Scorsese Ready to Trash Sinatra in Upcoming Biopic

Not sure which is more revolting, Scorsese’s determination to cast Leonardo DiCaprio as Frank Sinatra or his determination to do to The Voice what he and Leo did to Howard Hughes: reduce and distill a great man who accomplished great things down to his worst elements; focus on the flaws instead of the many, many accomplishments…

Like anyone who lives to see his 82nd birthday, Sinatra the man is defined by more than just wherever some storyteller decides to point his soda straw focus. Sinatra the man was also a “man,” a virile, strong, fiercely independent, two-fisted scrapper who fought for everything he achieved. Regardless of his gifts as an actor, there is no way the eternal boy-faced DiCaprio can fill those shoes convincingly — especially if Scorsese wins the day and tells the story of the sixties, which began with the singer’s 45th birthday. (more…)

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Tags: "The Rat Pack", biopic, Frank Sinatra, hbo, Leonard DiCaprio
Posted Aug 24th 2009 at 10:57 am in Entertainment, News | 210186201 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/08/24/scorsese-ready-to-trash-sinatra/Scorsese+Ready+to+Trash+Sinatra+in+Upcoming+Biopic2009-08-24+17%3A57%3A30John+Nolte

Sammy Davis Jr. — Black and White On the Silver Screen?

The life story of a Black star in a White world, a man who arguably was the world’s greatest entertainer, will not be coming to a theater near you anytime soon. If ever.

During a recent interview on my radio program “The Andrea Shea King Show”, Hollywood conservative Burt Boyar, longtime friend and biographer of the late great Sammy Davis, Jr., said he’s concerned that the true story about the talented entertainer who fought and broke through racial barriers will never be seen on the silver screen. Two years ago, Boyar had negotiated a deal to sell his two biographies to filmmakers who were all set to tell the story on celluloid.

Reflection: Sammy Davis Jr. snaps a photo of himself and Jerry Lewis posing in the reflection of a mirror.

What entanglements are keeping the former member of the Rat Pack’s compelling life from being made into a movie?  A life studded with Tinseltown’s glittering constellation of stars whose orbits intersected his?   Luminaries like Sinatra, Peter Lawford, Joey Bishop, Dean Martin, Tony Curtis, Jerry Lewis, Liz and Burton, Paul Newman, Berle, Bacall, Bennett, Damone… when Hollywood was at its most glamorous?

Who is Burt Boyar? And why does he care?

(more…)

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Tags: Al Jolson, Bacall, Bennett, Berle, broadway
Posted Jun 14th 2009 at 7:04 am in Entertainment, Featured Story | 1584142 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/asking/2009/06/14/sammy-davis-jr-black-and-white-on-the-silver-screen-2/Sammy+Davis+Jr.+%E2%80%94+Black+and+White+On+the+Silver+Screen%3F2009-06-14+14%3A04%3A43Andrea+Shea+King

Megan Fox: Another Nail in the ‘Movie Star’ Coffin

There have been liberal movies stars for as long as there have been movie stars. The list of left-of-center Golden Age-era giants is a mile long. My admiration for an actor has ZERO to do with personal politics, but as Skip Press pointed out in his terrific piece last week, class is a big factor. Many of the greats didn’t share my beliefs, but few ever went out of their way to hurl insults at me and mine, either. Undoubtedly, someone could Google up a statement that contradicts me, but I would argue in return that human beings slip, even big-screen immortals. What can’t be argued is that once upon a time movie stars walked the earth who defined themselves, not with elitist, flame-throwing political rhetoric, but with dignity and class.

 
Sinatra and Ava for Democrat Adlai Stevenson

Where classic Hollywood mostly held their activism to advocating for their causes, too many of today’s classless breed defines their activism through the hurling of invective at the other side - at 50% of the customers. They do it up on the screen and they do it while hiding behind a Hollywood media-machine owned and operated by sycophants who mostly agree. There’s nothing wrong with passion, humor, disagreement and debate, that’s what Big Hollywood is all about, but ad hominem that dehumanizes is the tactic of a new generation eager to fit in with the A-list.   (more…)

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Tags: ava gardner, hollywood, megan fox, Paul Newman, Politics
Posted Jun 8th 2009 at 3:52 pm in Celebrity News, Politics | 1548266 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/06/08/megan-fox-another-nail-in-the-movie-star-coffin/Megan+Fox%3A+Another+Nail+in+the+%27Movie+Star%27+Coffin2009-06-08+22%3A52%3A44John+Nolte