Who killed the paparazzo?

The Todd Wallace story is beginning to sound a lot like Mel Gibson’s great flick Paparazzi, in which a Hollywood star takes revenge against the scumbag shutterbugs who hurt his family.

In this case, the revenge is metaphorical, of course (except with the Pellicano artichoke still being plucked and Britney Spears claiming the paparazzi defense for her PCH joyride with a baby on her lap, who knows?), and the L.A. County Coroner (visit their gift shop) may have some answers today, after spending the week with a CSI-worthy corpse believed to be that of paparazzi terrible Wallace.

Todd Wallace was a lightning rod in the battle between the new mini-celebutards and the gonzo paparazzi business, arrested in September and charged with battery for allegedly getting physical with little kids while trying to snap shots of Reese Witherspoon and her children in Disneyland.

Wallace pleaded innocent. The cops have been looking for him since he skipped bail in December. According to the papers, he was “known for using multiple aliases and traveling extensively, and officials feared he may have fled the US to Central America.”

Instead they found him on Monday, in an apartment on Darlington Avenue in Brentwood, the body so badly decomposed that they still don’t know for sure it’s the missing man, if was a homicide or if the guy died of natural causes at 44.

Patrick Ahle, a prosecutor handling the Witherspoon case, said, given Wallace's past history of aliases, he'd wait until the photographer's death is confirmed before assuming the deceased man is him.

Reese, meanwhile, is up for a Best Actress Oscar. (And Moonie, who played her dog Bruiser in Legally Blonde, stars in Cloud 9, the hit motion picture comedy written and produced by Burt Kearns and Brett Hudson of Frozen Pictures and Academy Award winner Albert S. Ruddy, now available on Fox DVD!)

For more on the Wallace mystery, see Hollywood Thoughts.

That's not Curious George! Part 2

We were the first to shout about it: That's not Curious George in the big bright new cartoon movie that opens today, and nobody who's even remotely familiar with the books or stories will try and convince us that it’s Curious George up there on the screen, when Mom and Dad and kids and anyone for that matter who’s experienced the wonder of the books in the past sixty five years but has sat in movie theatres through The Grinch and Cat in The Hat and Chicken Little and Cheaper By The Dozen and Walk The Line and Charlie and The Chocolate Factory and Good Night (COMMA) and Good Luck and any other number of Hollywood bastardizations knows the original timeless classic has been altered for no good reason, and that the new little cartoon monkey is Curious George as much as the kid in Home Alone 3 and 4 is Macauley Culkin.

Anyway, the reviews are out, and a tip of the hat to the L.A. Times’ Carina Cochano, for taking the monkey by the ears:

The big difference between this monkey and H.A. and Margret Rey's? He's now conspicuously eyeballed. Millions of dollars later, George's coal-lump peepers are now black and white, thanks very much, because studio executives believe eyeballs make him more "accessible" to children. Everybody's opinion is special.

With his new eyeballs, and his abiding love for Ted, George is considerably more anthropomorphized than before. And with his cuddly new name, the "Man" is likewise less creepily anonymous. Overall, the film version feels warmer than the books, stressing the monkey's amour fou for Ted, that yellow-headed heartbreaker. What it lacks somewhat is that brainy celebration of la différence (between man and monkey, of course) that gave the books a wilder edge, a feeling that despite their affection for one another, George and the Man were essentially strangers. Eyeball-less, and ignorant of his friend's name, George was a primal force that the Man in the Yellow Hat could never quite control. No wonder the new line of products to be sold at Kmart and Target will be modeled on the new-look George, while higher-end stores will stick with the old, literary monkey.

The old George was an irrepressible id, a reminder of the fragile equilibrium (not to mention polite distance) between nature and civilization. The new one is a future plush toy.

The New York Times, meanwhile, blows off the movie in four paragraphs, with third-stringer Dana Stevens ignoring the discrepancies, being more concerned with expressing Upper East Side private school relief that the monkey is not voiced by Snoop Doggy Dogg:

In a refreshing departure from the animal heroes of most recent children's movies, Curious George — or "the monkey," as he's called for the first two-thirds of this new animated film — doesn't rap, punch out bad guys or emit rapid-fire commentary on pop culture.... With top-drawer voice talent including Joan Plowright and Dick Van Dyke, original songs by Jack Johnson, and old-fashioned two-dimensional animation that echoes the simple colors and shapes of the books, "Curious George" is an unexpected delight...

While we’re at it, that’s not Inspector Clouseau in-- aw, fageddaboutit...


And because he lied about Iraq and the "Liberty Tower" and N'Awlins:

Sly Stone shows, then goes.

He was introduced by Dave Chappelle, who'd walked away from his television series. Then Sly walked offstage in the middle of his song. Maybe he could teach Paul McCartney a thing or two.

TV Alert! Doug Bruckner on Maury!

Check your local listings for the Maury show, tomorrow, Thursday, February 9th, and tune in for an appearance by tabloid television legend Doug Bruckner.

The storied correspondent and producer will be on hand with a collection of rock-em-sock-em wild-as-anything videotape segments from Nash Entertainment’s brand-new World’s Most Amazing Videos show, which is pulling lots of young viewers to Spike TV.

The appearance promises to be a great one. More than fifteen years ago, Bruckner and Povich faced off as competitors: Doug in the left corner as lead correspondent for Hard Copy in Los Angeles, and Maury, of course, as the urbane and groundbreaking host of A Current Affair in New York City.

Together, they made television and journalism history, and were far more influential in setting the course for today’s network and cable news coverage than any heroes George Clooney can conjure and polish.

Don’t expect any fisticuffs or harsh words. Bruckner and Povich are veterans of television’s most invigorating war and share memories of the true, overlooked television Golden Era.

Tabloid Baby spoke with Doug this afternoon.

Doug, what’s your proudest achievement in tabloid television?
Before I got into tabloid television, I was a so-called "serious" news reporter. I did some of the first stories on identity theft, auto insurance fraud, staged auto accidents and cosmetic surgery horrors. I won a local Emmy, Golden Mikes, and about six L.A. Press Club Awards. But nothing compared to my experience working in tabloid television. I faced down Charles Manson. I interviewed survivors of the Branch Davidian shoot-out outside Waco, Texas and I went around the world chasing down the Cheyenne Brando story.

You were involved with last year’s revival of A Current Affair. What happened?
The show was leading the way on they type of stories that made it famous the first time around. Traditional tabloid stories like Natalee Holloway and the cruise ship disappearance. But the plug was pulled on the show just as it was getting traction. In fact, one of the last shows carried an exclusive interview with the Holloway suspect, Joran Van Der Sloot. Funny, this week, all the news shows are bragging about getting his parents. We had the man himself. The cancellation is Fox’s loss. The show could have gone another ten years. And if someone is smart enough to do a similar show, we’re there!

Relive and learn about the Tabloid Television era in Tabloid Baby, and join the grassroots movement to make Tabloid Baby an Oprah’s Book Club selection.

Sly Stone shows up for rehearsal

Sly Stone is supposed to appear on the Grammy show tonight.

Sly, of course, is the coolest, hippest musician of our time. In an incredible five-year period, he mapped out the future of rock ‘n’ roll, hip hop and American race relations, sliding from the most optimistic, integrated stew of soul, rock and funk to the scariest, druggiest, dirtiest masterpiece ever recorded in an attic in Bel Air. He’s also the most elusive and mysterious of pop stars, skipping out on more shows than George Jones and only occasionally popping up to be propped up behind an electric piano to deliver a nostalgic growl before crawling back to his room with no windows.

Sad Sly. But at least he’s not in prison for waving a gun or on trial for murdering a House of Blues hostess. The royalties must still be pouring in, “Dance To the Music” was the highlight of Shrek’s Swamp Karaoke Dance Party, there was last year’s revival at Starbucks, and we wouldn’t be surprised if someone’s already got the bright idea of giving him the Brian Wilson tratment, strapping him into a concert tour backed by a peppy band of acolytes.

News and historywise, the LA Times reports that Sly showed up for Monday night’s Grammy rehearsals, and played up the manufactured mystery of whether he’ll make the broadcast:

The assembled musicians again ran through their medley of Stone hits and then … there he was, in a hooded, camouflage rain slicker, matching pants and 3-inch platform boots. He came to a keyboard at center stage and made eye contact with no one. Still lean, but beneath the hood he seemed smaller than he was in the '60s.

The teleprompter told him how to reintroduce himself to the world: (SLY): Ow Ow Ow.

He sang "I Want to Take You Higher," and his voice was robust and clear. Looking straight down, his chin bounced on his chest. His left hand and wrist were in a cast. From under the hood, he peeked at the musicians next to him, grinned … and then he was gone…

…Stone came back and did it again. This time, his plastic pants were tucked into his boots and, at the song's close, he stepped away from the keyboard, bobbed his head and beamed. And then he was gone again.

…A third run-through. This time, though, when it came to the point where Stone should have dashed out on stage, there was a long lull and empty air. Finally, a crew member jumped up behind the keyboard and played the part of the enigmatic star.

Meanwhile, find Greil Marcus’ Mystery Train, get a copy of There’s a Riot Goin’ On and ask about the compilation CD at Starbucks the next time you stop in for your nonfatsoycappafrappalatte.

Luke Ford's court fight is big news

Anthony Pellicano’s legal troubles make the lead of the LA Times today, while Hollywood’s most bizarre and potentially important lawsuit crawls its way through LA Superior Court.

Luke Ford is being sued for defamation and libel by Jeff Wald, the big time Hollywood producer and manager best remembered for TV hits like Roseanne and his outrageous behaviour in the Seventies when he was married to and managing Helen Reddy.

This is a case the LA Times should assign a couple of reporters to look into. It’s got classic David & Goliath elements, connections to porn, religion, old Hollywood, William Morris and Internet rights, and a couple of colorful characters going head-to-head.

Wald is an accomplished, well-connected member of the Hollywood establishment. Luke is a renegade with a desktop computer, part of journalism’s future. The clash goes back to 2002, when Luke interviewed Wald, posted the interview on one of his websites, and then allegedly received a phone call from Wald demanding he remove the post because he didn’t like what Luke had written. Luke posted a transcript of the phone call. More postings followed. Wald sued in 2005.

Which leads to a few questions, at least: Can a public and historically controversial figure like Wald be defamed in the first place? What's fair game on the Internet? And who the hell is Luke Ford?

The defamation complaint states that “defamatory publications of false and libelous subject matter statement concerning Wald had a somewhat long history of publication on lukeford.net… new and additional false and defamatory statements…after December 2004 are false, libelous and defamatory subject matter concerning Wald’s religion, morality, honesty and character as a human being…”

Luke’s response notes that “Plaintiff's complaint touches upon important underlying Constitutional considerations in that Defendant's actions in this matter involve core First Amendment freedoms of speech and the press as it relates to the Internet… Enforcing a judgment against him… would risk chilling Defendant's speech. It would also have the potential to chill the speech of others throughout the Internet who post ‘blogs’ (Internet web logs) and who are increasingly worried about the legal liabilities of ‘blogging.’”

On the surface, it’s a case of Wald, the powerbroker vs. Luke the powerblogger.

But it’s really a one-sided battle against one man in one room with one computer and a couple of websites.

Luke Ford is a very unique force in the media world. He’s as influential as Matt Drudge in the development of the Internet as a news source, and a pioneer in blogging as an art form.

The Luke Ford that exists on the Internet is a fascinatingly complex character and an archetypal literary anti-hero. He’s Holden Caulfield meets Alexander Portnoy behind a stack of bloomin’ onion rings in a kosher Outback steakhouse on Pico Boulevard: Australian, a Seventh Day Adventist turned Orthodox Jew, with obsessions for shiksas, porn, Hollywood and Dennis Prager.

And Air Supply.

Add chronic fatigue syndrome and you’ve got a great invention that outclasses Jimmy Frey’s tough guy crybaby. Except that Luke, constantly chronicling his constant struggle with his faith in G-d and attraction to p-rn, is real.

We first ran into Luke on the web about five years ago, when he commented on the book Tabloid Baby and a brief passage on tabloid television’s clash with Hollywood’s “Velvet Mafia.” Later, we spoke with Luke while researching the groundbreaking documentary series, Adults Only: The Secret History of The Other Hollywood for Court TV. Luke ran a website that covered the porn industry (he sold it, then started a new one). Obsessively. But he was not of the industry. He hated it. He hated the people who exploited young flesh and hated the side of himself that drew him to it. All that turned up on the website, along with straight coverage of the business. The people in the porn industry didn’t necessarily like Luke. In fact many of them disliked him and his site. But they had a chronicler.

Luke also covers the media and Hollywood. Eventually, Luke interviewed the author of Tabloid Baby more than once. Once on the phone, and later in person. Both times, Luke had a tape recorder running and we knew it. The interviews were transcribed and whipped into online stories within hours, not days. And they were spot-on accurate. Luke’s observations were sharp. He did not have an agenda or slant. Some of what was written was not flattering. Some of it was wince-making. Occasionally, it was a surprise to find something included. But it was right.

When we first met Luke at Book Soup on the Sunset Strip, at a literary event for Legs McNeil’s book, The Other Hollywood, Luke was a serious presence amid the punk, lit and porn lowlifes assembled. Within hours, Luke’s report of the event was on the Internet.

Luke is a chronicler of our times in a way we’re not used to being chronicled. Now he’s gathering cases of child molesting rabbis while continuing his conflicted search for a woman. Bubbling beneath is his legal fight.

Last week, we asked Luke about the case via email:

How did it start?
I interviewed Jeff Wald July 2, 2002. I sent him a transcript afterward. He didn't like what I wrote up about him, particularly my mentioning he had a pot-belly and that I quoted a poem his son wrote about Jeff's struggles with cocaine (that Jeff showed me during the interview).

How did it get to court?
He asked me to take down the profile. I refused. He sued me in September, 2005.

Do you have a lawyer?
Yes. My friend Justin Levine is defending me pro bono.

Where does it stand now?
Going through various motions before the judge.

How can people help or support you?
I don't think I need any help.

Since then, according to Luke, Judge Lisa Hart Cole has recused herself and the case has been reassigned to Judge James A. Bascue in Department West N, 1725 Main Street, Santa Monica.

We keep reading about “bloggers rights.” Quietly, casually, in his roundabout way, Luke is forcing the issue to be played out in court. And he could wind up making a federal case of it. So get on board and keep an eye on this case.

Where in the world Is Patrick McDermott?

Olivia Newton John has a new boyfriend. Caroline Graham reports that the songbird is falling hopelessly in love with a multimillionaire movie investor named Michael Klein. Graham reports that “the pair spent last week together at Donald Trump's Florida estate, where Newton-John was due to perform at a private charity yesterday.” We hope she had a good view of the ocean, because an ocean is where her alleged longtime lover Patrick McDermott went missing eight months ago while Livvie skipped nary a beat.

It appears that Olivia Newton-John’s team has successfully put this scandal behind her.

But what happened to Patrick McDermott? And why doesn’t anyone care?

Patrick McDermott was a cameraman and supposedly Newton-John’s lover of nine years when he disappeared from a fishing charter boat off San Pedro, California, on June 30. He was missing more than seven weeks before an eagle-eyed reporter made the connection, and let police and the Coast Guard know the missing man was the boyfriend of an international superstar. In those seven weeks, Olivia Newton-John neither reported McDermott missing nor made any public appeal to find him, in case he was in a hospital or wandering with amnesia. Newton-John had been back and forth between Malibu and Australia, where she’d made public appearances and went about business preparing an album release and tour.

On that Sunday morning in August when the story broke, the Coast Guard told us they didn’t know if Patrick McDermott was dead or alive--and that they suspected he’d taken a runner-- faked his death because of money troubles! First question: How could Olivia Newton-John’s live-in lover have money troubles?

It was McDermott’s ex-wife, and mother of his 13-year-old son, who reported McDermott missing, a week after his disappearance. He’d been divorced from Yvette Nipar for a dozen years, yet she was still part of his life, and had recently taken him to court for child support. Investigative reporter Doug Bruckner found out in short order that McDermott had filed for bankruptcy, and lived not in Newton-John’s Malibu pleasuredome, but in a small house in Van Nuys, the low-rent porn capital in the Valley. He also found Nipar, who wouldn’t talk (and still hasn’t).

As soon as we got on the story, Newton-John released a statement urging help in finding her “treasured friend” and went into mournful “seclusion.” But within days, she brought in Hollywood security expert Gavin de Becker, and the spin campaign began. Friends and a nephew calling himself “Emerson Newton-John” (actually Jeff Conaway’s kid) told stories that painted Newton-John as leader of the search effort, explained away her seven weeks of public bliss, and revealed the slow fade of the relationship because of McDermott’s drinking.

For Newton-John, the mourning period was about as swift as Pat O’Brien’s rehabilitation from sex and drug addiction. Despite earlier indications, she carried on with her album promotion, as a deal was made for a softball, no-hard-questions interview segment on Good Morning America and with other news outlets. She returned to the stage, carried on with her tour, and in November even made tabloid headlines with an alleged $9,000 lunch at a New York City eatery with her longtime friend, the “asexual” Brit singer Cliff Richard.

Patrick McDermott quickly became old news, another tragic episode in the brave Livvie saga.

So what gives? What happened to Patrick McDermott? At last word, police and Coast Guard have no clues and are leaning toward suicide, allowing them to close the book on this latest chapter of Hollywood Babylon.

So McDermott committed suicide, ran away because of his debts, or simply slipped off the boat.

Why did Olivia Newton-John act as she did? Tabloid Baby theory: Either Olivia Newton-John didn’t know he was missing—or she helped him abscond to a place like Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Because Patrick McDermott was a beard. An employee. A big, strong, handsome man whose job it was to be at her side at premieres, in articles, and Hollywood myth, for a number of reasons that go beyond what she does in her private life. Patrick McDermott played his part, and then drove home to Van Nuys.

Olivia Newton-John has been rumoured to be a lesbian, even before she camped it up with Travolta in Grease. She’s blamed the rumours on a Tonight Show appearance back in the 1970s, when her innocent comment about having “girlfriends” caused Johnny to arch an eyebrow.

But her real troubles started in 1980, when a stalker named Ralph Nau came into her life. Convinced she loved him, Ralph started following the star. Four years later, he tried to join her onstage in Los Angeles and followed to Australia. Then he beat his autistic brother to death. He remains in a mental institution.

She first hired hired Gavin de Becker and his security team in 1983, when another stalker, Michael Perry, was found near her home. De Becker’s people convinced Perry to get out of town and out of state. Perry went home to Louisiana, slaughtered five members of his own family and left a note suggesting Newton-John might be next. De Becker whisked her into hiding; Perry was caught, and remains on Death Row.

Late in 1984, she married a young actor named Matt Lattanzi. Latanzi, eleven years her junior, had been discovered by director George Cukor for the movie Rich & Famous. They had a daughter and lived a mostly private life, until 1995, when after a bout with breast cancer and bankruptcy, Newton-John and Lattanzi divorced. Soon, Patrick McDermott became the man at her side. A tough guy you wouldn’t want to mess with.

Patrick McDermott played his role for the Hollywood machine. He provided perfect cover for Olivia-Newton John, from People magazine to the Enquirer to Entertainment Tonight. But after he disappeared, and the elements of a textbook Hollywood scandal and cover-up began taking shape in plain sight on three continents, few made the effort to follow up. There are albums to promote, and awards to give out. Now Olivia Newton-John's moved on, with a rich new boyfriend to be seen with in public, and an unpleasant episode is pushed aside.

Remember Patrick McDermott. His story’s not over yet.


Is Patrick McDermott alive? Report sightings here.

Was Prince lip-synching on SNL?

Prince did indeed rock with his "Fury" song on Saturday Night Live last night. But it seemed pretty obvious that though he was playing a live electric guitar, he was lip-synching the vocals.

Will anyone make an issue of this? Ashlee Simpsons are easy targets, but the Eminems and elder statesmen get a pass.

Watch it here. See if you can tell.

That's not Curious George!

Now we know why they obscure the monkey on the billboards.

“After 16 years, 42 writers or writing teams, nine animation studios, a bevy of directors and millions of dollars,” as the LA Times hypes in tomorrow's Calendar section, they can’t even draw the world-famous star of the movie Curious George!

Curious George has been a favorite of children and parents for 65 years now. And in Sunday’s Times, all involved in the new feature cartoon brag about all the time and money spent getting H.A. and Margaret Rey’s little monkey on the big screen; how they went from live action to CGI to Pixar style, but then back to basics with simple hand-drawn 2-D animation in a faithful adaptation by Ron Howard and Brian Grazer at Imagine.

Well, what do you know? This Curious George, opening Friday, might be cute, it might be a cross between Lilo and Mowgli, but it sure ain’t Curious George!

We can bet that’s only the beginning. The Curious George story has some nice dark elements that keep kids interested, like kidnapping, slavery, smoking, and false alarms. Forty-two script teams down the line, we can only imagine what they did with the story— because it’s Imagine, the team that bowlderized The Grinch, John Nash, James J. Braddock—even the historic words from Apollo 13—before turning Curious George into Opie.

Sunday’s puff piece in the Times admits as much: “Perhaps, unavoidably, after kicking around Hollywood for so long, this George has had a little work done—he now has eyeballs, for instance.” What an apologist! Keep an eye on Times writer Robert W. Welkos and see if he switches careers and sells a script to Universal in the next couple of years.

Put it this way, if they're gonna tamper with great art, they should have had some guts and gone all the way:

Big Deal on Sweetzer Avenue

Looks like Ben Tierney may have found his breakthrough ticket to Hollywood. The same week the Oscar nominations are announced, the cool young director’s new short film has spread across the Internet—and it’s not a parody of Brokeback Mountain.

Some might say that Sweetzer Avenue is the flip side of Crash. It tells a lonely story that unspools behind the closed doors of one of those apartment buildings we drive past on the way to the studio, and along the way finally puts Coldplay’s music in its proper shaggy context.

We know Ben, a tall, lean talented lad who came to L.A. a few years back by way of Edinburgh, Tokyo, Sydney and the recommendation of Aussie TV titan Linn Taylor. He landed in the Frozen Pictures office, and worked on Frozen projects like The Seventh Python, the musical documentary feature about chief Rutle and Monty Python collaborator Neil Innes, that’s in post production and coming out soon.

Ben’s got all the right UK credentials. He’s worked on music video projects with Talvin Singh, is developing a film based on a (Tabloid Baby favorite) Hanif Kureishi (My Beautiful Laundrette, The Buddha of Suburbia) story, and he’s directing a new video for the band Pariah’s The Sound of The Beat.

Keep an eye out for Ben Tierney. Take a couple of minutes and watch his new short film. It’s his giant step to features. And remember you heard about him here.

Note: You need Macromedia Flash to see the ifilm. Get it here.

Exclusive! Oscar’s Two Degrees of Cloud 9

Slide over, Kevin Bacon! Cloud 9 is the new hub of Hollywood connections. And who needs Six Degrees? With Cloud 9, it’s two degrees— at the most!

Hollywood has been buzzing this week about the eerie similarities between Cloud 9 and Oscar-nominated picture, Crash. But there are even closer connections to each nominated director and every actor and actress nominated for starring and supporting roles!

When it comes to Cloud 9 and the 78th Annual Academy Awards Nominations, the links go far beyond The Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, the popular parlor game in which the actor is connected to other actors he worked with in six steps or less.

Kevin is left in the dust by Cloud 9, the ensemble comedy motion picture written and produced by Brett Hudson and Burt Kearns of Frozen Pictures and Oscar winner Albert S. Ruddy (for Million Dollar Baby, directed by Clint Eastwood, director of Mystic River, which starred—Kevin Bacon).

Take any of nominee. Take two steps or less—and you land on Cloud 9!

The smart, raucous comedy premiered on Fox Home Entertainment DVD in January, thereby missing the Oscar qualification by only days and format. But a quick look at this year's crop of talented nominees shows that Cloud 9, its actors and producers, had a great influence on getting them there!

And by the way, Oscar host Jon Stewart is in the book, Tabloid Baby!

What follows is a quick run through of the more obvious Cloud 9 connections:

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote) worked with Burt Reynolds in Boogie Nights.

Terrence Howard (Hustle & Flow) worked with Cloud 9’s Ken Garito and Tony Danza in Crash.

Heath Ledger (Brokeback Mountain) co-starred in Four Feathers with Kate Hudson, the niece of Cloud 9 co-writer and producer Brett Hudson.

Joaquin Phoenix (Walk The Line) showed up at the publication party for the book, Tabloid Baby (written by Cloud 9 writer and producer Burt Kearns), at the Diaghilev Bar in the Bel Age Hotel in November 1999.

David Strathairn (Good Night, and Good Luck) worked with Cloud 9 movie-stealer Gary Busey in The Firm.

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Judi Dench (Mrs. Henderson Presents) starred with Anthony Hopkins in 84 Charing Cross Road. Hopkins is not actually in Cloud 9, but plays a pivotal role, as Burt Reynolds’ character breaks into “Anthony Hopkins’ house” and borrows his clothes for a wild Cabo Wabo party after DL Hughley, playing a chauffeur, drives Hopkins to the airport.

Felicity Huffman (Transamerica) is married to William H. Macy, who appeared in Boogie Nights with Burt Reynolds.

Keira Knightley (Pride & Prejudice) played a former stripper and performs a lap dance in Domino. Cloud 9 features strippers and a lap dance by Angie Everhart as a stripper who becomes a beach volleyball star.

Charlize Theron (North Country) appears with Mel Gibson (whose ficus tree is a key element in Cloud 9) and Anthony Hopkins in the documentary, Cinema Mil. In 2002, she was nominated for a Razzie award for her performance in Sweet November, the same year Burt Reynolds and Sylvester Stallone were nominated as Worst Screen Couple in Driven.

Reese Witherspoon (Walk The Line) starred in Legally Blonde with a small dog named Moonie. Moonie appears as Gary Busey’s dog in Cloud 9.

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

George Clooney (Syriana) appeared with Cloud 9 costar Paul Rodriguez on the 2003 TV special, Playboy’s 50th Anniversary Celebration. He also appeared in the TV series Baby Talk, in which Tony Danza supplied the voice of a baby.

Matt Dillon (Crash) appeared in Crash with Tony Danza and Ken Garito from Cloud 9.

Paul Giamatti (Cinderella Man) played Pig Vomit in the Howard Stern movie, Private Parts. Cloud 9 star Angie Everhart dated Howard Stern.

Jake Gyllenhaal (Brokeback Mountain) starred in Day After Tomorrow, which featured Ross King in the role of a TV reporter. Ross, now a weatherman and show biz correspondent for KTLA News in LA, was in the running for the role of Tommy Z in Cloud 9.

William Hurt (A History of Violence) was featured along with Burt Reynolds in the video documentary, Sex at 24 Frames Per Second, The Ultimate Journey Through Sex in Cinema.

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Amy Adams (Junebug) has wrapped a new movie, Standing Still, which also stars Cloud 9 starlet Marne Patterson.

Catherine Keener (Capote) starred with the late Vincent Schiavelli in Death To Smoochy. Schiavelli, of course, starred in Cloud 9 director Harry Basil’s notorious Rodney Dangerfield flick, The 4th Tenor.

Frances McDormand (North Country) appeared with Barbra Streisand and Mel Gibson at the 69th Academy Awards, when she won an Oscar for Fargo. Streisand and Gibson are referred to and the subject of important plot points in Cloud 9.

Rachel Weisz (The Constant Gardener) appeared with Cloud 9 star Tom Arnold on Late Night with Conan O’Brien on February 22, 2005.

Michelle Williams (Brokeback Mountain) and Cloud 9 actor Jeff Altman, appeared as guest stars on the series Baywatch in the early 1990s.

ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING

Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain) co-wrote the screenplay for Tortilla Soup, which starred Paul Rodriguez, who coincidentally plays an Asian character, Wong, in Cloud 9.

Bennett Miller (Capote) attended NYU Film School. It was at NYU, where he became captivated by a poster of Gabrielle Reece on the wall of his son’s dorm room, that Albert S. Ruddy got the idea of a movie about beach volleyball. His partners Brett Hudson and Burt Kearns added the stripper element when they developed the treatment.

Paul Haggis (Crash) wrote the screenplay for Million Dollar Baby, the film that won Albert S. Ruddy his second Best Picture Oscar. He also worked with Ruddy on the TV series, Walker, Texas Ranger.

George Clooney (Good Night, and Good Luck) appeared with Gary Busey in the 2002 television special, Inside The Playboy Mansion.

Steven Spielberg (Munich) directed Minority Report, which featured Paul Wesley, who plays Jackson Fargo in Cloud 9, in an uncredited role as “Nathan with bicycle.” And Cloud 9's Oscar-winning executive producer Gray Frederickson appeared as Lt. Bressler in Spielberg's 1941.

Amazed? Stunned at the power and influence of a small ensemble comedy about beach volleyball strippers? So are we.

Send in your own Cloud 9 Oscar connections, and get the chance to win a copy of Cloud 9!

Darden defends accused slasher-killer

Christopher Darden entered tabloid history in 1994 when the LA District Attorney’s office added him as the African American member of the team prosecuting OJ Simpson for slashing his ex-wife Nicole and Ron Goldman to death. Darden is best remembered for being rattled by Johnnie Cochran, blindsided by Mark Fuhrman’s recorded racism-- and losing.

After cashing in with a book or two, it looks like Chris Darden is now “batting for the other team,” as they say, in a chilling coincidence:

Los Angeles Times
Mistake Frees Slaying Suspect
A man suspected of slashing a painting contractor to death in Beverly Hills was mistakenly released from jail Saturday but rearrested Tuesday morning… Nathan Hall, 50, was scheduled to appear with his defense attorney, Christopher Darden, Tuesday morning at Los Angeles County Superior Court to answer charges in the case. He is suspected of killing Jurgen Hapke, 65, and attacking Hapke's partner…

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