Sunset Boulevard

I'm going to start this week's column off with my favorite news: that the Sex and the City movie is on its way to production, finally! Word is that the script is being written now and it may  go into production at the end of this year. Presumably enthusiasm was renewed after the huge success of Devil Wears Prada. Wait, you mean women buy movie tickets....?!

Next on the list of big surprises, Canadian actors have been on strike since early this year in a dispute over wages and new-media rights. I heard they're approaching a deal on wages and that they may go back to work soon, tabling the new-media rights issues to be dealt with over a longer period of time. Could one of the other reasons be that they're only helping their American counterparts -- I mean, with no Canadian actors to pull from, why go to Canada to make a movie anymore?

Speaking of new-media, not only are rights a difficult subject, but so is determining viewership. Variety ran an article on Wednesday about the difficulties in tracking web viewrs. TV has the Nielson raitings - which though not perfect are arguably pretty reliable - but tracking viewers of web-contents is considerably more complicated. Videos are often posted to multiple sites, and different sites track views differently. For example, some may count a single click as a full view, while others measure how much of a video a user watches. Several companies are rushing to establish themselves as the 'Nielson' of this field, including, of course, Nielson itself who recently purchased the remaining shares of NetRatings Co. that it didn't already own. No company has yet developed a comprehensive solution.

Fox News Channel leaked a small segment of its new show "The 1/2 Hour News Hour" to YouTube, its own version of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show." Bob Cesca blogged for the Huffington Post that he believed the laughter was, in fact, a laugh track - most likely due to the fact that it's not funny. Take a look for yourself. Laugh track or no, I felt like there were two major problems. First is that they basically steal directly from "The Daily Show," so much that it is not a spoof but a rip-off. If you're so funny, Fox News, why don't you come up with some of your own ideas? Second is that part of the appeal of the daily show is the charisma of Jon Stewart and company - and these hosts seem so uptight and scripted. Yes, we all know Jon Stewart's shows are scripted, but they seem so off the cuff and adlibbed - and that works. The stilted dialogue does not. Also, the first two shots of "Obamamania" are massive crowds of all black people. This may be politically incorrect but correct me if I'm wrong - aren't Barack's supporters mostly white? And also, there's a certain connotation that comes from the "mob" image - we studied it in film school - take a look at Grapes of Wrath. It just doesn't sit well with me. But I suppose it fills a void in the conservative TV scheduling, so it's probably a smart move on Fox's part.

Also in TV, "24" is reportedly toning down its depiction of terrorism. They swear it is not due to the hordes of protestors. I'm not a "24" watcher, so anyone who is, please enlighten us on what you think the real reason is.

In an incredibly convenient coincidence, Will Arnett ("Arrested Development") will star in and produce Space Invader, a comedy about a love triangle on a space station. Apparently the writers began working on it long before the recent Lisa-Nowak-I-wore-a-diaper-to-attack-my-lover's-other-lover scandal broke.

You can all stop waiting and praying, a Milli Vanilli movie has been announced at last. Writing and directing it is Jeff Nathanson who wrote Catch me if you Can, another movie about a fraud. He called Milli Vanilli "the ultimate con."

Steiner Studios in Brooklyn is expanding to nearly double its size to compete with Hollywood studios. Very exciting news for the New York film industry, especially since by my observation, it seemed like it was shrinking. I think it would be fantastic to have another center of the industry for balance. People in LA can get wrapped up in it...

Now rumored to replace Katie Holmes in the next Batman movie is Maggie Gyllenhaal. Don't hold your breath - they'll probably be whispering someone else's name tomorrow.

Finally, someone asked about a Departed sequel and I have to say I have not heard any such rumors. I sincerely hope its not true. Don't get me wrong, I loved The Departed but I don't see it lending itself to a sequel. However, I can tell you that both Mark Wahlberg and Matt Damon just signed on to do another movie together: The Fighter, based on the life of boxer Micky Ward and his trainer brother.

That's it for this week. I'm leaving only one question unanswered and that is Hillary or Obama? Why is everyone in Hollywood obsessed with picking sides?? They're politicians, not movie stars.

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Alex M., Movie Correspondent

Alex's column, Sunset Boulevard, published every Friday to Gather Essentials: Movies, is a weekly summary of the movie industry's biggest stories.

Alex is a film school grad working at a production company in Hollywood. She's been passionate about movies since she knew what they were and always has an opinion (for better or worse).

You can find all of Alex's Sunset Boulevard columns at gather.com/SunsetBoulevard

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