Soup gets a sell-out September, Rick goes to war, Kathy makes it Official & Suzanne’s still a Knockout

THE DEVIL SELLS TICKETS: Advance tickets for Hot Doc’s Oct 21 Canadian premiere screenings of The September Issue, the doc which reportedlly delivers

WINTOUR: in the Soup

an extraordinary behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the annual September issue of Vogue magazine — and an unprecedented gaze into the life of fashion icon Anna Wintour, the inspiration for Meryl Streep’s character in The Devil Wears Prada – are already sold out, making it the hottest ticket in Doc Soup history …Chita Rivera celebrates the release of her new CD And Now I Swing tonight at famed Manhattan music room Birdland … Daniel Lanois, set to return to The Troubadour in L.A. this Thursday, has a new stream-lined website … and Rick Mercer, who never saw a loaded gun he didn’t want to play with, tries his luck with 19th century weapons tonight when he participates in a re-enactment of the War of 1812 on the Rick Mercer Report at 8 pm on CBC-TV.

MERCER: circa 1812

LITERATI: Writer Ian Brown reads from his riveting, rave-winning Boy In The Moon tonight at McNall-Robinson at the new (and vastly improved) Don Mills Centre …Rex Murphy (Canada And Other Matters Of Opinion) headlines next Sunday’s Ben McNally/Globe & Mail brunch series at the King Eddie … Linden MacIntyre serves up pages from his Giller-nominated Bishop’s Man on Oct 21 at the Bonnie Stern Book Club ($135 includes dinner and recipes) … former PM Paul Martin wades through Hell Or High Water on Oct 27 at the Edward Johnson Building (behind the Planetarium) … glamourous survivor and voice-in-the-wilderness Suzanne Somers launches Knockout, her book of interviews with doctors who are curing cancer – “And How to Prevent Getting It in the First Place” – on Oct 29 at the John Bassett Theatre … most intriguing novel on the immediate horizon: Doug Coupland’s Generation A … and my favourite book title so far this fall?

GRIFFIN: It's official

Official Book Club Selection, a predictably irreverent autobiography by funny girl Kathy Griffin.

CALENDAR JOTTINGS: Industry nights for the upcoming 2009 Gemini Awards are next Monday Oct.19 & Tuesday Oct. 20 … that thumb-happy RIM team (yes, the Canadians who gave us the Crackberry) will be feted at a Design Exchange gala in their honour on Oct. 24 … the seventh annual fund-raising dinner for Pierre Berton’s Writers Retreat is set for Nov. 17 at the Berkeley Church on Queen Street East … Tutored Tastings, the new Gourmet Food & Wine Expo, is set for Nov. 19-22 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre … and outrageous Brit comic Graham Norton is confirmed as host of the 2009 International Emmy Awards honouring Sir David Frost on Nov 23 at the New York Hilton.

TOMORROW:

Ann Landers comes to Broadway.

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Meet m’sieu Sliimy, say hello to the Prada ‘she-devil’ who inspired Meryl’s movie, and welcome back our favourite funny fully-clad comedy babes

WOT’S IN A NAME?: Okay, c’est vrai — French pop stars can be somewhat peculiar. But who is Slimey? And who would actually choose that name?

SLIIMY: Not slimey

Naturally my Manhatan guru, legendary gossip girl Liz Smith, has the goods. Liz says Sliimy (pronounced Slim-ee) is all of 21, and very slim indeed. “He’s French, has a wonderful voice and a delicious, off-the-wall naïve/sexy stage presence. He is not at all the typical pop star. This child is already a big deal in Paree,” she adds, “and his album, Paint Your Face, was reviewed as being so musically yummy that it should be served in a cone.”

Warner Music is releasing his new CD on Perez Hilton’s new label. No, seriously! … also, I’m told his real name is Yanis Sahraoui. And you can see Sliimy”s very animated music video Wake Up by just clicking here.

GREENWOOD, EASTWOOD, DUKE & PAVLINEK: too hot to cool down

HOTTER THAN EVER: And, they are. Fearless female laugh-makers Women Fully Clothed – who just happen to be marquee showstoppers Robin Duke, Jayne Eastwood, Kathryn Greenwood and Teresa Pavlinek (as if you didn’t know!) – start touring their new show, Older & Hotter, this weekend. I’m delighted to report that despite the high bar they set for themselves in their auspicious debut comedy concerts, they’ve managed to find an even richer vein of funny to mine for their fans. First stop on their fall tour is the Empire Theatre in Belleville, Ont.  And you can get more info, and order tickets, just by clicking here.

STREEP: as Anna W?

BUT WHO DOES ANNA WEAR?: It’s official — Hot Docs will open its Doc Soup screening series with the Canadian premiere of The September Issue, the controversial study of the woman who inspired Meryl Streep’s role in The Devil Wears Prada, Vogue magazine fashion icon Anna Wintour. So naturally they’ll screen it during Toronto Fashion Week, on Wednesday October 21 at 6:30 p.m. and 9:15 p.m. at the Bloor Cinema. For ticket info, click here.

JAMES: crowd-pleaser (photo: Andrew MacNaughtan)

RARIN’ FOR RON: Cape Breton’s most eloquent export, Ron James, shoots his new weekly comedy series in front of a live audience at the Canadian Broadcasting Centre in Toronto. For free tickets, e-mail tickets@enterthepicture.com and include your first and last name, phone number, e-mail address, number of tickets requested, and first and second choice of show date and time. Ron only has four taping dates next month: Thursday Oct. 8, Friday Oct. 9, Thursday Oct 29, and Friday Oct. 30. Good news is, he usually does two shows a night, at 6:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. So send those email requests without further delay. And good luck!

TOMORROW:

David Steinberg, Madonna and more.

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Brigitte gets some Oscar buzz, Meryl gets Teased, Buddies get Ann-Margret, Broadway gets 007 & Wolverine, and Jodie gets Mel (maybe)

BUDDY BUDDY: Best Buddies, the non-profit organization that has helped thousands of individuals with intellectual disabilities become more inclusive in everyday life, has put smiles on thousands of faces — but this week it’s Best

ANN-MARGRET: Buddies system

Buddies Canada co-founder Danny Greenglass who’s all smiles. Why? Because bonafide screen legend Ann-Margret is coming to town. One of Hollywood’s last great triple-threat performers, she made her movie debut almost five, count ’em, five decades ago and has never stopped working. Ask her about her favourite leading men and she’ll tell you about every male movie idol from Steve McQueen to Jack Nicholson to John Wayne to Elvis. And when she isn’t tackling the gritty roles that won her all those Oscar and Emmy nominbations — she already owns five Golden Globes  —  she’s still kicking up her heels (and those still fabled gams) in her SRO stage shows. Following in Shirley MacLaiue’s footsteps last year, Ann-Margret will jet here next week with her producer husband Roger Smith to celebrate Best Buddies 15th anniversary at a gala evening at the Four Seasons in her honour. And that’s truly something to smile about.

STREEP TEASE: Yes, the American Council on Science and Health is mad at her for saying that Julia Child‘s cuisine was not exactly cholesterol-free. But Meryl Streep is so popular again — and you know how these things come and go

STREEP; comedy Tease

— that an irreverent group of guys are giving her a stand-up comedy salute this weekend in Hollywood.  Called Streep Tease, the event is the brainchild of actor-comedian Roy Cruz, who is producing and performing in the show with fellow thesps Taylor Negron, Sam Pancake, Steve Hasley,  Eddie Sanchez, Mike Rose, Trent Walker and David Dean Bottrell (Boston Legal.) All of them will try to find their inner Streep in a live stage tribute re-creating her greatest screen monologues, including memorable speeches from such Streep mega-hits as The Devil Wears Prada and The Bridges of Madison County. Bottrell chose a monologue from Out of Africa because he loves the Danish accent. Pancake chose Postcards From the Edge, and Negron is doing Sophie’s Choice. And no, I’m not making this up. The curtain lifts on this theatrical show at bang.studio in Los Angeles on Saturday, but if you’re on the east coast you can watch it from  the theater’s webcam at 11 p.m. Just don’t say I didn’t warn ya!

NO PEOPLE LIKE SHOW PEOPLE: Screen lions Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman will show up together on Broadway this fall in Keith Huff’s new

FOSTER: busy Beaver

stage play A Heavy Rain. A deal to adapt the play as a feature, to star the same duo, is now in the works … Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway are teaming up for Love and Other Drugs … Camilla Belle will play Kevin Spacey‘s daughter in his upcoming flick Father Of Invention …  and Jodie Foster will direct and co-star in The Beaver, about a man who has an unusual relationship with a beaver handpuppet. (And no, I’m not making this up.) Not only that, Jodie’s Maverick troubled but gifted co-star, Mel Gibson, is in negotiations to play the lead. So there!

PLAYBOY OF THE EASTERN FILMFEST: Only a few people have actually seen it so far, but Oscar buzz has already started for Brigitte Berman’s eye-

BERMAN: Oscar buzz

popping new screen biography of Hugh Hefner, which premieres at TIFF next week and reveals his next-to-forgotten life as a champion  of women and a supporter of gay rights at a time when the concept was nearly unheard of in mainstream America.

Berman, of course, already owns one Academy Award, which she won for her stunning profile of American music legend Artie Shaw.  And she admits she had some trepidation when she finally showed her film to Hefner and some of his friends in mid-July. Much to her surprise, and delight, and relief, Hefner was moved to tears at the end of the screening.  “It was,” she confides, “an extraordinary moment.” No wonder Hefner, now 83, is hoping to jet here for the Saturday Sept. 12 premiere.

TOMORROW:

Broadway’s most honoured hoofer hits the road again,

Lindsay Lohan gets a gig, Oprah packs for Toronto, and more.

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Nia’s life in ruins! New movies for Jason and Julia! Joan & Melissa make headlines for the Trumpster!

CELEBRITY ASSASSINS: Okay,  we’ve seen sizzling reality TV before, but for a junk TV food addict, Sunday night’s episode of Celebrity Apprentice was an epicurean feast. And it’s still making headlines.

RIVERS: shut out

What happened? Donald Trump said his two trademark words, “You’re fired!” to Melissa Rivers. Rivers got canned after being virtually shut out by her ‘teammates,’ gorgeous Playboy ornament Brande Roderick and cunning poker champ Annie Duke, in what TV blogger Bill Brioux describes as the “electric, best ever episode of Celebrity Apprentice.”

Melissa’s mom (Joan Rivers, as if you didn’t know) went ballistic when her daughter got fired and stormed out of the Trump Tower — but not after (bleep) sharing her thoughts (bleep) with Brande and (bleep) Annie.

“Not since the hair-pulling heyday of Dynasty has there been such a catfight on TV,” said video veteran Brioux yesterday. “It was the ultimate, diva-in-flames exit, times two, the kind of thing (producer) Mark Burnett probably dreams about.”

Melissa said yesterday she had exploded because of exhaustion after a long shooting day.

She initially refused to do a post-firing interview, a standard feature of the series, but said she went back the next day.

“I really wanted to take a deep breath,” Rivers said. “It had been a very difficult few weeks of being attacked emotionally and personally. There’s only so much you can take.”

How sizzling was it? Go to Brioux’s website TV Feeds My Family and see for yourself. He even has video of the meltdown, “for as long as it stays up at YouTube:”  And you can check it out right here.

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BYRNE: going Greek?

FLICKERS:  Director Jason Reitman (Juno) next opus is up in the air – but that’s okay. His new flick with George Clooney is called, you guessed it, Up In The Air  … Oscar nominee Richard Jenkins will join Oscar owner Julia Roberts for the big-screen adaptation of the best-selling Eat, Pray. Love …  Rose Byrne, so good as Glenn Close’s near-fatal foil in the hypnotic TV drama Damages, will co-star with Sean Combs in Get Him To The Greek … this year’s Genie Award winner for Best Documentary, the powerful film Up the Yangtze returns for an encore presentation on CBC-TV’s Passionate Eye this Sunday, May 3, at 10 p.m, … and My Big Fat Greek Wedding star Nia Vardalos returns to her roots for her new film, My Life In Ruins, in which she plays a tour guide in Athens who has to deal with, among others, Harland Williams, Rachel Dretch and Richard Dreyfuss.  Can’t wait to see it? For a sneak preview, click here.

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STREEP: box office darling?

NO PEOPLE LIKE SHOW PEOPLE: After touring Canada more than a dozen times with his band the Cosmic Crew, Chris Colepaugh will guest with Roch Voisine’s band when Voisine tours of France, Switzerland and Belgium next month. Colepaugh will play pedal steel, mandolin and more on the tour, which starts at the end of May, runs through June and then picks up again in November and December … Debbie Reynolds, still kicking up her heels at 77, is set to bring her cabaret act to NYC’s Café Carlyle June 2 – 27.  And you can do her bidding, so to speak, by bidding on two tickets to her show, now being auctioned on charitybuzz.com, benefiting SOS Children’s Villages International, housing orphans with AIDS. Debbie will meet the winners after her performance, pose for pix, and lift a glass to good deeds in a naughty world (and surviving MGM?) … and Meryl Streep, a boffo box-office draw for female audiences ever since The Devil Wears Prada and Mamma Mia, says it’s “completely improbable” that she’s become the queen of counter-programming. “No one in Hollywood can understand it!” she told Entertainment Weekly.  “We’re so used to seeing movies about dysfunctional relationships. Here are these outsized, vivid, problematic women with great men of substance who love them in spite of all their prickliness.” She and her Doubt co-star (and fellow Oscar nominee) Amy Adams team up again in Julia & Julia, scheduled to preem in August. In this one Adams plays a somewhat unlikely acolyte to master chef Julia Child (Streep,) with Meryl’s Prada co-star Stanley Tucci joining in the fun.

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ON YOUR MARK, GET SET: Tickets are going fast for Reporting in Afghanistan, the public forum hosted by CBC Toronto to mark World Press Freedom Day. To reserve your free ticket for this event, which is set for the Glenn Gould Studio tomorrow from 12:30 -2 pm, send an email to events@cbc.ca with your name, telephone local and the number of tickets you require … and nominations for The Comedy Network’s 2009 Canadian Comedy Awards & Festival in St. John, New Brunswick close this Thursday. You can enter online or by mail, but all mailed entries must be postmarked no later than April 30, 2009. So you only have two days left. To enter online just click here.

 

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