2019-11-13 The Hollywood Reporter

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Heard Around Hollywood

About Town

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 36 NOVEMBER 13, 2019

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Chuck Lorre’s ‘Stupid’ Scientology Phase
Why was the Scientology lingo in the season finale of Netflix’s
The Kominsky Method, which dropped Oct. 25, so uncannily accurate?
In the episode, Haley Joel Osment’s character uses terms like “the
MEST universe” (matter, energy, space and time) and “thetans” (souls).
Scientology blogger To ny O r t e g a suggested that Chuck Lorre, the epi-
sode’s sole writer, must’ve had experience with the religion. Ortega’s
research pinpointed Lorre as a member in the ’70s, after he moved
to L.A. to pursue a music career. “I do know that he was trained as an
auditor,” Geoff Levin, another short-term church member, told Ortega.
By the ’80s, Lorre was long gone: “He had just quietly left. He was into
Buddhism by that time.” When THR reached out, Lorre said via his
Warner Bros. reps: “What can I say, I did a lot of stupid shit when I was
young.” (The church did not respond to requests for comment.)

Power

Dining

Ya p a

The Quick Pitch

Chef Richie Lopez,

who came up under

Peruvian cuisine mae-

stro Ricardo Zarate

(Mo Chica, Picca,

Paiche) is exploring

Peru’s gastronomic

intersection with its

Japanese immigrant

community in, fittingly

enough, Little Tokyo.

Offerings include

monkfish liver churros

and beef heart skewers.

The Inside Dish

Lopez’s partner is Josh

Goldman, a veteran

GM (Bastide, .ink)

and sommelier who’s

assembled a precise

wine and cocktail list

heavy on housemade

tinctures and infusions.

236 S. Los Angeles St.

— GARY BAUM

During the ’70s, when Chuck Lorre moved to L.A. to pursue a music career, he joined Scientology.

David O. Russell

lunched at Polo

Lounge. ... Indya

Moore was at TAO

Los Angeles. ... UTA’s

Jeremy Zimmer and

Klutch Sports Group’s

Rich Paul had dinner

at Katsuya Downtown

L.A. ... Mariah Carey

checked out Mr Chow

Beverly Hills. Goldie

Hawn and Tom Ford

were in separately. ...

Pete Davidson was at

The West Hollywood

Edition. ... Henry

Winkler lunched

at Jon and Vinny’s

Brentwood. ... John

Lasseter had dinner

at Pacifique. ... Bob

Iger, Frank Marshall

and Barry Josephson

shared the room at

To s c a n a. ... Marvin

Levy lunched at Studio

City’s Kiwami.

Bale Damon

Rambling Reporter

By Chris Gardner

Post-crash, Nick LoPiccolo “was in shock.”

Agent Survives ‘Horror Film’
Car Crash by Inches
Agenting can be cutthroat ... but
deadly? When Nick LoPiccolo,
who reps Henry Golding and
Harry Shum Jr., exited Paradigm’s
Beverly Hills offices Oct. 29 to
grab lunch while looking over
remarks for a quarterly town hall,
he narrowly skirted disaster. “A
car spun out of control and landed
right on the sidewalk where I
had been walking” on Wilshire
Boulevard, says LoPiccolo, “so
I exploded into a backpedal” —
which he chalks up to his days
playing defensive back at the

talk Patrick into it,” while Damon

explained on the red carpet: “I’m

Patrick’s first client [of] over 25

years, and Jen and I are together

almost 23 years. If it ain’t broke,

don’t try to fix it.” Damon added

that there’s zero competition for

the reps’ attention: “We each have

the exact career we want, and

they’re both a huge part of that.”

Fiji Water Not Under the Bridge

at the Golden Globes

Move over, Fiji Water Girl, there’s

a new pour at the 2020 Golden

Globes. Less than a year after

Kelleth Cuthbert (real name Kelly

Steinbach) went viral as she

photo-bombed stars while hold-

ing a tray of Fiji bottles — which

Jamie Lee Curtis slammed on

Twitter as “blatant promotion”

— Icelandic Glacial announced

it’s the official water of the 77th

Golden Globes. Multiple sources

close to the show (airing Jan. 5

on NBC) say the Fiji Water Girl

is the reason a new partnership

was secured, though an HFPA rep

responds that its two-year con-

tract with Fiji expired: “Icelandic

Glacial has always been an

environmentally conscious brand

[which] was very important to the

HFPA,” says a rep. (Read: Glass

instead of plastic bottles will be

served.) As for Cuthbert, she sued

Fiji for unauthorized use of her

likeness, and a Fiji countersuit

claimed she was trying to extort

close to $500,000 from the com-

pany. The case is pending.

University of Delaware. “The car

very likely would have landed

on me. It was like something

out of a horror film.” LoPiccolo,

36, limped to his speech to 700

colleagues, aided by a taped seg-

ment from Golding and Bruce

Buffer, UFC’s veteran announcer,

and later learn he suffered a

torn meniscus.

Twinning With Bale and Damon

James Mangold’s Ford v Ferrari

marks the first collaboration

between Christian Bale, 45, and

Matt Damon, 49. At the Nov. 4 pre-

miere of the Fox/Disney drama,

the duo coincidentally appeared

in nearly identical all-black

looks (suit, shirt, no tie). But

the twinning doesn’t end there:

Damon and Bale share an agent

(Endeavor’s Patrick Whitesell)

and publicist (Viewpoint’s

Jennifer Allen) too. Bale joked that

landing both stars was easy for

Mangold because “he only had to

Russell

Moore

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