Worth moved to Los Angeles at seventeen and lived in his truck with his German Shepard, Thrasher for four months while teaching martial arts and chasing auditions. After dozens of background jobs and a few walk-ons, Michael landed a leading role as a young, eager kick boxer vying for a world title that paralleled his own life in many ways in the film “Final Impact.” A positive notice from Variety “Worth is a promising newcomer” and a contracted two more films would follow before he landed the role of “Tommy” on the syndicated series “Acapulco H.E.A.T.” with Catherine Oxenberg and romance novel king Fabio. It was during his stint in Puerto Vallarta Mexico that Michael began to reconnect with his young filmmaker beginnings and refocused his creative energy into writing as he worked on several scripts. Shooting second unit action on the show would be his professional training ground for directing as well and by 2003 Michael would have his first screenplay produced in the hybrid western/martial arts film “Ghost Rock” with Gary Busey and Jeff Fahey.

Steve Mason: So Michael, it sounds like films were an early part of your career ambitions.

Michael Worth: I know that they say if you have a job and something you love and they both happen to be the same thing, you know God is smiling down on you. If that is true I certainly had some pearly whites above me at a young age (laughs) because I had always been attracted to the fusion of film and life. Not that I was getting paid at that age, but my first ambition of living in Africa and being Tarzan got quickly derailed when my mother told me I would need a shot to go over there, so I knew I had a new career to focus on.

SM: A lot of kids play with toys and stage plays for their parents but you took it a step further, didn’t you?

MW: A couple giant leaps in some cases. I wanted to emulate the whole movie making process so I wrote scripts, hired actors (sometimes just my mother and brother), story boarded scenes and even had a small film splicer to cut my films. I would hold premieres in my living room and make posters and even once did a comic book spin off on one of our films. So, I was trying to be the Clint Eastwood and George Lucas of Berkeley.

SM: Were there influences in your career at that age?

MW: My influences come from lots of odd areas as I had never wanted to “be”like a certain actor or director, but did admire the ability some seemed to possess to do their work in unrivaled ways. Actors that always had my attention were Steve McQueen, Spencer Tracy, James Garner and Christopher Walken. At ten years old of course, it was guys like Roger Corman (a prolific low budget filmmaker), Ray Harryhausen and Bruce Lee but, as I grew older and became more sensitive to the trials of life I began to pay attention to some of the more subtle aspects of film as a storytelling vehicle. Akira Kurosawa, Steven Spielberg, David Mamet, John Ford and even Sam Peckinpah began to grab my attention as dynamic filmmakers and workhorses of film. As a teenager, I was still caught up in the crazy Kung Fu craze and Stallone movies, who is a pretty amazing filmmaker now, but was beginning to open my eyes to the ways of cinema translation that had eluded me as a kid.

SM: The transition to being a professional did not sound easy for you.

MW: Well, it wasn’t as easy as I had hoped, but life never is. I think some people come into the business because they have to, there is no other choice, and then there are those that come because the idea of “Hollywood” sounds great and fun and easy. One tends to survive and the other doesn’t. Don’t let this place kid you as the survivors are mostly hard headed and broke or have a godfather that works at Warner Brothers. But most business is like that. The entry-level guys usually have to be very good and very lucky to continue to the top, or at least get to a level or two below it. But that is the thing about filmmaking as you can be a fourth tier actor or director and still have a house in Malibu. So, the allure stays strong among the faithful. There are plenty of examples of people walking in with just the clothes on their back and a paper thin resume and still attaining their goals. Hollywood is always open for “the next cool thing,” so that open door policy shines a little hope on aspiring film devotes. I have been here a fairly long time and I am still fighting my way up the ladder so, one cannot rest once you are here. Trust me, my house isn’t in Malibu, but that hunger to fight for the championship belt drives you harder sometimes than defending it.

SM: So you came out to Los Angeles more as an actor?

MW: I wasn’t sure to be honest at that time. I just liked being around guys making movies. An actor manager who ended up representing me for over ten years kind of picked me off of Venice Beach, a few months after I arrived. So, the acting thing became my freshman and sophomore year of college. I really enjoyed finding the ability to create other characters and discover things in yourself that you didn’t know you could find as you did the work. That more externalized expression is still a part of me and I love doing it, but at one point the challenge and design of the writer and director in telling stories has become the fuel of my fire. I have always loved photography and when I sit down and design a shot, the lighting and the staging of a scene it taps into that deeper “artist” in me that keeps me alive and going. I love trying to orchestrate a scene to evoke some emotion or deepen an understanding of the story in a visual way, not just through the dialogue.

SM: So you consider yourself….

MW: Well, a human being first. And I don’t mean that in a snide way, but in just that is where all of this springs forth. It is being truthful to those experiences that can make a film a better and more dynamic piece in the end. Trust me when I say there are battles I have experienced in my life, or may even be currently experiencing, that are transposed into the scripts I write. There may be a Sasquatch in it, but the foliage around him will be entangled with the truthful. But as far as where do I fall in the filmmaking line up? I usually just tag myself as a “filmmaker.” I make money acting in other people’s films and TV shows. I rewrite people’s scripts. I have even edited a few people’s films. All of this sculpts me into a better filmmaker I think as long as I remember the simplicity of the appeal I had as a child.

SM: Well this change in your direction of actor to writer/director/actor has been very positive for you it seems.

MW: Yes, on many levels. I remember sitting in a casting office once about nine years ago and this actor who I knew of and he came in and sat down with his script. He was reading for another part in the film and I remember thinking to myself “I know this guy. I have seen him dozens of times in films and television and here he is, driving to this crappy audition, sitting in the same traffic I was, except maybe in a better car, but he is about fifty five or maybe sixty years old. And he is still doing this routine?!” I knew this industry was where I was going to be for awhile but I did not want to be that guy sitting next to me in thirty some years. So that was where I really knew it was time to start grabbing every moment by the throat and not letting go.

SM: You have gone out and made your rent with some films, but then you have made others in which the reward was the film itself. Examples coming to mind are Dual and God’s Ears. Can you tell us about these?

MW: It’s funny as those two films were easily the least expensive films I have been that prominently involved with and are easily my two best films. Both cases are intimate, character studies that are stitched together with so much of my philosophy and emotion.
I am not one to use my films to preach a certain opinion, but I am not against presenting my case when appropriate. When I was considering being a fighter at one point, I remember being aware of how important being a role model was. You have to go out and do your job, winning that fight of course, but since you are on this platform where a lot of people are watching you I felt I wanted to respect that blessing. Film it is no different. So I like to show theatrically some of life’s lessons that I have learned, or maybe are currently learning, in these films.

Dual deals with the danger of abandoning self-examination and embracing denial. This is all told through the action of a western, but if it were not for my trying to connect those themes and issues with the story, it would not be the emotional piece that it is. I am not one to extol my own work, in fact I am more critical of myself than anyone, but I can’t help but choke up and be pulled in by scenes in that film when I watch it. And we shot it in 12 days on 100 grand. My director Steven R. Monroe and co-star Karen Kim were both so committed to making this thing work and I feel very proud of it.

“God’s Ears” for me is a film that I not only look at as my first real directing job, but also the first film of what I would like to think is a trend in my work. Making films that transcend just being a two hour escape but rather an experience that resonates with people into their lives as they walk away from it. I don’t believe I have the skill to always instigate that kind of power but sometimes you and your cast and crew come together in a special way and make something work. “God’s Ears” is that for me. It is not a perfect film by any means, but for once, I see my work actually doing some good in people’s lives and generating something more than ticket sales. It is the first time anything I have been in have I had this many people tell me it gave them hope for their son or daughter who are now struggling on some scale of the spectrum of Autism. However, at the same time, it also creates the same kind of levity and optimism to someone who has no connection with autism at all.

SM: The film’s main character, played by you, is autistic. What made you want to tackle that?

MW: Well, I have spent considerable time with some autistic children and was just taken by their challenges. Originally, I started relating my background in boxing with it, about being contained between these ropes, fighting this opponent that you can’t predict. This idea of a character that has a hard time connecting being attracted to a sport where connecting is the goal seemed really interesting. Throw into that a bikini dancer (Margot Farley) who spends years connecting physically but never emotionally with anyone and an old boxing coach, played by John Saxon, who sits in his corner of a gym reading about the past while the future of his chosen profession goes on around him seemed very poignant to me. Yes, much of those themes I relate to and so having the opportunity to channel this in to a film was what I have been gearing towards since the first day I stepped into this town.

SM: The film has really made waves at the festivals.

MW: It’s been so rewarding. Amazing actually the way people respond to it. John has won best acting awards at Methodfest and The Las Vegas Film Festival. Margot has been nominated as a Best Actress several times and won at The Action On Film International Film Festival and Reelheart in Canada. We won The Audience Choice Award at The Big Island Film Festival and had an amazing encore showing of the film on a giant screen outside on the grass. Incredible. It was the only US entry into Japan’s Skip City Film Festival in 2009. I was petrified it would not be understood or resound with them and boy was I wrong! I spent ten unforgettable days discussing the film with people who read so deeply into it that it validated every choice I have made to try and not just “point and shoot.” That if I truly make an effort to infuse the art and the emotion into film, it will resonate with people, even if they don’t understand a word of English. And finally, we won The Jury Prize at The Feel Good Film Festival in Hollywood, which was an amazing festival to bring the film home to. Winning $70,000 in prizes didn’t hurt either.

But the big surprise for me was in the market, how few distributors would even look at the film. An autistic boxer? God’s Ears? Who stars in it? The same nightmare most filmmakers face has been no different with this. But just recently I managed to get a few people to actually sit down with the film and see what it is about and we are making some headway. We are selling a preview edition on www.godsears.com and taking a much more new world approach to distribution. The old ways are starting to change quickly in this day of Itunes, Netflix and streaming web sites. “Two guys with hats and accents” are no longer making the decision for filmmakers as to who in France or Bulgaria wants to see their film. The filmmakers themselves are beginning to handle their own projects from top to bottom and will make for a much more interesting market place.

SM: Thanks for your time Michael and anything new on the horizon?

MW: I have been struggling to get a road comedy off the ground the last year or so called Apple Seed that David Mamet is helping me to produce along with Gigi Garner and Cherokee Productions (started by her father James Garner) and Rebecca Pigeon is acting in along side a great troupe of supporting cameos. I am also working on an interesting experimental film that tackles in a humorous way the low budget film world using actors like Lance Henriksen and Tim Thomerson playing themselves. It’s going to be a challenge but then, that’s why I’m here.

Exclusive Steve Mason Early 3-Day Estimates

1. The Hangover (Warner Bros) – $32M 3-day – $103.97M cume
2. Pixar’s UP (Disney) – $28.5M 3-day -$185.16M cume
3. The Taking of Pelham 123 (Sony) – $26M 3-day – $26M cume
4. Night at the Museum 2 (Fox) – $9.2M 3-day – $143M cume
5. Land of the Lost (Universal) – $8.8M 3-day – $34.62M cume
*Imagine That (Paramount) – $6M 3-day – $6M cume
*Star Trek (Paramount) – $5.1M 3-day – $231.52M cume

Knowing most people would not have seen the original before buying a ticket for the ”retelling,” I deliberately chose not to screen the 1974 “Pelham” before writing my review. This proved wise. Had I, as my screening of the original last night proved, the review would’ve been much harsher. My love for Denzel aside, they’re not even in the same ballpark. There’s more texture, personality and narrative scope in the first ten minutes of Joseph Sargent’s urban classic than in all 106 minutes of this weekend’s offering.

That doesn’t mean the new “Pelham” doesn’t deserve an audience. It’s a fine summer diversion … just in that nothing memorable sort of way. A $26 million opener isn’t bad, but whether it’s a hit is now on the bubble.

“Up,” “Star Trek,”and ”The Hangover” are making a gajillion dollars without the benefit of A-list stars, and ”Imagine That” and “Land of the Lost” weren’t helped by A-list stars. Interesting.

Steve Mason’s Exclusive Early Box Office Estimates:

1. Up – $20.5M Friday … $67M 3-day … $67M cume
2. Night at the Museum 2 – $7.5M Friday … $27M 3-day … $106.79M cume
3. Drag Me To Hell – $6.25M Friday … $16.5M 3-day … $16.5M cume
4. Terminator Salvation- $5M Friday … $16M 3-day … $90.5M cume
5. Star Trek – $3.7M Friday … $13.5M 3-day … $210.2M cume
6. Angels & Demons – $3.6M Friday … $12M 3-day … $105.56M cume
7. Dance Flick – $1.7M Friday … $5.2M 3-day … $19.54M cume

If these numbers hold, “Up” will open better than “Wall-E” and “Monsters and Aliens.”

Considering ”Up” is fairly low concept and starring a 78 year-old man, this is beyond impressive. Word of mouth, rave reviews and the reservoir of goodwill Pixar’s built up over the years are making this a real audience-driven sensation.

As of Thursday “Terminator Salvation” is tracking almost to the dollar with “Terminator 3.” Figuring for inflation, this is a major disappointment, especially when Schwarzenegger’s last outing was considered an under-performer.

“Angels and Demons” is also tracking poorly, well behind its predecessor: $33M compared to $52M.

“Wolverine” is a hit and “Star Trek” is a smash.

The Adam Sandler-produced comedy has broadened its audience, showing real family appeal. That led to stronger Saturday and Sunday matinees for a stellar $21.5M by Monday morning. That gives the movie a 10-day cume of just shy of $65M, which is impressive considering that it was budgeted at just $26M. After success as a supporting star in movies like Hitch ($179.5M cume) and I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry ($120M cume), it appears that James can open a movie without the help of Will Smith and Adam Sandler. Mall Cop dipped only 32% from last Friday-thru-Sunday (and that was part of a 4-day weekend, which can often lead to a sharper drop).

My Friday night projection column had Underworld: Rise of the Lycans as the #1 movie with $19.75M, and the picture actually improved on that number, finishing with an estimated $20.7M. The Patrick Tatopolous-directed prequel starring Michael Sheen (currently seen as David Frost in Best Picture nominee Frost/Nixon), but the movie finished with less than the original 2003 Underworld ($21.75M) and Underworld: Evolution’s $26.85M in 2006.

The missing ingredient would seem to be the very sexy Kate Beckinsale, who starred in the first two movies in skintight leather. Rise of the Lycans cost about $35M to make, so this picture will make money for Sony. The picture skewed very male (only 41% of the audience was female), but the surprise is that it also drew an older audience. In fact, only 45% of ticket-buyers were under 25.

Oscar voters were not friendly to Clint Eastwood this week. After scoring surprise nominations (Letters From Iwo Jima) and wins (Million Dollar Baby) in recent years, the screen icon was completely shut out on Thursday. No Best Actor nod for Gran Torino (Warner Bros). No Best Director nomination for either of his two well-received 2008 movies Gran Torino or Changeling. No nominations for composing the scores for either of those movies. Clint didn’t even receive a Best Original Song nomination for the haunting and heartfelt theme song from Gran Torino that he co-wrote with son Kyle and jazz vocalist Jamie Cullum.

Instead of an Oscar, Eastwood will settle for a blockbuster hit. Gran Torino, in which he plays a bigoted Korean War veteran who befriends a Hmong boy in a rough Detroit neighborhood, scored another $16M, down only 27% from the MLK 3-day. The micro-budgeted movie by a first-time screenwriter has now grossed a staggering $97.57M, and, sometime on Wednesday, it will surpass In the Line of Fire’s $102.3M, becoming Eastwood’s al-time #1 grossing movie.

The fourth-place finisher for the frame is the live action dog movie Hotel For Dogs (Dreamworks/Paramount), which fetched about $12.36M for a new 19-day cume of almost $37M.

Meanwhile, 10 Academy Award nominations have propelled Slumdog Millionaire to a wildly successful expansion. Widening to 1,411 playdates, Fox Searchlight has perfectly calibrated the platform release and coaxed a terrific $10.55M. It’s hard to believe that after being developed by the now-defunct Warner Independent Pictures, this $14M indie almost wound up going straight-to-video. Now Danny Boyle’s life-affirming masterpiece will have grossed almost $56M by Monday, and Slumdog will be selling a lot more tickets between now and Oscar day.

The other major studio release is Inkheart, which is the product of New Line (absorbed last year by Warner Bros). Based on a novel by Cornelia Funke and starring Brendan Fraser, Paul Bettany (The Da Vinci Code) and Academy Award winner Helen Mirren, this Narnia-wannabe never really had much of a chance. With tepid reviews (36% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) and very low awareness according to pre-release industry tracking, Inkheart only mustered about $7.72M for the weekend, finishing a disappointing #7.

The most-nominated film of the year got a boost as well as The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Paramount) managed another $1.6M to start the 3-day, which translated to another top ten finish with a $6M weekend take (ninth for the 3-day). With nominations for Best Picture, Best Actor: Brad Pitt, Best Supporting Actress: Taraji P. Henson, Best Director: David Fincher, Best Adapted Screenplay: Eric Roth and Best Original Score: Alexandre Desplat among others, Ben Button has a new domestic gross of $111M.

Three other Oscar nominated films got their post-nomination expansions. Revolutionary Road (Dreamworks/Paramount) was crushed by Thursday’s Oscar announcement, but still managed to do some decent business. Dreamworks was clearly banking on a nomination for Best Actress for Kate Winslet and an outside shot at a Best Picture nom, but the Sam Mendes-directed movie settled for nods for Best Supporting Actor: Michael Shannon, Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design: Albert Wolsky. Rolling out on 1,058 screens, the dark, domestic drama sold a respectable $5.26M in tickets over the 3-day for a $4,979 Per Theatre Average.

Mickey Rourke’s career-resurrecting performance in The Wrestler (Fox Searchlight) grabbed an approximate $6,500 PTA for the weekend. With a more limited 566 playdates, the Darren Aronofsky-directed gem corralled about $3.7M for a new cume of $9.5M. The picture could get another boost if Rourke manages to win the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor.

Finally, Best Picture nominee Frost/Nixon (Universal) has failed to ignite much interest despite 5 Academy Award nominations. Co-starring the aforementioned Michael Sheen, the Ron Howard-directed film has expanded to 1,100 locations, but it managed only a disappointing $3.02M for the weekend for a new cume of just $12M.

FINAL STUDIO ESTIMATES
1. Paul Blart: Mall Cop (Sony) – $21.5M, $$6,838 PTA, $64.8M cume
2. NEW – Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (Sony) – $20.7M, $7,036 PTA, $20.7M cume
3. Gran Torino (Warner Bros) – $16M, $5,255, $97.57M cume
4. Hotel For Dogs (Dreamworks/Paramount) – $12.36M, $3,779 PTA, $36.95M cume
5. Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight) – $10.55M, $7,477 PTA, $55.91M cume
6. My Bloody Valentine 3-D (Lionsgate) – $10.05M, $3,966 PTA, $37.72M cume
7. NEW – Inkheart (Warner Bros) – $7.72M, $2,910 PTA, $7.72M cume
8. Bride Wars (Fox) – $7M, $2,671 PTA, $48.7M cume
9. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Paramount) – $6M, $2,651 PTA, $111M cume
10. Notorious (Fox Searchlight) – $5.7M, $3,473 PTA, $31.79M cume
11. Defiance (Paramount Vantage) – $5.43M, $3,030 PTA, $18.32M cume
12. Revolutionary Road (Dreamworks/Paramount) – $5.26M, $4,979 PTA, $11.86M
*The Wrestler (Fox Searchlight) – $3.9M, $6,890 PTA, $9.71M cume
*Frost/Nixon (Universal) – $3.24M, $2,948 PTA, $12.22M cume

Steve Mason is on Facebook and now also on Twitter.

He is a classically-trained stage actor, who has starred in heavyweight UK productions of Romeo and Juliet, Henry V, Amadeus and The Dresser, was somehow overlooked by both Hollywood Foreign Press and Oscar voters when he starred as Tony Blair in 2006’s The Queen. (He was outshined by Helen Mirren, who won every acting prize imaginable). This year, he is in the shadow of Frank Langella’s towering portrayal of President Richard Nixon in Frost/Nixon.

As an aside, The Queen was the second in screenwriter Peter Morgan’s Tony Blair trilogy. The first film was called The Deal for British television and tells the story of the rivalry between Blair and current British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. (This is a great title to put in your Netflix or Blockbuster cue.) The final film will be called The Special Relationship, which will focus on the intimate friendship between the British PM and President Bill Clinton between 1997-2000. Sheen has signed on, but there is no word on who will play Clinton. Morgan says the idea for the third film began to germinate when he heard that Blair and Clinton were alone together when Vice President Al Gore conceded the 2000 election.

In the meantime, Sheen will almost certainly have the #1 movie in America this weekend with Underworld: Rise of the Lycans. This is the third Underworld movie, but it is a prequel set in the dark ages with Sheen as Lucien, a young werewolf, who leads a war against Bill Nighy as Viktor, the leader of the vampire race.

2003’s Underworld, directed by Len Wiseman, opened to $21.75M ($52M cume) and Underworld: Evolution improved to a $26.85M opening in 2006 on its way to $62M domestic. But Rise of the Lycans is an origins story and will reportedly not include the sexy, black leather-clad Selene (Kate Beckinsale), so the 3-day could be a bit softer than the last outing. I am predicting a possible $24.34M.

Sheen and Beckinsale were a longstanding couple prior to shooting the original Underworld, and they have a daughter together, but the actress left him for director Wiseman during what must have been a tumultuous shoot. Wiseman and Beckinsale were married in 2004, and teamed up for Underworld: Evolution, in which Sheen’s Lucien character was only seen in flashbacks. Now, Patrick Tatopoulos has stepped in as director on Underworld 3 sans Beckinsale.

Meanwhile, Frost/Nixon goes wider, but it just hasn’t quite clicked with softer-than-expected Per Theatre Averages over the holidays. The Ron Howard-directed biopic with absolutely immaculate reviews could reach $3.35M with a PTA of $4,200 or so. That could make it the fourteenth-best grossing movie of the 3-day.

A fair number of bloggers questioned my prediction last week that Paul Blart: Mall Cop (Sony) would win the MLK weekend, but the tracking was incredibly solid with Males Under 25, which is a big money demo. With no direct competition, this big dumb comedy should hold up pretty well and could dip a mere 41% for a $17M 3-day, enough for second place.

Two Warner Bros releases will battle for third, but I am giving Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino a slight edge over its new fantasy film Inkheart. Torino could ride Oscar attention to another $13.5M, but Iain Softley’s new film based on Cornelia Funke’s novel of the same name has met with lukewarm reviews (46% Fresh as of Wednesday night) and doesn’t show much traction with audiences in industry tracking. That could mean a fourth place finish with a possible $13.2M.

I am anticipating that the live action family film Hotel For Dogs (Dreamworks/Paramount) will likely hold well with about $10.5M to round out the top five. Emma Roberts, from Nickelodeon’s Unfabulous and the 2007 film version of Nancy Drew ($25.6M domestic), and Jake T. Austin, presently starring in Disney Channel’s Wizards of Waverly Place, have a decent little hit for their resumes with a possible $35M in the bank after ten days.

Three Oscar nominees will expand this weekend, and they will show nice increases. Fox Searchlight’s Slumdog Millionaire expands from 601 to just over 1,000 playdates, and it may see a 52% increase from last weekend for about $8.9M. Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler (Fox Searchlight), featuring Mickey Rourke’s career game-changing performance, adds about 365 screens, and I think it could add $4.5M, which would mean a Per Theatre Average of $10K. Finally, Revolutionary Road (Dreamworks/Paramount) widens to 800 or so locations, and its PTA could be something in the $5,500 range for a possible $4.4M.

FINAL WEEKEND 3-DAY PREDICTIONS FOR JANUARY 23-25
1. NEW – Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (Sony) – $24.34M
2. Paul Blart: Mall Cop (Sony) – $17M
3. Gran Torino (Warner Bros) – $13.5M
4. NEW – Inkheart (Warner Bros) – $13.2M
5. Hotel For Dogs (Paramount) – $10.5M
6. My Bloody Valentine 3D (Lionsgate) – $9.9M
7. Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight) – $8.9M
8. Notorious (Fox Searchlight) – $8.25M
9. Bride Wars (Fox) – $5.85M
10. Defiance (Paramount Vantage) – $4.75M
11. The Wrestler (Fox Searchlight) – $4.5M
12. Revolutionary Road (Dreamworks/Paramount) – $4.4M
13. The Unborn (Universal) – $3.5M
14. Frost/Nixon (Universal) – $3.35M

Steve Mason is on Facebook and now also on Twitter.

Greg Gutfeld is posting his wondrous inanities and many pointed yet not vitriolic salvos have been launched against the intransigent Hollywood left and vital ones aimed at the right — for forfeiting culture to the opposition. Movie and television reviews and historical treatises abound, and we’re even breaking news.

John Ziegler launched a massive story where Sarah Palin unleashed on the media for treating her so unfairly. It is easily the mainstream news media story of the week. Big Hollywood is the site to go to for the inside scoop on Ziegler’s forthcoming documentary, “Media Malpractice: How Obama Got Elected“.

Actor-singer-songwriter Joe Lima in a timely fashion came to bury Guevara, but also put usually reliable director Steven Soderbergh in his place for wasting so much studio money and movie watchers’ time with the execrable, “Che.”

I have been media whoring it to get the word out. On Friday I did The O’Reilly Factor, the Rusty Humphries Show and earlier in the day I spoke with fellow crusader Laura Ingraham, as well as Fox Business Channel’s Stuart Varney. Earlier in the week: Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld, the Dennis Miller Show as well as my weekly appearance with talk radio’s long distance runner, Lars Larson. My mind is numb right now I can’t think of the rest.

I am deeply grateful to all the new contributors of Big Hollywood and all the ridiculously articulate and insightful commenters — some who are now contributors (Bill Willingham, Stage Right and James Hudnall). I know of few sites with as literate and knowledgeable a readership. (So far!) I must even praise the dissenters in our midst. For the most part the lefties have been thoughtful and not simply drive-by rabblerousers.

Tell me Gary Graham didn’t say what was needed on day one. He broke the ice and history will prove that. (FTS!) He’s still doing radio interviews over his day one: “One Angry Dude.” Move over, Paddy Chayefsky. Gary had the guts to put his name behind what many think, but are afraid to write.

We are blessed to have box office guru Steve Mason posting predictions and raw numbers of what movies are doing throughout the week. Because Steve is ahead of the competition and a newsie madman extraordinaire even Hollywood’s leftiest executives, actors and directors will be bookmarking Big Hollywood to stay ahead of the curve.

My father-in-law Orson Bean hearkened to a time when the film industry inspired people even in the bleakest of times. Bill Whittle showed off his effortless brilliant writing skills. (I’ll challenge anyone at the Huffington Post to a writer’s duel: Bill versus the best you got. The winner gets $1000 in carbon credits.)

Congressman Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI) wrote a most creative call to arms for Hollywood’s closeted conservatives. And former congressman and Fox News host John Kasich sent word he and his wife are stoked that “24″ is about to start up again. California Assemblyman and huge history buff Chuck Devore gave two thumbs up for “Valkyrie.” More elected officials and aspiring candidates to come. Love it or hate Hollywood, even politicians are consumers.

Comedian and author Evan Sayet had the courage to write a piece that will surely piss off his music idol, Bruce Springsteen. Fellow comedian Rodney Lee Conover also went after sacred ground, Opie Cunningham. Stand up comedian Tom Shillue stood up twice in week one for what is right. Groundlings vet and reality TV producer Melanie Graham did a drive-by on day one, too. Apparently, she finds Hollywood taxing. (Ned Rice, come out to plaaay!)

Libertarians like Reason’s Nick Gillespie and film producer Maura Flynn picked a debate with the social conservatives with their more libertine and permissive attitudes toward adult material on television. (What do you think, Dallas Jenkins?)

Sorry, prigs, prudes and hyper-moralists, this site is open to the entirety of views from the center-right-libertarian spectrum. Shhh, I lean in the libertarian direction on content. (My favorite comedy of recent years is “Grandma’s Boy” and I can’t wait until my sons are old enough to watch it with me.) Except I wouldn’t have cited Dan Savage as a valued critical voice like Maura did. Yeesh.

We even had esteemed screenwriter and self-confessed “flaming liberal” John Ridley debunk the notion that “Three Kings” was crafted as a neo-con critique of the first Gulf War. John is a mensch for coming into “enemy territory.” Accomplished conservative screenwriters Robert J. Avrech, Michael McGruther and Andrew Klavan (thanks for kicking things off, Drew) set high writing standards for Big Hollywood on week one. And for that I am eternally grateful.

What do nationally syndicated columnists Ben Shapiro and Debbie Schlussel do when they aren’t fiercely taking on radical Islamists? Apparently watching film and television with a very critical eye. Entertainment reporter Rebecca Cusey is also looking out for our collective welfare. Now I really don’t need the New York Times anymore.

I owe National Review’s Jonah Goldberg and Kathryn Jean Lopez steaks and drinks for bringing their thoughts and mass following to the site on week one. (Jonah deserves the assist for bringing in contributors Willingham and Hudnall. They were commenting on his Watchmen thread when other commenters recognized their familiar names in the Industry.)

S.T. Karnick popped in to remind us of a less politically correct time — 35 years ago — when Charles Bronson’s “Death Wish” debuted on the big screen.

Thanks to Roger L. Simon for offering an exclusive peak at his new book, “Blacklisting Myself: A Hollywood Apostate in an Age of Terror.” Simon’s is a cautionary tale that in leftist Hollywood it’s bad to be a conservative or a Republican. But it’s worse to be an ideological turncoat.

Burt Prelutsky has been at this game longer than most of us and has alienated himself from the majority who he considered friends while writing for “M*A*S*H”. We’re proud to have you here, Burt.

Established bloggers, journalists and my travel companions like Jamie Kirchick (Azerbaijan), Michael van der Galien (Azerbaijan), Scott Johnson (Israel), Andrew Leigh (the Starbucks at the corner of San Vicente and Barrington) and Ace of Spades (numerous bars) also brought their guts, know-how and audiences to the Big Hollywood fold. Paging Pat Dollard!

American Thinker editor Thomas Lifson and classical musician Endre Balogh both took big stabs at figuring out how to fix the broken entertainment industry. I think we’re building an army that is willing to follow your prescriptions. Thanks for the blueprints, guys.

Filmmaker Michael Wilson (“Michael Moore Hates America”) clearly learned his lessons well as he tells conservatives the solution is in our hands. Not in only complaining.

My #1 pick to hit is Alphonzo Rachel. He is the conservative movement’s one-stop spoken word-musician-actor-commentator billion dollar baby.

If I can ask a favor of those commenting: Please post in your true name. I won’t hold you to it, but it really makes for a better experience for everyone. It also helps diminish the drive-by morons who use anonymity as their weapon — like the angry commuters who give you the finger and call you an a@#$#$ when they pass you in traffic. (So what if I like playing Tetris on my Blackberry while stuck in gridlock.) If you are going to use anonymity to save your career (like the politically incorrect Veritas Obviam), then try and come up with a handle that sticks and represents where you’re coming from — like “Stage Right,” for instance.

Speaking of… Thanks J.R. Head for serving our country and serving this mission. Too bad things are so bad in Hollywood you don’t feel safe using your real name. Guess fighting a war is tougher than Hollywood these days.

And to get into the spirit of the awards season, I’d also like to thank Darren Rush and Alex Marlow for working their butts off to make this site rock. And to Larry Solov, my business partner and Oscar Zeta Acosta, for allowing us to be so merciless to the liberalism he holds dear. (Just read Gutfeld’s stuff and your head won’t spin so much.)

Weirdly, for a guy who is obsessed with the intersection of pop culture and politics, I am not immersed enough in film and TV to confidently weigh in. I burned out watching repeats of Alice in the ’80s. (I still have recurring dreams: What happened to Tommy Hyatt’s basketball career?) So I’ve brought in John Nolte, a sincere and principled consumer of the product. I consider his opinion on a movie now more important than the LA TIMES, NY TIMES and all the alt weeklies combined. I like to play John off MTV’s Kurt Loder and the Washington Times Christian Toto, as well as checking in with Rotten Tomatoes before I invest a few hours in something.

I made a New Year’s resolution to see more movies and watch more TV in 2009. I want to start paying attention a little bit closer. A couple of nights ago I even went to see the premiere of My Bloody Valentine 3D. I can’t tell you how guilty I was for having enjoyed it. And I got to see Tom Atkins on screen again. I love all the older actors. Character actors (the “regular Joes” of Hollywood) especially. I’ve gotten to meet a ton of them recently, too. Many are regular people. Some are even conservatives and Republicans, they’ll quietly tell you. It shouldn’t be an issue. But it is. And that’s why Big Hollywood’s here now.

I feel it is my obligation at Big Hollywood to help introduce as many new quality voices as possible to show America that this country is not going to give up without a fight. The left has done an amazing job to convince people like us that we are a goofy, evil and stupid minority. That we are jingoistic. That we represent outdated ideas. It’s simply not true. They’ve insulted our intelligence. Called us names. And done so while overseeing the crapification of what should be America’s proudest export: our entertainment product.

We’ve only dipped a little into the (R)olodex. There are tons more names and surprises coming. Rush Limbaugh and Mark Steyn approve of what we’re up to. They’re even talking about us overseas. The water is warm. It’s time to come in and frolic.

This week we stopped a little bit of the totalitarianism. Next week let’s stop a little bit more.