Don’t let the weather snow you. Have a happy Halloween.
Brian Grazer is to awards what DSK is to a woman’s body — the guy’s had his share. With Imagine Entertainment partner Ron Howard, he’s produced Oscar-nominated films like “Apollo 13,” “A Beautiful Mind” (which won) and “Frost/Nixon.” Now comes Eddie Murphy in “Tower Heist.” Says Brian:
“I produced six movies with Eddie and a TV series. I’ve lived with him 25 years. He’s great in those Steve Martin films. Five, like ‘Boomerang,’ were his idea. ‘Nutty Professor’? His idea to be fat. I bet on his talent.
“He knows how to create employment for himself. ‘Tower Heist’ was his arresting idea. He starts with a title and one sentence, which defines the project, then we get a writer, fill in the middle and build on it. ‘Tower Heist’ took four years.
“‘Tower Heist’ opens Nov. 4. One week later, the 9th, I’m out with ‘J. Edgar.’ Leonardo DiCaprio loved the idea of playing J. Edgar Hoover. Knowing I’d developed it, he singled it out and called me. His facial structure’s a lot like Hoover. We added a prosthetic to flesh it out a bit.
“Clint Eastwood, great on American tragedies, is in a category by himself and one of this century’s best directors. He’s like Ron Howard or Oliver Stone. He hadn’t known Leo before. We shot on the Warners lot plus one week in DC.
“Hoover created and sustained the FBI but took credit for many things he might not have done. It’s part of his legacy. However, from his G-man companions we learned he took credit for things that did not really transpire.”
With our global problems, were he alive would he be great as its top man today?
“Probably not. He was accustomed to militaristic superefficient rule.”
With all your moviemaking smarts, ever made a dumb decision?
“Oh, yeah, but I don’t want to remember them. I’m a revisionist.”
With your A-1 filmmaking timing, will Eddie Murphy be great hosting the Oscars?
“Yes. I know his potential. But if he’ll be dirty or not, I don’t know.”
‘BATMAN” schleps cape and mask to the Stock Exchange plus, come Veteran’s Day, close-ups on the 59th Street Bridge … Annoyed, agitated, eyes darting Chris Rock, standing like anyone else in the airport security line, saying, “I paid for special treatment — and here I am.” Cracking jokes he wasn’t … Do Chelsea’s new 20th and Eighth restaurant Donatella. Pizzas, pastas, salads and eaters like Dr. Oz, Anderson Cooper, Kathy Griffin and me.
REAL estate: Trophy sales stepping up with prices slipping down. Heavy luxury properties have dropped between numbers listed and numbers paid. Studios and small units sold before with first-time buyers’ federal housing tax credits. Increased confidence now brings demand for two-bedroom upper-end units. And all in NYC, not the burbs.
SAPPED arms of disheartened GOP-niks are struggling to put mitts around Mitt. Thrilled they’re not, but figure he’s their best shot. They’re pressuring South Carolina’s Republican senator. Four years ago Jim DeMint endorsed Romney, who’s the national version of Mark Green and has run for office since kindergarten. Thinking is, whoever wins South Carolina, the third primary, is it.
DeMint, not cootchie-coo with the GOP, does not endorse lightly. Since they need him they’re going to have to come across. Question is, what’s he want in return.
OMEGA water, said to ease arthritis, is a new flavored lemon, orange, fruit, berries water. I don’t know what “fortified with Omega-3” is. I don’t even know what 1 and 2 are … I do know that a Grace Kelly script’s in the works. Not a true biopic. Just on her life in the 1960s … Life among La Grenouille’s chic: Barbara de Portago, whose mère did 28 rotating menus, lunched 60 classy types like Beth Rudin DeWoody and Mrs. Frank Perdue for the Versailles Giverny Foundation.
STUNNING in “The Social Network,” Jesse Eisenberg, who wrote and stars in the Cherry Lane’s new excellently received production “Asuncion,” did it again. Backstage, opening night, he remained humble. I said the audience loved him. He answered simply: “Well, they were all invited free.” Nervous? “Some things worked right, some didn’t. Each performance is a little different but, no, I wasn’t nervous. And I won’t know about reviews because I never read anything written about me.
“I hope to stay in this until the end of the year, but we have to see how things work out.” And opening-night party plans? “None. Just going with the cast and my friends for a drink in the neighborhood.”
FLASH: Bookings down at lodges in our national parks. It’s either the economy or maybe whoever wants to see nature in the raw is watching Kim Kardashian’s show.
TOOK three days and five gents to erect a huge billboard at Varick and Watts’ Holland Tunnel entrance. This nice, clever, giant red sign cleverly reads: “Stay in lane. Have toll ready. Stare at billboard.” Only problem is, once you pass this nice clever giant red sign, there is no toll to exit the city.
Only in New York, kids, only in New York.