RogerFriedman Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Just when we thought we had seen the last of gossip columnist and part-time movie pirate Roger Friedman, it looks like the guy has found a new home at The Hollywood Reporter. The trade paper announced that they've hired the infamous writer to head up their new celebrity news feature. According to THR editor Elizabeth Guider, Friedman was joining the team because, "For some time, THR has wanted to beef up its coverage of the celebrity world and how it intersects with and influences the business of show business. Bringing Roger on board gives us a great leg up in that effort and will help extend our audience reach."

In case the name isn't ringing any bells, Friedman infamously covered the OJ Simpson trial back in 1995, and was also considered one of the 'leading authorities' on Michael Jackson after covering the pop star's 2005 child-molestation trial. Friedman always had a taste for the tawdry, and over the years, broke some equally seedy stories about Anna Nicole Smith and the collapse of Rudolph Giuliani's marriage. But after Friedman published a review of Wolverine using an unfinished print that had surfaced online, he was quickly (and publicly) fired. Granted, it didn't come as a big shock, but you almost felt sorry for the guy ... almost. Even if you didn't want to argue about the morality of Friedman's actions, you have to wonder: just what did he think was going to happen when he admitted to downloading an illegal copy of one of the summer's big releases?

Friedman already has a reputation for fighting dirty, but as periodicals jostle for position among a growing pool of online competition, I guess even THR isn't above playing fast and loose for a scoop -- and it looks like nobody is willing to bend the rules like Friedman.

In lieu of last night's hush-hush premiere of J.J. Abrams' Star Trek reboot in Austin, to a crowd fully expecting to see mere clips and then The Wrath of Khan instead, we checked our Inbox of the Future (patent pending) to see what other shenanigans the Alamo Drafthouse might have in store for these coming months...

April 15th -- An admitted sneak screening of X-Men Origins: Wolverine was preceded by the director's cut of Australia, with Hugh Jackman himself collecting money at the door as "a favor to Baz." However, many stayed to take advantage of the opportunity to literally stone Roger Friedman in the parking lot. Several Austinites returned their bongs to their cars when they realized that this didn't mean whatever they thought it meant, while others were commissioned to restrain Hitfix's Drew McWeeny when he took to chucking nearby scooters towards the tied-up Friedman -- a sight which left AICN's Massawyrm in equal awe and fear for his property.

May 5th -- What was alleged to be a screening of Piranha II: The Spawning turned out to be the informal premiere of McG's Terminator: Salvation, to the disappointment of many fanboys who had their fingers crossed for Avatar, but would settle for this instead. Compounding the frustrations was the appearance of Linda Hamilton, who proceeded to narrate the film live in person to an annoyed crowd. Tangents included all those weeds she pulled in the garden last week and that couch Jim took in the divorce.

When Fox News gossip columnist Roger Friedman caused a mini-scandal the other day by casually mentioning he'd illegally downloaded X-Men Origins: Wolverine from the Internet -- and then proceeding to review it! -- a lot of us assumed he'd get away with it. Yeah, 20th Century Fox was talking a big game about chasing pirates and punishing downloaders, but we didn't think they'd go after a high-profile writer who works for their same parent company.

Well. Seldom have I been so pleased to be wrong. As first reported by Nikke Finke on Saturday and confirmed by a statement from Fox parent company News Corporation late Saturday night, Roger Friedman has been fired. News Corp.'s statement was blunt: "We, along with 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, have been a consistent leader in the fight against piracy and have zero tolerance for any action that encourages and promotes piracy. When we advised Fox News of the facts they took immediate action, removed the post, and promptly terminated Mr. Friedman."

Having once been fired myself for making a dumb mistake, I do feel some sympathy for Friedman for having the same thing happen to him. He shouldn't have been fired for this -- he should have been fired a long time ago for generally being a boob, and for being a barnacle on the already-unseemly underbelly of entertainment journalism. (I invite you to peruse Defamer's Friedman-related archives for examples of his prior offenses.) Nailing him for this is sort of like convicting Al Capone for tax evasion.

When X-Men Origins: Wolverine was posted on the Internet earlier this week, a month before its planned theatrical release, Fox immediately responded by enlisting the FBI to help track down the culprit who pirated it. (And thank goodness the FBI has nothing more pressing to work on right now.) The studio's official statement said this: "We forensically mark our content so we can identify sources that make it available or download it." I can't help them on who made it available, but I do know of one person who downloaded it: Fox News gossip reporter Roger Friedman.

He wrote about it in his column on Thursday -- since removed but still in Google's cache -- describing how easy it was to find and download, and how much he love-love-LOVED it. He wrote, "Right now, my 'cousins' at 20th Century Fox are probably having apoplexy.... But everyone can relax. I am, in fact, amazed about how great Wolverine turned out. It exceeds expectations at every turn. I was completely riveted to my desk chair in front of my computer."

Did you get that? He seems to be saying that while his corporate siblings are furious about the leak, they needn't be, because the movie is really, really good -- as if that were the point! As if THAT'S why they're so angry, because they feared the movie was terrible and now the secret has gotten out a month early.

Can Friedman really be that clueless? Having read his reporting in the past, I have to say yes, he really can be. This is the guy who ranted for months about how awful Valkyrie was going to be, then had the nerve to complain when he didn't get invited to the press screening -- and then put it on his Worst of 2008 list anyway, even though he still hadn't seen it. Friedman is an embarrassment to Fox News (or, that is, he would be if Fox News were capable of being embarrassed).

UPDATE: According to Deadline Hollywood, Fox has fired freelance columnist Roger Friedman.

Everyone's favorite entertainment journalist, Roger Friedman, is calling Angelina Jolie a hypocrite after she reportedly censored journalists while promoting her new film, A Mighty Heart. The Michael Winterbottom pic is about Mariane Pearl, widow of murdered Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, and it deals with freedom of the press, so the idea that Jolie made reporters sign a censoring agreement before interviewing her is certainly problematic. At the premiere of A Mighty Heart Wednesday night, Jolie's lawyer presented journalists with a contract stating certain subjects that could not be discussed with the actress, including questions about her personal life. Of course, this makes sense, because otherwise some writers would attempt to stray from the topic of the film in question -- which would take away from the promotion of the film, as well as from the purpose of the press' purpose at the event.

Still, the contract does seem unnecessary and contradictory to the film's apparent message. If Jolie wanted to reject a question or topic, she could certainly just refuse to comment or leave. Most of the junkets and red carpets I've been to, this has either been addressed or accepted as a given anyway. Instead, according to Friedman, the mode of dealing with gossippy reporters made a lot of people angry, enough to cancel coverage, as USA Today and the Associated Press supposedly did. Eventually Jolie ended up refusing all print interviews because of the outrage. Friedman also claims that Jolie instructed publicists to ban Fox News (for which Friedman works) from the red carpet and any other premiere access. In the end, though, some higher ups at Paramount allowed Fox's coverage. Friedman goes on to criticize Jolie's history of press manipulation and also quotes a disappointed editorial director from Reporters Without Borders, an organization that was supposed to be supported by the film's premiere.

[via Fark.com, which has a good discussion of the article going in its comments section]