Innholdsfortegnelse for 4/22/2006 i The Hollywood Reporter

FOR ITS SIXTH ANNUAL NEW YORK ISSUE, THR brought together director Spike Lee and Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on March 31 for a fascinating conversation between two native Brooklynites (page 66). To capture these iconoclasts for the cover, photographer Wesley Mann approached his subjects as he would have any other: “I didn’t want to psych myself out.” Mann had only a few precious minutes to capture the shot at NoHo’s Neo Studios — a nail-biting window that required a great deal of preparation. “Ultimately, I had just a handful of frames to try and create something that one hopes is iconic or stands out,” explains Mann. THR deputy editorial director Alison Brower describes the atmosphere ahead of Sanders’ arrival as “anticipatory but still relaxed,” with Lee (who calls the…

AN AWKWARD PALL HUNG OVER THE APRIL 4 PREMIERE OF DISNEY’S The Jungle Book reboot. Hours before CEO Bob Iger, 65, walked the red carpet in Hollywood, the company had revealed that his heir apparent, COO Thomas Staggs, 55, will step down. The move, which left many at the premiere shocked, threw a carefully choreographed succession plan into disarray as Iger’s contract expires in June 2018. Disney isn’t talking, but insiders and observers have theories. Here are five: 1. Sheryl Sandberg wants the job The Facebook COO has served on Disney’s board since 2009 and, according to some, has made it known she would like a CEO position that likely never will become available at Mark Zuckerberg’s company. While Sandberg, 46, lacks traditional Hollywood experience, she is savvy in digital…

Weekend SEAN PARKER’S PROPOSED $50 IN-HOME movie service has many up in arms, and Netflix remains persona non grata, but one unlikely new player is being embraced by cinema operators: Amazon Studios. On April 14, Roy Price and his team at Amazon, including indie film veteran Ted Hope and marketing exec Bob Berney, will present an ambitious slate of original movies at CinemaCon, the annual gathering of exhibitors in Las Vegas. Being part of the official program — one that includes the major studios and is hosted by the National Association of Theatre Owners — confirms that Amazon, unlike rival Netflix, has decided to abide by a traditional 90-day theatrical window in cases where it decides to give a film a full run on the big screen before making it…

Everyone loves the tabs “I always reach for the tabloids first — either the New York Post or the Daily News. It’s the most exquisite thing: If there’s a silly, scandalous tabloid story, I can present it to our audience as, ‘The only reason this is on here now is because the Post chose to put it on their front page.’ ” Social media matters “I got more than 1,000 retweets when I published a picture of a Post headline about [Mets] pitcher Matt Harvey’s bladder problem: ‘Urine Luck.’ That underscores a new battlefront: the war for your social media feed.” Where the News wins “The Daily News has been at the top of its headline game, led by a stern ‘God Isn’t Fixing This’ in response to politicians whose…

MINIONS, ALIENS AND now anthropomorphic mice are getting the best contemporary pop music has to offer. Timbaland is in final talks to serve as executive music producer on AMBI Group’s CG-animated feature Groove Tails, which will star Jamie Foxx as a mouse forced to enter the world of competitive street dancing to pay an outstanding cheese debt. Timbaland, who will partner with music marketing agency Jingle Punks to guide and produce the score for the kids movie, is the latest big music talent to lend expertise to animated fare. Pharrell Williams composed the scores for Universal’s Despicable Me franchise, for which he also wrote and performed “Happy,” and will write music for 2017’s Hidden Figures from Fox 2000. And DreamWorks Animation enlisted Rihanna to record two original songs for 2015’s…

MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, ACCORDING TO associates, quite believed he should have run for president and really might have won, and has been pretty miserable since reluctantly acceding to advice that he could not win and should not run. While there are reasons to think the 74-yearold billionaire (40 times over) and former New York City mayor could have made a good president, among the good reasons for him personally to run was to get away from the business that bears his name. Bloomberg LP, a highly lucrative financial data and terminal company joined to a money-losing consumer media division, catapulted him to the mayor’s office in 2002, where for more than a decade he was removed from his old office’s politics. But then he fell back to Earth. Before he was…

“L.A. is more casual and coffee-shop, yoga chic. In New York, women dress to kill — and they do.” Bethenny Frankel, reality TV star and creator of Skinnygirl “We actually do dress our age.” Frances Berwick, president of lifestyle networks, NBCU “In L.A., everyone dresses like a teenager, except the teenagers, who are desperately trying to look like hookers. I love that people in New York still dress like adults — suits, pants, dark colors. Even though I love the warmth of L.A., I love the fact that in New York I’m never overdressed.” Courtney Kemp, Power creator “Women in L.A. tend to wear clothes that are too tight, too short and show too much skin. My goto look is Phoebe Philo at work: James Perse trousers, Saint Laurent trainers, a white…

OLD MONEY VS. NEW MONEY THESE DAYS IN NEW YORK, IF YOU WANT TO SPOT MEMBERS of the city’s old money — that exotic, endangered species, as quaint as a guy swimming naked in the men’s pool at the U Club — you’ll need special goggles, or at least a guide who knows their migration patterns and local habitats and can point them out outside Doubles (the private club in the basement of the Sherry-Netherland Hotel on Fifth Avenue). In danger of extinction with each passing generation, the lineaged rich are not so rich anymore — thanks to nearly two decades of pathetic returns on top of the division and the dwindling of trust funds over time. “Your grandfather’s $100 million divided 10 ways means $10 million, and with diminishment…

BAGELS GLAZER’S PICK Tompkins Square Bagels, 165 Avenue A “Gentrification Bagels is what they should call it. It’s made for the post-NYU, grew-up-in-suburbia rich kids who now live in the East Village and think they’re roughing it. But they’re so f—ing good, it’s scary.” COFFEE GLAZER’S PICK Ninth Street Espresso (multiple locations) “They do this espresso with milk and different levels of milk. It’s my jam.” SUSHI JACOBSON’S PICK Hibino, 333 Henry St., Brooklyn PIZZA JACOBSON’S PICK Artichoke Pizza (multiple locations) “They’re known for their artichoke pizza, but their margherita is the best.” GLAZER’S PICK Patsy’s (multiple locations) “Patsy’s Pepperoni!” BEER GLAZER’S PICK Vol de Nuit, 148 W. Fourth St. “It’s a little hole-in-the-wall Belgian beer bar. Part of it is open to the sky, which is kind of romantic.”…

THEY SAY THE GOLDEN AGE OF AIR TRAVEL IS OVER. BUT if your anxiety is assuaged by the soothing bleats of an emotional support goat, now is a magical time to fly. Ever since the 1986 Air Carrier Access Act was passed to let seeing-eye dogs on planes, the definition of what constitutes a helping animal has stretched to a point where miniature horses and capuchin monkeys are permitted to fly. All you need is a doctor’s note, a service animal registration ($64.95 online, vests and buttons included) and a critter that fits on your lap or inside your row. Cost for a therapy pet to travel: zero. It’s a recipe for misuse, and data suggests that’s exactly what’s happening, with service-animal registrations rising from 2,400 in 2011 to 10…

IT ’S THE REAL ESTATE GAME! NEW YORK DEXTER’S MICHAEL C. HALL TRADED IN HIS 5,617-SQUAREfoot Los Feliz Spanish Colonial (which he sold for $4.85 million in March) for a $4.2 million, 1,586-square-foot condo (above) in the newly built Greenwich Lane in the West Village. The move (and loss of 4,000 square feet) followed Hall’s “hypnotic” turn onstage at New York Theatre Workshop, according to a THR review, in the David Bowie musical Lazarus. Hall’s two-bedroom, two-bath came with a chef’s kitchen, beamed ceilings, hardwood floors, a Thomas O’Brien of Aero Studios design pedigree and access to the building’s indoor pool. Regardless of its charms, Hall already is renting out the space for $15,000 a month. Notes Corcoran’s Susanne Columbia, who has worked with many Angelenos who have uprooted to…

THE COLOR PURPLE Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre Transcendent newcomer Cynthia Erivo stars alongside a vocally sensational Jennifer Hudson and a terrific Danielle Brooks (Orange Is the New Black) in John Doyle’s glorious reappraisal of the 2005 musical based on Alice Walker’s novel. The new production is characterized by its grace, restraint and soaring spirituality. FIDDLER ON THE ROOF Broadway Theatre The theme of forced emigration acquires powerful cumulative pathos in Bartlett Sher’s beautiful revival. Led by a performance of aching humanity from Danny Burstein as dairyman Tevye as well as Jessica Hecht’s sober take on Tevye’s careworn wife, Golde, the production is infused with freshness, intelligence and emotional vitality. ON YOUR FEET! Marquis Theatre Charting the rise to superstardom of Gloria Estefan and her triumphant re-emergence after near-tragedy struck, this…

THE FIRST THING TO KNOW about Adam Aron is that he has 25,000 Twitter followers, unusual for a corporate suit. The new CEO of the AMC Entertainment theater chain achieved celebrity status in the boardroom after steering Norwegian Cruise Line, Vail Resorts and Starwood Hotels, plus holding top jobs in the airline industry. But his most high-profile gig? From 2011 to 2013, he was co-owner and CEO of the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers, helping to explain his social media standing. The marketing and customer-service maven moved to Kansas City, Kan., in January to run AMC, majority-owned by Chinese giant Dalian Wanda Group. Right away, Aron, 62, negotiated a $1.1 billion deal to acquire Carmike Cinemas, which would make AMC the largest U.S. circuit — once the deal is approved by federal…

GARY PEARL, FORMERLY a William Morris agent and production executive at Paramount Pictures, now is co-chairman of Aquarius Television and an executive producer on The CW series Jane the Virgin. He is set to speak April 13 at New York’s Dream Downtown hotel during the eighth annual TV & Film Finance Forum East, as part of “Independent Moves: Strategies for Transitioning From Film to Television” (Jane was independently financed and later partnered with CBS). THR, the event’s media sponsor, spoke with Pearl about the state of the industry. What are the similarities between financing movies and TV shows? Independent filmmaking has always been about finding money in various ways and making projects that feed your passion. TV has been about selling to the broadcast networks, so it necessitated a level…

WITH BATMAN v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, has Warner Bros. finally turned a corner? After an abysmal run of expensive underperformers including Jupiter Ascending, Pan and In the Heart of the Sea, the studio launched its effort at a Marvel-style film universe with the DC Comics movie that had been touted as proof the regime installed in 2013 and headed by chairman and CEO Kevin Tsujihara was getting on track. But a dizzying 69 percent plunge that followed its March-record $166.1 million domestic opening ($422.5 million worldwide) means Batman is not a clear win. Some competitors say the film may turn a profit but hardly will be the money gusher studios hope for when they pour massive resources into making a giant tentpole with a big star — with a…

KA-CHING! WHO’S INKING ON THE DOTTED LINE THIS WEEK FACEBOOK GOES LIVE, BUT HOW WILL CELEBS MONETIZE STREAMS? DEAL OF THE WEEK FACEBOOK’S LATEST weapon in the battle for video views is live broadcasting. Facebook Live quietly has been growing since it launched for celebrities in August, and two months after it became available to the masses, the social network is upping its investment in the streaming feature. Facebook was set to begin rolling out updates April 6 to make it easier for users to create and consume real-time broadcasts. For example, Live videos will have their own hub on the Facebook mobile app. Sibyl Goldman, who heads entertainment partnerships at Facebook, explains that the new features will make Live “interactive, engaging, authentic and fun for both the publisher and…

Naomi Watts (CAA, the U.K.’s Markham Froggatt, Australia’s Linsten Morris, Grant Tani, Untitled, Hansen Jacobson) will join Brie Larson in Lionsgate’s The Glass Castle. Jim Parsons (CAA, Principal, Gang Tyre) will star in Warner Bros.’ comedy Man-Witch and has joined Taraji P. Henson in Fox 2000’s NASA drama Hidden Figures. Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way (LBI, Hansen Jacobson) has signed a three-year first-look deal with Paramount. Robin Wright (CAA, Anonymous, Ziffren Brittenham) and Dave Bautista (Gersh, DMBV) have joined Alcon Entertainment’s Blade Runner sequel. Julia Roberts (CAA, Hirsch Wallerstein, Engelman & Co.) is attached to star in and produce an adaptation of Harlan Coben’s new mystery thriller novel Fool Me Once. Shawn Levy (WME, Ziffren Brittenham) will direct and produce a remake of Starman for Columbia Pictures. Bryan Cranston (UTA, Ziffren…

SLOAN HARRIS AND ESTHER NEWBERG are in charge of arguably the most influential collection of book agents at a Hollywood talent agency. The publishing department at ICM Partners represents more than 100 bestsellers a year — including the last two Pulitzer winners (The Goldfinch and All the Light We Cannot See), authors as diverse as Nobel Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai and comedian Steve Martin — and helped bring Steve Jobs and Black Mass to the screen. Harris, 53, and Newberg, 74, who have co-run the department since 2007 and whose offices sit 10 feet apart, have the easy familiarity that comes from having long debated issues professional (Harris admits to liking to edit proposals, Newberg believes in a light touch) and personal (she roots for the Red Sox, he the…

ON OCT. 4, 2012, GAWKER MEDIA POSTED a 1 minute, 41 second video of Terry Bollea, professionally known as Hulk Hogan, in a bedroom, sans clothing and engaged in a private activity with a woman. Gawker knew Bollea had been secretly filmed and objected to the video’s release, but Gawker posted it anyway, claiming it was protected “journalism.” What followed was three and a half years of litigation, a $140 million jury verdict and the possible end of a media company once valued at more than $250 million. If Gawker had simply removed the video, as Bollea’s lawyers requested, litigation would not have ensued. But Gawker was defiant from day one and remains defiant today. It has never apologized or admitted wrongdoing and likely never will. This is the story…

LOWER MANHATTAN HAS BEEN ON THE RISE FOR YEARS, with the population more than doubling since 9/11 and the area formerly known as the Financial District increasingly staying alive after the markets’ closing bell. The area’s business profile also has seen a dramatic shift toward media tenants with the relocations from Midtown of Conde Nast, Time Inc. and HarperCollins. The question now is whether that influx will alter the residential makeup as megawatt far-downtown developments battle to match the height and luxe of Billionaire’s Row (the ever-taller towers spiking up along and around 57th Street). Witness Silverstein Properties’ 82-story 30 Park Place: Downtown’s tallest residential building at 937 feet, where a $32.5 million penthouse hit the market in March, it will house a Four Seasons hotel and a Cut by…

IT’S THE LAST NIGHT OF MARCH, and there are hundreds of people lined up on the sidewalk outside St. Mary’s Park in the Bronx. The rainbow crowd, mostly under 30 but with representation from every generation (and based on the packed subway on the way here, every borough), is buzzing with anticipation. Some 18,500 supporters are gathering on this unseasonably mild evening to see Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders speak at his first big New York rally, and even though he’s a long shot to win the state’s Democratic primary April 19, the mood is celebratory. On the sidewalk outside the park, a man in a Donald Trump mask holds a sign offering foam noodle whacks for $3, and two eager pint-size activists are gleefully whacking away. At the entrance, everyone…

WHEN BARBARA RES WATCHES COVERAGE OF Donald Trump running for president, she says, “It sends chills down my spine.” For Res, who served as vice president of construction during the building of Trump Tower, seeing her former boss bull and bluster his way toward the GOP Convention takes her back to the early 1980s, when she watched him generate headlines and controversy while building the first skyscraper that would bear his name (and where, fittingly, he would announce his candidacy). “It’s like deja vu,” says Res, who worked for Trump from 1978 to 1996. “He knows exactly what he’s doing. It’s all calculated to generate maximum publicity.” More than three decades before he threw the GOP into disarray, Trump shook up New York in similar fashion by building a gleaming…

THE SECRET BEHIND TRUMP’S HAIR has become a guessing game in tonsorial circles. Does he visit daughter Ivanka’s hairdresser Julien Farel or former wife Ivana’s longtime colorist Louis Licari? Word in the beauty world is that he saw famed transplant expert Walter Unger a long time ago and has tended to his own wispy locks for years. One of New York’s top stylists, who worked on a magazine shoot with the mogul during the Apprentice years, says he approached Trump to adjust his ’do. “He said, ‘You can spray but don’t touch! The only one I allow to touch my hair is Melania.’ ’’ But things might have changed with the presidential hopeful’s tresses. Insiders are whispering that Melania visits a discrete boutique salon called L’Appartement, conveniently located across the…

‘ THERE HAS NEVER BEEN A BETTER TIME TO BE A HAMILTON DESCENDANT’ THANKS TO THE IMMENSE success of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical, the descendants of Founding Father Alexander Hamilton are becoming demi-celebrities in their own right — whether they like it or not. Last fall, just weeks after Hamilton had opened to stunning reviews on Broadway, eight members of the Hamilton clan spanning three generations converged at the New York Historical Society’s annual fundraiser to meet Miranda, the show’s creator and star (see photo). The Hamilton scions, some of whom still are getting used to their ancestor being portrayed as a hip-hop hero, came at the invitation of George Cox, the founder of Hamilton Scholars, an organization benefiting highachieving students who, like the group’s namesake, come from low-income situations. Among…

1 JETBLUE* The upstart brings its A game with the most erudite selection of wines on the route. WHITE Unoaked Copain Tous Ensemble Chardonnay, Anderson Valley, CA 2014 RED Folkway Revelator, California 2013 SPARKLING Two choices: Roederer Estate Brut or Brut Rosé NV 2 DELTA* It offers the widest selection of wines, with no fewer than seven onboard. WHITE Louis Latour “La Chanfleure” Chablis, France 2011 RED La Rioja Alta Vina Ardanza Rioja Reserve, Spain 2000 SPARKLING Jacquart Brut Mosaique, France NV 3 AMERICAN Its three-class service serves up dedicated wines for First and Business. FIRST CLASS WHITE Chateau St. Jean Single Vineyard Chardonnay, Alexander Valley, CA 2013 RED Domaine de la Presidente Cotes du Rhone Villages, Cairanne 2014 SPARKLING Gloria Ferrer Sonoma Carneros Brut NV BUSINESS CLASS WHITE Flagstone…

ICEE A new brand called Handcrafted Chill, made with cane sugar, features such artisan flavors as pomegranate and mandarin orange. Plus, a new machine featuring an LCD touch screen will allow patrons to create as many as 16 different flavor combinations. AIRHEADS SOFT FILLED BITES Airheads get a makeover in these bite-size tangy chews with a burst of flavor at the center. Available in six of the most popular fruity Airheads flavors. VIRTUAL GREETER The future is here when it comes to crowd control and customer service. The Virtual Assistant from SwayJack uses cuttingedge technology to project an image and create the illusion of a real person, who acts as an informational and instructional tool for customers. POPCORN SEASONING New additions to Kernel Season’s toppings collection include chocolate drizzle brittle…

JACK DORSEY The Twitter CEO beats out rivals for a deal to stream 10 NFL games next season, a muchneeded win as the company seeks to boost slow user growth. DAVID ZASLAV The Discovery Communications CEO’s pay drops from a stock options-fueled $156 million in 2014 to $32.4 million in 2015 amid an 18 percent stock slide since January 2015. GWEN STEFANI A decade after her previous solo album, the singer and The Voice coach notches her first No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for This Is What the Truth Feels Like. JACKIE CHAN The Hong Kong legend is among dozens of world figures (including Pedro Almodovar and his brother) whose offshore business accounts are made public in the Panama Papers leak. SHOWBIZ STOCKS $6.38 (+22%) SALEM MEDIA GROUP (SALM) Earnings…

1 WORLD PREMIERES Kevin Spacey as Richard Nixon and Michael Shannon as Elvis Presley make Liza Johnson’s Elvis & Nixon a must-see of the festival, running April 13 to 24. Other curiosities: Katie Holmes’ directorial debut, All We Had; Tom Tykwer’s adaptation of Dave Eggers’ A Hologram for the King, starring Tom Hanks; and Eddie Murphy playing serious in Bruce Beresford’s drama Mr. Church. 2HOT DOCUMENTARIES Robert Kenner, an Oscar nominee for 2008’s Food, Inc., takes aim at the world’s nuclear arsenal in Command and Control, and The Banksy Job probes the street artist. 3 TELEVISION TUNE-IN The fest will bow episodes of TNT’s Animal Kingdom, starring Ellen Barkin, and Greenleaf, which marks Oprah Winfrey’s return to acting for her OWN network. There’s also the Broad City finale. 4 BOLDFACED…

The Summer Before the War (Random House) BY Helen Simonson AGENCY UTA The follow-up to Simonson’s hit debut Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand opened as a New York Times best-seller and was a LibraryReads pick for March. Populated with quirky, sharply drawn characters, Summer follows the new Latin teacher in a rural village who upsets residents with her modern thinking. Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know BY Chloe J. Esposito AGENCY WME This hot manuscript, which has its eyes on the Fifty Shades of Grey and The Girl on the Train audience, centers on a twin who assumes the life of her deceased sister, finally becoming the smart, rich, married-with-child one.…

“Ta-da!” LILLY WACHOWSKI The Matrix co-creator, at the April 2 GLAAD Awards, where she made her first public appearance since coming out as transgender. “The f—ing ghosting thing, like literally I still don’t even know what it is. We were in a relationship and then it didn’t work anymore.” CHARLIZE THERON The actress, dismissing tabloid claims that she “ghosted” Sean Penn — cut him off from all modes of communication — during their breakup. “I guess I’m going to have to buy it and make it Snoop Dogg’s Chicken & Waffles.” SNOOP DOGG The hip-hop star, upon learning that L.A. institution Roscoe’s Chicken & Waffles, a favorite of his, had filed for bankruptcy. “I think we need to set these things in stone so it forces everybody to think that…

Got tips? Email RAMBLING@THR.COM. Michael Keaton, Harry Sloan, Terry Semel and John Davis shared the room at Toscana. The next day, Patrick Wachsberger and Steve Tisch were in. … Brian Grazer, Antonio Banderas, John Burnham and Paula Wagner each ate at Bouchon. … Cuba Gooding Jr. joined Jake Bloom at Mr Chow. CAA’s Rob Kenneally met attorney Michael Gendler there another day while gene Simmons sat elsewhere in the room. … Josh Brolin ordered at Culina, then Fox Searchlight’s Jill Gwen dropped by the next day. … Mindy Kaling tucked into an ice cream sundae among the haute kids at Au Fudge. … Fabio Lanzoni marked the 17th anniversary of accidentally killing a goose with his face while riding a roller coaster by dining at The Sushi House in Studio…

THE CITY MAY NEVER SLEEP, BUT TIME STILL IS OF THE essence for a true New Yorker. “My schedule involves being up until 4 a.m.,” says Hamilton actor Daveed Diggs, who works out after midnight. Says Power creator Courtney Kemp, “With my shooting schedule, I ‘power lunch’ at production catering.” And when it comes to work drinks, well, “I usually crawl inside a bottle at home — have you met my clients?” says entertainment lawyer and film producer John Sloss. Some NYC favorites for people of all ages: 30s and under COFFEE “I’ve been a regular since the beginning,” says potential first daughter (again) Chelsea Clinton about the brew maestros at Birch Coffee. Its multiple locations throughout the city count Malcolm Gladwell, Kaki King, Lex Sadler and Frankie Faison among…

HE’S BOUGHT A BETTER SUIT. NOT A VERY GOOD ONE, but better.” So claims the proud elder brother of Bernie Sanders (or “Bernard,” as he calls him) of the lifestyle changes his only sibling has made as a national candidate. “Up until a couple of months ago, he was still using economy class in planes, which I told him was crazy because he needed to rest,” Larry Sanders, 81, explains to THR, acknowledging that there’s now a rented campaign jet. “But he was very uncomfortable to change.” A fellow lifelong socialist, Larry has been watching the Bernie phenomenon from across the Atlantic. After falling in love with a British woman while “on my travels,” in 1969 he decamped to Oxford, where he’s lived since, working as a lecturer, social worker…

Ta-Nehisi Coates Author, Between the World and Me WHY HE MATTERS July brought the publication of Between the World and Me, an exploration of what it means to grow up black in America (written in the form of a letter to his teenage son), September a MacArthur “genius” grant and November the National Book Award. The Atlantic’s national correspondent, 40, has become a pop-culture touchstone (with 609,000 Twitter followers) for Black Lives Matter, getting name-checked in everything from Sleepy Hollow to Black-ish (an episode about police brutality was a mini-Coates seminar). Coming in April is his Black Panther comic series for Marvel — which he says shares the theme of “the promise and limits of human governance” with the best-selling Between. Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner Showrunners/founders, Girls/Lenny Letter WHY…

BY HER ESTIMATION, UBER-BOOK AGENT URBAN SAYS SHE HAS read about a million words written by Auletta, her husband of 39 years. Known for media-titan deep dives like his National Magazine Awardwinning profile of Ted Turner, Auletta, 73, isn’t repped by Urban, 69. That task is left to “my very able colleagues” at ICM Partners, she says. Still, when not reading books written by her who’s-who roster of clients including Pulitzer Prize fiction winners (Anthony Doerr, Donna Tartt and Jennifer Egan) and Nobelist Toni Morrison, Urban pores over every sentence constructed by Auletta, who has written 11 books, five of them best-sellers. “We talk mainly about ideas, what he’s going to be writing next,” says Urban (who was dubbed “Binky” by her grandmother and hasn’t answered to Amanda since). Auletta,…

1 KEITH OLBERMANN WANTS OUT — REAL BAD Actual Trump building residents are hard to find and even harder to get on the record. But the sportscaster, who recently penned a Washington Post essay about his decision to sell his pad in an Eastside Trump building, says he’s willing to take a loss. “It was a nice view and a good price and all of this stuff that you try to rationalize. … I plead temporary insanity,” Olbermann tells THR of his 2007 purchase. “I’m just hoping to get rid of it and out from under the onus.” 2 EUROPEAN TOURISTS WILL STAY AT HIS HOTELS EVEN IF THEY THINK HE’S A WACK JOB “Crazy,” “racist” and “crazy racist” were among the Trump descriptives offered when THR polled a number…

*How one hit Broadway show turned New York City into Hamilton Country HAMILTON RICHARD RODGERS THEATRE 226 W. 46th ST. 1 CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY 227 W. 46th ST. PAMELA PILINSKY Director, community affairs “We love Hamilton — they’re our neighbors, but we don’t keep statistics on who comes in here. Maybe one or two people have said they just saw Hamilton. I don’t know really. Hundreds of people come into the Church of Scientology every week to find out what we do. We don’t ask them, ‘How did you get in here?’ ” 2 ESCA 402 W. 43rd ST. PATRICK O’SULLIVAN Maitre d’ “Probably 60 percent of our business is pre-theater. I would say that of all the pre-theater business we do, 80 percent of people are going to see…

LINCOLN CENTER & NYC BALLET For the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, board membership requires a hefty upfront and annual donations. Those who have reached deep include CAA’s Bryan Lourd and Beasts of No Nation co-financier Daniel Crown. In his bid to become the next Andrew Carnegie, David Geffen pledged $100 million for naming rights to Avery Fisher Hall — now David Geffen Hall — home of the New York Philharmonic. Part of the Lincoln Center campus, the ballet counts Sarah Jessica Parker as board vice chairman. Board members include Lesley Stahl, producer Debra Martin Chase and Lisa Maria Falcone, who produced Mud and 127 Hours. METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART Given the $10 million (or more) plus sizable annual contributions for a trustee spot, there’s no significant Hollywood presence…

FILM THERE’S NO BUSIER THEATER IN AMERICA THAN AMC EMPIRE 25 ON West 42nd Street in New York City. Naturally, its top-grossing movie of the year was Jurassic World, followed by Star Wars: The Force Awakens. But there’s also no single more important city for indie film than the Big Apple, where foreign fare, docs and auteur works thrive — as evidenced by the below lists of the top-grossers of 2015 at popular Manhattan art houses offering refuge from stomping dinosaurs and creeping stormtroopers. — PAMELA MCCLINTOCK TV IT TURNS OUT NEW YORKERS ARE JUST AS INTO BLUE BLOODS as their grandparents in Florida. A look at Nielsen Media’s Top 10 scripted series in the NYC market year-to-date reveals that, like the rest of the country, the city likes its…

WHEN AN AD FOR A 1939 theatrical production of Pygmalion caught prop runner Meyer Newman’s eye, the Russian immigrant called the set decorator and offered to dress the sets — with antiques he didn’t have. Purchasing stock from local shops, which Newman complemented with items from his own home, was a gamble that paid off as the 10-week deal turned into a two-year Broadway run. Little did he know this would be the birth of one of the largest prop houses in the country. Now known as Newel Antiques, the family-run business has dressed film and TV sets with global antiques and eclectic curiosities for some 70-plus years. Run by Newman’s grandson Jake Baer, who is now CEO, the company has an extended collection of antiquities in Long Island City…

IN 2009, THR WAS RUNNING stories about a “credit crunch” that had Wall Street avoiding the entertainment industry. “The equity players who are left are being very careful and diligent about the investments they are making,” Katherine Winston told THR at the time. Fast-forward seven years, and Winston Baker, the company she co-founded with Amy Baker, is producing its 37th conference focused on entertainment and finance. “We went from ‘queasy money’ in 2009 to loads of money in present times,” says Winston, whose next event, the eighth annual TV & Film Finance Forum East, will take place April 13 at New York’s Dream Downtown hotel. About 150 people are expected to pay as much as $695 apiece to attend the conference. Speakers include Broad Green Pictures CEO Gabriel Hammond and…