editor's note: Roger Daltry and Josh Brolin interviews were filmed at the Shootout studios on the same day. Roger Daltry will be appearing in an upcoming episode of Shootout.

What do Roger Daltry and Josh Brolin have in common? They had to cross the same picket line of writers striking in front of our studio. In another day and perhaps a different union, the picketers would have crowded them and me out or at least flexed their muscle of intimidation. These folks, despite the seriousness of their undertaking, had boxed lunches (undoubtedly some catered) and many had four dollar Starbucks lattes they sipped as they strolled in front of the gate. This seems very orderly and both Brolin and Daltry had little openly to add to the dialogue of the strike (yet having little practical effect on their life). But we will look back, if this confrontation does not come quickly to a soft landing, to find that this strike and work stoppage (unlike the one that occurred nearly twenty years ago that lasted nearly five months) will have more profound long lasting effects.

Back then there were fewer alternatives for the audience -- no internet or huge game audience. This, combined with cheaper and more abundant reality shows and game shows, could really put a crimp on the writers (and more significantly the advertisers) who already are jumping the TV ship for the internet. Both may never come back. This is a cautionary tale, but we should all be active in our own rescue and there is some commonality of interests that should motivate the parties to some accommodation and speed.

Flash forward...we need someone to write, direct, and star in a good ending and these folks know how important that is. I want the writers on the other side of the gate quickly and the rhetoric to be on the pages -- not in front of the stages.

Tune-In to Shootout, Sundays @ 11AM | 10 C

What do Jeffery Katzenberg (CEO of Dreamworks Animation) coming out with Bee movie, Oren Koules and Mark Burg (producers of Saw IV), and Stormy Daniels (adult film star in Operation Desert Stormy) have in common?

They connect first with audiences viscerally - Katzenberg through the heart, Koules and Burg through the gut, and Stormy at the groin.

All of them are in the emotional transportation business, where hits are born. The reason so many films don't connect with audiences is that they often aim at our head; more often these movies are flops.  Leave journalism to journalists.  If filmmakers want to get through to their audiences' minds, that's best realized by hitting the other body parts first.

Tune-In to Shootout on Sunday, 11/4  - 11AM | 10 C

On the road again, or in this case on the train again. The Darjeeling Limited, Wes Anderson's new film starring Adrien Brody and Owen Wilson, was limited in audience expectation despite the star power - though it was never designed to be the Kyoto Express. All these metaphors are appropriate since so much of the film takes place on a train in India.

Of peripheral interest is the impact of Owen Wilson's reported wounds and hospitalization, which by all accounts were self inflicted. But does this type of publicity surrounding a film's star before the movie's release affect the public's perception of the film and more importantly, its box office?

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Continue reading "Peril on The Darjeeling Limited" »

Peter Guber, one of Shootout's hosts, has recently interviewed Michael Douglas and shares his thoughts about the actor in his blog:

Michael Douglas in his readings of the Dalton Trumbo letters in the documentary of the same name has a particular insight on the subject of this film. His father Kirk in Spartacus lived through the attempt to rob Trumbo of his writing credit with the arrival of Stanley Kubrick, the filmmaker of record, on the scene. He saw his father not buckle under the political pressure and indifference of some of the important creative and studio folks involved with his film. There is no doubt that this steely resolve has found its way into his son's persona. And while he takes some pretty outspoken positions politically there is no doubt about his authenticity. His feet, tongue, head, heart and wallet all go in the same direction and while he already has won the Oscar for best picture as the producer for Cuckoo’s Nest, and as an actor for Wall Street, he will win his greatest as a humanitarian. He is already a U.N. Messenger of Peace and it’s a role that he was bred for.  Bravo!

Michael Douglas is Shootout's Next Guest. Sunday, Sept. 30 11am | 10 C

Watch clip: Michael Douglas, "Comedy Scares Me"
Watch clip: Michael Douglas, "No Time To Reflect"

Watch clip: Michael Douglas, " Acting Is About Lying"
Watch clip: Michael Douglas, " Living In Bermuda"

Peter Guber, one of Shootout's hosts, reports about his experience at the Toronto Film Festival while the show covers the event.

The Toronto International Film Festival has reached the top with ultimate elegance. Most competitions dole out awards to actors and directors more as rewards for showing up and showing off than for what film they are showing. The folks arriving from Venice were aghast at which films got what kudos. No wonder there is now a fest circuit where folks ply their wares, aggregating awards and branding for their film posters.

And yet, at Toronto, the city is dynamic unlike its urban cousins to the south across the border. Somehow there is an air of optimism that pervades all the folks that come here and the foolish gawkers that inhabit and inhibit the other fests. Somehow all the festivities seem to slow the onset of fall/winter in this berg:  the movie god blessed Toronto Film Fest with good weather, good folks, and  good films even if the Canadian dollar moved closer to parity with our own.

Peter Guber, one of Shootout's hosts, reports about his experience at the Toronto Film Festival while the show covers the event.

My trip to this year’s Toronto Film Fest reminds me of the clarion call from Field of Dreams – “Build it and they will come.” They have built this festival on the doorstep of the U.S. as arguably the biggest and perhaps the most powerful international movie showcase. All this effort provides the giant studios and independent filmmakers, stars and wanabees with a watering hole like no other. There is the proverbial red carpet with the stars hawking their wares; the studios trying to hijack the media with their showcasing and shouting up their films; the independents trying to find a distributor of any size to give them their real estate and the gawkers and media who round out this circus.

Continue reading "Peter Guber's Toronto Diary" »