Posts Tagged ‘will ferrell’

Big Hollywood

THR: Will Ferrell Is the Most Overpaid Actor In the World

by Big Hollywood

willferrell

Paul Bond at the Hollywood Reporter:

“Looks like “Land of the Lost” has earned star Will Ferrell the dubious distinction of being the most overpaid actor in show business, according to the list makers at Forbes magazine.

“Forbes looked at 100 top actors based on their widely released films over the past five years. It factored in the production costs of those movies against how much boxoffice, DVD and other revenue they generated in order to come up with an operating income for each film, which it then compared with the salaries the stars earned. (more…)

Jason Killian Meath

Heather Graham: MoveOn Fembot for ObamaCare

by Jason Killian Meath

Heather Graham’s latest starring role is playing “Public Option” in Obama’s health care epic (uh-oh, time to reconsider your agent).  You may remember Graham as Felicity Shagwell from Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me… or perhaps Roller Girl in Boogie Nights.  Here, she gets physical in “Track Meet,” a new ad produced by leftist group MoveOn.org.  The philosophy: if you can’t pass the public option on its’ merits in policy and debate, why not try selling it through sex and cheap laughs?


So, what’s a nice Catholic girl from Milwaukee doing in an ad like this? Graham admits, “My friends really wanted Obama to be elected so we all did a spell and then he got elected.”  Thanks for sharing.  Graham is a long way from that seemingly squeaky upbringing, having joined a coven of witches. But she becomes just the latest conjurer in a string of celebrity activists pushing ObamaCare. (more…)

Alfonzo Rachel

Response to Leftie Celebs On Healthcare

by Alfonzo Rachel


Big Hollywood

Another Spoof on the MoveOn/Will Ferrell Health Care Vid

by Big Hollywood


(more…)

Big Hollywood

Overpaid Celebrities: The Real Health Care Experts

by Big Hollywood


Not every Hollywood Celebucrat is out rallying in support of a child-rapist. Some are using their money and influence to strip those of us who are not Celebucrats of our private health insurance. Last week, Will Ferrell and a troop of celebs released a MoveOn.org-funded pro-ObamaCare video for the website FunnyOrDie.com.  Several at Big Hollywood took issue with the video… 

Now, thanks to the digital democratization of filmmaking, some everyday folks are Speaking! Truth! To! Hollywood! Power!

Better still, this video’s actually clever.

Michael Wilson

UPDATE: Director Adam McKay Strikes Back

by Michael Wilson

I have apparently raised the ire of Adam McKay, the rich and powerful film director who brought us “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy” and “Step Brothers.” In a Tweet on Tuesday, McKay says that my last article (about Will Ferrell decrying insurance executives) was “sub-moronic.” He also goes on in that Tweet to say that insurance executives kill 20,000 people a year by denying claims on purpose. My question to McKay: “Are you kidding me?”

what-comedy-writer-adam-mckay-is-into-af
Adam McKay

While Adam McKay has been so good at his job at times that he’s left me rolling on the floor unable to breathe, and I think Ferrell is funny as hell, I am astonished that a self-righteous multimillionaire like McKay would tell you that you have to do something by force that he won’t do by choice.

That is cynicism in its purest form. McKay presumes that people are inherently bad and that they must be forced to do what is “good” or “noble” or “decent.” He presumes that human beings are hardwired to be un-compassionate and uncaring. Cynicism is a lie and it’s easy to convince others to be cynics right along with you. You can go on hating your fellow humans and you can all be miserable together, searching for a villain to direct your hate toward (like a CEO). (more…)

Michael Wilson

Why Does Will Ferrell Hoard His Money While Children Suffer?

by Michael Wilson

Will Ferrell and the fine folks over at “Funny or Die” are picking the low hanging fruit once again. This time they’re going after nameless, faceless “Insurance Executives” in a “satirical” PSA about government-run insurance. But the real comedy is watching a bunch of multimillionaires who do make-believe for a living opine about other people making too much money.

willferrell

I’m a big fan of comedy. I’m a stand-up junkie, growing up on late-night HBO comedy specials (I’d seen everything Carlin had done by age 11). I got into film making because Kevin Smith made it accessible through foul, filthy and hilarious dialogue that has always hit me where I live. And I don’t believe anything is off limits. It just strikes me as strange that people with extraordinary talent like Ferrell and company would be so off-the-mark with a piece that dives into the political world so deeply. (more…)

Pam Meister

Hollywood and Health Care: Because They Know Better

by Pam Meister

To quote my good friend Tom: Thank God I have Hollywood to tell me how to think.

As many of you probably already know, Will “Elf” Ferrell is leading Hollywood’s latest band of Obama’s Merry Men, in a joint effort with MoveOn.org, in a satirical bid to tell you and me how grateful we should be for ObamaCare and how we should despise those dastardly insurance company executives who make millions of dollars by exploiting us.

Ferrell MoveOn.org video

My friend Kitty’s thoughts on the video: “I’m sure O’s supporters will think it’s hilariously creative, but I honestly thought these people could do better. There’s nothing subtle about the video, and satire needs subtlety. All politics aside, I was disappointed.”

The creative juices of Hollywood keep on flowing, folks!

I suppose since Obama has Hollywood’s back – he’s continuing to cheapen the office of the President by shilling for George Lopez’s new show on TBS – it’s their turn to “give back.” And since it’s been eight long years since they’ve been proud to be Americans, it’s not surprising that all of that choked back patriotism is coming out in a rush. (more…)

Tim Slagle

Will Ferrell and Co. Answer the NEA Call, Shill for ObamaCare

by Tim Slagle

A couple weeks ago I wondered aloud where Hollywood was in the health care debate. And almost on command, this video appeared.  It looks like the NEA’s call for artists to promote health care initiatives has been heard by some comedy artists.

ferrell_narrowweb__300x310,0

Hollywood superstar Will Ferrell is surrounded by eight “celebrities” in a satirical defense of the health insurance companies.

And I use the term “celebrities” loosely. One is the only recognizable character from the cult series “Heroes,” another is a star of a popular cable series that was recognized at Sunday’s Emmy Awards, another is a star of a cable series that nobody ever watches, one is from Comedy Central’s Reno 911, another is his best friend, one is the star of the hit movie franchise “Scooby-Doo,” and to give the clip credibility, two of the “celebrities” actually play doctors on TV.  I will give a prize to anyone who can name all eight without using Google®. (more…)

John Nolte

Elite Celebs Shill For MoveOn.Org, ObamaCare

by John Nolte

The question none of these elites will ever answer is whether or not they’re willing to give up the Cadillac health benefits they currently enjoy through “evil” insurance companies, and accept the government-run ObamaCare they’re so eager to condemn the rest of us to. (more…)

Big Hollywood

John Podhoretz: Movie Stars Strut Towards Extinction

by Big Hollywood

John Podhoretz in the Weekly Standard:

“[T]he system around which the motion-picture business has oriented itself almost since its creation in the early years of the last century–the star system, which it largely invented–has finally reached its end.”

julia_roberts

“The eight most successful movies over the course of the year’s first eight months have collectively grossed $2.7 billion, up from $2.3 billion for the entirety of 2008. And what is most striking about these eight films is that not a single one of them, not a single one, features an unmistakable star. Three of them are cartoons (Up, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, and Monsters vs. Aliens). Three are sequels whose top-line talents are incidental to their success (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, the sixth Harry Potter, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine). Two feature relative nobodies (Star Trek and The Hangover). The first traditional star appears in the ninth-place film, which is itself a high-concept sequel in which the star mostly stands around (Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian with Ben Stiller). It’s not until tenth place that a classic vehicle hits the list, Sandra Bullock’s The Proposal. And after that you have to jump down to 15th place to find Tom Hanks in Angels and Demons. Will Ferrell’s movie tanked. Julia Roberts laid an egg. Adam Sandler couldn’t sell a ticket. Johnny Depp disappointed. Denzel Washington and John Travolta bombed together. Instead, the movies whose successes depended on their strong leading performances were the ones featuring the 57-year-old Irishman Liam Neeson (Taken, $145 million) and the out-of-work TV comedian Kevin James (Paul Blart: Mall Cop, $146 million).
(more…)

John Nolte

Natalie Portman’s Castle and Why the Movie Star is Dead

by John Nolte

One day … ONE day after gushing over how exciting the recession is now that those forced to work jobs they hate or who have lost them entirely can focus on their passions, Natalie Portman bought herself a $3 million castle-like estate.

Natalie, whoever’s advising you … fire them. If no one’s advising you, find someone who doesn’t carry a small dog in their purse or dates someone who does. Look to the real world for help. Look to someone who’s spent a few years in a land where the zip codes don’t start with “9-0.” Someone who cares enough about you and your career to say (without any “Honey, babys”):

natalie-portman-stop-wars

“Nat, past the gates of your community and away from the hills of Hollywood losing your job doesn’t fuel passion, it fuels despair, and working a job you hate is almost as bad because of the big black  permanent ball of dread it plants in your gut. I know you dig Barack, I did too before he targeted my children and health care, but you can’t flak for his recession. That’s what the mainstream media is for. You have to empathize with your audience, build goodwill. Besides, you’re closing on that castle tomorrow, so today wouldn’t be a good time to get all gushy over how exciting Barack’s recession is. And if you do, I quit.” (more…)

Jon David

My Weekly Date with a Liberal – ‘Emotional Redistribution’

by Jon David

The article will begin shortly.

Thank you for your patience.  Let’s begin.

Although facebook has been the gift that keeps on giving in terms of confirming whether or not a prospective date is or is not a liberal, for this installment I thought I’d put my instincts to the test by participating in the very underrated process of “stereotyping.”

I think, and rightfully so, that many Americans feel that Los Angeles is a place bankrupt of spirituality…not to mention just plain bankrupt. However, there is a spiritual movement among Angelinos that folks may not be aware of, largely because it is a faith so self indulgent it would be difficult for the average hard working American to fathom.  This movement is called “Spiritual Psychology.”

Let me just say this for fear of being labeled judgmental: I have nothing against spirituality or psychology; in fact, I actually saw a Medicine Man on an Indian reservation in the Jemez Valley to help me with a “problem” I’d prefer not to discuss here. It was an extremely spiritual, dare I say magical experience, after which my “problem” did not improve in the least. (more…)

Stage Right

Tony Award Aftermath

by Stage Right

Composer Elton John accepts the Tony Award for Best Musical with the cast of \"Billy Elliot\".

I’m tempted to brag about how close I was with my Tony Award Predictions and make that the biggest story coming out of Sunday’s Tony Award Show, but instead I’ll stay humble.

From the perspective of the Broadway industry (the people and companies that represent the institution of Broadway and who work in the industry tend to think in terms of studios rather than production companies), the Shubert Organization was the big winner.  The Shuberts are the happy landlord to Best Musical winner “Billy Elliot” and Best Play winner “God of Carnage.”  The Shuberts also serve as co-producer of “God of Carnage.”

From an individual show’s perspective, certainly “Billy Elliot” was the big winner with a total of 10 awards.  One major award they didn’t win was the Best Score of a Musical that seemed like a shoe-in for Elton John.  Instead it went to Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey for “Next to Normal” that show also won the Best Actress award for its star, Alice Ripley. (more…)

Mark Corallo

On the Wisdom of an Eleven Year Old Boy in ‘Land of the Lost’

by Mark Corallo

A review, in which a father takes full responsibility for not reading the reviews before entering the theater.

This past Friday, my wife and I picked up the kids from their Catholic grade school in Alexandria, Virginia.  As the two girls were being dropped at a friend’s house for the day, we decided (on the spur of the moment) to surprise the boy with a trip to the movies.  We figured “Land of the Lost” would be harmless enough for an eleven-year-old boy and might provide a few laughs for the adults.

All you need to know is that I was compelled to ask, “What the heck is this rated?” within the first five minutes of the movie.  Kids, this was not your father’s “Land of the Lost.”  I might have only been about my son’s age when the Sid & Marty Krofft TV show was a Saturday morning staple 30 years ago, but I am 100% sure that I would have remembered it if one of the characters had dropped the F-Bomb.  (more…)

Chris Muir

Land of the Left

by Chris Muir

Stage Right

Tonight’s Tony Award Predictions

by Stage Right

Join Gary Graham, Tim Slagle, Moxie X. Cathedra, Stage Right and many more as Big Hollywood live-blogs the West Coast feed of the Tony Awards.

Tonight, 8:00 PM Pacific Time, Telecast on CBS.

It’s often said during Oscar season that there are two sets of predictions:  Who WILL win, and who SHOULD win.  It’s the same with Broadway’s Tony Awards but I often like to add a third prediction:  What would be the best for business.  Believe it or not, often times the Tony Awards seem to take into account the shows that “need” the award for marketing purposes.  Even though one show stands out and seems to be the obvious choice to win the top prize, a surprise occurs and a David beats a Goliath thus ensuring a longer run for David.  I will list a few examples for Best Musical travesties from the past that many might quarrel with in terms of the validity of the show that won, but the commercial outcome of the shows involved can’t be argued.  You have a right to your own opinion, but not to your own facts.

1991: “Miss Saigon” has a multi-million-dollar advance, leads nominations with 11, wins Best Actor and Best Actress.  Best Musical that year?  “The Will Rogers Follies.”  Without the award, “Will Rogers” would have not made it another six months. After winning the prize, it ran for two more years, had a successful tour and might still be running in Branson, MO.  “Saigon” ran for a decade. (more…)

Pam Meister

Ode to Obama: First Movie About ‘The One’ On the Way

by Pam Meister

Hang on to your keesters: the first movie to celebrate the ascension of Barack “The One” Obama to the throne Oval Office is on its way to a theater near you:

Sony Pictures tells Whispers that it has acquired the rights to distribute the HBO documentary “By the People: The Election of Barack Obama.” In describing the film, the media giants say that the previously untitled flick won’t be just a collage of biographical and campaign video. Added will be interviews with staffers and campaign aides to give us a behind-the-scenes look at life in Obamaland. It ought to be pretty polished: Ed Nortons Class 5 Films did the work.

Yes, it should be a gas…Ed Norton’s the same guy who told us all to turn out our lights for an hour in order to symbolize the fight against the greedy overuse of fossil fuels that are killing our planet. (Global warming savior Al Gore must not have seen Norton’s appearance on Larry King Live.) Apparently, that doesn’t apply to the fossil fuels used to make the film, let alone what will be needed to distribute and screen it for the adoring masses. (more…)

Alexander Marlow

South Park Goes Where SNL Refuses

by Alexander Marlow

Tonight is one of the best nights of the year: The premiere of the 13th season of “South Park.”  I consider myself one of America’s foremost “South Park” scholars and if I had to sum up the reason I love the show, it would be this: it spares no one.  Take last season’s “About Last Night…” episode about Obama’s electoral victory–Obama, Palin, McCain, McCain supporters, and Obamaites are all evenly trashed.  In South Park, satire trumps politics.  Since 1997, “South Park” has been America’s safest bet for the splendid fusion of irreverence and insight.

They took up that mantle from “Saturday Night Live,” which now offers us neither. (more…)

Tim Slagle

‘Avenue Q’ Can’t Get Over George Bush

by Tim Slagle

What do you do when you lose a punchline? While Will Ferrell and Robin Williams try to squeeze every last joke out of an administration that left office over a month ago, Late Night hosts struggle to find something funny about the new guy. (In other news, Rich Little is still doing an impression of Richard Nixon.)

Two weeks ago, I did a story about how the Broadway show “Avenue Q” held a contest to find a lyric as funny as “George Bush is only for now.” Calls to the theater assured me that keeping the lyric Presidential wasn’t even an option. Your Mother in Law, This Show, Prop. 8 and Recession were the lines the producers were hoping to pay off. (more…)

Stage Right

Critics Say: “Ferrell is right, Bush is stupid.”

by Stage Right

I know what’s going on in the advertiser’s office for “You’re Welcome America, A Final Night With George Bush“.  Every morning after a show opens the producers assemble with the agency and dissect the reviews pulling out the best quotes to be used in ads, posters and banners on the theatres doors and marquee.  Based on the raves, I’m sure they’re having a pretty fun time. 

But, as your trusted, center/right theatre observer here at Big Hollywood, I read the same reviews and pulled out my own quotes.  You see, the content of the reviews I’ve been reading reveal less to me about what’s going on up on the stage at the Cort, it’s says more to me about the bias of the critics.  They are taking the opportunity of this show to send their own, gratuitous shots at “W.”  (more…)

Don Surber

Will Ferrell: BDS Addict

by Don Surber

Thirty years ago, actor James Whitmore did a one-man show called “Give ‘em Hell, Harry,” about President Truman. It was a fascinating tribute to a man who left the White House unpopular over a war that everyone said was unnecessary. The vindication of Truman came as the Vietnam War wound down.

Will Ferrell is preparing to do a show mocking President Bush. I guess Farrell is afraid that 30 years from now, Bush too will be vindicated. Ferrell will re-package old “SNL” skits for his show, “You’re Welcome, America. A Final Night with George W. Bush,” which begins previews on Inauguration Day. (more…)

Stage Right

Bashing Bush = Boffo Broadway Business!

by Stage Right

I know that as the guy on the “Broadway Beat” I should have a take on the Will Ferrell one-man show due to start previews at the Cort on Inauguration Day, “You’re Welcome America, A Final Night with George Bush”, but, so far, I’m just bored with the idea.

Sure, it’s going to be a 90-minute SNL sketch, but instead of the opening sketch that always grabs you and pulls you in to watch through “Update”, I expect it’ll be like one of those sketches thrown in after the second song from the musical guest.  And it will feel like they never quite figured out how to end it…  you know, those excruciating sketches which force you to say “Why am I still up watching this?” 

I like Will Ferrell…  he almost always makes me laugh.  But, there is something about his Bush impression that has gotten pretty mean.  He always played W in that stereotype kind of dim, frat-boy kind of way.  But when he looked into the camera and said “Strategery” during the mock debates against Darrell Hammond’s awesome Al Gore, he had an earnestness that made the caricature endearing.  Now, his Bush has lost the charm and it’s just not as fun to watch. 

Here’s a promotional video, see if you agree:

(more…)