BRAVE NEW FILMS – In The Media

By The Hollywood Reporter

The most radioactive miniseries ever made airs on April 3 on ReelzChannel. Now the producer, a rare Hollywood conservative, asks The Hollywood Reporter magazine: “If Tom Hanks … did this show, would there be a problem?”

The following story appears in the upcoming issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine on

Joel Surnow was in the middle of a tennis game when he first realized The Kennedys might be in serious trouble. It was May 2010, and the Emmy-winning 24 producer was taking a break from preparing his ambitious $30 million miniseries about America’s political dynasty, a lavish production that was to signal both a new chapter in Surnow’s career and a bold move into scripted programming for the History channel. Stung by criticism from Kennedy family allies about a leaked early draft of the script, Surnow and his creative team were collaborating with History’s in-house advisers to ensure that the eight-part piece of historical fiction didn’t skew too far from the facts. But on that May afternoon, less than a month before shooting was scheduled to begin, the tenor of the relationship changed.

A routine script meeting between screenwriter Stephen Kronish and History historian Steven Gillon had not gone well, prompting Gillon to fly from New York to Los Angeles to meet with Asylum Entertainment, which was producing the miniseries with Montreal-based Muse Entertainment. At the meeting that morning, Gillon had produced more than 20 pages of color-coded notes outlining specific and wholesale new changes that needed to be made — and fast. A scene depicting the White House communicating directly with soldiers during the Bay of Pigs invasion had to be changed. The house in a scene featuring John F. Kennedy’s reputed mistress Marilyn Monroe was ordered to appear different. And so on. Asylum president and chief creative officer Jonathan Koch called Surnow on the court to relay the clear message: The level of scrutiny of the project had been ratcheted up, and if the changes weren’t made, the project would likely be killed.

“I was sitting there on the court, and I said, ‘This is real, and we might be in serious jeopardy,’ ” Surnow recalls.

Many months later in January, even after producers made the requested changes and Gillon gave his blessing to the script, The Kennedys was abruptly yanked from History in advance of its planned airdate, perhaps the most high-profile television project ever shelved by its network after being greenlighted, filmed and nearly finished. The move likely cost History parent A&E Television Networks and its owners, Disney, NBCUniversal and Hearst Corp., millions of dollars in production and marketing costs and led to questions about the level of accuracy required of historical fiction, as well as allegations that network executives were bullied by the Kennedy family into censoring or shelving a project deemed critical of the powerful clan.

Indeed, in the wake of the miniseries’ cancellation, sources close to the decision-making process told The Hollywood Reporter that executives, including Disney/ABC Television Group president Anne Sweeney, who sits on the AETN board, were personally lobbied by Caroline Kennedy, who has a book deal with Disney’s Hyperion publishing division and is planning to release a collection of interviews with her mother, the late Jacqueline Kennedy, this fall to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the first year of JFK’s presidency. One source says Kennedy’s promotion of the book on ABC’s Good Morning America hung in the balance, based on what happened with the miniseries. In addition, Kennedy scion Maria Shriver, who attends church with Sweeney in the Los Angeles area, also has close ties to NBCUniversal, where she worked in its news division. She is said to have voiced her displeasure with the project to then-NBCU execs Jeff Zucker and Jeff Gaspin. (Through reps, AETN, Disney, NBCU and Hearst executives declined comment.)

Surnow, the rare outspoken conservative in liberal-leaning Hollywood, believes the May 2010 meeting provided a peek at the political forces that ultimately led to The Kennedys moving from History to the independent ReelzChannel, where it will have its world premiere on April 3. Surnow says he is still not sure who killed the miniseries at History, but he believes the project was doomed the moment he became involved.

“Because I am a known conservative, it appears that I was deemed unfit to be the person to produce this miniseries,” Surnow says, breaking his silence on the controversy during a lengthy interview with The Hollywood Reporter at his Woodland Hills home. “This is despite the fact that I’m American, and John F. Kennedy was my president as much as anybody else’s president. I am a proud American, proud of the Kennedys for their accomplishments and their place in history, but none of that was given voice. I wasn’t Emmy Award-winning Joel Surnow, I was Rush Limbaugh’s and Roger Ailes’ friend Joel Surnow. And that’s all that mattered.”

“Because I am a known conservative, it appears that I was deemed unfit to produce this miniseries. I wasn’t Emmy Award-winning Joel Surnow, I was Rush Limbaugh’s friend Joel Surnow.” — Joel Surnow, executive producer of “The Kennedys”

The saga of The Kennedys began not with Surnow but with History senior vp programming Dirk Hoogstra, who, during a 2008 meeting with producer Jonathan Koch, mentioned that the network of Ice Road Truckers was interested in launching scripted historical dramas and that the Kennedy family might provide fertile material. On his way home from the meeting, Koch called Surnow, co-creator of Fox’s innovative counterterrorism serial 24, who had teamed with Koch on a pilot for TNT. As it happened, Surnow, now 56, was hanging out at his house that day with Kronish, a 24writer and a big Kennedys buff. Surnow told Koch to drive over immediately.

“We sat in those chairs right there,” Surnow recalls, pointing to the porch under a walnut tree behind his ranch-style home in the San Fernando Valley, “and Kronish proceeded to basically tell the story of our miniseries. The story of Joe Kennedy, Joe Jr., the boys and everything that you sort of roughly remember about the Kennedys — but then in details that really made it come to life.”

By Christian Tao of the Washington Times

History Channel turned down biopic, reportedly after pressure from family

Before ReelzChannel CEO Stan Hubbard bought the broadcast rights to the political hot potato known as “The Kennedys,” he watched all eight installments of the miniseries to settle the questions he needed to have answered.

“Was it any good? Is it an abomination of history? Is it Kennedy bashing? Those were three things I wanted to make sure I was comfortable with,” Mr. Hubbard says.

The miniseries, originally intended to air on the History Channel, is now slated to air on Reelzchannel starting April 3. Greg Kinnear plays President John F. Kennedy, while Katie Holmes dons the iconic pillbox hat to bring Jackie Kennedy to life. Barry Pepper (“True Grit”) and Tom Wilkinson (“Michael Clayton”) round out the impressive cast.

The History Channel dumped the miniseries earlier this year on the grounds it didn’t measure up to the channel’s standards. But that wasn’t the whole story. The Hollywood Reporter claimed pressure from Caroline Kennedy and Maria Shriver helped force the channel’s hand in the matter.

Longtime Kennedy adviser Ted Sorensen, who is now deceased, had earlier joined with liberal filmmaker Robert Greenwald to blast an early draft of the miniseries, according to the New York Times. History Channel sources claimed the draft leaked before more historians were consulted for accuracy’s sake, the newspaper added. Others speculated the film, from openly conservative producer Joel Surnow, might include potshots at the celebrated clan.

Greg Kinnear portrays President John F. Kennedy in “The Kennedys,” originally intended for airing on the History Channel. (www.reelzchannel.com)

By Scott Stinson at The National Post

Michael Prupas calls himself a “card-carrying liberal.” The Montreal television producer speaks proudly of his work with a one-time colleague, Pierre Trudeau, on the former prime minster’s authorized biopic. And, he says, he’s an admirer of the Kennedy family.

As such, it is in a tone that conveys bafflement that Mr. Prupas describes the campaign waged against his company’s production of a television miniseries on the Kennedys. The series has been called a “politically motivated smear job.” A propaganda film. A hit piece. The attention given John F. Kennedy’s sexual indiscretions, says Hollywood filmmaker Robert Greenwald, who has relentlessly criticized the production for the past year, amounts to “a disgusting, below-the-belt attack, both figuratively and literally.”

Mr. Greenwald’s pressure campaign has accomplished its main goal: getting the History Channel to walk away from its $15-million investment in the project starring Greg Kinnear as JFK and Katie Holmes as his wife, Jacqueline.

Mr. Prupas insists that The Kennedys, which will air in Canada in April, will leave viewers impressed with the family at its centre, and he says the claims of inaccuracies are unfair and overblown. And in a year in which two of the main Oscar contenders, The Social Network and The King’s Speech, are known to have taken liberties with actual events, is it unfair to expect a historical work to be anything more than “based on a true story?” This is John F. Kennedy, after all. It’s no secret that the man was a bit randy. “I don’t think there is anybody in North America, perhaps the world, who would argue with you if you said ‘Geez, did you know John Kennedy had extra-marital affairs?’,” says Mr. Prupas in an interview. “Or, ‘did you know Joe Kennedy was a bit of a bully?’”

The Kennedys was always intended to be a bold stroke for the History Channel in the United States. A specialty channel best known for grainy footage of long-ago wars, it committed two-and-a-half years ago to develop the miniseries with Mr. Prupas’ Muse Entertainment. By the end of 2009, scripts for the eight-hour series were complete, and History wanted to go ahead with the production. History would put up $15-million for its first foray into scripted drama; Muse would invest a similar amount. For Muse, the key to success would be selling broadcast rights internationally. That would require a big-name cast. “We were delighted to get Greg Kinnear,” says Mr. Prupas. Then came Barry Pepper (Saving Private Ryan) as Robert F. Kennedy and Tom Wilkinson (Michael Clayton) as the Kennedy patriarch. Finally, Katie Holmes signed on as Jackie. She brought something even more valuable from a sales standpoint: the tabloid sizzle of Mrs. Tom Cruise. “She was huge,” Mr. Prupas admits.

The casting process, though, had an unexpected side effect. Scripts made the rounds in Hollywood, and some people were not pleased by what they saw.

From Simon Owens at PBS Media Shift

Last month, Politico’s Mike Allen asked presidential hopeful John McCain the seemingly innocent question of how many houses he owned. McCain’s response — “I’ll have my staff get to you” — became a major focus for both the media and Obama’s campaign, who repeated it in just about every speech to illustrate that the Republican candidate was “out of touch” with the millions of Americans affected by the housing crisis.

But months before Allen asked that loaded question, liberal activist and filmmaker Robert Greenwald, founder of Brave New Films, had come across a news item mentioning McCain’s multiple homes.

“This was maybe six or eight months ago,” Greenwald told me. “And I said, ‘nobody knows about that. This is really interesting.’ And I wondered if we could get video of the homes.”

So, in an editorial meeting with his staff, they came up with a three-pronged approach to the story.

First, they would collect video footage of all of the candidate’s houses. Then they began combing through news reports and video to find quotes from McCain about the housing crisis (”Because it was not just to show he had the homes, it was to show that his policy was reflective of him having those homes,” Greenwald explained). Finally, they sat down and interviewed Americans who had lost their properties to foreclosure.

“At which point the editors took over,” he recalled. “I worked with them for three weeks. We went up and back, making 12, 13, 14 versions, getting the timing right, getting the balance right between the three stories.”

The resulting video, “McCain’s Mansions,” launched on YouTube several days before Allen approached McCain with the question about his houses. It has now amassed over 400,000 views.

By Brian Stelter at The New York Times (International)

Michael Moore, the political provocateur behind the films “Fahrenheit 9/11″ and “Sicko,” is releasing a new film Tuesday. But you will not be able to find “Slacker Uprising” at any theater.

Instead he is placing the film on the Internet for free viewing, at SlackerUprising.com. Moore said the unorthodox rollout is a gift to his fans and a rallying cry for the coming election.

“At times there’s nothing wrong with preaching to the choir,” he said in a telephone interview from his office in Traverse City, Michigan Liberals have been “pretty beaten down over the last 28 years.”

“The choir, especially on our side of the political fence, is often fairly dejected,” he observed, “and could use a good song every now and then.”

The song in this analogy is a 100-minute look at Moore’s tour of college campuses during the fall of 2004. Cameras followed him to 62 cities as he urged young people to vote for John Kerry. The resulting footage sat on the shelf for a few years before Moore spliced together a version of the film, then titled “Captain Mike Across America,” and showed it at the Toronto International Film Festival a year ago.

By Associated Press at Access Hollywood

PASADENA, Calif. –

After the History channel said it would not air a controversial miniseries on the Kennedy family, producers were already seeking another television home.

The Showtime pay cable network has been approached to air the eight-part series, a spokesman said on Saturday. Eight years ago, Showtime aired a movie about President Reagan that CBS had made but decided not to broadcast when it faced pressure from some of that former president’s family.

Showtime won’t make a decision about the Kennedy miniseries until its executives have a chance to see it, spokesman Richard Licata said.

The multi-million dollar miniseries, which stars Greg Kinnear and Katie Holmes as John and Jackie Kennedy, was History’s most expensive project ever. But the network issued a statement late Friday saying that after watching the finished product, “we have concluded this dramatic interpretation is not a fit for the History brand.”

Producers have sold the rights to air the series in other countries, including Canada. The producers, Muse Entertainment and Asylum, said in a statement they were confident U.S. television viewers would have a chance to see the series.

A concerted effort was made to quash the series. Liberal filmmaker Robert Greenwald collected 50,000 petitions urging History not to air it, and he produced a short film condemning the project on a website, stopkennedysmears.com. He had been given an early script, which included one scene where President Kennedy tells his brother Robert about his need to have sex with other women.

Former Kennedy aide Theodore Sorensen also harshly condemned the film, saying scenes in the script where he was depicted didn’t actually occur.

History also likely felt corporate pressure. The network is owned by the A&E Television Networks, which itself is owned jointly by NBC Universal, the Walt Disney Co. and the Hearst Corp.

A top Disney executive, Disney-ABC Media Networks co-chairwoman Anne Sweeney, is also on the board of directors for the Special Olympics, the organization started by the late Eunice Kennedy Shriver, President Kennedy’s sister.

Hyperion, a Disney-owned publisher, plans in September to release a book and audiotapes based on interviews that Jackie Kennedy gave to historian and family friend Arthur Schlesinger Jr. in 1964. They had been sealed since then but will be released on the OK of daughter Caroline Kennedy, who is scheduled to edit the project and write an introduction. It’s the 50th anniversary of the first year of Kennedy’s presidency.

By CBC News

A controversial miniseries about the Kennedy family has been dropped by History Channel in the U.S. after the network deemed that it was not a fit for the network’s brand.

“We have concluded this dramatic interpretation is not a fit for the History brand,” the network said in a statement late Friday about the eight-part miniseries, The Kennedys, starring Greg Kinnear and Katie Holmes as President John F. Kennedy and his wife, Jackie. Canadian Barry Pepper plays Robert F. Kennedy.

“We recognize historical fiction is an important medium for storytelling and commend all the hard work and passion that has gone into the making of the series, but ultimately deem this as the right programming decision for our network.”

The series drew the ire of several Kennedy administration staffers as well as liberal-leaning documentarian Robert Greenwald, who started a campaign to stop the production on the website stopkennedysmears.com.

They contend the series, filmed in Toronto last summer, contains errors of fact. It is also the brainchild of producer Joel Surnow, the creator of the series 24, who is a well-known conservative.

The series was billed as “an inside look behind the secret doors of the White House,” which also “unveils the secrets of the Kennedy family.”

Former Kennedy aide Theodore Sorensen, who said he got a copy of the script, called the series “malicious” and “vindictive” in a New York Times article last February. He says some scenes depicted never happened. History responded by saying the script had been revised.

Supporters of the family say they aren’t happy about reported allusions in the series to Kennedy’s philandering.

Greenwald, who collected 50,000 signatures, says he can’t believe the series got into production.

“I’ll never understand why the History Channel let it get as far as it did. They’re intelligent people over there.”

While the series may never air in the U.S., it will be shown elsewhere. The Montreal production company behind the series, Muse Entertainment, holds the broadcast rights outside of the U.S. and it has sold the series to foreign networks.

It is set to air in Canada on History Television on March 6.