Springsteen promises high-energy halftime show
TAMPA, Fla. – Anybody who thinks it's tough playing the halftime show at the Super Bowl with 150 million people watching should try serenading Barack Obama with the majestic granite visage of Abraham Lincoln staring over your shoulder.
Bruce Springsteen did.
"It kind of was a good warm-up for this," Springsteen joked Thursday after arriving in Tampa with the E Street Band. "That takes some of the pressure off, you know."
In his first news conference in more than 20 years, The Boss was as cool as ever.
Wearing black jeans, a black crewneck sweater and black boots, Springsteen and his band charmed a standing-room-only crowd by joking about his lack of football knowledge, that the group is still together — and its members still alive — and the tremendous year he's having personally and professionally.
"Is there anybody from New Jersey? Don't give them the microphone!" the Garden State native called out before taking questions in his first large forum since a 1987 news conference for Amnesty International.
But Springsteen has reason to celebrate.
His song, "The Wrestler," from the movie of the same name, won a Golden Globe earlier this month, and he followed it with a performance at the National Mall to honor Obama two days before the inauguration. Springsteen was a huge Obama booster during the campaign.
His latest CD, "Working on a Dream," was released Tuesday, and he'll kick off a world tour in San Jose, Calif., on April 1.
"Good times," the 59-year-old rocker smiled. "You just have years where things happen, or years where it's quieter. But what's special for me right now is I really believe our band is going through sort of a golden age. We've made three of what I think are some of our best records in a row, which is really one of the reasons we're here. And the band, on the last tour, played the best it's ever played.
"We've been on the road awhile. We're some old soldiers. But the band is still really burning, and I really want people to know about the record. Good year, you know? It's been great."
So now the band plays Sunday's halftime show of the Super Bowl, which is enjoying a run of booking major talent for the roughly 15-minute slot before the largest television event in the nation. Acts have recently included the Rolling Stones, U2, Paul McCartney, Prince and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
The NFL said last year's halftime show with Petty was watched by more than 148 million viewers in the U.S.
Springsteen, for years, had turned down invitations to play the Super Bowl, unsure of the legitimacy of such a performance. After all, for many years the halftime show was made up of local and college marching bands and drill teams.
But Springsteen said the opportunity to promote the album, and the upgraded production team that has given the invitation a prestige factor, changed his mind.
"Initially, it was sort of a novelty and so it didn't quite feel right," he explained. "But it was just like, this is the year. ... Bands of our generation, you can sort of be seen on a stage like this or, like, not seen. There's not a lot of middle places. It is a tremendous venue."
The performance is expected to be a teaser for the upcoming tour, and scores of Las Vegas sports books are taking bets on the set list. Asked who ultimately decides what songs will be played, Springsteen staked his claim as leader of the band.
"I'm the Boss! The Boss decides what we play!" he yelled. "Nobody else decides. People suggest. Hint. Beg. Cajole. But I decide."
Pittsburgh receiver Hines Ward said he was looking forward to the performance, and even had a song request.
"I love Bruce. I hope he plays 'Born in the USA.' He has a great voice when he says, 'Boorrrn,' " Ward said. "He has a lot of swagger about himself. He's very confident. When he's up there performing, it's all about him."
Springsteen only offered one slight teaser, vowing to pack the bands' usual emotion and energy into their brief performance.
"We want it to be a 12-minute party," he said. "The idea of the show is, you are going to the Meadowlands, you get lost on the way. You are watching your clock, `Damn, the show is starting right now.' You stop at a bar to get some directions, and the bar gets held up while you are there. So that takes another 45 minutes to get out of there.
"You come back and you miss your exit on the turnpike, and you are driving to get back around. And so you make it into the stadium 2 hours and 48 minutes into the show — that's what you are going to see: the last 12 minutes."
U.S. Wal-Marts want 'Zack and Miri' DVD cover without word 'porno': Kevin Smith
TORONTO - There's new controversy over the title of filmmaker Kevin Smith's saucy comedy, "Zack and Miri Make a Porno."
Last fall, some ads for the film were rejected south of the border because of the word "porno." Now, Smith says Wal-Mart stores in the U.S. have asked that the cover of the DVD, set to hit shelves Tuesday, omit the word too.
"I'm just so shocked that the word 'porno' meant that much to people in terms of, like, they found it insanely offensive and don't want to see it on display," the outspoken writer-director said Thursday in an interview from Los Angeles.
Smith said Weinstein Co., which released the film Oct. 31, has complied with Wal-Mart's request and created new DVD covers for the retailer, but the director worries that some unsuspecting customers will be fooled when they see the shortened title.
"Some Wal-Mart-er could buy it and think: 'Oh, Zack and Miri, looks lovely,' and pop it in and there's ... some pretty graphic stuff," said the indie icon, known for such slacker hits as "Clerks," "Chasing Amy," "Dogma" and "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back."
"I mean, at least with the word 'porno' in the title, you can kind of give people a warning about what they're in for."
Wal-Mart did not immediately respond to calls for comment Thursday.
As for the DVD release in Canada, Smith said retailers here will sell the cover with the full title.
"Zack and Miri Make a Porno" stars Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks as roommates who shoot an adult flick to make quick cash. While the film does include nudity, vulgar content and colourful language, it is not a porno but rather a romantic comedy, said Smith.
Before the film hit the big screen, the Motion Picture Association of America gave it its most restrictive rating - NC-17, which means no one under that age is admitted. After several appeals from Smith, the organization lowered the rating to "R," which allows under-17 viewers in if they're accompanied by a parent or adult over 21.
In Canada, most provinces gave it an 18A rating, in which viewers under that age can only see the film if accompanied by an adult.
The MPAA also rejected some "Zack and Miri" ads, deeming them "highly sexually suggestive," so Weinstein Co. created new posters that had stick figures representing the actors.
Smith said he was initially "flabbergasted" about the uproar over the word "porno" but now: "I've thrown up my hands at the whole thing."
He also said he's not worried that the continuing controversy will bring down his DVD sales, noting the film has actually led to new opportunities for him.
"'Zack and Miri' did some weird things for my career in as much as I guess lots of folks at different studios finally considered it a like, movie-enough movie, where they could be like, 'Hey, would you like to direct movies for us?"' said Smith, who made his first film, "Clerks," for just US$27,575 in his home state of New Jersey.
With new opportunities at his door, Smith said he's largely abandoned what he calls the "Askewniverse" - a comical world with recurring characters including misfits Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Smith).
"I just can't imagine bringing Jay and Silent Bob back, man," said Smith, whose character was a mute who always wore a baseball cap, black trench coat and long hair.
"I'm 38 now, I'll be 39 in August. I cannot imagine spinning a backwards baseball cap and leaning against a convenience store wall. Those characters would just stop being cute - they'd become depressing, you know? Old, fat (guy) leaning outside a convenience store with another dude and they're selling drugs to teenagers?
"The charm would be gone, I think. But Dante and Randal (from 'Clerks II') I think could still be viable ... but beyond that it just feels like the Askewniverse is kind of done. 'Clerks II' was a really nice way to close it up."
Smith will be in Toronto next week for two speaking engagements at Roy Thomson Hall, and for Q&A sessions at the Kevin Smith Film Festival.
Wood Blasts Press And Rourke Over Romance Reports
Evan Rachel Wood has lashed out at her The Wrestler co-star Mickey Rourke for fuelling reports the pair is dating. The young actress, who plays Rourke's daughter in the film, admits she feels "disrespected" by press reports she and the actor are an item - and she's partly blaming him for the rumours.
The couple reportedly locked lips at the Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday, fuelling romance rumours - and the actress is sick of all the speculation.
In a statement, she writes, "I’m upset because I feel disrespected by the press and by Mr. Rourke. Just because I’m single doesn’t mean that you can take advantage of me. It’s unfair that the performances (in the film) might suffer because of all of these distractions."
And Wood, who recently split from shock rocker Marilyn Manson, insists she isn't even attracted to her The Wrestler co-star: "He's too old for me. Nothing ever happened and nothing ever will."
What's up with Lost's Nestor Carbonell not aging? And the 'guyliner'?
Nestor Carbonell—who is again playing the mysterious, apparently ageless Richard Alpert in the fifth season of ABC's Lost—told SCI FI Wire that he understands if viewers are a little disoriented by the show's time-jumping storyline this year: So is he.
"I'm a little dizzy," Carbonell admitted in an exclusive interview on Wednesday. "Initially, it took me, in the first episode, [a moment to figure out] 'OK, when am I exactly? Where are we, and when am I?' But, no, it didn't take long. I think the viewers, after this episode [that aired Jan. 28], the show very much settles down, and you get the gist of the season, that you're going to be dealing with some elements of time travel."
Carbonell—who was initially hired in the third season for only a quick guest spot—will instead be appearing in the rest of season five and the balance of the show, which is set to wrap in 2010, executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse told reporters at this month's Television Critics Association winter press tour in Universal City, Calif.
Carbonell spoke with SCI FI Wire to promote the DVD release of the slasher film Killer Movie. The following Q&A features edited excerpts from that interview. Lost airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
It must be a great deal to be so sought after by the producers that they hire you for the rest of the show.
Carbonell: Oh, it was great, and I never know what's going to happen. It just started out as an audition for a guest spot, third season. Even though I was told it was possibly recurring, they called me about six episodes after I shot that, kind of out of the blue for me, and told me they wanted me to go to the island for about five episodes. The role grew from there. You just never know, but, yes, it was great. It was great that they were so enthusiastic. I'm thrilled. I'm thrilled to be a part of it. ...
It appears that Alpert is ageless. Does it affect the way you play him?
Carbonell: I'm not playing him as if he's 100 years old or several hundred years old. It's very clear, obviously, that the guy doesn't age, but I think there is something to being a guy who's been around, a guy with some wisdom, a shrewd man who's seen a lot in his times here on this island and abroad. I hope that carries in some way into the character. ...
At the TV Critics Association press tour, some reporters asked if you wore eyeliner, which Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse denied. What do you think of this?
Carbonell: My brother sent me this link about the TCA, where you guys were at. Someone had asked about whether I was wearing eyeliner. I think Carlton came to my defense, and he said, "He's 100 percent sans makeup" or something like that. I could see why some people would think I have eyeliner on because [my eyelashes] are dark. Especially the bottom row, they're pretty dark. I've been dealing with it since I was a little kid, and so to me it's very funny when it comes up, especially at TCA. My brother told me to look online and sort of Google something about that, and my name came up as a couple things. One of them was Maybelline Man. I've been dubbed by some people as Guyliner. It's very amusing.
Have any of your Dark Knight friends called you to be their plus-one for the Oscars? [Carbonell appeared in the movie in the role of Gotham City mayor Anthony Garcia.]
Carbonell: Oh, the plus-one thing? No, not yet. I have a plus-one, so I couldn't be someone else's plus-one, but no. I haven't been anybody's plus-one yet. I'll be watching. Hey, I may be in Hawaii [where Lost shoots].
ESPN facing job cuts, hiring freeze
NEW YORK - ESPN's top executive told employees that he's instituting a hiring freeze and won't give any raises to top executives as one of television's most successful enterprises feels the effect of the economy.
ESPN and ABC Sports chief George Bodenheimer said he expected 200 jobs will be cut within the next year, mostly positions currently unfilled.
The moves come despite what Bodenheimer called a record year for ESPN in 2008, although the company doesn't release financial details. Cable television's top sports franchise showed its muscle by outbidding everyone in November for the rights to televise college football's Bowl Championship Series for four years starting in 2011.
"The economy is worsening," Bodenheimer said, "and ESPN and our business partners - especially some of our major advertisers - are feeling the impact more acutely than at any point in our lifetime."
He spoke to ESPN employees Wednesday through a company computer connection, and his message quickly became public.
The company is not ruling out layoffs, although the vast majority of job cuts will come through not filling open jobs, a spokesman said. Bodenheimer said he's ordering a review of operations over the next few months to find ways to save money.
Although top executives won't see raises, Bodenheimer told the troops that some merit raises will still be available to lower level staff.
He also said the company will make key investments both in the U.S. and internationally. ESPN and partner ABC are expected to be bidders later this year when the rights to televise the 2014 and 2016 Olympics goes up for auction.
"Our goal remains to come out of this period stronger," Bodenheimer said.
Mickey Rourke won't rumble with WWE superstar
HOUSTON – A spokeswoman for actor Mickey Rourke says he won't be taking his role as a professional wrestler into a real-life ring after all.
Paula Woods told The Associated Press on Wednesday night that Rourke will not wrestle WWE superstar Chris Jericho at Wrestlemania 25 in April at Houston's Reliant Stadium.
Woods wrote in an e-mail that the Oscar-nominated actor "will not be participating in Wrestlemania. He is focusing entirely on his acting career."
Rourke portrays professional wrestler Randy the Ram in the acclaimed movie "The Wrestler." He made a surprise announcement about the wrestling event Sunday night on the red carpet before the Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles.
Rourke had said he was going to toss Jericho "around the ring like tossed salad."