JUDGE'S NEW FILM HAS CASE OF THE MONDAYS
Have you seen the new movie from the creator of "Office Space," "Beavis and Butt-Head" and "King of the Hill"?
No?
Don't sweat it - hardly anyone else has, either.
"Idiocracy," the first movie from writer/director Mike Judge since his 1999 cult hit "Office Space," is the kind of cinematic event comedy geeks have been breathlessly anticipating since it was announced.
"A friend of mine sent me the script about three years ago," says Edward Havens, publisher of the movie site filmjerk.com. "It was one of the most hilarious screenplays I've ever read. I've been waiting and waiting for it to come out."
Finally, last Friday, it did - in a bizarrely stealthy manner, in only seven cities (none of them New York), and with zero fanfare, advertising or publicity of any kind. Unless you knew where to look, you'd never know it existed.
Judge's new comedy revolves around an average guy named Joe (Luke Wilson), who's cryogenically frozen in the present day and wakes up in the year 3001, where he discovers he is the smartest man on Earth.
In an across-the-board swipe at current American culture, the movie depicts out-of-control corporations, stupefyingly dumb TV (the most popular show is "Ow, My Balls!") and a president (Terry Crews of "Everybody Hates Chris") who's a former pro wrestler and porn star.
"There was so much 'biting the hand that feeds you' type of humor," says Havens. "I didn't expect half the stuff to make it in [to the final movie]. But, somehow, he got away with it."
Luckily for Havens, he lives in L.A., one of the cities where the movie is actually playing (the others are Chicago, Austin, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston and Toronto). But it was solely due to Havens' film-insider status that he knew about it, because the movie hasn't been publicized.
"There were only, like, 10 people at the screening I went to, including my wife and me," he says. "But everybody was really into it."
Mark Bazer, a Chicago-based humor writer, had a similar experience last weekend. "I saw no ads in the paper, no commercials, no press screenings, nothing," says Bazer, who loved the film. "There were maybe, maybe, 10 people in the theater when I saw it - on the day it was released."
What gives?
A Fox spokesperson, who prefers to remain nameless, would say only that the company doesn't comment on its marketing policies.
Which isn't much consolation to Judge's New York fans.
"It's extremely frustrating," says Todd Jackson, creator of the comedy blog deadfrog.com. "This is a man who hasn't missed yet. Everything he's done has worked, on multiple levels. He's batting 1.000, both comedically and commercially. Why would you question his judgment?"
Of course, there's a history of doubting Judge's judgment; "Office Space" wasn't promoted or publicized, either. When "Office Space" was released on DVD, however, it took off, becoming a much-quoted underground hit.
Critically, "Idiocracy" has received less glowing reviews than "Office Space" - the handful of critics who've weighed in have noted the movie definitely has its flaws - but many have also called it spot-on black comedy.
"Absolutely a satire for our times," Robert Koehler wrote in his Variety review.
"Perhaps," wrote Sheri Linden in the Hollywood Reporter, "the incisive satire cuts too close to home, with its dystopian vision of a world peopled by inarticulate, TV-addicted dolts . . . Perhaps low test-screening results reflect the very dumbing down the film laments."
Or maybe the whole thing is an edgy new viral-marketing ploy, an experimental bid to see if a studio can whip up a cult hit simply by seeming like they're trying to kill it off.
A simpler explanation was proposed by Josh Tyler, editor-in-chief of movie site cinemablend.com.
"It trashes the brand names of major modern-day corporations," he points out. "Starbucks of the future has become a popular chain of full-release, full-service sex huts. Costco takes a hit. Carl's Jr. gets bashed. Taco Bell is the butt of a joke.
"The corporate brand-name bashing in the movie is endless."
But don't look to Judge to sweet-talk Fox out of its decision; the soft-spoken director recently opened up to Esquire about his "Office Space"-like inability to suck up to the suits.
"I just hate doing it so much," he told the magazine. "I'm not able to do it without feeling insulted and stressed out. It's really my own fault. I really don't have any right to complain."
Buckingham Readies One Album, Finishing Another
Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham will release his first solo album in 14 years next month. Due Oct. 3 via Reprise, "Under the Skin" includes two tracks featuring the Fleetwood Mac rhythm section of Mick Fleetwood and John McVie. The other eight tracks find Buckingham generating all the rhythm simply via his own percussive guitar playing.
"It's something I've been interested in for a long time: trying to distill down the essence of that certain thing I do," the artist tells Billboard.com. "I want to still have it sound like a record, but very much in the spirit of someone sitting and playing guitar."
Buckingham wrote most of the material for "In This Skin" while on the road with Fleetwood Mac in support of its 2003 comeback album, "Say You Will," and looked to his own life for lyrical inspiration. "It gets into a more bare-bones look at what's going on with me after all this time," says Buckingham, who at 57 now has three young children. "I've finally gotten married and am slowly shedding the dysfunctional thing everyone in the band seemed to have emotionally."
The guitarist is also well into work on another new record, which will focus more on electric guitar-driven rock. Label execs initially asked Buckingham to include some of this material on "Under the Skin," but "I feel it has much more integrity by keeping it held back in the way it is. It seemed to be more truthful in terms of what the songs were saying and what I was trying to look at."
Eight songs are complete for the second album, due sometime next year, although Buckingham says he may re-record some of them with a yet-to-be-chosen producer once he finishes a fall tour in support of "Under This Skin." The outing, which is only his second solo trek ever, kicks off Oct. 6 in Atlanta.
Buckingham will be backed on the road by Fleetwood Mac percussionist Taku Hirano and guitarist Neal Haywood, plus guitarist/keyboardist Brett Tuggle. The set list is still coming together, but Buckingham speculates the show will be broken into three sections: "one with me out there by myself, another with the band but you hold a line in terms of the kind of material and the last section, where you'd rock it."
As for the status of Fleetwood Mac, Buckingham says he and the other band members are all up for future touring but unsure if any recording is in the cards.
"It's important that we end up in a place where we are good, as a group of people," he observes, "A place where all the politics are left behind for what's really real. Despite what has gone on, this is a group of people I'll know as well as anyone I'll ever know except my family. I've been through more with them than I've ever been through with my own family [laughs]. I'd love to see that continue. It's a matter of everybody somehow moving toward the center a little bit, and that means me too."
Ellen DeGeneres tapped to host Oscars
LOS ANGELES - Ellen DeGeneres has been tapped to host next year's Oscars, the Academy of Motions Pictures Arts and Sciences said Thursday.
It will be the comedian and TV talker's first time hosting the Oscars show and first appearance on the award show. She has hosted the Primetime Emmy Awards telecast twice and co-hosted it once, and hosted the Grammys twice.
"Ellen DeGeneres was born to host the Academy Awards," said producer Laura Ziskin in a statement. "I can already tell she is going to set the bar very high for herself and therefore for all of us involved in putting on the show. Now all we need is a lot of great movies."
The 79th Annual Academy Awards are scheduled to be broadcast live from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood on ABC on Sunday, Feb. 25. This year's Oscarcast, in March, was fronted by "The Daily Show" host Jon Stewart.
DeGeneres is the host of the syndicated talk show "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," which has won 15 Daytime Emmys since going on the air in 2003.
DeGeneres also starred in the ABC sitcom "Ellen," which aired between 1994 and 1998, and the CBS sitcom, "The Ellen Show," which ran 2001-2002. She has also been a regular in films and has authored several books.
"When Laura Ziskin called, I was thrilled," said DeGeneres in a statement. "There's two things I've always wanted to do in my life. One is to host the Oscars. The second is to get a call from Laura Ziskin. You can imagine that day's diary entry."
Letterman signs on for four more years at CBS
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - From the home office at the Ed Sullivan Theater: David Letterman is staying at CBS for another four years.
Letterman, 59, is close to finalizing a contract extension with CBS that will keep him at the helm of "The Late Show With David Letterman" through the 2009-10 season, sources said. Negotiations on the pact have been underway on and off for months, but sources close to the network and the Letterman camp say the talks went smoothly and there was never any doubt that the Emmy-winning late-night host would extend his tenure at "Late Show," which originates from the famed Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City.
Indeed, sources say that relations between CBS, Letterman and his Worldwide Pants production company have never been better, particularly between Letterman and CBS Corp. chief Leslie Moonves. Moonves has become a semi-regular presence on "Late Show" through the "More With Les" segments, featuring Letterman conversing with Moonves by telephone.
The harmony between Letterman and CBS stands in stark contrast to the situation 4-1/2 years ago, when Letterman was being heavily courted by ABC and reportedly felt under-appreciated at CBS. At the time, Letterman wound up striking a two-year renewal deal that included a series of one-year options, while sources said this time around the deal is a four-year commitment.
Financial details of the new deal were unclear. Letterman already ranks high on the list of television's highest-paid personalities, with an annual salary of about $31.5 million under the 2002 contract agreement. Sources said the new deal keeps Letterman in roughly similar salary territory as the 2002 pact, but that could not be confirmed late Wednesday.
A CBS spokesman declined comment on the deal, as did Letterman's handlers.