Cruise drafted for Singer thriller
When Bryan Singer and Christopher McQuarrie brought their new thriller to United Artists, they got more than a producer. They got a star.
UA co-head Tom Cruise, who snagged the rights to the "Usual Suspects" reunion, will also star in the currently untitled World War II drama. This will be the second straight United Artists pick-up that Cruise has also opted to star in, after taking a supporting turn in Robert Redford's "Lions for Lambs."
Details on the project were initially vague, but somebody fed the industry trades the information that McQuarrie's script is based the real events surrounding a group of German generals plotting to assassinate Adolph Hitler. While the trades say that Cruise agreed on Tuesday to take a lead role, no role is specified, though the "Born on the Fourth of July" star probably won't be playing Hitler.
Singer hopes to slot in the relatively inexpensive ensemble thriller before Warner Brothers' "Superman Returns" sequel begins to occupy all of his time.
"Lions for Lambs," the first United Artists film since Cruise and Paula Wagner were given creative control of the company, will open on Nov. 9. Cruise was last seen on the big screen in "Mission: Impossible III."
McCartney To Anchor New Starbucks Label
After weeks of speculation, Paul McCartney is now officially the first artist signed to Hear Music, a new joint label formed by Starbucks and the Concord Music Group. The as-yet-untitled album is due in early June; its release on Hear Music marks the end of McCartney's decades-long association with Capitol.
"This is something I’ve been working on for a little while now," McCartney said of the David Kahne-produced album during a Webcast today (March 21). "A lot of it’s very personal to me.Tthe songs are in some ways a little bit retrospective. Some of them are of now, some of them hark back to the past, but all of them are songs I’m very proud of."
As previously reported, Starbucks will primarily handle A&R for the collaborative initiative, while Concord will head up marketing, promotion and distribution of the label's product outside the coffee shops. The Hear Music name has been used since 1999 for compilations and co-releases at Starbucks; it will now apply exclusively to this partnership.
Starbucks' profile as a music retail outlet has jumped significantly in the past few years, especially following the success of Ray Charles' "Genius Loves Company," a joint production with Concord that scored eight Grammy awards. The company has also struck deals to release exclusive albums by Bob Dylan and Alanis Morissette.
McCartney's last studio album was 2005's critical favorite "Chaos and Creation in the Backyard," which has sold 533,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Letterman regular 'Bud' Melman dies
NEW YORK - Calvert DeForest, the white-haired, bespectacled nebbish who gained cult status as the oddball Larry "Bud" Melman on David Letterman's late night television shows, has died after a long illness. The Brooklyn-born DeForest, who was 85, died Monday at a hospital on Long Island, Letterman's "Late Show" announced Wednesday.
He made dozens of appearances on Letterman's shows from 1982 through 2002, handling a variety of twisted duties: dueting with Sonny Bono on "I Got You, Babe," doing a Mary Tyler Moore impression during a visit to Minneapolis, handing out hot towels to arrivals at the Port Authority Bus Terminal.
"Everyone always wondered if Calvert was an actor playing a character, but in reality he was just himself — a genuine, modest and nice man," Letterman said in a statement. "To our staff and to our viewers, he was a beloved and valued part of our show, and we will miss him."
The gnomish DeForest was working as a file clerk at a drug rehabilitation center when show producers, who had seen him in a New York University student's film, came calling.
He was the first face to greet viewers when Letterman's NBC show debuted on Feb. 1, 1982, offering a parody of the prologue to the Boris Karloff film "Frankenstein."
"It was the greatest thing that had happened in my life," he once said of his first Letterman appearance.
DeForest, given the nom de tube of Melman, became a program regular. The collaboration continued when the talk show host launched "Late Show with David Letterman" on CBS in 1993, though DeForest had to use his real name because of a dispute with NBC over "intellectual property."
Cue cards were often DeForest's television kryptonite, and his character inevitably appeared in an ill-fitting black suit behind thick black-rimmed glasses.
DeForest often drew laughs by his bizarre juxtaposition as a "Late Show" correspondent at events such as the 1994 Winter Olympics in Norway or the anniversary Woodstock concert that year.
His last appearance on "Late Show," celebrating his 81st birthday, came in 2002.
DeForest also appeared in an assortment of other television shows and films, including "Nothing Lasts Forever" with Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd.
At his request, there will be no funeral service for DeForest, who left no survivors.
'Huckabees' director's spat on Net
HOLLYWOOD -- A couple of explosive video clips have been making the e-mail rounds all over town this week, featuring a highly agitated Lily Tomlin and her verbally abusive I Heart Huckabees director David O. Russell.
The recordings, made by a technician who thoughtfully allowed the tape to continue rolling, originally had been swapped between talent agencies back when the poorly-received movie came out in 2004, but have mysteriously reappeared on YouTube and other video-sharing sites.
They most definitely are not for sensitive ears.
One shows Tomlin going on an expletive-filled tirade against her off-camera director while sitting at a desk, next to a very uncomfortable-looking Dustin Hoffman.
In the other clip it's Russell's turn -- hurling the nasty c-word in Tomlin's direction before trashing props and storming off the set.
Given the film's existential themes, their behaviour certainly doesn't seem very Zen-like, although it isn't the first time the mercurial Russell has had at it with one of his cast members.
Back during the filming of Three Kings, the nominally easy-going George Clooney was so upset by Russell's yelling and screaming at crew members, that at one point the two actually got into a fistfight. The experience left Clooney vowing never to work with the director again.
Russell, meanwhile, hasn't made another movie since Huckabees, but is currently developing a new comedy project tentatively called The H-Man Cometh, which has Vince Vaughn attached as a glib talk radio jock.
Wonder if Vaughn's checked out YouTube lately?