July 2008 Archives

By Jeremy Blacklow
Managing Editor

Ni Hao!

We've been planning it for months – for over a year, really – and now it's finally here: the Beijing Olympics.

On Friday morning, I (along with 14 of my Access Hollywood peers) depart for China. I found out last March that I'd be able to go, and I've been mentally preparing ever since. This is my first Olympics with NBC, and I'm excited for it. I'll be on a flight with just a few other staffers from our show – including our executive producer, Rob, and Billy Bush – so, if the flight goes down and we're stranded on an island that wields supernatural powers – at least I'll be in good company.

Our two lead producers, Steve and John, are already over there! And the U.S. Olympic team has started to arrive with them – on board their flight were, amongst other Olympians, the fencing team, Morgan Hamm and the men's gymnastics team, and Laura Wilkinson and some of the diving team.

My flight lands at around 3:30 PM Beijing time on Saturday, August 2 (Beijing is 15 hours ahead of LA; 12 hours ahead of NYC). I'll probably sleep when I arrive (it'll be midnight LA time), and then we'll all hit the ground running on Sunday, August 3. After that, we'll all be working every day until I return on Saturday, August 23.

So what will you, our readers, be able to expect on AccessHollywood.com during the Olympics?


Read More, After The Jump ....

The earthquake yesterday was scary. For a moment, I felt a tremor of fear like in the aftermath of 9/11...an awful feeling like you don't know what's next.

 

We were taping the nightly Access show out on the balcony at KNBC-LA. 

Many guys were under an overhang, I was out further...I couldn't help but think, "What if this balcony gave way?"

Watch this space for Blog posts from Billy Bush, Shaun Robinson and Access Hollywood producers from the 2008 Beijing Olympics!

On my final day at Comic-Con I hit up the "Lost" panel where I may or not have been privy to information about the new fifth season. You'll see why in a minute. "Lost" is my favorite TV show of them all right now. Devotees waited in line up to six hours for the chance to sit in on this panel. Don't get me wrong; I love the show -- but certainly not enough to wait around that long. Fortunately, I breezed past the line of sweaty, tired people and went in through the VIP entrance twenty minutes before it started. I'm an entertainment industry snob, what can I say. 

 

(BTW - if you don't watch "Lost" you should probably stop reading this right now and I won't be offended. You won't get any of this.)

 

Of course, the cast and crew won't start filming again for another three weeks. So, really how much can you learn before cameras roll? Well, at Comic-Con you at least have the opportunity to learn a little information because fans get access to the Executive Producers, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse. These are the only two guys who have this all mapped out and figured out in their heads. They have picked an end date for the show and know that only 34 hours remain for it.

 

So, you would think the "Lost-ees" would come armed with all sorts of questions like "Where did the island go?" "Is John Locke really dead?" Or most importantly, "Why does Jack want to go back to the Island so badly?" Instead, I was severely disappointed in the Q&A that went on during this panel. No one really asked the tough questions. Instead they threw out fairly softball questions. It was almost to the point where I thought maybe the people who were given the opportunity to ask questions were plants by ABC.

It's day two here and I have embraced my inner nerd and busted out my Wonder Woman T-shirt.

 

First up was a breakfast at the Hard Rock Hotel for a Kiefer Sutherland horror movie called "Mirrors." Watch the trailer on line it's seriously creepy. I arrived late and was fortunate enough to miss the preview footage which apparently showed a scene in a bathtub where Amy Smart (who plays Kiefer’s sister in the film) sees her reflection in a mirror and rips her jaw off. Gross! Glad I missed that. I guess the geeks thought it was pretty cool. Amy said it was actually fun to film with the prosthetic jaw.

Every year at Comic-Con, there's at least one panel that you don't wanna miss. These panels start the buzz for big-budget genre movies, and that buzz can make or break a film long before it makes it to the big screen. In 2006, "Spider-Man 3" started the ball rolling, and in 2007, it sure as hell worked big time for "Iron Man."

[Pictured left: Actresses Carla Gugino, left, and Malin Akerman, right, pose for photographers after a panel discussion for the new movie "Watchmen" at the Comic-Con 2008 convention Friday, July 25, 2008 in San Diego. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)]

This year, it's "Watchmen." That name may not mean anything to the masses, but for the Comic-Con crowd, Watchmen is the Holy Grail. When it was first released as a 12-issue maxi-series starting in 1986 (and re-released later as a bounded graphic novel), it broke new ground because of its dark, violent, realistic and more mature depiction of flawed superheroes that weren't so super after all. Co-creators -- writer Alan Moore and artist Dave Gibbons -- took readers through an alternate 1980s reality where Richard Nixon was still president and the doomsday clock was ticking against the backdrop of New York.

In short, it was the "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" of comics.  And now, director Zack Snyder is directing a big screen version for release in March of 2009 (ironically, 2 years to the day after Snyder's stylish epic "300," also based on a comics graphic novel, broke new ground).

If the comics read like an R-rated movie, then Snyder confirms that the film version will follow suit -- it's violent, disturbing, graphic, bloody and very R-rated.

And contrary to many special effects-laden superhero movies these days, most of the film was shot using real sets and not using green-screen.

By Eugene Monzon

Day two of our Comic-Con coverage and what a way to begin. We began with breakfast … I kid, I kid. We started with the red carpet interviews of the "Watchmen" cast and the huge surprise appearance of Dave Gibbons.

Those who read the miniseries recognize the name, but for those who don't, Dave is the artist of comic. If you could have seen "MovieMantz's" and "Mean Gene's" (that's me) faces when they offered to speak to him, you would have thought we won the lottery. With the entire running around with back-to-back interviews, it is the little things like meeting our comic book idols that makes the Con worthwhile.

By Eugene Monzon

Hey, true believers -- Another year, another Comic-Con. For the past six years I've had the fun honor to cover the biggest sci-fi, comic book and pop culture convention in the world for Access Hollywood and regardless of how tiring it is, at the end of 3 days of running around, it's moments like this that make it all worthwhile.

Stan Lee is a legend in the industry, both in comics or film, and as a huge comic book fan, I had the privilege to meet him. He is one of the nicest guys I've ever met while working here and I will never forget it.

OK, so, continuing with my first day at Comic-Con.... after hitting the convention floor, we went back upstairs to interview the cast of the movie "Push" with Dakota Fanning. Because of an accident on the 5 freeway from LA to San Diego, many of the celebrities were running late and Fanning told me it was a seven hour drive to get here. Ouch! It normally takes about two and a half hours. Little Dakota has certainly grown up since her breakout role seven years ago in "I Am Sam." Now 14, she has joined the teenage ranks alongside Miley Cyrus, wearing designer clothes and three-inch high heels. She's getting tall, too. I just hope she stays along the straight and narrow path!  
 
Then it was the moment I had been looking forward to all day... meeting the cast of "Twilight," the movie based on the best selling young adult book right now. If you haven't heard of "Twilight" (or its author, Stephanie Meyer) you are seriously behind on your pop culture. Meyer, a housewife from Arizona, has quickly become America's version of J.K. Rowling. Although, when I asked her about being compared to the "Harry Potter" author she coyly mused, "there is no one like J.K. Rowling.

"Twilight" is the story about Bella, a typical teenager who falls for Edward, who just happens to be a vampire. The casting of Edward was one of the most controversial maneuvers in film-dom this year. Fans of the book were extremely outspoken online about their hatred for Robert Pattinson, who played Cedric Diggory in the "Harry Potter" films. Of course, they had not seen a stitch of the movie. Last week, when the trailer came out online and in theaters, most fans completely changed their minds. It seems Robert is the perfect Edward. And yes, Robert told me today he was hurt by the initial fan reaction but said that he couldn't get caught up in all of the negativity. I'll talk more about this next week in my blog when I return. I'm sad to report that Kristen Stewart who plays Bella was stuck in traffic and I missed our interview.
 
The highlight of my day, however, was the surprise appearance of Hugh Jackman who flew in last minute to surprise fans with a first look at "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," a prequel and spin off of "X-Men." I'll admit right now that I have always had a huge crush on him so I shamelessly flirted with him during our interview. I introduced myself and the conversation went something like this:

By Scott MovieMantz

If Rose McGowan and Robert Rodriguez have indeed reached splitzville, as some tabloid rags recently "reported," you couldn't tell it from their P.D.A. at the San Diego Comic Con.

Both were in town to discuss their upcoming remake of "Red Sonja," the film about the red-haired heroine who first debuted in a Marvel comic.

McGowan leaves next week for five weeks of training to play the title role, and Rodriguez will direct.  The movie opens in late 2009.

By Alex Cook

"Fringe," the latest offering from J.J. Abrams and the writers of "Transformers," promises to blur the lines between science and entertainment. The 81 minute and 30 second premiere offers up a few chills, an intriguing hook, and more laughs then one would expect from a show about a group of misfits -- including an FBI agent searching for answers, an estranged son running from questions, and a mad scientist too busy to play 'Dad,' While the premiere had a few rough spots, things get quite interesting around the halfway point when a VP for Massive Dynamics, a company positioned to play the villain in the show, hints at something called the 'Pattern,' a string connecting a myriad of strange cases together.

Half "X-Files" and half "Buffy," "Fringe" has the makings of an intriguing series, but one has to wonder if the similarities between it and other genre shows will draw viewers. Hopefully, future episodes will forge some new ground and cut out a niche for itself.

I give it three and a half (out of four) stars.

I love Hugh Jackman!

(left: Guy Ritchie at Comic Con 2008)

More on that later,, but first let me tell you about what it's like coming to the Comic Con Convention. Imagine being in the middle of Times Square at 11:59 PM but instead of being surrounded by drunken fools you are surrounded by superhero costume wearing fanboys. I arrived to the San Diego Convention Center at 9:30 AM and the sidewalks were so packed on the way in that people were pouring out into the streets. The cops remarked to each other while marveling at the crowd size, "it's not even Ten o'clock!."

Most of the masses headed into the main floor of the convention center where booths upon booths were overflowing with everything from t-shirts emblazoned with superhero decals, to movie memorabilia, posters and, of course, comic books!  

We, however, headed upstairs for what would be a long day of back-to-back-to-back celebrity interviews. First up, was Keanu Reeves and Jennifer Connelly… here promoting their alien/disaster movie remake "The Day The Earth Stood Still." They may just be the two most low key individuals in Hollywood, so getting them excited about being here was a challenge, but they did seem really proud of the project and they were confident that fans here will love the finished product.

Oh, but it is so my friends. Just when we all think around here that "American Idol" has finished and we can put away our "Cook Cooks" and "I Love Archie, Not Jughead" signs and t-shirts (OK, we really don't have those - I just made that up) the auditions return. Barely two months have passed since the finale wrapped up, and my six month long tension headache went away, and the first round of auditions are already under way. The first stop took place in San Francisco, Calif. You would think by season eight I would be bored of all this, but alas, I hauled my butt up on a plane to San Francisco to check out the auditions last week at the Cow Palace. 

 

After a $111 dollar cab ride from my hotel at 5:30 AM (sorry, accounting) I arrived to find, first, that it was freezing cold on a July morning. Yes, yes I have heard the Mark Twain quote, "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco." Thank you to everyone who told me this after I wore the wrong clothes and froze my tail off. Second, I found around seven thousand plus people lined up for their chance at stardom. 

 

The crowd seemed a little smaller than I found during season six in Los Angeles but still a huge number for a show now going into its eighth season. Two years later, there seemed to be one major difference - this crowd was a whole lot more tame. I remember arriving at the Rose Bowl and spotting a guy in a chicken costume, girls in their prom dresses and tiaras, a clown and just about every other type of costume.

I've been imagining myself standing on the Great Wall of China for the last couple of months. I have been beyond excited ever since I found out I was going to Beijing to cover the Olympics for Access Hollywood.

I am a real "newbie." I have never been to Asia nor, have I ever been to the Olympics so, I feel really lucky to be able to have this assignment.

 

There has been so much to do to get ready for this trip. August in Beijing is super hot and humid so we had to keep this in mind when my stylist and I were preparing our wardrobe. Nicole and I had a two hour fitting, deciding which outfits would be the most comfortable while I am reporting from the Great Wall and the Olympic venues.

People take great joy in knocking reality show stars and no one more than MTV's "The Hills" stars Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt. After meeting them this week, at a gaming convention called E3, I'm on the fence whether or not I think they are worthy of all the negativity. 

 

On the one hand, I have little to no respect for anyone who over-hypes themselves by attending what I refer to as, "the opening of an envelope." These are the young Hollywood celebrities (I use that term loosely) who attend any event they are invited to take part in. Unveiling of a new clothing line... sure. Hot new restaurant... absolutely. Sponsored birthday party for someone you have never met... of course. Latest scream fest movie premiere... why not? Weekly magazine "hot" list party... you betcha. Beach house party sponsored by a company whose product you probably have never even heard of... yes! 

 

It's like -- come on people… can't you spend one night curled up on the couch with a good book (or, at the very least, watching yourself on Tivo)? When it comes to these type of Hollywood events, I'd say Heidi and Spencer keep it to a better level as opposed to their "Hill"s rivals LC, Lo, Audrina and the rest of the gang whose names pop up on just about every tip sheet (a release given to the media alerting them to who is confirmed to attend) sent out. This is not to defend H&S by any means. They could stand to lighten up on the event load too. For example, I think someone who keeps it to a respectable level would be Hayden Panettiere.

Growing up, the 4th of July was always a work day - and a tough work day at that. July 3rd was quite the popular party night in Boston and the nightclubs that my parents and I cleaned were no exception. In college, I sold hot dogs and sausages to crowds gathered to see the fireworks. Needless to say, when I received an impromptu text message from Access Hollywood Executive Producer, Rob Silverstein, inquiring as to my availability for short notice work on this past 4th of July, I was more than ready.

 

However, this was not going to be a typical celebrity interview. On this particular 4th of July, I would be flying to Butte, Montana interview none other than Senator Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle. Access Hollywood producer Steve Forrest had apparently been working quite diligently to get this interview and it was to be the first sit down with the couple since the Senator presumably clinched the Democratic Nomination.

 

There were so many questions that I wanted to ask Senator Obama and I jotted a few pages worth of them. I have to remain cognizant of the fact that this interview is coming through "Access Hollywood." This isn’t to say that we don’t ask tough questions at Access. A long list of celebs will attest that we very much do. However, asking Obama for a time frame as to when our troops will be out of Iraq or how he feels about Blackwater isn’t what our audience is looking for necessarily.

In all the years I have been covering "American Idol" for Access Hollywood I have actually never gone to the "American Idols Live" tour. I'm not sure why. I guess I have never been invited and it's something I would never shell out my own hard earned money to watch. This year, however, I did receive tickets along with my producer pal Celeste. I was actually pretty darn excited to go. I wanted to check out what it was all about and see just who actually came to see the show. 

 

We pull up to the Staples Center and I'm expecting the place to be crawling with eight, nine and ten-year-old little girls and that was about it. Instead, what I found was the most interesting mix of age ranges and races. There were young girls with their parents, couples on dates, grandmas and grandpas, teenagers, college students, groups of girlfriends in a variety of ages, entire families with their daughters and sons. This was not at all the crowd I expected! 

 

We get to our seats and I'm delighted to find that they are pretty close to the stage. Although you would never know it by the photos I took. My camera makes it seem like I’m up in the nosebleeds. I notice just as I sit down that Syesha Mercado's father is sitting right next to me. Later I learn that Brooke White's aunt, uncle and cousin are sitting right in front of me. I figure this out after I hear her yelling "Brookie" and going absolutely nuts when she is on stage performing. 

 

I have to say that overall I was extremely disappointed with the show. It was not at all what I expected. I thought it was going to open with a bang and be full of energy. I figured all ten Idols would come out and perform a fun yet cheesy group number. Then I figured each Idol would get to sing a solo or two. Then it would be back to group numbers and so on. Instead they racked them all up like a countdown and each Idol performed a few songs for the crowd. Since I've never been to a show before I'm wondering if this is the way it has always been or did they at one time mix up the group numbers with the solos? I'd love to hear comments from anyone who has been to past shows.

Judging from the amount of ladies writing in comments on my last blog about "The Bachelorette's" Jeremy Anderson, I figured he's got to be one of the most popular male rejects of all time. I say reject with all due respect as I've gotten to know Jeremy recently and he's anything but a reject. He's a total sweetheart -beyond just being easy on the eyes.

 

Women who have never even met him have created a petition to make him the next "Bachelor" and they're going above and beyond finding out ways to contact him. Some have gone so far as to take out ads on Craigslist to find him! 

 

I wanted to update everyone on how Jeremy has been holding up since the finale. I was horrified watching him go back on that final show to try and change DeAnna's mind. The show made it seem like he had hung out for several days lying in wait for her. It made him look, I thought, like a bit of a stalker. However, in the back of my mind I was pretty sure that all unfolded on the night he was eliminated, despite how ABC made it seem – especially, since I was pretty sure he was wearing the exact same clothes as the week before! 

 

This morning Jeremy and I had a long talk about all things "The Bachelorette." We talked for so long I actually took a shower with him! Well, he showered at his home in Dallas while I was on the phone 1,800 miles away in Los Angeles. A girl can dream though, right?  Thank goodness he told me this after the fact, otherwise my mind may have wandered off to uh, other things, while I was trying to ask insightful questions. Kudos to him for his fantastic multi-tasking! Here's some of what Jeremy and I spoke about this morning.

 

OK, so, did you actually wait around in the Bahamas for DeAnna to come back?

"It was an hour and half after the rose ceremony. It wasn't days later. I went back under the premise, I got this pretty concrete feeling that DeAnna was second guessing her decision and wanted to talk to me about it, and that there was a possibility that there might be a change of heart if I went back and talked to her about it." 

 

I recently headed down to Miami to participate in the Simply Fit Irie Weekend. This is DJ Irie's celebrity weekend that benefits the Miami Big Brothers and Big Sisters program.

 

Irie is a good friend of mine so when he invited me out again this year I did not hesitate to accept the offer. The weekend consisted of parties DJ'd by Timbaland, a golf tourney with the likes of Alonzo Mourning, Alfonso Ribeiro, and the homies Jonathon Wesley and Chris Kirkpatrick.

 

After the tourney is a dinner gala featuring a silent auction and this year special guest Ne-Yo serenaded the crowd. I was teamed up for the golf tourney with CBS 4 news anchor Jawan Strader, WSVN 7 sports reporter Donavan Campbell, and WSVN 7 sports producer Anthony Biase (aka, Roddick, look at the picture, nuff said). So in the 90 degree heat and 1000 percent humidity the "Media Moguls" stormed the course and did some damage......literally.

 

Senator Barack Obama and his family sat down with Access Hollywood's Maria Menounos for their first interview together as a family.

 

The presumptive Democratic nominee, his wife, Michelle, and daughters Malia and Sasha got candid with Access about the possibility of moving into the White House, how they are surprised Barack is considered a fashion icon and life on the campaign trail.

 

Now Access wants you to share your thoughts on our exclusive interview with the Obamas.

Jason Mesnick just may be the most popular single man in America today! Women all over the Internet are buzzing about how they can meet the 31-year-old account executive from Seattle, Washington who had his heart broken by "Bachelorette" DeAnna Pappas last night. 

 

This morning I spoke to Jason, just minutes after my phone call with DeAnna and her new fiancé, Jesse Csincsak, to talk about how he is holding up. The good news is Jason is ready to get back out into the dating world again. Despite his final limo ride confession that he was “putting back on his body armor,” Jason told me he time is starting to heal his wounds,

 

"As time has gone by, over these last couple of months, I have come to grips with it. I'm a person that believes in fate and destiny and I think things happen for a reason. She didn’t pick me for a reason and watching her and Jesse together really solidified to me that that’s something I need to have and that’s something they have and I am very happy for them. So, I will say that the body armor is down and I am ready to date again."

 

As of yet he hasn't started looking for the next Mrs. Right though,

 

"I had stepped away from being a dad for several weeks and I've been smothering and being smothered by my little boy. So, if there is any date it's just been with my little munchkin."

 

When he does get back out there Jason revealed he has one main quality he looks for in a woman,

 

"Just that spark for life. You can see it in somebody’s eyes, just that sparkle. What that means to me is that they can enjoy everything that they are doing whatever it is." 

I hate to say, "I told you so"... but I will anyway, "I told you so!" My clues to why I thought DeAnna would choose Jesse over Jason on "The Bachelorette" were spot on and last night her choice was revealed and it was Jesse Csincsak (pronounced SIN-SACK). The 26-year-old snowboarder got down on bended knee and proposed to "D" with a 2.32 carat $60,000 Tacori ring.

 

So, how did a longhaired, free spirit (who describes things as "rad" and "ridiculous" and thought telling someone "I'm so into you" was pouring his heart out) get the girl? -- By just being himself.  

 

On a conference call with reporters this morning the happy couple talked all about their unconventional TV courtship. Anyone who reads my blogs knows I like to knock "The Bachelor" for its lame track record, but I'm going to go out on a limb here and say I think DeAnna and Jesse may go the distance here. At least, I think they will make it to the altar anyway. They have already set a wedding date of May 9, 2009. The significance being that May 9 is the date they got engaged. DeAnna told me she definitely plans to take Jesse's last name which she joked she is just learning to spell. Here's more from their conversation this morning with reporters.

 

What do you love about Jesse?

DeAnna: “I love that I have, for the first time in my life, I have a man that I can depend on.”

 

What do you love about DeAnna?

Jesse: “My thing with her is that she always puts a smile on my face. No matter what we do or where we are, I'm always happy with her. She makes my palms sweat everyday.”

 

How hard was it watching DeAnna's romance with Jason last night?

Jesse: “When I was going through this process I kept telling myself that I was the only guy and I had to just mentally tell myself there were no other guys there. Watching it was definitely tough but I have told her this - I'm only worried about it from the day that that ring went on her finger forward -- and everything that happened before that is in the past.”

So, the other day I gave you clue number one as to why I think “The Bachelorette” DeAnna Pappas will chose 26-year-old snowboarder, Jesse Csinscak over 31-year-old single daddy Jason Mesnick.

I mentioned a conversation we had at the “Men Tell All” taping where she said she and her chosen guy would commute between both their residences. I don’t see a single dad with shared custody being able to move back and forth between cities.

Yesterday, I got more clues from DeAnna during a conference call with reporters. Here are some more reasons why I think she will choose Jesse...

Rumors are flying that this week’s eliminated bachelor, Jeremy Anderson, a 30-year-old real estate attorney from Dallas, Texas, will be chosen to be the next “Bachelor” when the series returns this fall.

When I spoke to Jeremy two weeks ago backstage at the “Men Tell All” taping, he seemed conflicted about the idea of going through this again and wasn’t sure if producers were interested. In a conference call with Jeremy yesterday, reporters questioned whether or not he had thought about being the next “Bachelor” and this time Jeremy seemed more open to it.

“It was a great experience,” he said “It was probably the most enlightening thing I’ve ever done. I feel like I took more out of it than anyone.”

This morning with the rumors growing louder, reporters questioned DeAnna on whether or not she felt Jeremy was a good pick as the next “Bachelor.”

It’s between Jason and Jesse! It’s between Jason and Jesse!

Of course you all know that by now if you watched last night’s episode of “The Bachelorette.” I just needed to finally be able to shout it out because it’s a secret I’ve had to keep to myself for the past two weeks. I’m not good with secrets. I have a big mouth. That’s why I work on a television show that deals in gossip. I’m proud to say I successfully kept this secret to myself. There was that whole concept that ABC would sue me if I didn’t, so that helped.

Maybe it’s because I’m going through my own personal male drama that I really got attached to this season of “The Bachelorette” and these guys. So, for the first time ever I asked to attend the “Men Tell All” special.

Of course, I was thinking I would get to sit in the audience. So, I got all cuted up. When I get there though I was informed that press would not be allowed to sit in the audience. We had to watch from a green room backstage. I was slightly annoyed until I realized there was a nice craft service table for me to grab snacks from every few minutes. Plus, the guys would come out during commercial breaks to use the bathroom and grab a snack themselves and the girls in the green room with me got to gossip during the show. So, it actually ended up working out quite well. My heart nearly dropped when halfway during the show, I ran smack into Jeremy on a bathroom break.

 

More on that later though...