Emmy Award in 1964 for "The Making of The President: 1960."
He is survived by his wife, Eve, sons Peter and Gregory, daughters Emilie and Elizabeth, and five grandchildren.
A memorial service is pending.