Hollywood Week: Biden Sits for ABC Interview, Hollywood Dem Donors Voice Concern, Robert Towne

President Joe Biden, in his first post-debate interview, sat down with "This Week" Correspondent George Stephanopoulos, for a compelling and candid interview on his debate performance, age and health, and his chances for reelection.

Biden's Post Debate Interview

President Biden, in his first post-debate interview, sat down with "This Week" Correspondent George Stephanopoulos, for a compelling and candid interview on his debate performance, age and health, and his chances for reelection.


NatGeo Six-Part Underwater Adventure Series Premieres August


As the debate was more about visuals, this interview presented an apparently well-rested, clearly healthier, less pale and ghostly, appearance and while his voice was less gravely, it was still horse, which may be the result of overuse, but consistent with his grandfatherly advice position.

Obviously, age and health were central to the interview. The interviewer continue to push Biden on his age and health, as if his opponent, at 76, was a much younger man than the actual five years that separate the two.

As Stephanopoulos continued to request if the president would be willing to submit to an "independent" battery of cognitive and neurological tests, "and submit the result to the American people," implying that the president may be in early stage dementia or experiencing age related cognitive decline. Fortunately, the American people understand in politics there is no such thing as an independent opinion, and every opinion and decision is politically motivated.

Stephanopoulos, who served as the former Senior Advisor to President Bill Clinton, was kind but combative, pressing Biden with hypothetical reiterations of what would it take for him to "stand down?"


Hollywood Week: Trump Verdict, Peltz Sells Off Disney Stake, SF Moon, Al Ruddy


Attempting to measure Biden's determination Stephanopoulos began pressing the president first with a single democrat, Senator Mark Warner, (D-VA), then to a coalition of democrats, "And if Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries and Nancy Pelosi come down and say, "We're worried that if you stay in the race, we're going to lose the House and the Senate," how will you respond?," reported The New York Times.

Biden finally admitted that if the "Lord Almighty" told him to step down he would. Stephanopoulos acknowledged that the Lord Almighty isn't going to tell him to relinquish his pursuits. And yet it is quite possible the Lord Almighty will show up on election day.

The exchange resulted in clear question, would the American people prefer a man who follows his convictions or a convicted felon who has been given immunity to commit any crime as president with impunity including rape?


Hollywood Week: Netflix Defamation Lawsuit, Dick Van Dyke Emmy, DeNiro Retrospective


Hollywood Heavyweight Democrats Call on Biden to Abandon Re-Election Bid

Netflix Co-Founder Reed Hastings, Producer and activist Abigail Disney, and Endeavor CEO Ari Emanual have each made public statements or on Biden to Abandon Incumbent Bid.

Hastings, who has become on the largest democratic supporters sent an email to The New York Times, saying, "Biden needs to step aside to allow a vigorous Democratic leader to beat Trump and keep us safe and prosperous," he said in an email with The Times.

Emanual, whose brother Rahm Emanual was President Obama's Chief of Staff, said in The Hollywood Reporter, "I talked to a bunch of big donors, and they're moving all their money to Congress and the Senate. It's a legal issue now," he sighed, a situation that he said left Democrats with few tenable options. "Maybe there's some wiggle room, but I haven't seen it. I don't know, I'm not a lawyer, but we're in fuck city!"

Abigail Disney, granddaughter of The Walt Disney Company Co-Founder, Roy Disney, said to CBNC, "I intend to stop any contributions to the party unless and until they replace Biden at the top of the ticket.  This is realism, not disrespect. Biden is a good man and has served his country admirably, but the stakes are far too high."

What this sounds like is that these mega donors want President Biden at the Democratic National Convention, in August, to pledge his delegates to a yet unknown democratic candidate and develop a 10 week super-campaign that would propel this in the wings candidate to a victory.


Hollywood Week: Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis, Cannes Films in Competition, Studio Ghibli, Meryl Streep


Robert Towne, Chinatown Screenwriter, Dies

Academy Award winning screenwriter Robert Towne, who emerged in the 1970s during the New Hollywood Era, died this week. He was 89.

Towne burst on the scene with the 1975 script Chinatown, which after an envious pre-Oscar award season, earned 11 Academy Award nominations, and with a win for Towne, for Best Original Screenplay, his career, as a prolific script doctor, screenwriter, and consultant was made.

"His takes on Los Angeles were etched with melancholy and painted the city as one of beauty and sadness. In Chinatown and Shampoo, gumshoe J.J. Gittes (Jack Nicholson) and Beverly Hills hairdresser George Roundy (Warren Beatty) end up alone. (Towne collaborated often with those actors.)," reported The Hollywood Reporter.

An overnight success, Towne had been writing screenplays, treatments, and television episodes for 15 years, before then Paramount Chief, Robert Evans, picked up the script. The rest, they say, is Hollywood history. Towne continued to write many celebrated films including The Two Jakes, with Jack Nicholson, Heaven Can Wait, with Warren Beatty, The Firm with Tom Cruise, and also with Cruise Days of Thunder, Mission Impossible and MI:II.


Janet Walker, Award-Winning Screenwriter, Director, Producer, and Publisher, Unveils Slate at EFM


Haute Tease

  • An Evening of Food & Foto’s for Foundation Rwanda

    Fifteen of Los Angeles’ most celebrated chef’s recently gathered at The Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills for an evening of Food & Foto’s to benefit Foundation Rwanda.

     
  • Du Gaz Entre Paris et Berlin

    Les tensions franco-allemandes liées à la décision de Berlin de se protéger via ses propres moyens de la crise de l'énergie fragilisent une Union européenne encore trop exposée à l'omnipotence économique allemande, domination qui trouve aussi son origine dans sa rigueur budgétaire.

     
  • Self-Driver Review – Riveting, Engrossing, Attention-Grabbing

    Self-Driver, from Cinephobia Releasing, brings to the screen a well-written, and engaging dark story as a ride-share driver is approached with the opportunity to boost his earnings simply by joining an exclusive ride share service.

     
  • Academy Awards: Glenn Weiss Returns As Oscars® Director

    The Oscars® show producers Jesse Collins, Stacey Sher and Steven Soderbergh announced that veteran director Glenn Weiss will return to direct the 93rd Oscars.  The Oscars will air live on ABC and broadcast outlets worldwide Sunday, April 25, 2021.

     
  • DDA Presents Toronto International Film Festival Slate

    With The Toronto International Film Festival four days away DDA has announced their upcoming slate of films for Press & Industry screenings and commercial consideration. Representing films and distributors DDA is prepared to assist in facilitating sale.  

  • Auto, Yachts, Jets: Best Luxury Cars for Long-Distance Driving

    Long-distance driving is more popular each year due to new locations and events. People will travel in style in a luxury rental vehicle because of the multiple options for the best elite car to drive long distances.

Arts / Culture