Ahmet Ertegun, Peter Boyle, Robert Altman.

So David Geffen made a formal all-cash offer of $2 bil -- less than half of his $4.6 estimated net worth -- for the Los Angeles Times last month, and parent company Tribune has declined to accept or reject the bid. So says the oracle on Spring Street today. As you know, billionaires Eli Broad and Ron Burkle, the conservative arm of the Chandler family, and god knows who else, are also interested in scooping up the paper. The price Geffen wants to pay exactly confirms what sources have been telling me for months: this is what the Hollywood mogul thinks the LAT is worth. Over the past months, I've been reporting about Geffen's plans in more detail than the Wall Street Journal's recent Geffen interview. DHD readers already knew that Dreamgirls is David's last hurrah in Hollywood because he's sick of the movie biz, or that he'll do whatever it takes to build up the LAT into a pre-eminent newspaper.

Read my previous posts and columns: NYT vs LAT On Subject Of David Geffen, David Geffen's Changes For The LA Times, David Geffen, Chicago calling On Line 1 , LA Times: Sleepers At David Geffen's, Geffen "Confident" of LAT Buy, David Geffen/LAT

I predict that, once again, whoever lobbied the so-called Hollywood Foreign Press Association the hardest will win. Which is why the Globes are never an accurate forecast of Oscar nominations. And, while I'm on the subject, be aware that the motley crew who belong to the scandal-riddled HFPA won't grant membership to the real international journalists who work for the prestige newspapers across the world. Which is why I, for one, refuse to hype the HFPA's b.s. every year.

Canadian actors could strike next month if they can't reach a deal with the country's film and TV producers. According to the Montreal Gazette, if the actors do hit the picket lines, it could halt all Hollywood shooting in most of the country and also cripple local production. Some say the threat of a strike is already scaring away American film producers. Variety reported claims that two big-budget Hollywood films, The Pink Panther 2 and National Treasure II: The Book of Secrets, are skipping Toronto and Montreal because of the prospect of an actors' strike. But the Montreal Gazette reports that Los Angeles studios will be rushing to make extra movies in Canada in the next six months in order to stockpile flicks before the possible major strikes stateside. Reps from ACTRA (the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists), Canada's main actors' union, and the country's two producers' associations are meeting in Toronto to try to negotiate a new collective agreement. But the talks, which began in late October, have mostly consisted of name-calling so far, the newspaper says, and the two sides have yet to even formally discuss any of the major issues. ACTRA has sent its 11,000 voting members a strike ballot and the union will know by Friday whether or not it has a strike mandate. The current collective agreement between the actors and the producers expires on December 31st and ACTRA could strike after that if no deal is clinched. ACTRA has said that, if there is no deal signed with the producers' associations, it will be open to making individual deals with Hollywood producers on a case-by-case basis to ensure the film-shoot biz doesn't dry up.

I'm so fed up with these overpaid blowhards who run the entertainment biz. Especially the ones who do a mea culpa for the crap they program and use "we" instead of "I" when pinpointing who's to blame. Here's a perfect example: NBC Uni's (undeservedly) heir apparant Jeff Zucker speaking to the press after his recent presentation at Credit Suisse: “For 10 years, NBC was a huge driver of GE's success and the last two years it's been tougher. But I thank GE's ability to weather the storm and be patient with us. We've got to do better going forward. We owe it to GE. We've got to do better for them. We've got to execute.” (Two years? Uh, the real number is five years: because 12 months after Zucker was upped from a TV news producer to NBC's chief entertainment programmer, the network officially went into the toilet.) Meanwhile, NBC Uni will increase profit by as much as 5 percent next year, GE CEO Jeff Immelt claimed today at a meeting with shareholders. He believes the network is improving its prime-time content and remains a valuable asset to the parent company even though profit has declined for four straight quarters at NBC Uni. "I like what the team's done in content this year. This has been job one," Immelt said. "Prime-time has improved. No, the job's not done yet.'' NBC tied for second place in network television sweeps in November, after finishing last season in fourth place among viewers age 18 to 49. But NBC Universal's third-quarter profit fell 10 percent to $542 million, dragged down by lower ratings at the television network.

As everyone knows, the Fox network primetime really blows from Sept through Dec. This year was even worse than previous years: every new show tanked. The uber-expensive kidnap drama Vanished and sitcom Happy Hour were both yanked, and Justice is just playing itself out. Two other low-rated shows, the Brad Garrett / Joely Fisher sitcom 'Til Death, and drama Standoff, are on life support. Ridiculous how the whole place goes to hell until American Idol starts up again. So, at the recent UBS global media confab, News Corp. Prez Peter Chernin took the opportunity to bitch-slap his network TV programming execs -- and, amazingly, it went unreported: "We've got to be moving the ball forward. We’ve got to be making progress, and we didn't make any progress this fall… I'm not at all nervous about our relative position. I still feel really good about our competitive position. We won the season last year. We won the summer. And we've had a lousy fall. That being said, we're not satisfied with the fall. Running a network, you'd like to have the ability to create successful new shows. And we haven't created successful new shows. We've essentially canceled three of five new shows... We'd like to do better. We will do better." Oh yes, he did add, "I have tremendous confidence in the team here.” Anyone really believe him? 

Bonhams and Butterfields will be holding a Los Angeles mega-auction of entertainment memorabilia, including animation art, on December 17th. Some of the cooler items include all the Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland and Greta Garbo paraphernalia. But, without doubt, my personal favorite is Lot No. 1055: a Warren Beatty archive of personal papers dating back to 1957-1959. Apparently this cache of ephemera that Beatty saved when he was a struggling actor in his early 20s in NYC was found abandoned in a hotel suite over 45 years ago. There's a lot, including a draft copy of a script from Splendor in the Grass (Beatty's first film and stardom launching vehicle), mysterious and intimate letters he wrote to several people but never sent, a 1958 letter from sister Shirley MacLaine. I love the 1957 letter from his acting coach Stella Adler, who writes in part "I'm sorry that you want / something from me outside of my love for / you...(but) I cannot both help you and sponsor you. It / is not my job". Also his 1958 datebook including page after page of his handwritten notes and countless appointments with doctors, dentists, voice teachers, acting coaches, hairdressers, and industry players (Stella Adler, Shirley MacLaine, Sidney Lumet, Peter Ustinov, Roddy MacDowall, MCA, Warner Bros., et al) as well as rehearsal times and "To Do" lists ("buy make-up, send flowers, get shoes, go to rehearsal," etc). Warren, we hardly knew you... (FYI, he's receiving the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the 64th annual Golden Globe Awards on NBC on January 15th.)

Previous: Props To You, Warren, Bulworth? B.S.

From LAObserved which was on scene: Patrick Goldstein and John Horn of the LAT, and Sharon Waxman and Laura Holson of the NYT, talked entertainment journalism last night at a Zócalo talkfest at the Central Library downtown. There was an interesting difference of opinion over David Geffen. The LAT men agreed that Geffen might be the best buyer for the embattled Los Angeles Times, with Goldstein offering that "this is a man who has always been associated with quality work." Waxman pushed back, arguing that Geffen is a man Hollywood fears: "He holds a grudge. He gets even." Goldstein stuck to his guns, even though he acknowledged that Geffen once went five years without talking to him and "can put a lot of negative energy into people." Waxman concluded that the LAT staff is so battered by years of Tribune Co. mishandling that, "They'll take a flawed knight."

Busted! The feds have fined controversial director Oliver Stone in connection with his travel to Cuba to make documentaries about Fidel Castro. According to a tersely-worded Department of Treasury document from the Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) released December 1st, and reported today by  Miami New Times, Stone’s Ixtlan production company and four individuals have agreed to pay $6,322.20 to “resolve allegations of violations of the Cuban embargo.” The violations occurred between February 2002 and May 2003. The report continues: “OFAC alleged that IXTLAN and four individuals dealt in services in which the government of Cuba or a Cuban national has an interest incident to the making of a documentary film. The matter was not voluntarily disclosed to OFAC.” Three-time Academy Award winner Stone, of course, is no stranger to Cuba; he produced two documentaries on the country's leader. Comandante, a too-friendly look at Fidel digested from 30 hours of candid interviews that Stone conducted in Havana, had been planned to air on HBO, but the cable channel yanked it from the 2003 schedule after Castro jailed 75 dissidents and executed three men who had attempted to hijack a ferry. The documentary was overwhelmingly panned not just for its sympathetic POV but even more for Stone's dumb questions and smarmy presence. The director ultimately went back to the island for more footage and the result was Looking For Fidel which did finally run on HBO in 2004. Under U.S. rules, journalists can legally travel to Cuba, but a 2004 interview with Stone revealed that he didn’t consider himself a journalist when he interviewed Castro for the movies. Speaking with reporter and Cuba expert Ann Louise Bardach, Stone admitted: “My role here was not as a journalist. It really was as a director and filmmaker." Stone has had brushes with the law before: in 1999, he was arrested and pleaded guilty to drug possession and no contest to driving under the influence; he was arrested again in 2005 for marijuana possession.

UPDATED: Another one bit the dust at a hearing today. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles confirms that Daniel Nicherie, one of the six co-defendants in the wiretapping and racketeering case against thug Hollywood P.I. Anthony Pellicano changed his plea to guilty to federal charges of aiding and abetting wiretapping in the scandal. Additionally, Nicherie pleaded guilty to three counts in another 2004 case, too. Sentencing in the consolidated cases is scheduled for March 5. He faces a maximum possible sentence of 35 years in federal prison. Nicherie becomes the seventh defendant to plead guilty in relation to the Pellicano investigation, and the fifth defendant to admit that Pellicano was engaged in wiretapping. According to Drew Combs of the legal newspaper Los Angeles Daily Journal, the plea change led attorneys connected to the case to speculate he is cooperating with prosecutors after the government went after him pretty hard. "He could be very helpful if he is cooperating," Laurie L. Levenson, a law professor at Loyola Law School who has followed the case, told Combs. "He can testify to what clients knew about Pellicano's actions." Nicherie and his brother Abner Nicherie, another co-defendant in the case, are alleged to have hired the private investigator to wiretap Ami Shafrir, an Israeli businessman who has said the Nicherie brothers defrauded him of millions of dollars. Pellicano and Daniel Nicherie are the only defendants in custody in the P.I. scandal. Nicherie has been locked up since March 2004, relating to his indictment on wire fraud and other changes in connection with his business dealings. "This will also help focus the government's case," Levenson told Combs, "because it gets one of the co-defendants out of the picture." 

You know, of course, that these film critics and their yearly picks have little impact on Oscar voters, who revel in their contrariness. Nevertheless, far be it from me to ignore this media exercise in futility. So here are the latest winners for Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Director, Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Original Screenplay, Best Animated Picture, Best Documentary, Best Foreign Picture:

NY Film Critics Circle: United 93, Helen Mirren, Forest Whitaker, Martin Scorsese, Jennifer Hudson, Jackie Earle Haley, Peter Morgan, Happy Feet, Deliver Us From Evil, Army Of Shadows

LA Film Critics Assn: Letters From Iwo Jima, Helen Mirren, Sacha Baron Cohen/Forest Whitaker, Paul Greengrass, Luminita Gheorghiu, Michael Sheen, Peter Morgan, Happy Feet, An Inconvenient Truth, The Lives Of Others

National Board of Review of Motion Pictures: Letters From Iwo Jima, Helen Mirren, Forest Whitaker, Martin Scorsese, Catherine O'Hara, Djimon Hounsou, Peter Morgan, Cars, An Inconvenient Truth, Volver

Washington DC Area Film Critics:  United 93, Helen Mirren, Forest Whitaker, Martin Scorsese, Jennifer Hudson, Djimon Hounsou, Michael Arndt, Happy Feet, An Inconvenient Truth, Pan's Labrynth

Boston Society of Film Critics: The Departed, Helen Mirren, Forest Whitaker, Martin Scorsese, Shareeka Epps, Mark Wahlberg, William Monahan, (none), Shut Up And Sing/Deliver Us From Evil, Pan's Labrynth

New York Film Critics Online: The Queen, Helen Mirren, Forest Whitaker, Stephen Frears, Jennifer Hudson/Catherine O'Hara, Michael Sheen, Peter Morgan, Happy Feet, An Inconvenient Truth, Pan's Labrynth

Shame, shame, shame on Harvey and Bob Weinstein, and their distributor MGM's Harry Sloan, for opening a holiday-themed slasher movie on Christmas Day. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the ads and release date for Black Christmas from Dimension/MGM. The promos even make fun of "people who express outrage" as well as the plot's body count. And the entertainment industry wonders why it continues to have a huge PR problem as promoters of garbage? Showbiz marketing calls this counter-programming. Still, I don't understand: just how many disturbed human beings does The Weinstein Company and MGM think actually want to go see a gory movie on December 25th -- specifically, a remake of a 1974 horror flick in which a college sorority house is terrorized by a psycho who makes frightening phone calls and murders the girls during the holiday break. Is the intended audience supposed to be non-Christians? Really, investors in The Weinstein Company, and MGM, need to protest this deplorable decision. It should be noted that, in 2003, the Weinsteins made Bad Santa, a distasteful comedy which at least wasn't released on Christmas Day. Among the few other Christmas-themed slasher movies (none released on December 25th) were little-seen Santa Claws (1996), and Santa's Slay (2005, Lionsgate) and 1984's Silent Night, Deadly Night, released by TriStar and so repugnant that it prompted protests at theaters where it was shown. Unfortunately, the latter did big box office and spawned 4 sequels. Moviegoers, don't let this happen again.

OK, I wish this were a bad joke, but it's real: Disney's new and quiet Oscar campaigning for Mel Gibson is to convince Academy members that he's "not as bad as Roman or Woody." Specifically, I'm told that, to plead with Oscar voters "to look at Mel the artist and not Mel the man", the studio is saying that Gibson's drunken anti-Semitic ranting was not as bad as Polanski having sex "with an underage girl", or Allen having sex "with his step-daughter". Disney is also pointing to Elia Kazan's role "naming names" before the Hollywood Un-American Activities Committee to try to bring what Mel did into perspective when it comes to judging Apocalypto. I should point out this is part of a modest attempt by Disney to snag some key nominations for the film. It's long been my belief that if a litmus test were given for behavior, nobody would ever work in Hollywood again. Nevertheless, I just don't think Oscar campaigning that underscores the character flaws of other film directors will work.

Previous: Mel Wins Opening Weekend: #1 'Apocalypto' Bigger Than 'Braveheart';

So Saturday Night Live took on Mel Gibson last night, recutting his Apocalypto movie trailer so that all those Mayans are now yelling "The Jews Are Coming. Run for your lives," and other anti-Semitic stuff in the subtitles. Then it ends with a small girl turning to the camera and mouthing, "I smell bagels." Not exactly the sort of promotion Disney was hoping for this weekend as the film opens. Here's the online video...

UPDATED -- MONDAY AM: Apocalypto ends weekend with $14.9 mil after better-than-expected Sunday revenues...

SUNDAY AM: Call it a Hollywood shocker: Mel's Apocalypto not only won the weekend but had a bigger opening than his Braveheart. Despite scandal, an R-rating, subtitles because of an ancient dialect, rumors of walkouts on account of the violent content, no stars, and direct competition from movieland AAA-listers Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz, Gibson's Mayan epic made $4.9 million Friday and $5.7 million Saturday for what was weekend box office of $14.2 million (includes Sunday estimates). I'm told this far exceeded Mel's and Disney's expectations for the weekend. Also surprising were the exit polls showing 52% men and 48% women saw Apocalypto, and it scored highest with women 30+. (The lure of loin cloths.) "Good reviews and strong exit polls should give the film a chance to play through the holidays," a Gibson insider told me Sunday. At first, box office gurus expected that, with three very competitive films running up against each other, the weekend would be too close to call. But my reporting back on December 1st showed that early tracking had Mel's movie (playing in 2,465 theaters) would edge ahead. Apocalypto had the best per screen average of the top movies Friday at $1,988. Its weekend number easily beat Mel's Braveheart, which made $9.9 mil for Fri-Sat-Sun when it opened in 2,037 theaters during Memorial Weekend back in 1995 (and $12.9 mil for the four-day holiday) and went on to rake in $75.6 mil in the U.S. and $210.4 mil worldwide, helped by winning the Best Picture Oscar. Based on weekend gross, the No. 2 spot with $13.5 mil went to Sony's The Holiday (in 2,610 playdates), a date movie from director-writer Nancy Meyer, known for capturing that man-woman zeitgeist. The studio's uber-marketing of this PG-13 debut (also starring Kate Winslet, Jack Black and Jude Law) helped the movie (per screen average $1,686 Friday) finish with $4.5 mil on Friday and $5.3 mil on Saturday. Expectedly, the pic was big with females (65%) and 25-and-older (57%). Finishing the weekend around $13 mil is No. 3 Happy Feet from Warner Bros -- still strong four weeks out and in a whopping 3,650 venues -- based on its $3.1 mil Friday and huge $6.1 mil Saturday kiddie bump. The birds' new cume could be $138 mil. Holdover Sony's Casino Royale took 4th place, pumping out $2.6 mil Friday and $4 mil Saturday from 3,161 theaters and what was an $8.8 mil weekend and a new cume of nearly $129 mil. Warner's opener Blood Diamond (playing in only 1,910 theaters), made $2.6 mil Friday and $3.5 mil Saturday to put it in 5th place by weekend's end with $8.2 mil. (The per screen average was $1,361 Friday.) Not only was this African-set action-adventure pic fought at every turn by the world diamond cartel with a multi-million-dollar PR campaign -- but it's playing in 500-to-700-to-1,500 less theaters than the other Top 5 pics. With its R-rating, this Ed Zwick-directed thriller starring Leo and Jennifer Connelly was not an easy sell in trailers and TV ads. For months now, do-good organizations like Amnesty International and Global Witness have been helping market this message movie. But its weekend take is a disappointment for the pic with a $100+ mil budget. Box office experts had expected the three opening films to battle it out all weekend with gross in the teens (as in millions), but that's not happening. Just Friday morning, a source inside Mel's camp told me that the director and the studio were indeed hoping for a final weekend gross around $12 million since Apocalypto's wanna-see was tracking strongly with college kids and Latinos, and generally with young men aged 18-to-24. "It's still a foreign film," the insider explained to me. "Our goal here is not to open big but to keep the film around during the holiday season." Friday's result is exactly what Disney -- which had been under pressure to dump Mel's self-financed Mayan epic after his drunken anti-Semitic stumble -- was hoping for: that Gibson had become a brand name and that his The Passion of the Christ and Braveheart audiences would reward him with their moviegoing loyalty, especially the elusive Latino moviegoers (and not hold his drunken anti-Semitic ranting against him). Interestingly, a Friday night AOL poll found just that: 76% of the 85,000+ respondents saying the scandal would not affect their decision to see Apocalypto. As it is, the studio's unusual marketing strategy for the movie -- placing Mel front and center in a series of TV ads -- was meant to appeal directly to this Gibson base. Also, because of the scandal surrounding Mel's arrest, his Apocalypto had almost instantaneous public awareness. Now the film also has garnered some great reviews -- enough that Disney is going out with a  newspaper ad featuring raves from Ebert & Roeper, Newsweek, The New York Times, and Wall Street Journal: it will appear in the Los Angeles Times where the vast majority of Academy Award voters reside. As for its Oscar chances, there's little doubt that Hollywood's Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences members, known for holding grudges, will be judging Mel the man, and not Mel's movie. But the surprisingly good reviews, combined with the decent box office, could possibly, just possibly, cause the Oscar voters to take a look at Apocalypto on its own merits.

In other box office, Warner's holiday pic Unaccompanied Minors opened #7 with $1.6 mil Friday but shot up to 6th place Saturday with $2.8 mil and a weekend take of $6.3 mil. Disney's Deja Vu came in 7th; the 3-week holdover earned $1.8 mil Friday and $2.8 mil Saturday for what was a $5.9 mil weekend and a new cume around $53 mil. In the 8th spot was New Line's disappointment at the box office, The Nativity Story which has failed to pick up any of Mel's The Passion of the Christ momentum.: it eked out only $1.4 mil Friday and $2.2 mil Saturday its second weekend out (-40%) for what was just a $5.4 mil weekend and barely $15 mil cume. Fox's holiday comedy Deck The Halls coughed up another #1 mil Friday and $2.7 mil Saturday for what was a $4 mil weekend and new $30 mil cume. Closing out the Top 10 was six-week holdover Disney's Santa Clause 3, which just beat out Fox's Borat. The Tim Allen starrer made $757K on Friday and $1.5 mil on Saturday for a $3.3 mil weekend. Whereas 11th place Fox's Borat took in $800K Friday and $1.1 mil Saturday for another $2.5 mil weekend (six weeks out) and a new cume of $120 mil -- amazing for a movie that cost just $18 mil to make. 

I'm surprised that no one has focused on this particular angle: Rosie O'Donnell leaving Risa Shapiro, the agent who'd repped her for seemingly forever, in favor of Nancy Josephson, the newbie Endeavor TV agent and former ICM bigwig. The daughter of Marvin who put Jeff Berg in charge of ICM in the first place, and the first female president of a major talent agency, Josephson made gobs of money for ICM as the rep for its TV package Friends and its exec producers (and her discoveries) Marta Kaufman, Kevin Bright, and David Crane. Then, after being displaced in July's ICM/Broder merger, Nancy scampered to Endeavor with most of her client list. O'Donnell's publicist handed out this statement from Rosie: "I have enormous respect and affection for Risa Shapiro, who helped me guide my career up to this point. But given that my career is now more rooted in television, I decided to move with Nancy Josephson. I am already struck by Endeavor's energy and innovative approach across many platforms." Back to Shapiro, she has repped Rosie dating back to 1989 when Risa still had to ask Hollywood, “Do you know who Rosie O’Donnell is?” The comedian, who got her first break on Star Search in the mid-1980s, met the agent on an airplane right before Shapiro made the move from the NY to Beverly Hills office of the William Morris Agency. "Rosie says she thanks American Airlines every day," Shapiro once joked to me. After making the comedy club scene, Rosie was hosting Stand-Up Spotlight on VH1. She did her first film, the remake of Car 54, Where are You, but its release was delayed for more than 4 years. In 1990, she snagged a TV pilot that wasn't picked up immediately by Fox. In the meantime, Shapiro moved from William Morris to ICM. Just when Rosie was set for her big movie break in A League Of Their Own, Fox suddenly decided to to pick up the TV series. So ICM had to do some tricky negotiating to convince Fox to move back the start of the TV series so O'Donnell could do the movie, too. I looked at my old notes, and here's what Risa told me about Rosie way back when: "Penny Marshall calls her every night. Because Rosie is the kind of person that you want to have around. She's the funniest human being you have ever met, and she's going to be a huge star." Well, all I can say is that Rosie did bring in a chunk of change for ICM because of her namesake talk show syndicated by Warner. Also, remember that it wasn't too long ago that Rosie was battling publishing moguls, and bad publicity, in a NYC courtroom after coming out of the closet and abandoning both her talk show and magazine. She's hot again with a just-offered FX gig relating to Nip/Tuck that supposedly will film during the summer hiatus, and she's also got The View though she's only signed on to co-host for one season. But ABC has sure spent a lot of $$$ promoting the heck out of her arrival, and the show's ratings are way up along with its controversy quotient. But now it's Josephson who'll bring in Rosie's newest ka-ching.

Just the other day, insiders were predicting to me that the next head on the chopping block at The Hollywood Reporter was going to be Executive Editor Peter Pryor -- and today it was. "If anybody had a target on him, he did. I'm surprised he wasn't first," the source said. "He's a decent guy and all that, but he didn't have a discernible job description and didn't do a whole lot." (Well, if that's going to be the criteria for getting axed, then fire all the editors everywhere!) Pryor (photo, below right; photo credit to Tony Gieske) had been in that job since 2000 and was not only a former editor of Variety but also the son of legendary Tom Pryor, editor-in-chief of Variety in the pre-Cahner's period. Also out are International General Manager John Burman, Music Editor Chris Morris (who's being replaced with free content from sister publication Billboard), Chicago-based contributing editor Diane Mermigas (photo, below left) (whom I've long thought was very savvy, but apparently didn't write enough to suit the bosses, though she had a swell Sumner Redstone get recently), and Calendar editor Selena Templeton (basically an editorial assistant, so her salary couldn't have made much of a difference...) These personnel losses follow Corporate Content VP Matthew King's voluntary departure and Editorial Director Howard Burns' involuntary departure. "It's disturbing because they're doing it so piecemeal rather than en masse," a TRH insider explained to me after that duo left before today's bloodbath. "Sort of like picking people off with a shotgun from a water tower rather than gassing them all at once." Tonight, that same source told me: "Everyone hopes this is it for a while, but the paranoia quite understandably runs thick." There's been upheaval on the publisher side this year, too. Tony Uphoff replaced Robert Dowling as publisher, but then Uphoff announced his departure from the paper in October 2006 after just 9 months in the post. Replacing him from New York was Billboard publisher John Kilcullen. Once upon a time, Dowling turned the trade's million dollar biz into a $30 mil bonanza, with profit margins in the astronomical 20%-to-30% range. But that was then, and this is now. I'm told some of THR's problems date back to the loss of Lynne Segall, the well-connected vice president and associate publisher of The Hollywood Reporter who in June jumped to the LA Times for the newly created position of VP for entertainment advertising. Since then THR ad sales have dropped and the paper isn't beating its Oscar sales projections. But also the paper is known more for its TV than for movie coverage, which is still an also-ran to Variety. King, best known for his big picture vision and strategic planning, told a source weeks earlier that he'd had it with spread sheets and bureaucratic bullshit and, in fact, wanted to jump into the non-profit sector. "He's a dressed-down granola guy," is how King was described to me. But Burns actually called a late afternoon THR meeting where he, visibly shaken, told staff, "I'm sure you heard the rumors. I'd be lying if I said this was voluntary." Then THR let him remain at his desk for the rest of the day, which was also his last day. I spoke to several insiders about Burns and it's very telling that none were sorry to see him go. He was an editor on the desk when Alex Ben Block groomed him to be Mr. Inside to Alex's Mr. Outside. Burns eventually was promoted up through the ranks so that, when Block left the paper after a successful editorial run that made THR truly competitive with Variety, Howard became new editor-in-chief Anita Busch's No. 2. But as the combative Busch's relationship with Dowling began to suffer, Burns more and more had Dowling's ear. There was no question, after Anita left THR in that blow-up over George Christy, that Burns would get the editor-in-chief's job. But there was a problem: no one in Hollywood knew who the hell he was. "He never got to know the community because he never attended events," a source said. Meanwhile, THR had a great piece of womanpower in prolific writer and editor Cynthia Littleton (photo, right), so when another media outlet made a run at her, she got upped to Burn's job and Howard was promoted to editorial director. "Faced with losing her, she got the real job, while Howard was kicked upstairs," a source explained. Added another insider: "Howard was a nice guy and smart. But he wasn't big with vision or hands-on editing. All the heavy- and light-lifting had been done by Cynthia for a long time." As editorial director, Burns didn't have much impact in his new job. "If they cannot describe what it is you do, that's always the kiss of death," one insider explained with a dash of hyperbole. "Peter Bart was the sun, and this guy was the flashlight." So that's the real story...

It's hard to find a family that doesn't own a DVD of Warner Indie's mega-hit flick March of the Penguins that was the brilliant $1 million pick-up by then WIP head Mark Gill (ridiculously fired last May) and went on to earn $122.6 million just in box office worldwide gross and win Best Documentary Film at the 2006 Academy Awards. Now I'm told via email by Laurent Chalet, the film's director of photography who spent 13 months in the fierce weather conditions on the coldest spot on earth -- South Pole ice shield of Antarctica -- shooting the film, that he has challenged La Marche De L'Empereur's credits in the French courts. At issue is whether Luc Jacquet is the sole director, or whether he should share credit and box-office gross with cinematographer Chalet. That was raised when Le Canard Enchaine, a respected French weekly known for its insider information, revealed that Jacquet, in spite of press declarations to the contrary, had spent only a few weeks in Antarctica while the main footage was shot by Chalet. This prompted the association AFC (French Cinematographers Guild) to issue a statement of outrage in its June 2006 publication (n°155) referring to Jacquet as “bringing shame upon the profession and upon all cinematographers.” For one thing, Chalet wasn't thanked, or even mentioned, by Jacquet at the Academy Awards. Chalet tells me he's finally brought the case to court to claim credit as co-director of the film and acknowledgment of his creative input. He says the Paris civil courts should return a verdict next year. At the time of the movie's release, many media stories focused on Chalet's incredible filming odyssey. First, Chalet had to find a camera rugged and reliable enough to withstand a year-long shoot in the Antarctic complete with freezing temperatures, sudden storms, and isolation. He selected the Aaton XTRprod and winterized two cameras at Aaton’s factory in Grenoble, France. To film March of the Penguins, the two-person crew, Chalet with Jérôme Maison, lived with the emperor penguins while closely observing their annual ritual of mating, birthing and survival. Once Chalet and Maison arrived in the Antarctic, they did not leave until filming was complete. "Once on the ground, we agreed on a method, a daily routine, which was based on solidarity and enthusiasm," Chalet described to the media. "Instead of taking turns, we worked together as a team. We would get up at 5:30 AM, prepare the equipment for an hour and a half, load four magazines of film (it was out of the question to do this on the ice), get dressed, and take off for a day of shooting, carrying about 130 pounds of equipment each. Only two things prevented us from filming: the weather, and running out of our daily film stock when we were out on the ice." The shooting conditions were sometimes very difficult and dangerous. Once, they were caught in a storm with 100 mph winds at -25°C. It took them 6 hours to reach the safety of the base, although it was only a mile and a half away from where they were shooting that day. Even while coping with these critical technical, environmental and survival concerns, the crew had to remain always ready to film the penguins in their natural habitat. Just to approach the chicks to film, Chalet and his crew built a scooter which could roll on ice and was rigged with the camera. Chalet explained to the media that patience and luck were key to the extraordinary 120 hours of footage. "This is what allowed us to get the images of the penguins walking in file. We knew where the penguins were going to gather, but we did not know when. Not having that information meant we had to be at the ready every day, because this is an event that occurs only once a year." Given all the hardship, Chalet would want his directing credit. Still, how ironic that it wasn't the birds but the humans who gave him the most trouble.

What's interesting about the latest proposed Universal City expansion is that this was a dream of both Lew Wasserman and Edgar Bronfman Jr. when they ran the studio. But the blueprints eventually turned into a nightmare for both moguls. The problem over the years was that the duo's successive expansion plans to make Universal more of a tourist mecca were all about the studio and never about the community surrounding it -- so the residents fought the projects, and the politicians fled from them. As it stands, Universal can't even add a new building or ride without both Los Angeles city and county approval, which sucks big-time. So that's why this latest $3 billion "Vision Plan" is more all-encompassing than anything proposed before, complete with a lot of giveaways (and also trade-offs) to benefit the surrounding community -- residential housing, an MTA station, a new 4-lane public road cutting through the property that the studio will build, and 10,000+ new jobs. But it's also going to take 2-to-3 years just to get approval (since its backer, L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, wants to get the credit for it), and then another 25 years to complete. Which basically means the current NBC Universal execs will have to be wheeled out of the Motion Picture Home to see the completed project.

I'm told Matt Solo left ICM today and will probably land at Endeavor. Chalk up another casualty of the ICM-Broder Webb Chervin Silbermann merger. Solo, formerly head of TV literary, reps David Shore (creator of House), Tim Minear (overall TV deal at Fox) and Shawn Ryan (creator of The Shield). I understand all of Solo's clients are in play, and ICM expects several to remain. From what I understand, Solo asked for a big salary boost and ICM didn't bite. Plus, there were some personality conflicts. "Matt overestimated his value to the agency, and was not fitting into the new culture post the acquisition," a source explained. In the end, Solo's leaving was a mutual decision.

In Hollywood, when you're at the top, there's no place to go but down. Especially after winning an Oscar. Which is why I think George Clooney should think seriously about running for political office (and not just because the buzz on The Good German opening this weekend is that it's boring...) But, first, read my LA Weekly column (written in 2003 shortly after Ah-nuld threw his hat into the California gubernatorial recall race) asking why don’t H'wood Democrats run for public office. So let's consider Clooney's chances. He'd do well in liberal California. But now some Bluegrass political journalists want to draft Clooney to take on Republican Mitch McConnell for the 2008 Senate seat in Kentucky where the actor was born and bred. At the very least, they argue, it’ll force the NRCC to spend millions to keep that seat. And Clooney, is rich -- always a good thing in politics where fundraising can make or break a campaign. I don’t especially like one suggested campaign slogan: "Sexiest Man Alive" (Twice) As Our Next U.S. Senator?"  But Democrats do enjoy the idea of preventing McConnell, who’s soon to become Senate minority leader, from his 5th term in 2008 as payback for 2004 when the GOP knocked off then-Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle who was running for reelection in South Dakota. There couldn't be carpetbagging charges here: not only is Clooney a native of the state – where he played pretty good baseball and did back-breaking work like cutting tobacco -- but also he need only be a resident on the day he is elected. Yes, it's unfortunate that George's father, Nick Clooney, lost his 2004 run for a congressional seat in northern Kentucky despite his son’s campaigning and fundraising. "I saw what it did to him," the actor told Esquire this month. "I watched him getting the crap beaten out of him, and I realized how incompatible my personality is with the job. There are so many concessions you have to make, even with your own side of the fight, and I don't like to compromise. I think it's better for me to do what I can from the outside." But George has a high-profile political profile in his own right: his recent speech before the United Nations Security Council and visit to Darfur about the genocide occuring there, his recent politically-themed movies, and so on. So George should just go for it.

The financial press is saying News Corp. is close to an agreement to buy back Liberty Media's $11 billion stake in Rupe's media giant. The Wall Street Journal, quoting people familiar with the situation, say Liberty in exchange would get News Corp's 38+% stake in satellite-TV firm DirecTV Group -- which is big, BIG news -- as well as some cash and other assets. The agreement, which could be finalized in the next few weeks, would end a two year old stand-off between the two companies over Liberty's accumulation of a 19% voting interest in News Corp. in 2004. John Malone's back-door stake in Rupe's media conglomerate has bugged the crap out of Murdoch for years. Back during the News Corp. shareholders' meeting in October, Rupe had predicted a "pretty quick resolution" with Malone. The big news there was that shareholders approved an extension of that "poison pill" anti-takeover measure by a rather vote of 57 percent. The slim margin of success indicated shareholder's discontent with Murdoch, who controls the company by virtue of his family's 31% stake in the company's voting shares. But the approval gives Rupe greater leverage over media investor Malone, the chairman of Liberty Media Corp., whose surprise move to suddenly accumulate a stake (now about 19%) in News Corp.'s voting shares -- now at 19% -- prompted News Corp. to first adopt the poison pill measure in November 2004. Murdoch had predicted a deal to swap Malone's stake for an asset owned by News Corp. Which also explains why Murdoch has been trash-talking DirecTV of late. The only other possibility would have been Liberty acquiring TV stations from News Corp., and they're a license to print money, right?

Previous: Rupe Predicts "Pretty Quick Resolution" With Malone

Phew! Sony Pic flacks have job security for another year, now that Amy Pascal is the top female exec in THR's new Women in H'wood Power 100 survey. (I kid you not: a few years back, one of the studio's publicists told me he was fired when Pascal didn't rank high enough on the Premiere mag power list.) But let's not forget that these past two annums have been terrible for she-moguls in general, as I noted in this posting And Then There Will Be None last July when Nina Jacobsen lost her job at Disney. Nice to see that Nina has just landed a 3-year, first-look deal at DreamWorks Studios: she's a great piece of womanpower, judging from how well her movies did this summer.

Ousted by Disney. Now about to ousted by Yahoo!. Lloyd Braun can't catch a break. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Terry Semel-topped Internet company will announce tomorrow an expanded role for financial chief Susan Decker as Yahoo! grapples with slowing revenue growth, a falling share price and dissent in its ranks. One of the victims of the reorganization will be media-group head Braun. But the soon-to-be-retired Semel stays as chairman/CEO -- for now. It was back on November 2004 that Yahoo! announced Braun's appointment in a great gig as head of Yahoo!'s media and entertainment division, which included Yahoo!'s movies, TV, entertainment, music, games, finance, news and weather, sports, health and kids businesses. Braun was based in Santa Monica, reporting to chief operating officer, Dan Rosensweig, who's also being swept away. Braun is best known to Hollywood as the ex-chairman of Disney's ABC Entertainment Television Group from January 2002 until April 2004. Note to Hollywoodites: these Internet guys are like the Wallendas: they may soar above the skies for a short time, but then they take big nosedives.

Warner Bros’ Blood Diamond and its stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Connelly did not garner their usual share of glossy mag coverage even though ‘tis the season for such shameless self-promotion. But that’s because those media outlets depend on full-page advertising from the diamond cartel, which, as I reported in my Blood From Stones LA Weekly column on November 1st, has been working overtime to discredit Ed Zwick’s opus opening December 8th. On the other hand, doing a great job of discrediting himself is Russell Simmons who spent the past week trotting around Africa on a trip paid for by the De Beers-led Diamond Council and clouding the conflict diamonds issue with pathological self-promotion since he hawks his own line of overpriced bling. Before departing for South Africa, Botswana and Mozambique, Simmons met on November 15th with Larry Cox, the executive director of American International in the U.S., and Corinna Gilfillan from Global Witness. But those groups who’ve been working in the African trenches for decades were quickly ignored when Simmons upon his arrival cast himself as the Dark Continent’s Messianic saviour and made a bizarre statement describing his tour in terms of a divine pilgrimage with references to Farrakhan and God. (Imagine how that must have freaked the diamond cartel.) Simmons was issuing daily press releases, putting up a video on YouTube, and today announcing some vague initiative he’ll spearhead for purely PR purposes. As for the movie Blood Diamond, Warner’s is worried by the lack of buzz. The studio has traditionally loathed message marketing, so its TV ads make it look like just another heist pic. Then there’s the problem with Africa being overused as one big photo op by celebs eager to showcase their compassion with publicists in tow. The kind of attention and support and funding that continent needs in so many areas takes commitment and projects and intelligence, none of which the entertainment industry is usually known for. This terrain is too complex for the typical movie trailer.

Previous: Tracking Shocker: Mel's 'Apocalypto' Ahead of Leo's 'Blood Diamond' Dec. 8, Finke/LA Weekly: Throwing Reel Stones, Dec. 8: Leo vs George, Cammy & Mel Now, EXCLUSIVE: 'Blood Diamond' Director Ed Zwick Blasts Gossip As 'Appalling'