Rambling Reporter
By Chris GardnerGot tips? Email [email protected]Heard Around HollywoodAbout Town
THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 34 FEBRUA RY 12, 2020
KIDS: COURTESY OF SUNDANCE.VHYES: COURTESY OF OSCILLOSCOPE. RICCI: TONY BARSON/FILMMAGIC. BIDEN: PAUL MORIGI/GETTY IMAGES FOR WORLD FOOD PROGRAM USA. RIHANNA:ANGELA WEISS/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES. SOCALO: LUKE GIBSON.VOICES: COURTESY OF JEFF VESPA.RISING: COURTESY OF GIGANTIC! PRODUCTIONS.AFTER: COURTESY OF TRIBECA.The Parkland Shootings: Two Years (and Four Docs) Later
A pair of new Parkland docs are screening in L.A. on Feb. 12, the eve
of the two-year anniversary of the Florida school shooting that killed
- Voi ces of Parkl an d, produced by Judd Apatow (and screening at
Theatre at Ace Hotel), tells the story through interviews with those
impacted. “No photos, no B-roll, no music — just individuals speak-
ing to the camera,” says photographer turned filmmaker Jeff Vespa.
In the other, an ABC doc called After Parkland — screening at Laemmle
Royal and five other L.A. theaters — Nightline vets Emily Taguchi and
Jake Lefferman embed themselves with students to follow them from
trauma to activism. Two more docs — one by Newtown director Kim A.
Snyder and another produced by Katie Couric with filmmaker Cheryl
Horner McDonough — also will screen in coming weeks. “We’re all in it
for the same reason,” says Vespa. “We just want these stories told.”
Power
DiningSocalo
The Quick Pitch
Susan Feniger and
Mary Sue Milliken,
grand dames of the L.A.
scene who launched
the Border Grill, have
returned with their lat-
est Mexican concept,
an all-day canteen in
Santa Monica slinging
jackfruit tinga and
lamb birria.
The Inside Dish
A while back, Michael
Eisner attempted a
sitcom about Feniger
and Milliken, whose
co-hosting of KCRW’s
Good Food in the
show’s early days
inspired Ana Gasteyer
and Molly Shannon’s
SNL “Delicious
Dish” sketches.
1920 Santa Monica
Blvd. — GARY BAUMClockwise from top left:
Us Kids, After Parkland, Parkland
Rising and Voices of Parkland.Rihanna, James
Franco and Billy
Magnussen were at
Croft Alley at The
Standard Hotel sepa-
rately. ... Hunter Biden
was with his wife,
Melissa Cohen Biden,
at Mr Chow. On a
different day, TikTok
stars Charli and Dixie
D’Amelio and their
parents sat with UTA’s
David Klein. ... Justin
and Hailey Bieber had
date night at Il Pastaio.
... Giancarlo Esposito,
Michael Mando and
Rhea Seehorn sat with
Jason Segel, André
Benjamin and Sian
Clifford at Norah. ...
Katy Perry popped by
Roku. ... Henry Winkler
was at République
for breakfast. ... Paris
Hilton checked
out Pinky’s.A scene from Jack Henry Robbins’ VHYes.Susan Sarandon vs. Son’s NYT
Reviewer: ‘So Unprofessional’
Susan Sarandon has some issues
with The New York Times critic
Jeannette Catsoulis for her review
of VHYes, a new movie by director
Jack Henry Robbins, who happens
to be Sarandon and Tim Robbins’
son. “This woman was so unpro-
fessional,” the actress, 73, tells
Rambling Reporter, railing at how
Catsoulis compared her 30-year-
old son’s film to “a collage of
meaningless nostalgia” and ques-
tioned how it found its way into a
theater, not so subtly hinting that
the director’s lineage may have
Hollywood Critics Squabble
Over Who Is a Hollywood Critic
The Critics’ Choice Association
— the folks who run that selfie
festival known as the Critics’
Choice Awards — are trying to
clamp down on another critics
group in L.A. The reason? The
other outfit changed its name
from the Los Angeles Online
Film Critics Association to the
Hollywood Critics Association,
which the CCA thinks is confus-
ing. “Unfortunately, its new name
inaccurately implies that most
Hollywood critics are members,
which is clearly not the case,” the
CCA wrote in a Jan. 30 letter that
instructed CCA members to shun
the HCA. But HCA founder Scott
Menzel notes the name change
was an innocent attempt to find a
catchier moniker for his 48-mem-
ber group. “This really hurts,”
he says. “There’s no reason these
two groups can’t co-exist. We’re
never going to become the Critics’
Choice Association. Nor do we
want to be.”Christina Ricci on Prozac
writer: ‘I Loved Her Honesty’
Christina Ricci hasn’t said much
about Elizabeth Wurtzel since her
death in January, at age 52, after a
long battle with breast cancer. But
the 40-year-old actress opened
up to Rambling Reporter at a
Chateau Marmont party for shoe
designer Roger Vivier’s new short
film (in which she stars), confess-
ing that she met the author just
once before portraying her in the
2001 adaptation of Prozac Nation.
“She came to my house,” Ricci
recalls. “I was having a card game,
and she spent the night. I really
loved my time with her. I really
respected how self-aware she was.
But, in spite of being that self-
aware, she still revealed a lot. In
spite of knowing that some things
she shouldn’t say, she said them
anyway. And I loved her complete
honesty. I made the movie with
her because of how much I loved
the book and her voice. It was
something that meant something
to me. [Her death] is completely
tragic.” — INGRID SCHMIDThelped. Objects Sarandon: “I have
a film that couldn’t get distribu-
tion. Tim has a film that couldn’t
get distribution. She obviously
doesn’t know anything about how
this business works.” Still, her
son is taking the bad ink in stride.
“He’s framing it,” she says, “just
to keep him humble.”BidenRihannaHOT NEW
RESTAURANTChristina
Ricci