covenant artists management: latest from HOLLYWOOD- Monday, 9th June 2008

Clint Eastwood & Spike Lee

Eastwood meets Lee at the corral in a verbal showdown

By Brian Frederick

CANNES, FRANCE (Hollywood Today) 6/6/08 - -

In a recent interview at the Cannes Film Festival, Director Spike Lee (51) made a comment regarding the absence of African Americans in Eastwood’s film, ‘Flags of Our Fathers.’

In reply to Lee’s remark, “A guy like him should shut his face,” Eastwood said.

Looking to garner attention to his latest film, Lee made the remark to promote, ‘Miracle at St. Anna,’ which is about an all black Calvary unit that fought in Italy during World War II.

Lee is no stranger to drawing press coverage for his new films, even if that means stirring controversy.

“There were many African-Americans who survived that war and who were upset at Clint.

That was his version – the Negro soldier did not exist.

I have a different version.

It’s not like Eastwood could say he didn’t know.

It was a conscious decision not to have any black people.” Lee said.

The “Man with No Name” stayed quiet for a while but it didn’t take long for the five-time Oscar winning Director and Producer Clint Eastwood (78) to meet Lee with comments of his own.

“The story was about the famous flag raising picture…and they didn’t do that.

Lee was complaining when I did ‘Bird.’

‘Bird’ had 90% black people in it so I used 90% black people.

He (Lee) said why would a white guy be doing that?

I was the only guy who made it that’s why

(Lee) He could have made it,” Eastwood told the Guardian.

‘Bird’ is a 1988 movie directed by Eastwood.

The film is biographical motion picture about jazz musician Charlie Parker.

Parker played the saxophone in the early 20th century and was a prominent jazz musician.

Eastwood is reported to love Jazz, hence the movie.

Spike Lee has won no Academy Awards

HOLLYWOOD, CA ( Hollywood Today)

6/8/08 –

The Los Angeles Film Festival 2008 is about to take over the entire village of Westwood on June 19. It’s the hottest Film Fest in Southern California, and this year will be hotter than ever!

Fest opens with a potential summer blockbuster from Universal called “Wanted” – starring Angelina Jolie, James McAvoy, and Morgan Freeman.

It was just announced that platinum selling artist and actor Common, who appears in the film will be this year’s “artist in residence.”

The Grammy-award winning artist has programmed a group of films that have inspired his work: Quentin Tarantino’s classic “Pulp Fiction” and Michel Gondry’s “Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind.”

On Monday, June 16, Common will participate in a free pre-festival conversation at The Majestic Crest Theatre in Westwood.

It’s free and open to the public.

Other hot movies at the Fest include “The Wackness,” “Journey To The Center Of The Earth” in 3D, an evening special screening of the Brian De Palma classic “Scarface” starring Al Pacino (swear-along – “Scarface”),

and special panels and events, including Diane English participating in a conversation about her up-coming remake of “The Women,” and

Jeff Garlin’s “Comic Platter,” in which the bastard-child of comedy, returns with Garlin and

comedian pals Bob Odenkirk and Patton Oswalt riffing on audience suggested topics.

The Los Angeles Film Festival is presented by The Los Angeles Times and is produced by Film Independent.

Tix are on sale now –

Fest runs through June 29!

Don’t miss it!

The audience really is king!!!

Drama on A&E will go on, despite Swayze’s cancer

By Matthew B. Zeidman

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today)

6/8/08 –

Patrick Swayze’s future seemed dire when he announced earlier this year that he was suffering from pancreatic cancer—a highly aggressive and normally terminal disease

However, the “Point Break” actor is responding well to treatment and, according to a Friday announcement by A&E, will begin filming his new TV drama, “The Beast,” within the next few weeks.

“Obviously, we’ve had candid conversations with him and his doctors,” A&E general manager Bob DeBitetto told “The New York Times,”

“and we have a fairly high degree of expectation that Patrick will be good to work a full production schedule.”

Swayze, 55, will play an FBI agent in the weekly series, which is being produced by Sony Pictures Television.

It will be filmed in Chicago, where doctors will continue to monitor the Texas native’s condition.

“I have searched for quite a long time to find a character that is this multi-layered, unpredictable and downright entertaining,” Swayze told the publication,

“as well as a project this current and cutting-edged.”

Swayze is best known for his iconic role in the period drama “Dirty Dancing,” where he played a gritty dance instructor who fell in love with a teenaged guest at a resort in the Catskills.

“Ghost” and “Donnie Darko” are also highly recognizable titles to the actor’s credit.

Headline News

Arab anger forces Obama to backtrack on Jerusalem

Since his strong statements in support of a united Jerusalem, Barack Obama, democratic candidate for American president, was forced to backtrack in the face of Arab anger on Thursday.

By the next day, Obama was backpedaling.

“Well, obviously it's going to be up to the parties to negotiate a range of these issues,” he said.

“And Jerusalem will be part of those negotiations…

As a practical matter, it would be very difficult to execute [a policy of the capital remaining undivided.]”

Obama added that there must be a way in which "everyone has access to the extraordinary religious sites in Old Jerusalem, but that Israel has a legitimate claim on that city."

In a speech at the Jewish lobby the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in Washington last week, Obama said that “Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel and it must remain undivided.”

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was angry with Obama’s statements and said “we will not accept a Palestinian state without having Jerusalem as the capital."

Israel has provided Christians and Muslims with free access control of holy sites in Jerusalem since the Holy City was restored to the Jewish State in the 1967 Six-Day War.

When the city was occupied by Jordan, from 1948 to 1967, Christians and Jews were prohibited from holy sites.

Saudi king says Islam must do away with extremism

Saudi King Abdullah said Wednesday that Islam must do away with extremism and present the positive side of the religion.

The king made these statements at the opening of a conference of 500 Muslims from 50 nations who plan to launch an interfaith dialogue with Christians and Jews.

The goal of the three-day gathering in Mecca is to unite Muslim voices particularly, Shiites and Sunnis.

“You have gathered today to tell the whole world that ... we are a voice of justice and values and humanity, that we are a voice of coexistence and a just and rational dialogue," Abdullah said.

Iranian politician Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani sat on the stage, signaling that the Sunni kingdom does not have a problem with moderate Shiites.

“Our brothers in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia ... have presented a great message to all humanity in the world,” Rafsanjani said.

“Before we speak with other religions, we must speak among ourselves and reach an understanding on a particular Islamic path.”

If the interfaith dialogue does occur, it would be the first such initiative from a nation with no diplomatic ties to Israel.

Participants expect Saudi Arabia will launch its formal call for an interfaith dialogue at the conference's close or soon after.

It is still unclear whether Israeli religious leaders would be invited.

+++++++++++++++++

Scripture

"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God."

1 John 4:7

OIL PRICES RAISE THE COST OF MAKING A RANGE OF GOODS:

Surging oil prices are beginning to cut into the profits of a wide range of American businesses, pushing many to raise prices and maneuver aggressively to offset the rising cost of merchandise made from petroleum.

Airlines, package shippers and car owners are no longer the only ones being squeezed by the ever-mounting price of oil, which shot up almost $11 a barrel on Friday alone, to $138.54, a record.

Companies that make hard goods using raw materials derived from oil, like tires, toiletries, plastic packaging and computer screens, are watching their costs skyrocket, and they find themselves forced into unpleasant choices:

Should they raise prices, shift to less costly procedures, cut workers, or all three?

LBN-COMMENTARY BY THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN:

Before dismissing prospects for Israel's longevity, Iran's toxic president should remember that while his country invests in oil, Israel invests in its people, a renewable resource.

LBN-COMMENTARY BY CARRIE UNDERWOOD:

"I don't consider myself sexy.

I'm kind of a nervous person in general.

I'm socially awkward.

I'm not tall and sensuous.

I usually wear sweats everywhere I go

Oh, and I burp a lot."

LBN-COMMENTARY BY MICHAEL LEVINE:

While Pope Benedict XVI prepared for his first trip to America, the U.S. news media was already speculating on what his historic visit would mean to the Catholic Church damaged by the clergy sex abuse scandal that really surfaced in 2002.

37% of the coverage about the Pope's visit during the week of April 14-20 centered on the sex abuse controversy--making it the most heavily covered aspect of the trip.

Sex Abuse Scandal Pope and U.S. Catholics Message from Pope Pope and U.S. Politics Profile of Pope Relation w/ Other Religious Leaders.

By holding a surprise meeting with five victims of the sex abuse scandal I believe the Pope took a strong and decisive symbolic step toward healing the image of the Catholic Church.

***To reply directly to Michael Levine,

e-mail:

mailto:LBNElert@TimeWire.net

LBN-NOTICED:

***Julia Roberts and two girlfriends drinking Cosmos at Heartland Brewery in Rock Center in NYC.

***Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington and Kimora Lee Simmons getting their smiles polished in separate treatment rooms in the Central Park South dental offices of Drs. Marc Lowenberg and Gregg Lituchy in NYC

***Ashley Olsen belting out tunes with a group of pals in a back room at Lower East side karaoke joint Sing Sing in NYC.

LBN-VIDEO LINK:

Coldplay - Viva La Vida (Live on "Jimmy Kimmel Live")

After a cool reaction to their last album, Viva La Vida has Coldplay taking the world by storm once again with a return to form, cool music videos and a knockout iTunes commercial.

If someone says they're not jazzed about the new album, they're lying.

Running Time: 3:0

LBN-SNAP:....Flava Flav....

LBN-MEDIA INSIDER:

***Variety will move down Wilshire Boulevard to the former People's Bank tower across from the new entrance to LACMA.

The L.A. Times adds the news that Variety's name will go up on top of the building.

That's perhaps a little sweet revenge for editor Peter Bart, who will now occupy the top floor high above the offices of Los Angeles magazine, which profiled him unkindly several years back.

Variety is leasing the top three floors

-- and the signage

-- in an $11.6 million deal.

WHO READS THE LBN E-LERT:

Renown Hollywood agent Jeff Berg along with approximately 295,000 other "influencers".

LBN-HOLLYWOOD INSIDER:

**Despite its enduring legacy as one of Hollywood's most legendary movie studios, MGM hasn't fit the profile of a full-fledged production company in years.

***Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails have joined the superstar exodus from major labels and have found more options outside the old system.

LBN-POLITICAL BRIEFING BY MAUREEN DOWD:

As Hillary Clinton transforms herself into a team player, she must again fake it till she makes it.

ANALYSIS:

Clinton finally reaches out to women:

This one's for the girls. That was Hillary Rodham Clinton's message Saturday as she ended her presidential bid - a final, full-throated acknowledgment of what her pioneering quest had meant to women.

It was a moving, genuine and unexpected moment for Clinton, who spent most of her campaign playing down her gender as a way to reassure voters who might have trouble imagining a female commander in chief.

LBN-COMMENTARY BY SNOOP DOGG:

"A lot of people like to fool you and say that you're not smart if you never went to college, but common sense rules over everything.

That's what I learned from selling crack"

RUSSIAN WARNING:

In his first major economic speech since becoming president, Dmitri A. Medvedev said that the world might be in the throes of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

LBN-COMMENTARY BY REP. JESSE JACKSON JR.:

Senator Obama's nomination confirms Dr. King's observation that "the moral arc of the universe" is long, but bends toward freedom and justice for all.

LBN-OVERHEARD:

***Celebrity funnyman Chris Rock was the victim of a practical joke while on tour in South Africa, after being pranked with accusations he had sex with a British minor, a prosecutor said Saturday.

"It was a hoax, it was for one of the US (United States) reality television programs," said National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Tlali Tlali.

The US comedian, who is on his "No apologies "tour in the country, was duped by rumors he was about to be arrested for sexually assaulting a minor in Britain.