The News: Diller's Delaware Death Sentence

By S.T. VanAirsdale

Some of today's movie news of note from around New York:

--With 100 or so "media and finance influencers" like Carl Icahn and Harvey Weinstein looking on, Barry Diller confessed to Variety editor Peter Bart at a panel Tuesday that he's prepared to lose his battle with John Malone for control of InterActive Corp. "It's very odd that two people who don't want to give up control of anything are giving control to a judge in Delaware," Diller said of Monday's hearing over his IAC breakup being contested by shareholder and Liberty Media mogul Malone. "The wonderful thing about Delaware is they do it quickly. They make a decision quickly." Yikes! Lighten up, kiddo -- it's only money. NB: If any of the "media influencers" who read this site happened to be at the Four Seasons and have any specifics about the "particularly fiery speech by Diller about radically shifting distribution models" that reporter Dade Hayes completely glossed over, let's hear it!

--The Time Out New York blog passes along calls for Euro-looking, NYC-based extras to appear in Nora Ephron's forthcoming Julia Child homage (with Meryl Streep and Amy Adams). It's better than the call in Boston for Shutter Island or Ashcliffe or whatever the hell Martin Scorsese's calling his new film these days: "[M]ental patients, including interesting, quirky or unusual character faces; the malnourished and emaciated concentration camp prisoners, many of whom will have their heads shaved."

--On the occasion of the upcoming J. Hoberman tribute at BAM, The Village Voice re-runs the esteemed critic's review of Naked Lunch, which will open the series March 11.

--Army Archerd talks to Billy Friedkin, hard at work finishing interviews and technical tweaks on the long, long-awaited DVD release of his 1970 stage adaptation The Boys in the Band.

--Azazel Jacobs, who spoke with The Reeler about his acclaimed Momma's Man prior to its Sundance premiere, nabbed domestic distribution Tuesday through ThinkFilm. The film screens as part of New Directors/New Films on March 28.

--Finally, because no day is complete without a Michel Gondry mention, check out Reeler contributor Eric Kohn's shiny new blog at Stream for more background on the director's dreams for social filmgoing: "My point is not to get everyone to see it. It's to find a way to celebrate the watching of film. ... I think the YouTube phenomenon doesn't lead to that. It's isolating people."

Posted at March 5, 2008 8:36 AM