James Hirsen
Tuesday, June 21, 2005

THE LEFT COAST REPORT
A Political Look at Hollywood

When asked about Cruise's couch-jumping exhilaration over fiancée Katie Holmes, Spielberg told Newsweek magazine, "I was a little upset. Not at Tom, but at the press for making such a big deal out of a kind of small thing."

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Spielberg added, "Tom lost his cool because he was deliriously happy, and now he was being punished for his public display of happiness. What Tom did on Oprah was exactly what Tom did with me when he first told me about Katie Holmes. But the press didn't like the way Tom bared his soul."

Perhaps Spielberg should have warned Tom that sham reporters were on the loose in the UK.

While talking to the collected media at the London premiere of "War of the Worlds," a man who was posing as a reporter squirted Cruise with a microphone shaped water pistol.

Cruise's wet look was created for a new show on Britain's Channel 4, where pranks are played on celebrities; sort of a UK version of MTV's "Punked."

Cruise's reaction to the squirt incident could be seen and heard all over the world.

When the simulated journalist completed his squirting, Cruise heatedly said, "Do you like thinking less of people, is that it?"

The actor added, "That's incredibly rude. I'm here giving you an interview and you do that ... it's incredibly rude. You're a jerk ... jerk ... you're a jerk."

Britain's Channel 4 has since apologized to Cruise for the surprise shower.
 
"The stunt was intended to be light-hearted rather than malicious and we would apologize to Mr. Cruise for any offence that was caused," Channel 4 said in a statement.

Four of the Channel 4 crew members involved in the liquid assault were arrested, and Cruise may press charges. His spokesperson said, "Tom does want to take action but we will decide in due course what that will be. He is not just going to forget about it."

The same TV show has gone after other celebs in the past. It reportedly squirted American heiress Paris Hilton at the Cannes Film Festival.

On another occasion it went after Sharon Osbourne. While pretending to film her, a fake cameraman gave Ozzie's spouse a spray.

The Left Coast Report suggests that Osbourne's response may give would-be reporter pranksters pause. She filled a champagne bucket with water and dumped it on the cameraman's head.

Robert Redford's Deep Throat Thoughts

When Mark Felt owned up to being Deep Throat, his disclosure unleashed a whirlwind of discussion, punditry and general media blather.

Ultimately, an announcement came: Felt had made a book deal and also sold the film rights for a rumored one million bucks.

Reportedly, Universal and Tom Hanks are involved in the project, which must have left original cinematic Watergate star Robert Redford muttering, "What am I, chopped liver?"

Redford recently talked to the Salt Lake Tribune about his 1976 portrayal of Bob Woodward in "All the President's Men" and shared some thoughts on Felt's Deep Throat revelation.

The actor-filmmaker apparently became intrigued with the idea of a movie based on the Washington Post Watergate stories that had propelled reporters Woodward and Carl Bernstein to legendary lefty status.

"They [Woodward and Bernstein] didn't like each other but they had to work together," Redford told the Associated Press. "I thought, those are the ingredients of a pretty dynamic little movie."
 
At the time, Redford had telephoned Woodward and Bernstein but for months the duo brushed him off.

Eventually, Redford and Woodward "had this quiet, dark, shadowy meeting. He [Woodward] said, 'If we treated you a little rough, we didn't think it was you. ... When we heard your name, we thought it was a phony setup.'"

Woodward and Bernstein gave Redford the right to produce the film based on their book about Watergate. When they sold the movie rights to Warner Bros., the studio asked Redford to star in it as well as produce it.

Evidently, Redford did ask Woodward who Deep Throat was, but the reporter wouldn't tell. "Some part of me did not want it to come out, because it was this great piece of melodrama in the middle of this movie," Redford said.

It seems the Sundance Kid figured that Deep Throat was somebody in the FBI. He thought it may have been then-FBI director Patrick Gray but wondered, "Why would he do that since he was a friend of Nixon's?"

The actor/activist apparently couldn't resist another one of his patented pokes at the Bush administration. He suggested that "you can go right down the line, there's about 15 issues as strong or as big as the Watergate break-in was that have come and died out."

Redford also said that he was "waiting to see if anybody is going to connect where we were then and where we are now, because the same elements are absolutely in place, only they're worse."

The Left Coast Report notes that while Redford plays the Nixon-era version of "The Way We Were," he fails to mention that the same left-wing groups that sought to undermine America back in the seventies are doing their best to demoralize the nation now.

Runaway Bride Makes Crime Pay

Remember Runaway Bride Jennifer Wilbanks?

How could any of us forget the fleeing fiancée, considering the wall-to-wall media coverage we had to endure.

Well, now after pleading no contest to faking her own kidnapping, Wilbanks has been sentenced to probation and community service. She's also been fined $2,550 and is repaying the city of Duluth, Georgia, $13,250 towards the $40,000 search tab.

In addition, Wilbanks is receiving treatment at a mental health facility.

Oh, yeah, did I mention that she's just snagged a book and TV deal for a reported half-million dollars?

That's right. According to the New York Post, Judith Regan, head of ReganMedia, wanted to keep the alleged $500,000 enticement with the wide-eyed Wilbanks hush-hush.

The reason for the secrecy apparently had to do with NBC News' policy against paying for interviews; in other words, it purportedly looks down its nose at "checkbook journalism."

Although NBC claims it hasn't paid Wilbanks or Regan for an interview, reports and sources are linking the Katie Couric-Wilbanks heart-to-heart with the $500,000 package.

Howard Kurtz reported in the Washington Post that Regan purchased the rights to Wilbanks' life story "after offering them $500,000 for a package that - in an unusual twist - included the first news interview with the couple."

Two sources familiar with the negotiations indicated that an exclusive interview with Couric was part of the discussion with ReganMedia.

NBC News' Allison Gollust said that NBC News never pays for interviews. "This was a 'get' by Katie," Gollust declared.

Regan happens to be tight with NBC, particularly with Couric's producer David Corvo. Regan has also obtained NBC access for some of her other authors including prosecution witness for the Scott Peterson trial Amber Frey.

It seems we now live in a culture where people are being rewarded for engaging in all sorts of criminal activity.
 
The Left Coast Report says, Guess that explains why there are so many book deals in D.C.

Porn PlayStation?

In his new book, "Porn Generation," Ben Shapiro points out that our culture is suffering from an over-abundance of smut.

What's even more disconcerting is that the raunchy stuff is getting ready to invade kids' video games.

The handheld version of Sony's successful video game platform, the PlayStation Portable (PSP), now reportedly has porn product that's been designed for it, which underscores the critical importance of parental responsibility in today's world.

Eight pornographic videos will supposedly be released for the PSP by a Tokyo-based adult video company, with a second Tokyo company planning to produce another three titles.

Through its spokesperson, Sony indicated that the PSP has a locking function that allows parents to stop their kids from watching adult videos on their game players.

To date Sony has shipped almost 3 million of the PSPs to Japan and North America.

The Left Coast Report suspects that if the trend continues we'll soon be seeing tawdry i-tunes for tots.

 PETA's Felonious Follies

Two suspects were recently arrested and charged with animal cruelty for allegedly picking up dogs and cats from shelters and dumping their dead bodies in the trash.

It was no routine arrest, though. Despite the fact that, unfortunately, this kind of cruelty is not uncommon, the two arrestees happen to work for one of Hollywood's favorite groups, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

Police apparently had staked out a garbage bin after discovering dead animals had been dumped in it for four weeks straight. Officers allegedly found 18 dead animals in the container and 13 more in a van that was registered to PETA.

PETA President Ingrid Newkirk explained that the two workers had been picking up animals so they could be brought to PETA headquarters for euthanization.

PETA spokeswoman Colleen O'Brien said the organization euthanizes animals by lethal injection, which it considers more humane than gassing animals in groups.

Both PETA workers have been charged with 31 felony counts of animal cruelty and eight misdemeanor counts of illegal disposal of dead animals.

Newkirk said PETA would be "appalled" to find out that the animals had been placed in the dumpster.

Veterinarians and animal control officers claimed that rather than euthanizing the animals the PETA workers had promised to find homes for them.

The Left Coast Report hears that Planned Parenthood may be looking to hire away some of the kindhearted pet snuffing PETA employees.

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