Thompson On Hollywood

Weinstein Strongarms Pelosi Over Democratic Delegates

Harvey Weinstein, long a passionate Democratic supporter, is using his muscle in the party, reports CNN.com, to help his pal Hillary Clinton. With friends like this you don't need enemies.

Let the record show that I am a passionate Democrat who wants the party to win against Bush John McCain in November, and I will vote for the winner of the Democratic nomination, whether it's Clinton, Obama or Gore...I paste the video below, which is rife with profane language and is for ADULTS ONLY--because I can't help myself.

Dubya Casting Coup: Don Knotts

Don Knotts as George W. Bush is perfect casting, if you ask me:

[Hat Tip: Steve Mirkin]

Clinton Beats O'Reilly Hands Down

Going up against Fox News' Bill O'Reilly showed real confidence, and Hillary Clinton more than held her own against him. She knew exactly how to handle him--even praising another Irishman, former speaker of the house Tip O'Neill. This duel of the Titans is fun to watch. Smart move.

This LAT piece about the Democrats embracing Fox News misses the point: if there are undecideds and indies and Republicans watching, it's a damned good idea to try to win them over. How strange that one-time Liberal Clinton has morphed into a centrist candidate, thanks to the perception that Obama is far more Liberal. (They're really the same.) Here's a long story in The Nation addressing Clinton's handling of sexism and racism in her campaign.

Spike Lee Counsels Rev. Wright to Shut Up

Spike Lee knows what it means to be a spokesman, even when you don't seek out the role. Whatever he says in public is weighed and evaluated, way beyond what most people have to worry about. So he's trying to get Reverent Wright to stop hurting Barack Obama's presidential bid, reports The Guardian.

Clooney's Consigliere

George Clooney and his father Nick have come to rely on civil rights attorney David Pressman for advice and support on his various political activities, writes the LAT's Tina Daunt:

Then the elder Clooney met one of Pressman's relatives at a party and learned of the extensive connections the young lawyer had made in the region through his work as a special assistant to then-Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright and, later, as a Sudan expert for the United Nations. The elder Clooney called Pressman the next day. Both Clooneys quickly came to view Pressman as a member of the family. "I call him 'Cuz,' " Clooney said. "My dad seems to think we're related. I'm not sure how he came up with that."

The idea makes Pressman chuckle. "He's an Irishman, and I'm a Jew. Go figure."

Over lunch recently at a fashionable bistro near his Chelsea law office, Pressman recalls that a female friend reacted in horror when he told her that he was taking George Clooney into Darfur. "She said, 'You realize if anything happens to him, you will be committing the greatest crime against womankind,' " Pressman said.

Since the first trip in 2006, Pressman and Clooney have gone on a number of missions to Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa to lobby for peace in Darfur.

[Photo courtesy of the LA Times]

Michael Moore Endorses Barack Obama

It's no shock that Liberal activist filmmaker Michael Moore has finally come out for Barack Obama, in his always persuasive way. (The man can write!) Whether this will help or hurt the candidate is another matter. We all know George Clooney is an Obama supporter, but he has been laying low on this.

My Vote's for Obama (if I could vote) ...by Michael Moore

April 21st, 2008

Friends,

I don't get to vote for President this primary season. I live in Michigan. The party leaders (both here and in D.C.) couldn't get their act together, and thus our votes will not be counted.

So, if you live in Pennsylvania, can you do me a favor? Will you please cast my vote -- and yours -- on Tuesday for Senator Barack Obama?

I haven't spoken publicly 'til now as to who I would vote for, primarily for two reasons: 1) Who cares?; and 2) I (and most people I know) don't give a rat's ass whose name is on the ballot in November, as long as there's a picture of JFK and FDR riding a donkey at the top of the ballot, and the word "Democratic" next to the candidate's name.

Seriously, I know so many people who don't care if the name under the Big "D" is Dancer, Prancer, Clinton or Blitzen. It can be Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Barry Obama or the Dalai Lama.

Well, that sounded good last year, but over the past two months, the actions and words of Hillary Clinton have gone from being merely disappointing to downright disgusting. I guess the debate last week was the final straw. I've watched Senator Clinton and her husband play this game of appealing to the worst side of white people, but last Wednesday, when she hurled the name "Farrakhan" out of nowhere, well that's when the silly season came to an early end for me. She said the "F" word to scare white people, pure and simple. Of course, Obama has no connection to Farrakhan. But, according to Senator Clinton, Obama's pastor does -- AND the "church bulletin" once included a Los Angeles Times op-ed from some guy with Hamas! No, not the church bulletin!

This sleazy attempt to smear Obama was brilliantly explained the following night by Stephen Colbert. He pointed out that if Obama is supported by Ted Kennedy, who is Catholic, and the Catholic Church is led by a Pope who was in the Hitler Youth, that can mean only one thing: OBAMA LOVES HITLER!

Yes, Senator Clinton, that's how you sounded. Like you were nuts. Like you were a bigot stoking the fires of stupidity. How sad that I would ever have to write those words about you. You have devoted your life to good causes and good deeds. And now to throw it all away for an office you can't win unless you smear the black man so much that the superdelegates cry "Uncle (Tom)" and give it all to you.

But that can't happen. You cast your die when you voted to start this bloody war. When you did that you were like Moses who lost it for a moment and, because of that, was prohibited from entering the Promised Land.

How sad for a country that wanted to see the first woman elected to the White House. That day will come -- but it won't be you. We'll have to wait for the current Democratic governor of Kansas to run in 2016 (you read it here first!).

There are those who say Obama isn't ready, or he's voted wrong on this or that. But that's looking at the trees and not the forest. What we are witnessing is not just a candidate but a profound, massive public movement for change. My endorsement is more for Obama The Movement than it is for Obama the candidate.

That is not to take anything away from this exceptional man. But what's going on is bigger than him at this point, and that's a good thing for the country. Because, when he wins in November, that Obama Movement is going to have to stay alert and active. Corporate America is not going to give up their hold on our government just because we say so. President Obama is going to need a nation of millions to stand behind him.

I know some of you will say, 'Mike, what have the Democrats done to deserve our vote?' That's a damn good question. In November of '06, the country loudly sent a message that we wanted the war to end. Yet the Democrats have done nothing. So why should we be so eager to line up happily behind them?

I'll tell you why. Because I can't stand one more friggin' minute of this administration and the permanent, irreversible damage it has done to our people and to this world. I'm almost at the point where I don't care if the Democrats don't have a backbone or a kneebone or a thought in their dizzy little heads. Just as long as their name ain't "Bush" and the word "Republican" is not beside theirs on the ballot, then that's good enough for me.

NYT Watch: Rossellini Goes Buggy for Green Porno; College Humor; Rich Attacks ABC Debate

In the Sunday NYT Mag, Isabella Rossellini reveals why she wanted to dress up like a bug on the Sundance Channel's Green Porno.

Also in the NYT, the editor of CollegeHumor.com, which gets 6 million hits a month, reveals the methods behind his madness.

And Frank Rich gives the ABC Debate, the debate moderators and the media in general a piece of his mind.

Alicia Keys Goes to Africa

Keep a Child Alive, a charity organization that sends food and medicine to AIDS patients in Africa, is debuting South African filmmaker Earle Sabastian's documentary Alicia in Africa:Journey to the Motherland, chronicling a month-long trip by Alicia Keys to South Africa, Kenya and Uganda to visit communities affected by HIV and AIDs. The film is available online for free, streaming at the official site and myspace and downloading at SpiralFrog.

Keys will also screen the Alicia in Africa trailer before each concert on her American tour, which kicked off April 19 in Virginia. Here is Keys' mission statement:

“Everyone who visits Africa is changed by the experience, but not everyone can afford to go to Africa. Come with me on my journey and learn as I learn. Let’s start a virus to stop a virus– send the film to everyone you know. Let’s change this nightmare into our generation’s greatest success story.”

Here's the trailer:

Moore Calls on Dems to End Iraq War

In his latest email, Michael Moore calls on the Democrats to do something about the war in Iraq, please.

So? ... A Note from Michael Moore

Monday, March 24th, 2008

Friends,

It would have to happen on Easter Sunday, wouldn't it, that the 4,000th American soldier would die in Iraq. Play me that crazy preacher again, will you, about how maybe God, in all his infinite wisdom, may not exactly be blessing America these days. Is anyone surprised?

4,000 dead. Unofficial estimates are that there may be up to 100,000 wounded, injured, or mentally ruined by this war. And there could be up to a million Iraqi dead. We will pay the consequences of this for a long, long time. God will keep blessing America.

And where is Darth Vader in all this? A reporter from ABC News this week told Dick Cheney, in regards to Iraq, "two-thirds of Americans say it's not worth fighting." Cheney cut her off with a one word answer: "So?"

"So?" As in, "So what?" As in, "F*** you. I could care less."

I would like every American to see Cheney flip the virtual bird at the them, the American people. Click here and pass it around. Then ask yourself why we haven't risen up and thrown him and his puppet out of the White House.

[Photo courtesy LA Times]

Millions Watch Obama Speech on YouTube

The riveting, moving and historic Barack Obama speech on racism and politics has been seen by millions on YouTube.

Here's the speech:

And the full text. Red-diaper baby Howard Rodman at the Huffington Post responds. As does Tina Daunt at the LAT. Even Peggy Noonan is mildly favorable at the WSJ.

UPDATE: I plucked this Jon Stewart clip off Ted Johnson's fabulous Wilshire & Washington blog:

Mamet Turns on Lily-Livered Liberals

Playwright/filmmaker David Mamet, whose upcoming jujitsu pic Redbelt I missed at ShoWest, writes about turning away from his Liberalism in The Village Voice.

What's that old canard about becoming more conservative as you age?

Even I am no longer as tolerant of knee-jerks as I once was. A woman in my poker group hates Hillary Clinton as much as she loves Barack Obama. I love neither candidate: I admire their strengths and weigh their weaknesses. Both are human politicians and thus, imperfect. I believe in clear-headed intelligent thinking: not irrational fantasies that will only crash to the ground. We throw our hopes and desires into potential saviours instead of objectively weighing what makes sense.

I don't agree with Mamet though. He seems to be painting a black/white view of the world, where big government is either corrupt or benign. I will always be skeptical of the interests of corporate America, which has entirely too much power. Republicans are not fighting for the working man and never will. And I will always embrace the humanism that goes with being a Democrat.

In other words, I'm still a Liberal. But I like to think I am no longer a bleeding heart, leftie knee-jerk idealist. That's what goes away with age.

Clooney to Direct Political Farragut North

During his Leatherheads PR duties, George Clooney said that he plans to direct, but not star in a screen adaptation of the political Farragut North, reports Cinematical. Well after the election.

Nicholson Talks Clinton, Ledger

In case you missed this, Jack Nicholson talks to MTV about Hillary Clinton and Heath Ledger, among other things. Did Jack help turn the tide in Ohio? Tina Daunt at the LAT wonders.

Anti-War Doc Body of War to Open in 14 Cities

On the eve of the fifth anniversary of the Iraq invasion, Body of War, the Phil Donahue-produced anti-war doc directed by Ellen Spiro, will open in at least 14 cities, beginning in early March. Sire Records will also release a double-CD compilation, Body of War: Songs that Inspired an Iraq War Veteran, on March 18 featuring songs from Eddie Vedder, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young and others. Vedder gave the film two of his songs, and performed them at September's Toronto Film Festival, where I saw the movie.

Here are Body of War reviews by Time and the NYT. It's a heartbreaking portrait of 26-year-old wounded vet Tomas Young, paralyzed in a wheelchair, who's trying to put his life together and deal with the crazy medical bureaucracy. His family and fiance are also trying to deal with him; at one point his mother learns how to insert a catheter. Young came to Toronto to push his passionate anti-war agenda.

Obama the Messiah

This Barack Obama is The Messiah video premieres tonight on Current at 11pm ET/PT and will also be available on current.com.

Strike Watch: Winners and Losers

Slate's Kim Masters.

NYT's David Carr.

LAT's Patrick Goldstein.

WGA Strike: A Look Back

Variety's Cynthia Littleton puts the strike in perspective in terms of who won and who lost.

The LAT's Scott Collins thinks the strike was worth it.

The NYT's strike wrap-up gets into what's going to happen with SAG and AFTRA.

Here's the letter sent to WGA members, posted at United Hollywood.

[LAT photo by Francine Orr]

WGA Strike: Possible Return to Work Delayed as Members Have 48 Hours to End Strike

In a surprise move, the WGA is giving its members 48 hours to ratify the deal--lift the strike, which means they won't be able to go back to work as soon as Monday, as the entertainment industry had hoped. UPDATE: At a noon press conference Sunday, it was revealed that showrunners, at least, will be allowed to return to work Monday. Given the overwhelming positive WGA member response to the deal so far, the writers are expected to ratify it. Check details at Variety.com.

Strike Watch: It's Not Over 'Til It's Over

While much of the entertainment industry is holding its breath that on Saturday thousands of members of the Writers Guild in NY and LA will signal thumbs up on the tentative deal that could end the strike, there are rumblings that it could go either way. UPDATE: Here's Dave McNary's latest report on the details of the deal, posted at 3:38 AM Pacific Time (!).

The folks who are assuming that they can get back to work on Monday may want to cross their fingers that the WGA members actually like the deal. Some critics of the new agreement say it's not much of an improvement on the DGA pact. "A lot of people want victory," is how one industryite put it. Here's more in Variety.

The NYT goes behind the scenes on how the impasse in the writers strike was resolved by a screenwriter, an agent and a studio chief, among others.

Logic would dictate that now is a very good time for everyone to get back to work. Staying on strike at this point will only prolong the town's misery and keep enormous numbers of people idle and without pay--with no guarantee of a better deal down the line.

While there are whispers that WGA West prexy Patric Verrone is not happy with the deal and could scuttle it, (UPDATE) in a message to the WGA, he and WGA E prexy Michael Winship cited the “enormous personal toll on our members and countless others” and said it was time to end the strike:

“As such, we believe that continuing to strike now will not bring sufficient gains to outweigh the potential risks and that the time has come to accept this contract and settle the strike,” they said. “Much has been achieved, and while this agreement is neither perfect nor perhaps all that we deserve for the countless hours of hard work and sacrifice, our strike has been a success.”

Others say that Verrone will take the temperature of the room Saturday and go with the flow. Which only makes sense.

There could be an argument for the writers joining forces with the Screen Actors Guild to hold out for a better deal. SAG has been historically happy to go on strike. And with no negotiations under way, SAG is a long way off from making any progress on a deal. That contract expires on June 30.

Looking back with 20/20 hindsight, it might have made more sense for the writers, directors and actors to hang tough together and fight the good fight as a unified front. Now it looks like the writers may settle for what they can get now, having paved the way for the directors' settlement, and the actors, who can shut down production again, could well go out and demand an even better deal.

The TV side of the biz has been more impacted than the movie side. Here's the LAT.

The status of writers going forward is still dicier than ever.

And Pamela McClintock details the status of projects readying for production in the wake of the strike. A full list is on the jump.

Oscar Watch: The Nominees Luncheon

[Posted by Tim M. Gray]
If there were any lingering doubts about the Oscarcast, AMPAS president Sid Ganis put them to rest on Feb. 4 by announcing, in a calm voice, "There's no doubt about it, we are going to do it."

The remark was met with enthusiastic applause at the 27th annual nominees luncheon Feb. 4 at the Beverly Hilton.

As always, the unwritten rule is to not make Oscar predictions at this event, which is in the "everybody here is a winner" spirit. The added unwritten law this year: Just assume the show will go on as usual, and don't even THINK otherwise.

"This is a day to bask in your nominee-ness," Ganis told the 115 Academy Awards contenders, "and when we present the awards..." Ganis used that "when" very casually, with no hint of "if."

The luncheon features one hour of schmoozing, followed by a one-hour lunch, which includes presentation of certificates to contenders. The event is very democratic: The Academy mixes it up, seating sound mixers with actors, makeup artists, Academy board members and staffers, etc. There is no Michael Clayton table, for example, or no actors table.

Journalists enter a lottery. I lucked out this year, sitting with John Lasseter, Alan Menken, Jason Reitman and docu-shorts contender James Longley, among others—a pretty swell group.

It's always fun to mingle with the nominees, who all look happy and relaxed (happy to be nominated, relaxed that they don't have to give a speech). Julie Christie looked spectacular, of course, and was totally charming. And so was Scott Rudin, slim and beaming. Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova said they were having a great time. Even Robert Iger—who's been pretty damn busy lately with his WGA talks— looked relaxed and happy.

Midway through lunch, all nominees assemble on risers for taking of the "class photo," followed by each going to the stage to receive a certificate— a process that took 35 minutes. George Clooney chatted with Viggo Mortensen; Sissy Spacek moved closer to the stage, to take photos of hubby Jack Fisk on the risers; Diablo Cody whooped loudly for fellow Juno nominees; and Julian Schnabel, in purple trousers and a black overcoat, went to the stage, received his certificate and then indicated he wanted to say a few words into the microphone.

Maybe he was joking (at least one hopes so, since he must have noticed that none of the other contenders had spoken). Or maybe he remembered some things he forgot to say at the DGA awards.

Every year, there are a few no-shows in each category, which was true this year. But there was one notable exception: All 13 nominated screenwriters attended.

The biggest applause was reserved for Robert Boyle, the 98-year-old art director/production designer with credits ranging from North by Northwest and The Birds to In Cold Blood. During the prolonged ovation, Ganis jumped from the stage to bring the certificate to Boyle, including an affectionate kiss on the cheek.

Ganis said that he hopes negotiations have reached a happy conclusion by Feb. 24, so the industry and its workers can be functioning again. He stressed about the kudocast, "We will be presenting the awards, as scheduled, on the 24th," not in any old "show must go on" attitude, but rather to honor the people who did great work in 2007 films.

Speaking to the kudos hopefuls, Oscarcast producer Gil Cates acknowledged "it's traditional to harangue you" into making short and interesting speeches, but he declined to do that this year. Cates said, "With everything going on in the world and everything going on in this town," he said he feels sure that the speeches will be "thoughtful, graceful... and heartfelt."

Here's Diane Garrett's report from the nominees lunch press room.

[Nominees attending the lunch, from top: Actor George Clooney, screenwriter Diablo Cody and writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson, actresses Amy Ryan and Marion Cotillard, production designer Jack Fisk and wife Sissy Spacek, and actress Julie Christie]

Strike Watch: End in Sight

The end may be near for the WGA strike, reports Variety: just in time for the Oscars.

Once the two sides have the key portions of a draft contract in hand, it will be brought to the WGA's 17-member negotiating committee. If they recommend it, the WGA West board of directors and WGA East council will vote on the pact, which would then be sent to the guild's 10,500 members for a ratification vote.

Although nobody was ready to break out the champagne on Sunday, it seemed clear that after Friday's sesh, the scribes and studios had breached their major "philosophical" differences, and now it was down to hashing out the details on paper. Insiders were reluctant to speculate on a timetable for these next steps, cautioning that even a seemingly small dispute could derail the process at any moment.

UPDATE: The NYT's Michael Cieply surveys the landscape to which the writers will return. Not friendly.

Hollywood Casts Presidents

When it comes to putting women and blacks in the White House, Hollywood has already been there, done that.

CNN coverage of the recent L.A. Clinton Obama debate yielded suprisingly high ratings; the media will cover Super Tuesday like a blanket.

For election updates, Ted Johnson is tracking the latest news on his must-read Wilshire & Washington blog.

Writers Guild Talks Making Progress

There's been some progress in the Writers Guild talks, reports Variety and the NYT.

Michael Moore on Sicko's Oscar Nom, Hollywood Politics

I love Michael Moore's emails. The guy can write. And he's an old Hollywood Democrat like me.

"Sicko" Gets the Oscar High-Five ...a note from Michael Moore

January 25, 2008

Friends,

I just wanted to drop you a note to let you know (if you didn't already) the good news that "Sicko" has been nominated for this year's Academy Award for Best Documentary. It was a pleasant surprise when we got the news on Tuesday.

Of course, every reporter who's called me in the past few days wanted to know if I plan on giving an "anti-war" or "anti-Bush" speech, should "Sicko" win, as I did when we won the Oscar for "Bowling for Columbine" in 2003. (As you may recall, it was the 5th day of the war when those Oscars were held, and I said from the stage that, while I enjoy making nonfiction films, we live in fictitious times with a man of fiction in the White House. A ruckus ensued with a loud roar of cheers and boos, then someone cued the band to get me off the stage. As host Steve Martin said a few moments later, Teamsters were out back loading me into the trunk of a car.)

Well it's five years later and we are still at war. But there's no booing these days. 65% of the public is now opposed to the war and to Mr. Bush. The Academy, instead of cutting off the microphone, now nominates anti-war films for Best Documentary. That's right, three of the five nominees this year are Iraq War films!

I am very honored to be in this group of documentaries, three of which I brought last summer to our film festival in northern Michigan. "Taxi to the Dark Side" is a brutal examination of U.S. torture in Iraq and Afghanistan. "Operation Homecoming" has actors reading letters from soldiers in Iraq. "No End in Sight" has ex-Bush administration officials admitting how they messed up the occupation, lamenting how things would have been so much better if only Bush had put people in Baghdad who knew what they were doing (and wouldn't we all have loved to see THAT? Hahaha). And "War/Dance" tells the moving story of kids in a dance competition in war-torn Africa. A diverse group of films, and proof that nonfiction movies are stronger than ever.

[Wireimage photo of Moore on the Cannes red carpet]

Sundance Watch: U23D

Yet another hot doc screened at Park City's Eccles Theatre Saturday night: U23D (here's the trailer). Bono and U2, Robert Redford and Al Gore (revisiting the scene of his first Inconvenient Truth triumph) were there. Why Al Gore? "He's with his friend Bono," said one of the National Geographic contingent.

The fans were rocking the house to U2 concerts in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil and Australia, seamlessly woven together by long-time U2 graphics artist turned rookie director Catherine Owens and director Mark Pellington. Owens spent two years editing the film in 2D before "knitting" together the 3ality 3D. "Thank you Bono for saying yes," said Owens. After Bono and U2 took the stage, Bono said, "There's a lot of love and Irish whiskey in the house. If this festival were in Dublin it would be called Raindance." After the screening, which inspired moviegoers to applaud as if they were in the live venue and wave their cellphones in the air, the gang trooped back on stage for a Q & A.

When one audience member asked Bono if he'd follow this movie up with something narrative like Yellow Submarine, Bono said, "You're telling me that Yellow Submarine has a deep narrative? You know how to hurt a fellow's feelings. Underneath this movie there is a narrative operating; it starts with social action and moves through ideas that have fired up our engines over the years--non-violence, human rights--it's hardly a flippant thing to do, under the circumstances, in this country."

WGA and AMPTP to Start Talking Again

The Writers Guild is going to start talking to the AMPTP in the wake of the DGA's tentative deal. Word is the WGA leadership is split on what they think of the DGA deal. Some like it, some don't. There is obviously huge pressure now to settle. And to settle well before February 24, Oscar night.

DGA Forges Agreement with AMPTP; WGA Responds

The DGA has come to a tentative three-year agreement with the AMPTP.

WGA STATEMENT ON DGA TENTATIVE AGREEMENT WITH AMPTP

LOS ANGELES – The Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) and the Writers of America, East (WGAE) have issued the following statement:

Now that the DGA has reached a tentative agreement with the AMPTP, the terms of the deal will be carefully analyzed and evaluated by the WGA, the WGA’s Negotiating Committee, the WGAW Board of Directors, and the WGAE Council. We will work with the full membership of both Guilds to discuss our strategies for our own negotiations and contract goals and how they may be affected by such a deal.

For over a month, we have been urging the conglomerates to return to the table and bargain in good faith. They have chosen to negotiate with the DGA instead. Now that those negotiations are completed, the AMPTP must return to the process of bargaining with the WGA. We hope that the DGA’s tentative agreement will be a step forward in our effort to negotiate an agreement that is in the best interests of all writers.

The Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) and the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) represent writers in the motion picture, broadcast, cable, and new media industries in both entertainment and news. For more information about the Writers Guild of America, West, please visit www.wga.org. For more information about the Writers Guild of America, East, please visit: www.wgaeast.org.

Awards Party Circuit: AFI

With the pre-Golden Globes party atmosphere muted and overshadowed by the ongoing Writers Guild strike, the well-attended (and untelevised) 8th annual AFI Awards lunch at the Four Seasons Hotel Friday was about as festive an awards season celebration as you’re going to get.

Convened to honor the ten best films and television programs of 2007, the lunch was crammed with stars and studio heads and would-be Oscar contenders. Michael Clayton star George Clooney talked about convening a meeting of top players who could talk to both sides in order to restart the WGA's strike talks.

New York producer Scott Rudin, sitting at Miramax’s No Country for Old Men table with Daniel Battsek, Josh Brolin and Javier Bardem, was making a rare appearance at a Hollywood public fete. “Don’t get used to it,” he warned.

Into the Wild producer Art Linson, sitting next to Hal Holbrook, was prepping to hit Sundance for the first time with his Hollywood tell-all What Just Happened, which he wrote and Barry Levinson directed, starring Robert DeNiro as Linson, which is a hot acquisition title.

Among the revelers were Mad Men star Jon Hamm, sporting a thick beard. “It’s a strike beard,” he said. “I’m bored and lazy and I’m on vacation. We finished the first season and we’re waiting for the second season to begin.”

Of the 20 clips shown at the lunch, by far the biggest applause went to attendee Alec Baldwin’s bravura impersonation on 30 Rock of Tracy Morgan's parents in a therapy session. On the movie side, a powerful There Will Be Blood clip seemed to resonate in the room.

Screenwriters Diablo Cody (Juno) and Tamara Jenkins (The Savages) were cracking each other up at the Fox Searchlight table. Critic and AFI film jury chair Leonard Maltin defended the inclusion of the French-language The Diving Bell and the Butterfly on the basis of its American producers, Jon Kilik and Kathleen Kennedy, and director Julian Schnabel. Judd Apatow objected to the “benign little scene” of Knocked Up chosen by the AFI, Maltin said. So Apatow supplied something much snarkier.

At the lunch’s end, WGA veteran Frank Pierson gave an elegiac speech about Hollywood then and now. “The sad reason Hollywood hates writers is that until the writers are done, no one can go to work,” he said. “That seems to be where we are now, as the future holds its breath.”

Pierson recalled when Hollywood was a “smaller factory town where the bosses knew the workers and workers knew the bosses. It was all up close and personal, and everyone knew their place. Police did not arrest a movie star; they drove him home. People ate in the commissary; the writers’ table was the place to sit because the jokes were supposed to be funnier. That collegial atmosphere is pretty much past and it’s not going to come back.”

When Pierson worked with Carl Reiner, Bob Altman, John Cassavetes, Bob Rafelson, Jack Nicholson and Henry Jaglom at Columbia, he recalled, he and Nicholson once watched Marlon Brando eat his lunch in the studio commissary. “It was up close and personal, we were so star-struck,” Pierson said. “That’s the way it was, a little bit the way it is here.” He thanked the storytellers convened at the AFI lunch, saying, “You are all people who made life a little bit more worth living in a very difficult year.”

Waxman Leaves NYT

Finally, after a six-month book leave, the Sharon Waxman shoe has dropped. The NYT's ex-Hollywood correspondent made a brief comeback with a DreamWorks/NBC scoop. But the word inside the Grey Lady was that the L.A.-based mother of three was destined for the New York Metro desk. Now, she is going indie. When I wrote about her leaving the paper, Waxman insisted that she was not forced off the entertainment beat, that it was her choice. But she wants to keep covering entertainment, clearly. If she joins the Hollywood blogosphere with no holds barred, fasten your seatbelts. On the other hand, it's a crowded niche and she still has to make a living; and she is unlikely to be soliciting studio advertising.

Strike Watch: Globes Open Up, DGA Talks Begin, Clooney Sets Record Straight

The Hollywood Foreign Press has taken over the Golden Globes ceremony, opening it up to all media.

The DGA is starting talks with the AMPTP Saturday after two weeks of back-channel prep talks. Lead negotiator Gil Cates is "the most powerful man in Hollywood," said one AFI exec at today's AFI Award luncheon at the Four Seasons. He is also the producer of the Academy Awards, which would ordinarily have hired squadrons of writers by now to prep the Oscarcast for February 24. If the DGA talks progress smoothly, and they come to an agreement that the WGA can live with, the Oscar show will go on.

At the AFI lunch George Clooney admitted that he did call Steven Spielberg to talk about convening some kind of meeting with top players who could talk to both sides in order to restart the WGA's strike talks, and that Spielberg was amenable. After a conversation with Harvey Weinstein, however, Clooney said the New York mogul misquoted him: Clooney did not say that he would tell either the WGA or the AMPTP "you have to live with this and get over it." "I talked to Steven about getting people together into a room to settle this thing," he told me. "I talk to politicians all the time; I do not want to set two parties against each other. It's difficult enough as it is."

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WGA Cancels Awards Fete

While Academy Governor Tom Hanks urges the WGA and AMPTP to settle their dispute before the Oscars, saying, "the show must go on," the WGA, which announced its Guild nominations this morning, does not agree. The WGA has announced that it will not mount its annual WGA Awards fete on February 9. Given that the WGA is working on shutting down various awards ceremonies, including the Oscars, it must not have seemed appropriate to put on their own show.

Here's the statement on the WGA site:

LOS ANGELES -- The Writers Guild of America, West will be announcing the 2008 Writers Guild Awards winners on February 9. There will be no Writers Guild of America, West show until the strike is over.

Weinsteins Signing Interim WGA Deal

Harvey Weinstein told the NYT he may finalize an interim deal with the WGA as soon as Thursday. He recently cast Kate Winslet in the role vacated by Nicole Kidman in Stephen Daldry's The Reader. Another film hoping to return to pre-production status is the Rob Marshall musical Nine.

Strike Update: Globes, Oscars, Actors, DGA Talks

Patrick Goldstein astutely analyzes the powerful relationship between the striking writers and their actor allies.

The Golden Globes Show takes shape.

Access Hollywood meets the Golden Globes?

Directors Guild talks are intensifying.

Studios ending first-look deals.

Globes Wind Up with Live NBC Press Conference, No Banquet, No Parties

The Golden Globes will wind up as a one-hour live press conference on NBC with some kind of pre-show and lots of party coverage, reports Variety. This way NBC News will cover the press conference announcing the winners, to be aired January 13 at 6 PM Pacific. A proposed Dateline special, Dick Clark Productions clip show and Access Hollywood after-party coverage may be part of the package are no longer part of the package. There will be no lavish Globe Awards dinner, but plenty of Beverly Hilton red-carpet and party activity for the news media and Beverly Hilton parties are being cancelled.

The mechanics of the one-hour announcement itself are still in the air. The original idea was that at some point during party festivities the HFPA would stop the proceedings and make the declaration of the winners. Cameras would be poised on the nominees at the different parties, so that there would be reaction from Atonement's Keira Knightley, for example, at the Universal/Focus party. This concept was scratched by the WGA.

NBC was trying to sidestep the WGA by putting together a series of Golden Globes shows that were not WGA shows. The WGA did not go along with this idea.

Why did the Hollywood foreign press not stick to its original plan of putting on the awards dinner Guild-style without an NBC telecast? Word is, they simply waited too long to apply for a waiver and negotiate a reasonable solution. They couldn't keep their heads on straight when they found themselves up against the wall. The Beverly Hilton, caterers, designers, florists, all were calling every hour to find out what was going on. Everyone winds up with significant losses.

When the HFPA met Friday, they insisted on not taping or delaying the telecast. And announcing the winners as planned, no matter what. The once-planned banquet without a telecast was no longer possible at that point. For its part, NBC was holding firm against the WGA and didn't want to cave.

Monday the HFPA went down the road with NBC of trying to have four hours of programming that night, which would have been more lucrative than cancelling the telecast. But NBC, Dick Clark and the Globes wound up with just a one-hour televised press conference. And there are plenty of people unhappy about that. What everyone is left with is what one observer calls "a strange thing at the Hilton Hotel in January."