paula wagner
Tom Cruise: ‘I Don’t Run United Artists; I Just Own It.’
2:15AM Seth | Horny gossip spinster Liz Smith had unwittingly curried favour with Tom Cruise by appearing on an episode of Fox News Channel’s gossip-for-conservatives show Lips & Ears, in which she opined that misunderstood Nazis: Just The Nice Ones-vehicle Valkyrie should be “accepted in the same way World War II movies by Tom Hanks, Clint Eastwood and Francis Ford Coppola.” (The actor has a staff combing the airwaves 24-hours a day for Cruise-positive messages; both Smith and Lips & Ears have now been slid into the Allies column.) What followed was a candid chat with the actor on everything from his crumbling UA dominion, to his comedic turn as a Harvey Weinstein-type in Tropic Thunder, to his billion-year war bride Katie Holmes bruise-inducing preparations for her Broadway debut:
Into The Diaspora: UA To Wander In Hollywood Desert For Another 40 Years
3:41AM Seth | Yesterday brought the not-entirely-shocking bombshell that Paula Wagner would abandon her vanity-mini-major Eden—not to mention her decade-and-a-half long producing partnership with Tom Cruise—by resigning from her position as CEO of United Artists, reportedly to strike out on her own. This came after a disastrous 21 months on the job that produced a single stinker release, in what, to our knowledge, is the first studio scandal based entirely upon underspending: The reckless frugality! The gluttonous discretion! How dare she not greenlight a $75 million Will Ferrell-as-loutish-badminton-pro comedy in this depressed economic environment?
Another Half-Billion Reasons to Worry as UA Loses Another Exec
2:35AM STV | We aren’t sure if Nikki Finke has confused the continuing exec exodus from United Artists with just another routine bomb and/or anthrax threat, but either way, the 11th floor at MGM Tower is clearing out again: Jeff Kleeman is reportedly evacuating his office as Executive Vice President of Production after less than a year on the job at UA. His departure follows marketing boss Dennis Rice’s own flight earlier this summer and an abbreviated period during which Kleeman oversaw the development and/or production of exactly no finished films. Factor in the continuing limbo of Valkyrie, its deep (if closed) pockets and a tense relationship with its partners at MGM, and we can’t help but ask once again: Does Tom Cruise, Paula Wagner or any of the skeleton crew left over there actually have a plan for this studio? More »
9:20AM STV | Nicita Has Left the Building: Not a day too soon, it appears, 42-year agency veteran and CAA partner Rick Nicita is ditching his Death Star digs for the co-chairman spot at Morgan Creek. Nicita joins a distinguished list of CAA defectors to studio front offices, led by Michael Ovitz’s spectacular Disney flame job and Ron Meyer’s decidedly improved turn heading up Universal. The latter studio’s distribution partnership with Morgan Creek will come in handy for Nicita, who will be charged with restoring the Creek to its late-’80s/early-’90s golden years after a string of recent underachievers including The Good Shepherd and Man of the Year. We admit we’re a little surprised; at a time when most of his old CAA contemporaries are slowing down and/or testifying in federal court, Nicita’s move is that of a man with something to prove — most likely with wife Paula Wagner and client Tom Cruise looking on studiously from their own perches at UA. That’s just the kind of mensch he is. Good luck, Rick! [LAT, Photo Credit: Getty Images] More »
