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Moviegoers Open 'Treasure' Box
31 December 2007 (StudioBriefing)
Without the distraction of last-minute Christmas shopping and family get-togethers, moviegoers returned to the theaters over the weekend to see the movies that they may have missed over last weekend's holiday. (No new movies opened wide.) The result was a second big weekend for Disney's National Treasure: Book of Secrets, which declined just 20 percent, to take in an estimated $35.6 million, bringing its 10-day total to $124 million. Surprisingly 20th Century Fox's I Am Legend for second place with $30 million in ticket sales. Legend placed third with $27.5 million, bringing its total to $194.6 million and putting it on track to cross the $200-million mark today (Monday), as moviegoers return to theaters on New Year's Eve. Charlie Wilson's War came in fourth with an estimated gross of $11.8 million. The film, which stars Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts and was directed by Mike Nichols, has been making steady progress since opening slowly last week. Widening its release to 998 theaters, Fox Searchlight's Juno placed fifth with $10.3 million, giving it a per-theater average of $10,321, a figure that exceeds the $9,290 per-theater average of Treasure. Perhaps even more impressive is the fact that the critically hailed There Will Be Blood, starring Daniel Day-Lewis, took in $185,525 in just two theaters -- that's $92,763 per theater. On the other hand, The Golden Compass and Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story fell out of the top ten faster than most analysts had thought possible.

The top ten films for the weekend, according to studio estimates compiled by Media by Numbers: 1. National Treasure: Book of Secrets, $35.6 million; 2. Alvin and the Chipmunks, $30 million; 3. I Am Legend, $27.5 million; 4. Charlie Wilson's War, $11.8 million; 5. Juno, $10.3 million; 6. Alien Vs. Predator: Requiem, $10.05 million; 7. The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep, $9.2 million; 8. P.S. I Love You, $9.1 million; 9. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, $8 million; 10. Enchanted, $6.5 million.

Late Shows, Who Needs Them? Not New Movies
24 December 2007 (StudioBriefing)
As it turns out, the movie studios haven't needed those late-night talk shows to promote their newest releases, after all. For the second weekend in a row, the box office produced solid results, soaring 36 percent above those for the comparable weekend a year ago. It was led by National Treasure: Book of Secrets, which recorded an estimated $45.5 million for the first three days of a five-day holiday weekend -- 30 percent more than the original National Treasure earned when it opened with $35.1 million in 2004. Last week's No. 1 and No. 2 films finished No. 2 and No. 3, with the Will Smith starrer I Am Legend producing $34 million and Alvin and the Chipmunks, $29 million. Charlie Wilson's War debuted in fourth place with a soft $9.6 million, a veritable bomb for a movie starring Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts, directed by Mike Nichols, and written by Aaron Sorkin. The film received all-over-the-place reviews. Although it's supposedly based on a true story, Wall Street Journal critic Joe Morgenstern wrote, "I didn't believe a word of it," while Claudia Puig in USA Today described it as "an eye-opening and sassy tale." It barely edged out Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, starring Johnny Depp, a veritable blockbuster for a non-stop singing musical -- and especially one showing on only 1,250 screens. Also surprising was the performance of P.S. I Love You, which was savaged by critics but nevertheless managed to draw $6.5 million in ticket sales. Its audience turned out to be 70 percent female. (They perhaps followed New York Post critic Lou Lumenick's advice: "Ladies, love means never having to force your significant other to sit through something as sloppy as P.S. I Love You.") Also surprising -- for the opposite reason -- was the poor performance of Judd Apatow's Walk Hard, which received mostly good reviews and strong studio promotion but tanked with just $6.5 million.

The top ten films for the weekend, according to studio estimates compiled by Media by Numbers: 1. National Treasure: Book of Secrets, $45.5 million; 2. I Am Legend, $34.2 million; 3. Alvin and the Chipmunks, $29 million; 4. Charlie Wilson's War, $9.6 million; 5. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, $9.35 million; 6. P.S. I Love You, $6.5 million; 7. Enchanted, $4.15 million; 8. Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, $4.1 million; 9. The Golden Compass, $4 million; 10. Juno, $3.4 million.

'Cool Hand Luke' Director Stuart Rosenberg Dies
19 March 2007 (WENN)
Stuart Rosenberg, the director of the acclaimed 1967 Paul Newman prison drama Cool Hand Luke and the very successful 1979 thriller The Amityville Horror, died Thursday after suffering a heart attack at his home in Beverly Hills; he was 79. A prolific TV director who won an Emmy award in 1963 for an episode of The Defenders, Rosenberg made his feature film debut with Cool Hand Luke, which received an Oscar nomination for star Paul Newman and a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for George Kennedy; Rosenberg himself received a Directors Guild of America nomination, but lost to Mike Nichols for The Graduate. His films throughout the 60s and 70s included The April Fools (with Jack Lemmon and Catherine Deneuve), The Drowning Pool (also starring Newman), Voyage of the Damned (with Faye Dunaway and Oscar nominee Lee Grant), and The Amityville Horror, a surprise box office hit based on the notorious book about a supposedly haunted house on Long Island. In the 80s, Rosenberg directed another prison drama, the acclaimed Brubaker, starring Robert Redford (Rosenberg replaced initial director Bob Rafelson), and the adaptation of the novel The Pope of Greenwich Village, which scored an Oscar nomination for supporting actress Geraldine Page. His last film was 1991's My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys, starring Scott Glenn and Ben Johnson. Rosenberg is survived by his wife, Margot, and his son, first assistant director Benjamin Rosenberg. --Mark Englehart, IMDb staff

Roberts Set To Return for Tom Hanks Film
12 January 2006 (WENN)
Julia Roberts is set to make her movie comeback in a new film opposite fellow Oscar winner Tom Hanks. The Pretty Woman star took a hiatus when she became a mum in 2004, but now she has been lured back to the big screen by her Closer director Mike Nichols. Roberts is in negotiations to play Texas socialite Joanne Herring in the real-life story of US congressman Charlie Wilson, who fought to fund the Afghan rebels' battle against the Russians. Charlie Wilson's War, based on George Crile's book of the same name, will be Roberts' first movie role since 2004's Ocean's Twelve. The actress is also in negotiations to star in the second sequel of Ocean's Eleven.

Hollywood Dominates Broadway's Tony Award Nods
11 May 2005 (StudioBriefing)
Broadway's Tony Award nominations resembled those for the Oscars Tuesday as Hollywood celebrities dominated the list. Monty Python's Spamalot, based on the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail, led with 14 nominations, only one short of the record 15 set in 2001 by The Producers, another Broadway show based on a Hollywood movie. Also receiving numerous nods (11 in all) Tuesday was the musical version of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Hollywood celebs who received nominations included Laura Linney (Sight Unseen), Mary-Louise Parker (Reckless), Kathleen Turner (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?), Phylicia Rashad (Gem of the Ocean), Billy Crudup (The Pillowman), James Earl Jones (On Golden Pond), John Lithgow (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels), Christina Applegate (Sweet Charity) and Hank Azaria, Tim Curry, and Mike Nichols (Monty Python's Spamalot). Conspicuously absent from the nominations was Denzel Washington, whom several critics considered a shoo-in for a Tony nomination for his performance as Brutus in Julius Caesar.

Monty Python Joins Broadway's Inner Circle at Outer Circle
9 May 2005 (StudioBriefing)
Monty Python's Spamalot, the Broadway musical based on the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail, received four Outer Critics Circle Awards Sunday, including best Broadway musical; best director, musical (Mike Nichols); featured actress, musical (Sara Ramirez), and costume design (Tim Hatley).

'Holy Grail' Comes to Broadway
18 March 2005 (StudioBriefing)
Monty Python's Spamalot, Mike Nichols' Broadway version of the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail, has opened with ravesalot. Veteran critic Clive Barnes describes it as "bloody fantastic. Gorgeously silly. Superlative and better." Gordon Cox in Newsday remarks: "The show slays 'em like Excalibur." The New York Daily News assigned both its film critic, Jack Mathews, and its theater critic, Howard Kissel, to review it. Mathews writes: "It's an evening of rapturous insanity." But Kissel comments somewhat grumpily: "Perhaps if I didn't know their sketches by heart, I might have been more charmed by this incarnation. So if you have no idea what the significance of a killer rabbit is, you might enjoy it more." Terry Byrne's review in the Boston Herald is headlined, "Joust hilarious! Spamalot does Python proud." The worst review of the lot comes from the New York Times'Ben Brantley, who writes: "That Spamalot is the best new musical to open on Broadway this season is inarguable, but that's not saying much. The show is amusing, agreeable, forgettable."

Directors Guild Nominations Announced
6 January 2005 (IMDb News Flash)
The Oscar race came into even clearer view with this morning's Director Guild nominations, which cited four of the five films that received mention from the Producers Guild yesterday. Veterans Martin Scorsese (The Aviator) and Clint Eastwood (Million Dollar Baby), previous DGA nominees (Eastwood won for 1992's Unforgiven), both snagged nominations as did first time nominees Marc Forster (Finding Neverland) and Alexander Payne (Sideways). All four movies were nominated alongside The Incredibles for the PGA's Best Picture award, and those four directors also have Golden Globe nominations under their belt this year. The fifth DGA nominee, a bit of a surprise choice, was Taylor Hackford, who picked up his first major mention of any kind this awards season for the biopic Ray. Noticeably missing from the list were Golden Globe nominee Mike Nichols (Closer), as well as critical faves Mike Leigh (Vera Drake) and Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind). The DGA has a fairly excellent track record for picking the Best Director Oscar winner, with 50 of the DGA's 56 past winners picking up the honor, though two of their choices in the past five years -- Rob Marshall (Chicago) and Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) -- failed to win the Academy Award. The winner will be named Saturday, January 29th, four days after the announcement of the Academy Award nominations. --Prepared by IMDb staff

For more awards coverage, visit IMDb's Road to the Oscars

More Treasure for 'Treasure'
6 December 2004 (StudioBriefing)
During a weekend that saw no new release opening in more than 500 theaters, films that comprised last weekend's top ten did so again -- with the exception of the new Mike Nichols movie Closer, which opened in just 476 theaters and placed sixth with $7.7 million. Disney's National Treasure remained on top for the third consecutive week, as it raked in $17.1 million. Christmas With the Kranks moved into second place with $11.7 million, while The Polar Express took over third place with $11 million, rising for the first time above Disney/Pixar's The Incredibles, which wound up with $9.2 million. A third animated feature, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, took the fifth position with $7.8 million.

The top ten films for the weekend, according to studio estimates compiled by Exhibitor Relations: 1. National Treasure, $17.1 million; 2. Christmas With the Kranks, $11.7 million; 3. The Polar Express, $11 million; 4. The Incredibles, $9.2 million; 5. The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, $7.8 million; 6. Closer, $7.7 million; 7. Alexander, $4.7 million; 8. Finding Neverland, $2.9 million; 9. Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, $2.8 million; 10. Ray, $1.9 million.

Movie Reviews: 'Closer'
3 December 2004 (StudioBriefing)
Mike Nichols' Closer is opening on fewer than 500 screens today, but it is touching off widespread critical debate. A.O. Scott in the New York Times hails Nichols as one of the few filmmakers "who are capable of infusing the bodily expressions of erotic desire with dramatic force and psychological meaning." Leslie Morris in the Boston Globe remarks that "it's a show of the director's goodness that a movie fundamentally preoccupied with interpersonal ugliness is allowed to end on a convincing note of beauty." Bob Longino in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution describes the movie as "compelling, unsettling and finely acted." Peter Howell, in the Toronto Star calls it "a Nichols signature movie, one of his best in a long career and of a piece with Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Carnal Knowledge." On the other hand, Kenneth Turan in the Los Angeles Times concludes that what the film "lacks is a compelling reason to see it. Despite involved acting from Julia Roberts, Jude Law, Natalie Portman and Clive Owen and Nichols' impeccable professionalism as a director, the end result is, to quote one of the characters, 'a bunch of sad strangers photographed beautifully.'" Jack Mathews in the New York Daily News remarks that while the actors are all "terrific," the movie "still manages to be unpleasant." John Anderson in Newsday remarks that the movie winds up being a case of "bad Pinter meets bad Updike, dancing to the rat-a-tat rhythms of an E.R. episode." Similarly, Joe Morgenstern writes in the Wall Street Journal: "The movie is insistently playlike, if rarely playful, thanks to the director's fondness for artificial, rat-a-tat-tat rhythms of speech that sound like parodies of drawing-room comedy." Bob Strauss in the Los Angeles Daily News comments that the film "offers only intermittent satisfaction." And Philip Wuntch's comments in the Dallas Morning News would seem to apply to his fellow critics when he remarks: "Closer reaches out and grabs all but the most reluctant viewer. Some spectators will be bored, but more will be shaken and stirred."

Nichols Removes Portman's Nude Scenes
8 November 2004 (WENN)
Actress Natalie Portman ordered director Mike Nichols to remove her full frontal nude scenes from her latest movie Closer - despite playing a stripper in the film. Nichols is very protective of the 23-year-old beauty and agreed the topless footage was acceptable, but decided raunchy shots of her fully nude were gratuitous and should be deleted from the drama. Portman explains, "He wants to see my bare ass much less than (even) my father would. He's as or more protective of me than my parents are. So doing sexual, physical stuff for him felt very uncomfortable."

Roberts Lines Up First Post-Pregnancy Role
29 September 2004 (WENN)
Julia Roberts is set to star in romantic comedy Seven-Year Switch after she gives birth to twins in the new year. The Oscar winner, 36, is in talks to play a woman fast approaching the seventh year of a relationship when she starts to experience the proverbial itch and wonders what might have been if she had made different choices in her life. The Frank Capra-esque film will be directed by Mike Nichols, who also helmed Roberts' forthcoming movie, Closer. Meanwhile, the actress is currently on maternity leave, after spending the summer in Europe filming sequel Ocean's Twelve opposite George Clooney and Brad Pitt.

And the Angels Sing -- For HBO
20 September 2004 (StudioBriefing)
HBO's miniseries Angels in America won a record 11 Emmy Awards Sunday night (tying with 1976's Eleanor and Franklin), receiving an award in every major category for which it was nominated, including best actor (Al Pacino), best actress (Meryl Streep), best director (Mike Nichols), best writer (Tony Kushner), and best miniseries. HBO's The Sopranos took the best drama series award. Another HBO production, Something the Lord Made, was voted best made-for-TV movie. Fox's critical hit (but ratings failure) Arrested Development won for best comedy series. CBS's The Amazing Race earned the best reality show award, while Comedy Central's The Daily Show With Jon Stewart took the best variety, music, or comedy series Emmy. In the most surprising upset, James Spader won the award for best actor in a drama series (The Practice), while Kelsey Grammer won for best actor in a comedy series (Frasier). Allison Janney (The West Wing) and Sarah Jessica Parker (Sex and the City) won in the respective best-actress categories. The awards telecast performed poorly in the ratings, drawing a second-place 9.0 rating and 15 share in the 8:00 (beaten by CBS's Cold Case), then moving ahead at 9:00 with a 10.0/15 and at 10:00 with a 9.7/16. But the highest rated show of the night was CBS's 60 Minutes, which did a 12.4/23 at 7:00 and lifted CBS to a first-place win for the night.

Clive Owen Starstruck by Co-Star Julia Roberts
15 July 2004 (WENN)
Clive Owen refuses to believe rumors Hollywood star Julia Roberts is a diva - because she "couldn't have been nicer" when they worked together on new movie Closer. The pair join Jude Law and Natalie Portman in the star studded Mike Nichols drama - currently in post-production - and Owen admits the actress was an entirely different person to one portrayed in the press. He says, "I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I mean, she's probably the most famous actress in the world and you hear all this stuff and read all these things, but she couldn't have been nicer to work with. She was so easy and there was no diva attitude at all, no big entourage of assistants and publicists. I really had a great time with her."

'Frasier' Star Lands Monty Python Role
9 July 2004 (WENN)
Former Frasier star David Hyde Pierce and Rocky Horror Picture Show actor Tim Curry have been named among the cast of Eric Idle's new Monty Python musical. The acting pair and funnyman Hank Azaria will take the leads in the Broadway-bound production of Spamalot. The King Arthur legend spoof, which became cult Monty Python film Monty Python & The Holy Grail, will be directed by Oscar winner Mike Nichols. Pierce, who played Frasier's brother Niles Crane in the hit sitcom, will play Sir Robin and Curry will play King Arthur. Azaria will take on the role of Sir Lancelot. The show is set to debut in Chicago, Illinois, in December, before beginning a Broadway run in February.

De Niro Named for DGA Honor
12 May 2004 (WENN)
Screen veteran Robert De Niro has been picked to receive a special award at the Fifth Directors Guild Of America (DGA) Honors on 29 September in New York City. The DGA says it selected the Meet The Parents star - founder of the Tribeca Film Festival - for excellence in his craft, outstanding contributions to American film culture and his positive impact on New York film-making. Other award recipients will be announced at the end of the month. Past honorees include Martin Scorsese, Mike Nichols and Spike Lee.

Mike Nichols To Receive DGA Award
6 January 2004 (StudioBriefing)
The Directors Guild of America said Monday that it will present its lifetime achievement award this year to Mike Nichols, the onetime Second City comic, who as a director, won an Oscar for 1967's The Graduate and was nominated for best director for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Silkwood and Working Girl. He has recently receiving glowing notices for his directing work on the HBO miniseries Angels in America.

Nichols to Direct Broadway Version of Monty Python Movie
3 November 2003 (StudioBriefing)
Mike Nichols has agreed to direct a Broadway musical version of the 1975 movie comedy Monty Python and the Holy Grail. In an interview with the London Sunday Times, Python member Eric Idle, who is producing the show, due to open in 2005, said, "I said that in an ideal world I'd like Mike to direct it. ... I was amazed when he said, 'Yes, yes, yes.'" However, Idle said that neither he, nor the other Pythons -- John Cleese, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam -- will appear in it. "People always say, is there going to be a Python reunion? But we've discovered the less we do, the more people pay," he said.

Roberts 'Closer' to Blanchett Role
23 September 2003 (WENN)
Superstar Julia Roberts is in talks to play the lead in new film Closer after Cate Blanchett dropped out from the role. Blanchett last week quit the film after announcing she's pregnant with her second child, so The Graduate director Mike Nichols approached the Pretty Woman actress to take over in his adaptation of Patrick Marber's play. Jude Law, Natalie Portman and Clive Owen are also on board for the film, about the tangled relationship between two couples after a man from one and woman from the other have an affair. Blanchett is currently wrapping up Martin Scorsese's The Aviator, a Howard Hughes biopic. She will then go to Italy to shoot Wes Anderson's The Life Aquatic alongside Bill Murray, Owen Wilson and Anjelica Huston before her baby is due next year. Roberts will next appear in Mona Lisa Smile, followed by Ocean's Twelve, Steven Soderbergh's follow-up to his 2001 heist flick.

Pacino To Give First TV Performance
14 July 2003 (StudioBriefing)
Al Pacino will make his television debut in December in an HBO miniseries based on Tony Kushner's play Angels in America, to be directed by Mike Nichols and costar Meryl Streep, the New York Daily News reported today (Monday). "I've never done television," Pacino told the newspaper. "You look at the scripts that come to you, the scripts that either you get or a friend of yours or someone tells you about. ... If the material is there, you go with the glow, you know?"

Drug Made Mike Nichols Sell Priceless Paintings
18 March 2003 (WENN)
Film director Mike Nichols says that he once sold a priceless collection of rare paintings at cut-rate prices - because he fell victim to Halcion-induced psychosis. Nichols - who directed The Graduate - says the drug, usually used to treat anxiety and insomnia, made him think he was poor when he was in good financial shape. He says, "I had a panic depression in which I suffered the delusion that I was a pauper inevitably headed for a debtor's prison. I had good friends who went over my assets million by million, and at the end all I would be doing is weeping that I was broke and that my children would be destitute after my death." But the strain of selling valuable masterpieces by artists including Matisse and Balthus led the director to take even more Halcion. When Nichols' doctors found out what was happening it was too late. He says, "I just couldn't buy back my art. The collectors just wouldn't give the stuff up at any price."

Kingsley: Call Me Sir
27 July 2002 (WENN)
Bald-headed actor Sir Ben Kingsley is causing a few raised eyebrows on the set of his new movie - insisting everyone else uses his full title. The Gandhi Oscar-winner is currently shooting Suspect Zero in the US state of New Mexico. According to American gossip website Page Six, sources on the set claim the 58-year-old insists that everyone call him "Sir," in keeping with his British honor. Some of the crew have worked with other British knights like Sir Anthony Hopkins, who won't answer to anything more formal than "Tony". It's the same on the set of Mike Nichols' Angels In America, now filming in Astoria for HBO, where Sir Michael Gambon reportedly threatened actual violence to anyone who used his title.

Whoopi Goldberg Tapped For Twain Prize
16 October 2001 (WENN)
American comedienne Whoopi Goldberg has been named the recipient of the 2001 Mark Twain Prize For American Humor - becoming the first woman to receive the award. The ceremony will air on November 21st in America under the title On Stage At The Kennedy Center: The Mark Twain Prize. Taping of the show will take place on November 15th, and will include testimonials by a cast set to include Harry Belafonte, Ken Burns, Billy Crystal, Tommy Davidson, Alan King, Mike Nichols, Caroline Rhea, Wanda Sykes, Bruce Vilanch and Robin Williams. Previous recipients of the prize include Carl Reiner, Jonathan Winters and Richard Pryor.

Stars Get Russian In Central Park
13 August 2001 (WENN)
Director Mike Nichols has tapped a number of top Hollywood stars to help him stage a performance of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull in New York's Central Park as part of the summer Shakespeare In The Park dramatic program. With a new translation of the Russian classic from Tom Stoppard, Nichols lined up Meryl Streep (who also conceived the project), Natalie Portman, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Kevin Kline, John Goodman, Marcia Gay Harden, and Christopher Walken in a production that's getting solid reviews for the acting and for the unusually witty script. U.S.A. Today reviewer Elysa Gardner, in giving it three out of four stars, said Nichols brought together a cast that was not only well-respected, but "perfect for the roles they play," and called it "the most consistently entertaining presentation of Chekhov, I've seen." (This story was prepared by IMDb staff.)

Angels May Finally Be Coming To America
27 July 2001 (StudioBriefing)
Ten years after it became a sensation on Broadway, Tony Kushner's Pulitzer Prize-winning gay-themed play, Angels in America, may be coming to television as an HBO miniseries starring Al Pacino and Meryl Streep and directed by Mike Nichols, the New York Post reported today (Friday), citing a person close to the project. The project will be a joint production between HBO and Avenue Pictures (producers of Drugstore Cowboy) and would be aired as six one-hour episodes, the newspaper said.

Thompson Flashes Her Backside To Calm Co-star's Nerves
22 March 2001 (WENN)
Emma Thompson bared her backside on the opening day of filming new TV movie Wit to help her co-star relax. The actress plays terminally ill cancer patient Vivian Bearing in the new movie, directed by Mike Nichols, and when she realized her co-star Jonathan Woodward felt awkward poking her on his first day of filming she set about helping him relax. Woodward makes his movie debut as Bearing's doctor in Wit. Nicholls recalls, "He was almost passing out, trying to fake putting his arm inside Emma. Suddenly she leaned forward, hiked up her gown, and said airily, `Feel free to rummage.'"

Williams, Smith To Team In Remake Of Classic British Comedy
12 June 2000 (StudioBriefing)
The classic 1949 Ealing Studios comedy Kind Hearts and Coronets is set to be remade by Mike Nichols with Robin Williams in the role(s) originally performed by Alec Guinness, and Will Smith in the role played by Jack Price, the London Express reported today (Monday). In the original film, Guinness portrayed eight members of the same family, each of whom was cleverly murdered by Price. The Express quoted Nichols as saying that he intended to alter the central theme of the original film. "That was fundamentally about class struggle, " he said. "The new one will be about race. My movie will also end differently." Nichols said he expected the film to start shooting later this year.

Emma Thompson Going Bald For Two Months
1 June 2000 (WENN)
British actress Emma Thompson is psyching up to shave all her hair off for a new movie role - and fears it will kill off any chance of a love-life. The SENSE AND SENSIBILTY actress, who hasn't made a movie for three years, is teaming up old friend with Mike Nichols to take the lead role in Wit (2001) (TV) - playing a terminally ill scholar who's in denial about dying. With just a few months to go before filming starts, Thompson is making the most of her hair while she's still got some - and has opted for a bleached-blonde punk cut. She laughs, "I thought since I've got to cut it all off anyway, I might as well ruin it in the process. I'll be bald for months - I'll be sleeping in pyjamas and a hat - no chance of any sex!"

Movie Reviews: What Planet Are You From?
3 March 2000 (StudioBriefing)
After Next Best Thing, The (2000), What Planet Are You From? (2000) and Drowning Mona (2000) appear to be in a dead heat for the critics' next worst movie of the weekend. Planet, which stars Garry Shandling and is directed by Mike Nichols, with an impressive cast that includes Annette Bening, Ben Kingsley, Linda Fiorentino, John Goodman and Greg Kinnear, is being depicted as -- in the words of Newsday's Gene Seymour -- "a disappointment of cosmic proportions" by most critics. "Did Mike Nichols really direct this dog of a comedy?" asks Gary Schwan of the Cox News Service, adding, "I'd just like to know the identity of the alien being that is passing itself off as director Mike Nichols. How else to explain the claim that a top-shelf director like Nichols actually helmed this galactic-sized disaster." "This movie wants to be sweet and dark at the same time, " writes Elvis Mitchell in the New York Times, "but it is as distant as a planet's satellite." Comments Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun Times: "Here is the most uncomfortable movie of the new year, an exercise in feel-good smut." Joe Morgenstern in the Wall Street Journal notes that in the movie Ben Kingsley, who plays an alien leader, holds periodic meetings with the alien emissary played by Shandling in the restroom of a jetliner. "At the end of each meeting, Mr. Kingsley flushes himself down the toilet, " Morgenstern writes. "It's a perfect metaphor for the movie." But Lou Lumenick in the New York Post apparently comes from the same planet as the filmmakers, calling Shandling "hilarious" and Planet "easily the funniest movie of the year." And Philip Wuntch in the Dallas Morning News says that while it may not be "the cosmic farce" that you'd expect the eminent filmmakers to turn out, "it's consistently humorous, often downright funny and sometimes hilarious."

Superagent Maloney Dead At 35
17 November 1999 (StudioBriefing)
Onetime superagent Jay Maloney whose clients included Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Mike Nichols, David Letterman and Dustin Hoffman was found dead at his home Tuesday, an apparent suicide. Maloney had long been battling cocaine addiction. Today's (Wednesday) Los Angeles Times quoted Sandy Climan, a former veteran CAA agent, as saying, "He was on a high wire and lost his footing." Producer Peter Guber told the newspaper: "His flame burned very bright, and ultimately it was self consuming."

Nichols-May Reunite For Lawsuit
19 February 1999 (StudioBriefing)
Former comedy partners Mike Nichols and Elaine May have filed a lawsuit against A&E channel, claiming that a routine of theirs that aired in 1958 was included in a 1998 series, The Fifties: The Burning Desire, without their permission. However, the director of the series, Alex Gibney, told the Associated Press Thursday, "For them to allege that we hadn't bothered to get permission for the clip would be incorrect."

Nichols May Remake Guinness Classic
22 December 1998 (StudioBriefing)
Mike Nichols is planning a remake of the classic 1949 British comedy Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), in which Alec Guinness played seven roles, and is trying to land Robin Williams to star, the London Times reported today (Tuesday). In a commentary, the paper's New York correspondent, Giles Whittell, wrote: "The remake is the latest instance of Hollywood's feverish plundering of past hits for good ideas - a symptom, most agree, of its inability to come up with new ones -- including, in the past 18 months, Psycho (1998), _Doctor Dolittle (1998)_(qv) and Nutty Professor, The (1996)."

Nichols May Direct Streisand In Concert Flick
7 September 1998 (StudioBriefing)
Barbra Streisand wants Mike Nichols to stage her next -- and final -- concert tour and to direct her performances for a theatrical concert feature film, the New York Post reported today (Monday), citing a source close to the two. The Post quoted the source as saying that Streisand feels that Nichols, in the newspaper's words, "could bring an extra dimension to her performance that would make it the icing on the cake of an extraordinary, four-decade career."

Primary Colors Debuts At Edinburgh Film Fest
26 August 1998 (StudioBriefing)
Mike Nichols' Primary Colors (1998) made its British debut at the Edinburgh Film Festival Tuesday night, attended by the two British stars, Emma Thompson and Adrian Lester. The film, about an idealist, albeit womanizing, U.S. presidential candidate portrayed by John Travolta, clearly raises questions that are currently in the news. "That is what politicians deal with all the time, " Lester told the BBC prior to the premiere. "We are talking about real people here. We're talking about a real situation."

The Primary Color Is Black
14 May 1998 (StudioBriefing)
Despite the fact that Primary Colors (1998), which cost $65 million to make, has earned only $40 million at the domestic box office, director Mike Nichols said at Cannes Wednesday that he is confident that the film will wind up in the black. Speaking at a news conference during which he decried Hollywood's obsession with box-office performance ("No one ever asks the question, 'Is the movie good?' Instead, they want to know, 'How did it do on the first weekend?'") Nichols said that the real-life White House scandal, which most thought would help the film, hurt it instead. "People see it on TV and every time they open a newspaper. They think, 'Who needs to pay to see it in a movie?'"

Primary Colors To Become Primary Film At Cannes
9 April 1998 (StudioBriefing)
Primary Colors (1998) has been selected to open the Cannes Film Festival on May 13, Daily Variety reported today (Thursday), indicating that John Travolta, Emma Thompson and Mike Nichols will be among those attending the screening and the ensuing party, hosted by foreign distributor Mutual Film Co. The selection could provide a boost for the film in overseas markets, which have traditionally been soft for politically oriented fare.

Travolta Denies He "Softened" Character In Primary Colors
18 March 1998 (StudioBriefing)
John Travolta has denied suggestions that he "softened" the character he portrays in Primary Colors (1998) -- supposedly modeled after Bill Clinton -- after the president, during a meeting with the actor, offered to intervene with the German government on behalf of Scientology. Travolta is a member of the quasi-religious group. Attending Tuesday night's premiere of the movie, Travolta told the New York Daily News, "I never discussed the business of this movie with the president. Ever." In addition, he added, when he met with Clinton, "I was in the middle of making the movie." In a separate interview with the paper, director Mike Nichols described as "lunacy -- complete lunacy" suggestions that he toned down the film to favor Clinton.

A Political Edit For Colors?
16 January 1998 (StudioBriefing)
Unidentified Universal Studio executives have ordered that a scene in Mike Nichols' upcoming Primary Colors, in which a character modeled after Hillary Clinton engages in an extramarital affair, be cut, the New York Post's "Page Six" gossip column reported today (Friday), citing unnamed sources. Although the scene was included in a rough-cut, the newspaper said, it was deleted at the insistence of "queasy Universal biggies" because "Hillary Clinton is so revered in Hollywood." The Post quoted studio spokesman Stu Zakim as denying that concerns about reaction by the First Family had anything to do with the deletion. "Lots of things are shot that don't make it into the movie, " Zakim said.