News for
Three Kings (1999)

Movie Director Russell "Receives Threatening Email" From Journalist
21 October 2004 (WENN)
Director David O. Russell has allegedly received a threatening email from his long-term enemy, movie journalist Sharon Waxman, vowing to ruin him in her new book. The New York Times movie industry reporter and the Three Kings director have been feuding since Waxman wrote a scathing magazine profile of Russell on the set of his latest film I Heart Huckabees, falsely claiming the material was for her book Rebels On The Backlot: Six Maverick Directors And How They Conquered The Studio System. Russell's anger was exacerbated when she tried to obtain photographs of him and George Clooney for the tome - he sent her an email threatening legal action if she attempted to use the pictures, reports website Pagesix.Com. Waxman's email response reportedly read, "Having your attorney call me? How Hollywood of you...and for a Zen Buddhist yet. I think you'll regret your nasty behavior when you read the book. But that'll be way late in the day. I've obviously given you too much credit for being a classy human being, not the jerks I deal with all day long in this industry."

Proud Dad Wahlberg Hits $100 Million at the Box Office
5 September 2003 (WENN)
Movie star Mark Wahlberg had two reasons to celebrate - he's a dad and his film career is back on track. The Planet Of The Apes star's girlfriend Rhea Durham gave birth to the couple's first child, Ella Rae, on Tuesday, and the new arrival came on the same day the proud dad's latest movie The Italian Job sailed past the $100 million mark in America. The Three Kings hunk will next be seen in I Heart Huckabee's alongside Jude Law and Naomi Watts.

Clooney Rages Against Fox's "Bare Bottom" Campaign
24 February 2003 (WENN)
Solaris star George Clooney is furious that distributors Fox used the fact his naked backside appears in the sci-fi film to stir interest in it. The hunky actor is fiercely proud of the Steven Soderbergh directed film and has slammed the studio for not giving the movie the encouragement he believes it deserves. And the Perfect Storm star is certain the studio bosses will live to regret their actions. He says, "It immediately trivializes what Steven did and even more so what I was doing. And it makes me mad because you don't get the credit for doing what you're doing: which is sticking your neck out. I've had funny experiences in my career - Out Of Sight comes out and it bombs, Three Kings comes out and it doesn't do what they thought, O Brother, Where Art Thou? comes out and doesn't do well. All those films that I really cared about under performed; but as time goes on, people still talk about those films. I said right at the beginning to the guys from Fox, 'Five years from now, you guys are all going to be sitting at a cocktail party, bragging about your involvement in this', because that's the way it was with Out Of Sight at Universal, that's the way it was at Disney with O Brother."

Attack Torpedoes TV, Film Projects
15 October 2001 (StudioBriefing)
Several of Hollywood's top TV and film writers have told the Los Angeles Times that last month's terrorist attacks have forced them to shelve projects that they had been working on for years and significantly alter others. Most of the writers suggested that they are no longer able to turn out scripts in which lawmen -- police, the FBI, the CIA -- are depicted as villains. Three Kings writer John Ridley remarked, "I was doing a miniseries at ABC about Wen Ho Lee, which is a true story about this Asian-American who was basically railroaded by the FBI. We were ready to go. After Sept. 11, it's officially on hold but it's basically dead because the story is: the FBI and government conspired against this guy, largely. The feeling is now even in real life, or in the approximation of real life -- a docudrama -- you can't talk about how the government has done these bad things. It's weird. I understand the need to support our country; at the same time, when something they really did to somebody is being muzzled, you're walking a fine line." However, writer-producer Dean Devlin (Independence Day) suggested that the studios may be more concerned about their "corporate image" ("a good thing") than with public tastes. "I was so shocked the week after the event when I looked at the video rentals," he said. "All the movies about terrorists were renting through the roof."

The Sixth Sense Was Year's Biggest Video Hit
21 December 2000 (StudioBriefing)
Sixth Sense, The (1999) was the most popular movie rented at Blockbuster Video stores in the year 2000, the company said Wednesday. The Bruce Willis thriller topped both the VHS and DVD lists issued by the company. For the first time, Blockbuster released separate lists for each format, breaking the top ten this way.

VHS: 1. Sixth Sense, The (1999); 2. The Green Mile; 3. Double Jeopardy; 4. Gladiator; 5. Three Kings (1999); 6. Perfect Storm, The (2000); 7. Blue Streak (1999); 8. Mission: Impossible II; 9. Runaway Bride (1999); 10. Random Hearts (1999).

DVD: 1. Sixth Sense, The (1999); 2. Perfect Storm, The (2000); 3. Gladiator; 4. Mission: Impossible (1996) II; 5. The Green Mile; 6. X-Men; 7. The Patriot; 8. The Whole Nine Yards; 9. Sleepy Hollow (1999); 10. World Is Not Enough, The (1999).

George Clooney Confesses Dirty Make-Up Secrets
11 December 2000 (WENN)
Movie star George Clooney has no patience spending hours sitting in a make-up chair. The star devised his own short-cut technique for creating the skanky look of an escaped convict in the upcoming Coen Brothers film, O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) He describes the process, "I would just take dirt, Mississippi dirt and rub it on my face before we'd go and do the scene. Make-up chairs make me crazy and I don't really like them, plus you wanna just look dirty anyway, so it's perfect. You know I did it in Three Kings (1999) where I'd just pick up dust and rub it in my face and just go. There's something really mechanical looking when someone comes over and gives you a little patch of dirt here and a match there. It sort of takes all the fun out of it. Now I get to roll around in the dirt and it's pretty fun not having to grow up so you don't want to have to spend time in the make-up chair." The 39 year old star couldn't escape showing his age in his beard, but thought of a clever make-up technique to remedy that as well. He says, "I had a big whole patch of grey in my beard so I'd take a ball point pen, a Bic ball point pen and just fill it in!"

La Salle's Busy Christmas
16 November 2000 (WENN)
"ER" (1994) star Eriq La Salle (photos) is set for a busy Christmas after signing up to film episodes of the medical drama and scenes in Robin Williams' (photos) new movie One Hour Photo (2001) back to back. La Salle, who plays Dr. Benton, in the top TV show is undeterred by pal George Clooney's (photos) reports about "double shifting" while filming the medical drama and Three Kings (1999), and is looking forward to a busy festive season. La Salle says, "It'll be an interesting holiday season." The actor plays a cop on the trail of Williams' photo laboratory dreamer, who takes an unhealthy interest in a local family - through their photographs.

Movie Reviews: The Yards
20 October 2000 (StudioBriefing)
Mark Wahlberg appears to have turned away the doubters with his performance in James Gray's Yards, The (2000), about corruption in New York's railroad yards. Following a string of impressive performances in such films as the Basketball Diaries, The (1995), Boogie Nights (1997), Three Kings (1999) and Perfect Storm, The (2000), the former underwear model and rap singer has turned in an acting job that Stephen Holden in the New York Times compares with those of Cagney in his heyday. The other stars of the film, Faye Dunaway, Joaquin Phoenix and James Caan, also receive much praise. Writes Michael Wilmington in the Chicago Tribune: "Phoenix is becoming a master at the kind of weakling, big-talk, jazzed-up villain roles that once were the specialty of Eric Roberts." And Kevin Thomas in the Los Angeles Times concludes: "Gray's splendid, self-effacing cast performs as an ensemble, but the film's rightly dominant presences are Caan and Dunaway."

NOTE: StudioBrief will not be appearing Monday, October 23, due to a much-needed IMDb staff vacation. It will resume on Tuesday, October 24.

Paul Newman Tells Clooney: Don't Give Up On Acting
7 July 2000 (WENN)
Hunky George Clooney begged Robin Wright to introduce him to mutual friend Paul Newman - but found that the legendary actor had never heard of him. Clooney ran into Robin during filming last year on the Warner Brothers lot, and when she told him that Newman had been spotted on the lot that day, the Three Kings (1999) actor pleaded with her to introduce them. But the introduction wasn't quite as memorable for Newman. The former ER star remembers, "Newman walked by and Robin said, 'Uh, Paul, this is George. ' He goes, 'How are you going, George?' and I go, 'Mr Newman, how are you?' And I talk to him for a minute and he's really nice. And he's like, 'So what do you do, George?' I say, 'Well, I'm an actor'. He goes, 'Well, hang in there, Don't give up.'"

George Clooney Puts Mark Wahlberg In His Place
26 June 2000 (WENN)
George Clooney is on a mission to cut Mark Wahlberg down to size - because he keeps upstaging him. Clooney, who co-stars with the former rapper in Three Kings (1999), and the upcoming Perfect Storm, The (2000), says he's fed up of Wahlberg stealing his thunder - and is plotting his revenge. He says, "You watch Three Kings (1999) - he's the lead in it. He's the star. I remember watching him and going, 'the little f**ker. I'll kill him'. And he's the lead in this one, too. So I'm not going to act with him anymore. I'm going to say, 'Now that you've taken two movies away from me, make me some money.'" And Clooney says, when it comes to Wahlberg, he's going to be merciless in his treatment. He adds, "I'm going to sell him down the river. My thing now is to catch Mark at the top and ride him into the ground. Ski him into oblivion."

George Clooney Receives Death Threat
15 June 2000 (WENN)
George Clooney was given a death threat when he promised to buy a close friend a motorbike - by the pal's angry wife. Clooney, who befriended his eight close male pals in the early 1980s when he first arrived in Hollywood from Kentucky - with just $300 in his pocket - frequently pays for their luxurious holidays and bought each pal an exclusive motorcycle for Christmas. But the Three Kings (1999) star was blocked from buying pal Tommy Hinkley one of the speedy bikes when his wife, TV star Tracey Needham, urged him to forget the plan. Hinkley says, "Tracey just said that she would allow me to do a lot of things but she put her foot down over the bike. She just said there is no way. She told George if he bought me a bike she would kill him. So that was that."

Writer-Directors Dominate WGA Awards Nominees
10 February 2000 (StudioBriefing)
Of five original screenplay nominations announced by the Writers Guild of America for its annual awards, three represented films that were written by their director. They included Magnolia (1999) by Paul Thomas Anderson, Sixth Sense, The (1999) by M. Night Shyamalan and Three Kings (1999) by David O. Russell. The others: American Beauty (1999) by Alan Ball and Being John Malkovich (1999) by Charlie Kaufman. In the adapted screenplay category, writer-directors also dominated the list. They included: Talented Mr. Ripley, The (1999), by Anthony Minghella, Insider, The (1999), by Michael Mann and Eric Roth, and Election (1999) by Tom Perotta. The others: Cider House Rules, The (1999) by John Irving and October Sky (1999) by Lewis Colick. Conspicuous by their absence were Frank Darabont's Green Mile, The (1999) and Norman Jewison's Hurricane, The (1999). Each film has been caught up in controversy about the accuracy of their accounts. Winners of the WGA awards are scheduled to be announced during ceremonies on March 5.

Movie Reviews: Next Friday, Hurricane
14 January 2000 (StudioBriefing)
No new films are opening wide this weekend. However, Hurricane, The (1999) and Next Friday (2000), two films that did so on Wednesday, are expected to perform well. The latter, a sequel to the 1995 film Friday, which stars Ice Cube and Mike Epps, has been roasted by critics. Wrote Susan Wloszczyna in USA Today: "The first Friday wasn't much, but its uglier aspects at least reflected its dangerous environment. Next's change of scenery makes the violence feel gratuitous and silly. And Cube, so good in Three Kings (1999), seems to be engaging in drive-by acting." Steve Murray in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution commented, "It looks like the end-of-the-year season of prestige films has officially come to a close. Now, it's back to the usual garbage." But Al Brumley in the Dallas Morning News heaped left-handed praise on the film, saying that it delivers "cheap laughs" and adding, "If you like, uh, broad comedy, Next Friday (2000) delivers. ... It's a carnival of gross-out puerilism." Hurricane, The (1999), which opens wide after a limited release, continues to draw critical raves, particularly for star Denzel Washington, and may be the film to beat this weekend. Wrote Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times: "This is strong stuff, and I was amazed, after feeling some impatience in the earlier reaches of the film, to find myself so deeply absorbed in its second and third acts, until at the end I was blinking at tears."

Boston Critics Crown Three Kings Best Of 1999
14 December 1999 (StudioBriefing)
The Boston Film Critics Association on Monday named David O. Russell's Three Kings (1999), starring George Clooney, the Best Picture of 1999. It also named Russell Best Director. The Boston writers apparently harbor an affinity for George Clooney features. Last year it named Steven Soderbergh's Out of Sight (1998), which also starred Clooney, as best picture. However, the association presented Jim Carrey its award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Andy Kaufman in Man on the Moon (1999). Hilary Swank picked up the Best Actress award for Boys Don't Cry (1999). The Best screenplay honor went to Charlie Kaufman for Being John Malkovich (1999).

House Of Boos Tops Box Office
2 November 1999 (StudioBriefing)
It turned out that Warner Bros.' box-office forecasters were conservative in estimating how many young people would forego the movies in favor of other Halloween entertainment Sunday night. The studio, which had estimated on Sunday afternoon that it would earn $15.1 million for its House on Haunted Hill, The (1999) horror film over the weekend, instead saw nearly 850, 000 additional bucks pour in. The $15.95 million total was the most ever earned by a film opening on a Halloween weekend. (The film, which was not screened in advance for critics, received a chorus of boos from them after it opened.) In second place was Universal's Best Man, The (1999/I) with $6.3 million. The only other new film to open wide over the weekend was the Meryl Streep starrer Music of the Heart (1999) (directed, ironically enough, by horror-film helmer Wes Craven), which earned a disappointing $3.7 million.

The top-ten films over the weekend, according to final figures compiled by Exhibitor Relations (figures in parentheses represent total gross to date):1. House on Haunted Hill, The (1999), Warner Bros., $15, 946, 032, (New); 2. Best Man, The (1999/I), Universal, $6, 281, 690, ($17, 937, 760); 3. Double Jeopardy (1999), Paramount, $5, 405, 037, ($98, 301, 710); 4. American Beauty (1999), DreamWorks, $3, 779, 747, ($54, 106, 032); 5. Music of the Heart (1999), Miramax, $3, 653, 281, (New); 6. Bringing Out the Dead (1999), Paramount, $3, 384, 042, ($11, 434, 115); 7. Fight Club (1999), 20th Century Fox, $3, 296, 137, ($27, 659, 756); 8. Sixth Sense, The (1999), Buena Vista $3, 200, 961, ($259, 835, 832); 9. Story of Us, The (1999), Universal, $2, 968, 895, ($22, 256, 765); 10. Three Kings (1999), Warner Bros., $2, 522, 288, ($53, 729, 398).

Fight Club Scores Upset K.O.
19 October 1999 (StudioBriefing)
Fight Club (1999) scored a knockout in the final rounds on Sunday and wound up beating the expected winner, Double Jeopardy (1999) and another newcomer, Story of Us, The (1999), at the box office. However, an even bigger surprise may have been the auspicious showing of the $7.5-million indie Omega Code, The (1999), which earned $2.4 million at only 305 theaters (for the top per-theater gross of $7, 745). The film, produced by the Trinity Broadcasting Network, a cable-TV religious broadcaster, reportedly received a huge push by churches across the country, many of which bought blocks of seats at local theaters, and by an Internet site that attracted substantial traffic. Today's (Tuesday) USA Today reported that an Oklahoma CEO purchased 1, 000 tickets to the movie for his employees and that a woman in Los Angeles gave out 1, 600 tickets to youth groups.

The top-ten films over the weekend, according to final figures compiled by Exhibitor Relations (figures in parentheses represent total gross to date):

3 Films Form A Fight Club Of Their Own
18 October 1999 (StudioBriefing)
Three films finished so close in the weekend box-office contest that one trade paper refused to call a winner, although studio estimates indicated that Double Jeopardy (1999) had repeated as champ for the fourth straight weekend. According to studio figures released by Exhibitor Relations, Jeopardy earned $10.5 million, followed by Universal's Story of Us, The (1999) with $10.4 million and Fox's Fight Club (1999) with $10.3 million. But in an article headlined "Championship Bout at B.O. Is Too Close to Call, " the Hollywood Reporter cited an "informal survey of distributor estimates" that put Fight Club (1999) in the top spot. Nevertheless, the continued strength of Jeopardy continued to surprise analysts. "Give it credit, though, " Ehrenkrantz King Nussbaum analyst Barry Hyman told Bloomberg News, "It's been able to hang in there each week."

The top ten films for the weekend, according to studio estimates compiled by Exhibitor Relations:

Hearts In The Wrong Place
12 October 1999 (StudioBriefing)
Although the latest Harrison Ford drama, Random Hearts (1999), finished in second place at the box office over the weekend with $13 million (against $13.5 million for the first-place Double Jeopardy (1999)), the result was being viewed as another major disappointment for Sony Pictures. Today's Los Angeles Times estimates that the $64-million romance/thriller will earn only $35 million. The washout is the third loser in a row for Sony, following Jakob the Liar (1999), which has earned only $4.5 million after three weeks, and Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland, The (1999), which has earned $6.2 million after two weeks. The only other newcomer on the current box-office list was Paramount's Superstar (1999), which earned $8.9 million, about what was expected for the $14 million comedy. American Beauty (1999), which expanded to 1, 226 screens, continued to produce the best per-screen average, $7, 753 versus $2, 913 for the first-place Jeopardy.

1. Double Jeopardy (1999), Paramount, $13, 541, 285, ($65833516); 2. Random Hearts (1999), Sony, $13, 012, 585, (New); 3. Three Kings (1999), Warner Bros., $12, 004, 295, ($32, 714, 711); 4. American Beauty (1999), DreamWorks, $9, 505, 313, ($31, 120, 695); 5. Superstar (1999), Paramount, $8, 912, 743, (New); 6. Sixth Sense, The (1999), Buena Vista $6, 123, 967, ($242, 7101, 95); 7. Blue Streak (1999), Sony, $5, 717, 945, ($55, 183, 779); 8. Drive Me Crazy (1999), 20th Century Fox, $3, 980, 182, ($11, 824, 005); 9. Elmo In Grouchland, Sony, $2, 251, 614, ($6, 228, 046); 10. For Love of the Game (1999), Universal, $2, 148, 230, ($31, 524, 405.)