Brittany Murphy saves Ed Burns' directing career!

Edward Burns wrote, directed and stars in a new movie that opens on Friday. The Groomsmen is the latest in his eleven-year run of high-quality, low budget, character-driven art films for the Average Joe. It’s got, among others, John Leguizamo (who voices Sid in the Ice Age movies), Jay Mohr and the guy who plays Shaggy in the Scooby Doo movies.

So who’d believe it took the casting of crazy Brittany Murphy to get the picture greenlit?

That’s what Burns, a respected director and bonafide acting star, tells the Apple folks in an interview promoting their Final Cut Pro editing system:

“It was so impossible to get it made.

"We ended up making the film for $3 million, about half of the original budget. And I don’t know, quite honestly, if it would have happened without Brittany Murphy. I believe their thinking was, ‘Okay, put Brittany in a wedding dress on the box of the DVD and we’ll break even.’

“A lot of the specialized film companies, whether it’s Fox Searchlight or Lion’s Gate, are having so much success with teen comedies and slasher movies that they no longer make the indie films they were set up to support, finance, and distribute. Now those companies say, ‘You go raise the money, make the movie, and then maybe we’ll overspend to buy it, but we don’t want to be involved in the risk side of that business.’”

Burns eventually got the film financed by a new company called Bauer Martinez Entertainment. At least he didn’t have to rewrite his script for filming in England, like Woody Allen, the Jewish Edward Burns, had to do to get Match Point made.

Burns’ interview promoted Apple’s Final Cut pro movie editing software, used to edit The Groomsmen, which you cinephiles will be glad to know is said to be influenced by Barry Levinsen's "Diner" and Fellini’s “I Vitelloni.”

Murphy, who was most recently in the headlines denying she was on drugs or had sex with a waiter at a Hollywood party, can be heard warbling on the new Paul Oakenfold single, "Faster Kill Pussycat."

All of which, of course, brings us back to Tabloid Baby.

It was fourteen years ago that tabloid television warlords Burt Kearns and Rafael Abramovitz were walking through Manhattan, deep in discussion about the future of A Current Affair when they ran into Edward Burns in Washington Square Park. He was shooting a pocket-budget movie that his dad, our pal Edward J. Burns, had helped finance and produce. The director of photography was a cameraman from A Current Affair. The movie was edited at night in an edit room at the A Current Affair offices.

The movie was The Brothers McMullen. It went on to win the Sundance Grand Jury Prize. Originally shot for about $25,000, it took in more than ten million dollars domestic and launched Burns into a stellar Hollywood career (while he stayed true to his New York City roots and vision).

Kearns would also find Hollywood success, writing and producing the smash Burt Reynolds comedy, Cloud 9, with Brett Hudson and Academy Award winner Albert S. Ruddy (also edited on Final Cut Pro) and, among other projects with Hudson, producing the forthcoming feature by up-and-coming filmmaker Afrika Jones. He can also be seen providing commentary on the DVD of the Edward Burns-Robert DeNiro film, 15 Minutes.

For the complete story of the Washington Square run-in, see Tabloid Baby, Chapter 25, "Buttafuoco Sweats."

Click here to see-- and buy-- Edward J. Burns' unique artwork. And we found some more saucy photos of Brittany Murphy here.

Michael Lohan weighs in on Brittany Murphy

"My heart and condolences go out to Brittany Murphy,
her family and even my daughter, who all have suffered
and have to deal with the effects of this horrible tragedy
of a gifted and blessed human being."

Michael Lohan, Tabloid Baby's 2007 Person of The Year, was already dealing with a Twitter imposter who claims he's suicidal, new legal troubles with his ex-galpal Erin (and the second high-profile shoe-attack incident in his tabloid career), and worrying about the health of talented and troubled daughter Lindsay, when word of tragic actress Brittany Murphy's premature death at 32 hit a little too close to home.


In the early hours of the morning, he sent us this email:

Update if you care to post...

To rebut all the phony individuals pretending to be me on Titter, my attorney (Stephanie Ovadia), has contacted Twitter's legal Dept., to track down and prosecute the imposter(s). She has also advised me to open a REAL Twitter account, to prove the others are not me.

In the meantime, my attorney (Tony Grandinette) has sent subpoenas out to John Ankleman, Stratis Morfogen, Adam Liberman, John Murray ( Erin's brother in law), Dr. Pitch, Brookhaven Memorial Hospital Psych Ward, Marriott, Verizon Wireless and Michael Kors, in order to prove ALL the charges against me are FALSE!

Lastly, my heart and condolences go out to Brittany Murphy, her family and even my daughter, who all have suffered and have to deal with the effects of this horrible tragedy of a gifted and blessed human being.

Regards,

Michael Lohan

911 calls: Brittany Murphy vs. Danny Gans

SHARON MURPHY 911 CALL ..... JULIE GANS 911 CALL

How would one react upon awakening to find a loved one unexpectedly unresponsive, and from all indications, dead? The continuing drumbeat of celebrity deaths and the intense investigation and speculation accorded them by the media have made these awful events open to public scrutiny and interpretation. The 911 calls, made by the mother of tragic actress Brittany Murphy and the wife of Las Vegas superstar Danny Gans, however, reveal that reactions and actions of those tossed into the grief-stricken maelstrom vary considerably, and are certainly not so easy to judge.

BRITTANY MURPHY DEATH HOUSE, HOLLYWOOD HILLS

DANNY GANS DEATH HOUSE, HENDERSON, NEVADA

Is Brittany Murphy our Karen Carpenter?

Interesting that the Los Angeles County Coroner immediately dismissed drugs as a factor in the death of tragic actress Brittany Murphy-- despite the large quantities of prescription medication found in the home where she died and the perception around town that she had substance issues. And whether the coroner's statement is Danny Gans-style parsing or a legally shrewd move, it has combined with true shock among many people who remember Brittany from her brighter days to lead to hopeful speculation that Brittany died not from excess but as a result of anorexia. Hopeful, because if that were to be the case, Brittany would not be another wasted talent, but a victim of society's cruel expectations, our culture's twisted demands, and the resulting distorted body image among many women and girls. She would be a feminist icon. She would be this generation's Karen Carpenter. She would have died for our sins. At least for the next six weeks until the toxicology results come through.

Brittany Murphy was the voice of Luanne on King of The Hill

Tragic actress Brittany Murphy, who died of an apparent drug-related heart attack this morning at the age of 32, will remain forever young and naive through her role as Luanne on Mike Judge's animated television series, King of The Hill.

The show ended a twelve-year-run on Fox in September, but continues to be seen in syndication. Brittany's character, Luanne Leanne Platter, is, according to Wikipedia, "sensitive and a bit of an airhead, (and) her conflicts most often stem from her inability to think for herself and her naiveté, which allows others to take advantage of her. She follows a very implicit pattern in the men she dates, which are usually all the wrong kinds."

Will that be the way we remember Brittany?

Brittany Murphy latest 2009 dead celebrity

While we monitor the tragic habits of talented and troubled actress Lindsay Lohan comes word that talented and troubled actress Brittany Murphy is dead at 32. Recently fired from her latest film, lampooned on Saturday Night Live, and widely rumoured to have had a drug problem, the movie star known for trying a little too hard to be sexy reportedly went into full cardiac arrest at her home this morning and was dead before she reached the hospital.

Warnings don't matter in Hollywood. And the Celebrity Reaper is taking no holiday as we head toward the end of Celebrity Death Year 2009.

911 calls: Corey Haim vs. Danny Gans

JUDY HAIM 911 CALL ..... JULIE GANS 911 CALL

How would one react upon awakening to find a loved one unexpectedly unresponsive, and from all indications, dead? The continuing drumbeat of celebrity deaths and the intense investigation and speculation accorded them by the media have made these awful events open to public scrutiny and interpretation. In January, we contrasted the 911 call made by the mother of tragic actress Brittany Murphy with the call made in the early hours of May 1st by the wife of Las Vegas superstar Danny Gans. Today, it is the 911 call made by Judy Haim, mother of addict and former teen idol Corey Haim, that reveals the reactions and actions of those tossed into the grief-stricken maelstrom of prescription drug-related death vary considerably, and are certainly not so easy to judge.

COREY HAIM DEATH SITE, BURBANK, CALIFORNIA

DANNY GANS DEATH HOUSE, HENDERSON, NEVADA

Click here for Sharon Murphy's 911 call

Corey Haim and Danny Gans

The autopsy and toxicological test results on Corey Haim are not yet in, but already the death of the former child star is being attributed to prescription drugs and mentioned in the same breath as that of the Las Vegas Strip superstar Danny Gans.

California's Attorney General Jerry Brown has linked Haim to an "illegal and massive prescription-drug ring" and says his office is investigating "an unauthorized prescription under the former child star's name that was found during an ongoing investigation of fraudulent prescription-drug pads ordered from a vendor in San Diego."


Brown said: "Corey Haim's death is yet another tragedy linked to the growing problem of prescription-drug abuse. This problem is increasingly linked to criminal organizations, like the illegal and massive prescription-drug ring under investigation."

Haim, of course, is only the latest celebrity prescription drug-related death in the time since last May 1st, when Gans died suddenly at the age of 52 due to an overdose of Dilaudid. Michael Jackson and Brittany Murphy's prescription-related demises contributed to Brown's interest in the prescription racket. Those deaths, however, were scrutinized and investigated by a responsible media as well as law enforcement officials.


The death of the Born Again family man Danny Gans has gone unexamined by a beholden news media in Las Vegas, where, according to local news nabob and New York Times stringer Steve Friess, "when left to our own devices, we do things a little differently."

It has been reported that Gans did not have a prescription for the drug that led to his death, and that he was an owner of a pharmacy supply house. There has been no investigation into either aspect of his life or death, and one would suspect that an honest investigation and accounting into the details of the pain and struggles of Gans' life and circumstances of his death would set him apart from the show business losers and freaks to whom timing and similarity have linked him so unfortunately.

Tough times for Wayne Newton

With his career-encompassing multimedia show, Once Before I Go, at the Tropicana, these should be golden days for Las Vegas superstar and Tabloid Baby pal Wayne Newton, but according to John Katsilometes at the Las Vegas Sun, these are definitely the worst of times for the Midnight Idol.

Two weeks ago, Wayne's daughter Erin, 33 and pregnant, suffered liver, kidney and respiratory failure and delivered baby boy via cesarean section. Then she fell into a coma until last weekend. Doctors say her condition is consistent with HELLP syndrome, which attacks the kidneys and liver, and is in motion during pregnancy.

After doctors told Wayne that Erin probably wouldn't recover, she awoke "unexpectedly" on Monday.

Wayne had canceled many of his February shows to fly to and from St. Louis to be with Erin, his adopted with first wife, Elaine. (They divorced in 1985. He and his current wife Kathleen have a 7-year-old daughter, Lauren.)

Wayne was in the hospital with Erin this morning when Clark County Sheriff's civil-process deputies and moving vans turned up at his famed 40-acre Shenandoah ranch and estate personnel arrived at his estate on behalf of his former pilot Monty Ward, trying to seize property to execute on a judgment that totaled more than $500,000 in past-due wages.

The deputies were turned away.

Wayne and his family have been hit with all kinds of bad news at least since December. His wife's older sister died suddenly the day after Christmas in Los Angeles, six days after the death of his friend and USO touring colleague Brittany Murphy died.

What else? Kats adds:

"This month, a lawsuit was filed against Newton in Clark County District Court in Las Vegas by speedway magnate and onetime Newton friend Bruton Smith, CEO of Speedway Motorsports, charging that Newton is delinquent on a $3.35 million loan Smith had personally guaranteed. As a result, Smith is seeking foreclosure of Shenandoah, one of the city's signature properties.

"Newton also still is entangled in a $32,000 lawsuit for hay delivered to the ranch for his dozens of Arabian horses, an action that dates to 2009, and earlier this month an airport near Detroit claimed Newton owes more than $60,000 in storage fees after he abandoned a $2 million plane there more than three years ago. The craft reportedly is being eaten away by mold and is useless except for scrap."

Lindsay Lohan watch: Merry Christmas, you're alive

Whose idea was it to spread around these photos now? Days after the death of troubled and talented actress Brittany Murphy, troubled and talented actress Lindsay Lohan, who has seen her fortunes fall and her career dip to photo shoots bordering on soft-core pornography, works up some holiday cheer, surely realizing she narrowly avoided the sweep of the 2009 Celebrity Reaper's scythe, with a photo shoot on a beach in Santa Barbara.