Gawker
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trade roundup
Spoiler Alert: The Winner in Monsters vs. Aliens is...Dreamworks!
Chopping Block gets chopped, J.J. Abrams gets extended, and Ricky Gervais' next film will be unlike anything he's ever done before except for The Office. More »
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gossip roundup
Lohan, Leibovitz Out of Money
Because they're lesbians. No, seriously, that is why both the famous actress and the famous photographer are FLAT BROKE. Because of godless girl-love. Also, Matt Lauer ran into a deer. More »
19,434
By PareeneComment by DesirooForYou: Hmm, maybe its because I have only drank 2 of the 3 required cups of coffee but that Annie Leibovitz... 7 Responses | Other threads
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gossip roundup
Fake G.E. CEO Drives Drunk
It regrettable quote day! Josh Broslin called Russell Crowe an "asshole;" Lily Allen defended cocaine; Sumner Redstone bragged about sex and 30 Rock's Rip Torn insisted the ground was drunk, not him. More »
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By Ryan TateComment by Oy Veh (Informality Reigns): I want to meet these people who can AFFORD to go on a coke binge 3 nights a week! Can... 5 Responses | Other threads
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disasters
Time Warner Cable To Lose Comedy Central, MTV In Viacom Spat
From New York to Los Angeles, Viacom channels like Comedy Central are set to flicker off cable systems in the first minute of 2009. Sumner Redstone's desperation finally impacted your life! More »
9,249
By Ryan TateComment by SpacePope: Okay, Comedy Central is a loss. But MTV lost the last shred of music on that channel in, what,... 4 Responses | Other threads
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sumner redstone
Billionaire Sacrifices Daughter To Stay Solvent
Sumner Redstone is so desperate for cash, he might not even be a billionaire any more. So he's decided his daughter will take the fall, and is embarrassing her with a huge public fight this morning. More »
6,645
By Ryan TateComment by jerrica: Gee...and I thought my dad was a dick for ordering the filet mignon on the night I offered to pay... 4 Responses | Other threads
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gossip roundup
Tina Fey's Command Performance For Greasy Politicos
- Tina Fey agreed to be Lorne Michaels' awkward circus monkey at gathering of Albany lawmakers discussing TV production tax credits. "She seemed incredibly uncomfortable... Someone said, ‘Do a Sarah Palin!’ and she did a Sarah Palin." Cringe. [NYM]
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sumner redstone
Redstone Dumps Video Game Biz
As predicted, Viacom chief Sumner Redstone sold his stake in Midway Games for pennies on the dollar, just for the tax benefits. We still think he'll eventually have to sell some or all of CBS to pay his $1.6 billion debt. [WSJ]
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Comment by SultanaEleusis: He never understood what those video games were about anyway. He was more into pinball. more » | Other threads
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denzel washington
Gated Community, Nannies' Shortcuts in Turmoil as A-Listers Go to War
To hell with the SAG strike: The real feud set to engulf Hollywood's acting community is simmering in the tony enclave of Beverly Park. There, Samuel L. Jackson, Denzel Washington and Sylvester Stallone are just a few of the heavy-hitters embroiled in what has come to be known simply as GateGate. -
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sumner redstone
Panic Finally Breaks Desperate Billionaire
If Sumner Redstone had just sold his CBS stock back when it looked like he was in trouble, he might have gotten $10, even $15 per share. Instead he sold only what he was forced to, then wasted a lot of time huffing and puffing in the press about how he would never ever sell another CBS or Viacom share, even though $800 million was due in December. In the meantime CBS shares plummeted to less than $5, and only now is Redstone admitting the obvious: He may have to sell some of that stock. Reports the Times: More »
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By Ryan TateComment by belltolls: I love the swap meet feel of the new economic reality. 2 Responses | Other threads
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gossip roundup
Anne Hathaway Has A New Unsavory Boyfriend
- Anne Hathaway's new actor boyfriend "went after all the young heiresses" when he was at Brown University, which makes him as terrible for her as jailed fraudster Raffaello Follieri, according to Page Six's tipster. [P6]
9,553
By Ryan TateComment by Pope John Peeps II: Who could have imagined that girls are attracted to sleazy men? Only every nice man on the planet. 11 Responses | Other threads
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sumner redstone
Sumner Redstone May Settle Loans Via Mortal Kombat
Desperate mogul Sumner Redstone may be able pay off some of his $1.6 billion in debt before half of it comes due in December. The solution: Sell off Midway Games, money-bleeding maker of classic arcade hits like Rampage, Spy Hunter and Mortal Kombat. Some $800 million in cash infusions for Midway were a major contributor to Redstone's debt and pissed off daughter Shari, according to the Wall Street Journal, which reported Monday morning that Shari just resigned as chairwoman to Midway, signaling a sale may be in the works.In addition to Midway, the Redstones are said looking to unload their slot machine company. What the hell is divorced ole Sumner supposed to do for fun??
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By Ryan TateComment by harvey_wallpaper: i wish i had 1.6 billion dollars because i would create a competition for redstone: 1. he gets two weeks to... 1 Responses | Other threads
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gossip roundup
David Duchovny Done Rifling Téa Leoni's Mobile Phone
- Recovering sex addict David Duchovny has apparently been convinced those weren't secret sexytime text messages from serial divorcé Billy Bob Thornton on wife Téa Leoni's cell phone. [P6]
- Oprah Winfrey said on a conference call with Barack Obama and prominent African Americans that they should get out the vote to make the country "truly one nation indivisible." If Obama wins, she totally gets the credit. [Politico]
- Soon-to-be-divorced Sumner Redstone spent more time with the ex-girlfriend he "unexpectedly" ran into across a dinner table this past summer. [P6]
- Paris Hilton wore a giant ring on her wedding-ring finger and said it was a gift from a friend, not a transparent effort to get Benji Madden to propose. [Insider]
- Having moved on from Drew Barrymore to Kirsten Dunst, Justin Long hit on Tila Tequila, asking her to straddle him, in Las Vegas. Cue the "I'm a mack" jokes in three, two... [P6]
2,055
By Ryan TateComment by AndIAmTellingYou: Justin Long: Hello, I'm a Mac... Tila Tequila: ...and I'm a STD. 1 Responses | Other threads
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sumner redstone
How Can Sumner Redstone Save Himself?
Sumner Redstone was the first major media mogul to get slammed by the economic downturn, and the Viacom chief's troubles continue. His pending divorce and the comical failure of his video game business are mere distractions. His bigger problem is that his company has $1.6 billion in debt to deal with, and Redstone is squabbling with his daughter about how to do it. For some, it's already too late; we hear that layoffs are coming down at Viacom tomorrow. But for the Redstones, there seem to be only three real options: More »
2,650
Comment by Mymoustache: I thought the blood of christian virgins was supposed to take care of these economic downturns. 2 Responses | Other threads
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cbs
Stupid CBS Dominates Television; Sumner Redstone Still Losing Cash
When times are tough, Americans don't want television that makes you "think." They want television that's predictable, television that reruns the same god damn stories week after week with absolutely no sense of drama or uncertainty. Because who wants more uncertainty, in these uncertain days? This is why CBS—old, stuffy, worthless CBS—is now the best-rated television network of the fall season, may god have mercy on our souls. Too bad Sumner Redstone can't make any money off it, though! More »
2,697
Comment by American Dreamer: Certain actors and actresses are poison on national t.v. They appear in a dozen t.v. shows or more which die... 5 Responses | Other threads
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sumner redstone
Profligate Executive Owes Billion To 55 Lenders
It's almost enough to make you feel sorry for the belligerent old Viacom and CBS owner: Sumner Redstone is facing the sort of debt that would send most people into a nervous breakdown. First he has to weasel out of paying an $800 million Bank of America Securities loan before the end of December. But that's not the worst of it. He then most get unanimous consent from 55 separate institutions to refinance another $800 million loan. The Post thinks he might be toast: More »
2,459
By Ryan TateComment by Private Hangnail: He must have purchased some sexy geriatric hookers. 3 Responses | Other threads
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sumner redstone
Bitter Sumner Redstone Clings To His Viacom And CBS Stock
Imagine you have $800 million due to various banks in two months, and your chief holdings are a couple of billion dollars in rapidly-declining CBS and Viacom stock. You've opened some delicate negotiations with the bankers into how you'll, uh, pay them. What do you do? If you're Sumner Redstone, you immediately take the obvious option — sell some more shares! — off the table, and then proclaim you don't know how all this happened because you don't really run your company (National Amusements). Then in the future, presumably, you can tell your mouthy daughter you were "forced" to sell her movie theater chain because it was the only option left, ha ha. That'll teach her to try and be your successor! That's just how Sumner rolls, said the Wall Street Journal: More »
1,485
By Ryan TateComment by Private Hangnail: It's like the ghost of Howard Hughes inhabiting a geriatric Howdy Doody puppet. 1 Responses | Other threads
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moguls
Sumner Redstone Divorce Confirmed
It's official: Sumner Redstone's second marriage is finished, confirming our exclusive from Friday. Court papers were filed at the end of last week, according to the Los Angeles Times, and now the Viacom chief has issued a statement saying the split is "amicable" and that "we remain close and supportive friends." In other words, wife Paula Fortunato has finally, 14 months after divorce rumors surfaced, agreed to leave, perhaps because she got something beyond her "iron-clad prenup," once thought to be worth a flat $1 million, or because she's actually now earned $5 million, with the prenup now pegged at $1 million per year of marriage. Or maybe the former public school teacher is just tired of living with the mean mogul, 40 years her elder, and of hearing rumors he's been calling some famous comedian's wife. Whatever happened, Redstone is reaching into his pocket at a time when he can least afford it. Writes the LA Times:
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rumormonger
Is Sumner Redstone Trying to Make it with Another Man's Wife?
On the heels of our scoop that 85-year-old Viacom boss Sumner Redstone is splitting from his wife Paula Fortunato, Page Six is reporting that Fortunato is already packing her bags and moving out. The gossip sheet even had to credit Gawker, which meant upgrading us from "a website" or "several blogs" as had been their previous M.O. Now, a new twist. A tipster suggests, "you might want to enquire [sic] as to whether certain unsolicited calls to the wife of a famous comedian/actor are behind the split." Hmmm... Is the old dog hounding some funnyman's lady? Who might it be? More »
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Comment by Slothrop: For the love of god, Monstressor, that's one scary billionaire. 5 Responses | Other threads
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sumner redstone
Sumner Redstone Separating From His Wife?
We hear from a good source that Sumner Redstone, the 85-year-old media mogul who controls Viacom (which includes MTV, BET, Paramount, and Dreamworks), is separating from Paula Fortunato, his wife of five years. Fortunato will be moving out this weekend, our source says. Redstone married Fortunato—a former public school teacher who is 40 years his junior—in 2003, several years after he divorced his first wife. Redstone's finances are currently under a significant strain thanks to the recent economic meltdown, causing him a good deal of stress. Fortunato's biggest moment in the spotlight came when she reportedly forced her husband to break with Tom Cruise in 2006. There were rumors a year ago that the marriage was not happy; now, according to our source, it's all but over. Anyone with more information can email us. This may be the first sign that relationships based on anything other than love or sexual attraction will be sorely tested by this financial crisis.
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sumner redstone
Superrich Squabble As Their Money Burns
Old Viacom overseer Sumner Redstone announced last week that he had to sell hundreds of millions of dollars worth of his company's stock, after the Wall Street crash left him short on cash to back a huge loan. Then this week, out of the blue, his daughter Shari Redstone, who runs the movie theater portion of National Amusements (the other parts being Viacom and CBS), sent out a statement to the media saying, basically, "HEY, THIS ISN'T MY FAULT!" What's the deal with this madness? More »
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Comment by Rumpelstilskin: Having a very hard time caring about this. Can we get back to Madonna? 1 Responses | Other threads
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sumner redstone
Paging Dr. Redstone: Viacom president Philippe Dauman was optimistic Tuesday in Cannes, where he downplayed Sumner Redstone's move this week to sell off $233 million in stock to help pay down the company's debt. We guess it is better than last week's estimate of $400 million, but Dauman isn't letting numbers get in the way: "If you have a life-threatening crisis," he said, "there is no one on the planet you would more want to have by your side, helping you figure out how to get out of it, than Sumner Redstone." Oh, please, Philippe — we love Sumner, too, but everyone knows that nobody assuages A-list panic better than Werner Herzog. [Variety] -
sumner redstone
The First Media Mogul Casualty
Looks like old Viacom chief Sumner Redstone is the first media mogul to take a significant hit from the present awful economic climate for media companies (Pictured: Viacom's stock chart for the last year). And by "significant hit," we mean "being forced to sell $400 million worth of stock." More »
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Comment by frenchkiss101: What's next after downgrading from actual employees to perma-lancers? "Voluntary Servituders"? 1 Responses | Other threads
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nerdfight
Halsey Minor's endless complaints
Multimillionaire CNET founder Halsey Minor is in the news again, for another spat over his expansive art collection. Portfolio explains that Minor got into an "angry email exchange" with famous artist Damien Hirst. There are now "gaping, fist-size holes in the plaster walls" of Minor's San Francisco offices, where Hirst's work used to hang. This comes as Sotheby's is suing Minor over a disputed art auction. After the article ran online, Minor left a rambling comment quibbling with details. But he never disputed the story's central question: Has Minor spent so impulsively and unwisely on art, real estate, new startups, and a new wife (Shannon, pictured with Minor, above), that he's running short on cash? He doesn't answer that. Instead, he declares himself "the baddest psycho in bass fishing." The comment seems as delusional as this moment he recounts in the story: More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by guyger: H provided the lions share of the first round of funding for Salesforce.com which ultimately became about 15% of the... more » | Other threads
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tom cruise
Tom Cruise's Life Is Imploding
It's been an awful week from Tom Cruise at the movie studio he nominally operates, United Artists. His inner circle is gone, including a president who left in mid-July, an executive vice president who was said Monday to have fled and Cruise's former agent, who was pushed out as CEO of the foundering studio Wednesday. Now, from the Post, comes word that Cruise himself is about to be "neutered" within United Artists by controlling partner MGM because he doesn't know what he's doing, a humiliating second defeat in the wake of his 2006 ejection from Paramount by Sumner Redstone. Add this to Cruise's other recent setbacks: More »
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By Ryan TateComment by NotReadyForPrimeTime: @gladys_kravitz: Nicole has a good career and plenty of money, but I think she is no match for the Church of... more » | Other threads
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viacom
Belligerent Old Sumner Redstone Finally Ousts Own Daughter
"Mr. Redstone said flatly that his daughter was no longer the company’s heir apparent and that she would leave the board ... ' The reason she won’t succeed me is not she — that she isn’t qualified.'" [Times, Previously]
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By Ryan TateComment by Lysergic Asset: @mattymcd: A key part of his plan: every decade or so, he'll get an even younger wife and psychically suck... more » | Other threads
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viacom
Semi-mummified Viacom overlord Sumner Redstone explains how he managed to work an immortality clause into his 8-trillion-year contract: "I don't want to die. I love what I'm doing. I love Viacom. I love CBS. And so I don't want to die. I have a will to live. The same will to win that I've always had. And, I'm gonna fight death as long as I can. I like it here. I don't want to go anywhere else." And with that, the eternally youthful media titan gave a mischievous wink—causing his lower jaw to shake loose and fall to the ground, evaporating into a small cloud of dust upon impact. [Page Six] -
media
A Guide To The Media Methuselahs
"I don't want to die. I love what I'm doing," said Viacom chief Sumner Redstone on CNBC yesterday. My, what a positive and also extremely sad quote! Coming from an old, old man like Redstone, it's more of a last-ditch prayer to Father Time than a peppy statement of on-the-job satisfaction. After the jump, a complete guide to the top five elderly figures in media moguldom. They're a cast that could end up having spent decades in power—probably because the younger counterparts who should be overtaking them decided to go into the tech industry on the West Coast instead (except Nick Denton). May these old men all live, um, a lot longer: More »
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Comment by Tattertotter: Diller still looks good because he continues to receive life-prolonging loads of 100% pure Aryan sperm squirted up his butthole... more » | Other threads
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top
Media Bitchery: The Definitive Bibliography
Think of how easy it might have been to understand Arianna Huffington's bloggy animus toward Tim Russert if there were a book out chronicling all the sordid details of their decade-and-a-half-long secret feud. (There is.) Every gossip-mongering gadabout should know the full backstory on every spat, falling out, and long-running mutual antagonism in media. Below are the volumes no shelf should be without.
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sumner redstone
"'It was just an accidental meeting,' Redstone, 85, told Page Six." [Post]
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defamer
New Paramount Theme Park in Korea to Offer 'The Norbit Adventure' and Other Fine Attractions
There has been no shortage of potential cross-pollenation opportunities for Paramount Pictures over its 90 years in business, but for sheer monolithic stature and creative promise, nothing tweaks our loins quite like the just-announced Paramount Movie Park Korea. While we're mildly disappointed to hear that the park is slated for Seoul and not Pyongyang (tell us you wouldn't have been first in line for "Kim Jong Il's Marathon Man Experience"), we're glad to see the studio back in the theme-park business and eager to have a go at the 30-plus attractions planned for a 2011 opening. More » -
come to papa
Sumner Redstone Apparently Finds Right Price to Forgive 'Good Friend' Tom Cruise
The Tom Cruise Image Rehabilitation Tour rolls on today with a public pardon from Viacom kingpin Sumner Redstone, who followed his prodigal son's subdued Oprah stint with a reassurance that, you know, all that erratic-behavior outrage from a couple years back? Just kidding! And Mission: Impossible 4? It's "up to Brad Grey." Or, loosely translated, "Are we on number four? Already? Well, I'll be": More » -
family feuds
Viacom PR Admits 'Public Crapping' May Not Bode Well For New Pay Network
The week that started with Les Moonves and Phillipe Dauman kickboxing in Sumner Redstone's corporate steel cage will apparently end with Dauman retreating to his corner of the Viacom boardroom for medical attention. Or at least that's the impression we glean from today's gloom-and-doom survey of the Great Pay-Cable Cockfight of 2008, during which Paramount broke off from cousin network Showtime after failing to renegotiate an output deal for its titles. On their own now with partners Lionsgate and MGM/UA, even Viacom/Paramount flacks acknowledge finding little comfort in the TV wild: More » -
sumner redstone
The Battle For Sumner Redstone's Heart
There are dueling views on who is winning the battle for supremacy in the eyes of the notoriously combative media mogul Sumner Redstone. On one side is Philippe Dauman, head of Viacom, who recently decided to form a new movie channel to distribute films from Viacom's Paramount. On the other side is Les Moonves at CBS, who was allegedly "royally screwed" by Dauman's new channel since it ended the hope that his Showtime network would screen Paramount films. Daubman hopes the incident will help him get CBS and Viacom merged back together and put under his control, the Post reported this morning. Not so fast, said the Wall Street Journal: Dauman's movie channel is a supremely bad idea. More » -
defamer
Paramount, Showtime, CBS Spend Weekend Fighting in Grandpa Sumner Redstone's Sandbox of Death
While most of us fled the office to enjoy early spring, Sumner Redstone spent another relaxing weekend watching his corporate children at Viacom gouge each others' eyes out. And this time around he got his money's worth, with Paramount finally breaking free from CBS/Showtime to start its own pay-cable and VOD service with MGM and Lionsgate. It's an untidy, somewhat shocking scenario that we (and seemingly the rest of the Web) can't yet make sense of, but join us after the jump to parse the winners and losers at a glance. More » -
feuds
New Movie Channel "Royally Screwed" Les Moonves
CBS honcho Les Moonves had a week from hell. It started with a Times highlighting how his salary keeps going up while revenues at his beleaguered company keep going down. Then he had to answer to news department staff about leaks that made Katie Couric look like a lame duck in the anchor chair at CBS Evening News. Now he's said by Nikki Finke's sources to be "royally screwed" after fumbling negotiations with Viacom, a sibling company in the Sumner Redstone media empire. Moonves had been trying to cut the amount CBS' Showtime was paying for Paramount movies, but Paramount said "screw this" and decided to form its own cable channel along with studios MGM and Lionsgate. Here's why the whole situation is especially awkward, according to the Times: More » -
viacom
Sumner Redstone Not A People Person
Hey, Happy 85th Birthday Sumner Redstone! Sure, you don't turn 85 until next month, but the Times already has a gift in the form of a long story on how much you suck at relating to other human beings and are a crazy old man who should probably think about retiring. It has your feud with movie star Tom Cruise (reportedly patched up, not that they mention that); the thing where you fired Viacom CEO Tom Freston and badmouthed him on Charlie Rose; some nephew who is after his share of your empire and your daughter Shari, non-executive vice chairman at Viacom, who is fighting with you over corporate governance and who you are still trash talking, according to the Times: More » -
defamer
Tom Cruise Owes Sumner Redstone Lunch Again After Scathing 'Tropic Thunder' Cameo
Oh, now we get it: That Polo Lounge power summit last week between Tom Cruise and Sumner Redstone was not the prodigal-son mea culpa we thought it was, smoothing the waters on which Cruise would coast back into the safe harbor of Redstone's reeling Viacom flagship. Rather, it was just a quick bite to catch up about Katie, Suri, Laurie and maybe for Cruise to apologize in advance for his scathing, fat-suited cameo as a depraved studio boss in Tropic Thunder: More » -
feuds
Hollywood Insiders Laugh With Tom Cruise, Not At Him
A studio lot full of Hollywood "agents, managers, publicists and reporters" found Scientology messiah Tom Cruise hilarious Tuesday night, the Times reported, not because the actor is certifiably insane but because he did a mean impression of Sumner Redstone, the Viacom and Paramount boss who cut ties with Cruise two years ago. The crowd was watching a screening of Paramount comedy Tropic Thunder, which includes a performance by Cruise as a redheaded, pudgy studio executive with lots of chest hair and a penchant for cussing and dirty dancing — a ringer for Redstone. Cruise's performance killed among insiders primed for Hollywood in-jokes and long accustomed to Cruise's unbalanced personality, but it's unlikely the rest of the moviegoing public will be as tickled, and weird that the chummy screening got any notice at all in the Times, even if the paper was trying to make up for missing the story of Cruise's make-up lunch with Redstone last week. After the jump, a side-by-side comparison of Cruise, made up for his character, and Redstone. More » -
defamer
Tom Cruise Lunches With Sumner Redstone, Calls Dibs on DreamWorks' Parking Spots
In a rumored attempt at brokering the type of fragile, public peace not seen since the Camp David accords 30 years ago, Tom Cruise and Sumner Redstone apparently had lunch together Thursday at the Beverly Hills Hotel's Polo Lounge. Or so report spies for The Wall Street Journal and Page Six, alluding to the star's blockbuster drought since leaving Paramount. We didn't believe it at first, but when you think about it, wouldn't those soon-to-be-vacated DreamWorks offices at the 'Mount make a decent home for Cruise's fledgling United Artists revival? More »
sumner redstone
New York, 1:08 PM
Fri Jul 10
45 posts in the last 24 hours
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