Rambling Reporter

THE PRODUCER IN CHIEF: “Mr. Weintraub?” we asked, phoning the flamboyant producer. “He’s dead,” a voice said. “But this is Jerry.” THR called the best-selling author of When I Stop Talking, You’ll Know I’m Dead (out soon in paperback) to discuss His Way, the Douglas McGrath-directed docu about him showing April 4 on HBO. The title is inspired by the fact that when Weintraub was just 26, he produced a tour for Frank Sinatra, on the heels of one for Elvis Presley. Fab footage of these tours is in the film, which has big credentials: Vanity Fair’s Graydon Carter produced, and Steven Soderbergh (who directed Ocean’s Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen for Weintraub) exec produced. While Ocean’s 11 stars George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia and Julia Roberts all make appearances, the biggest gets were President George H.W. Bush and wife Barbara, whom Weintraub says he met through friends. “We’re very close,” Weintraub, 73, says. “We speak every day. Yesterday’s call was him saying: ‘You know I was president of the United States, right? Do you think you could send an advance copy of your movie?’ ” On March 22, Carter, CAA’s Kevin Huvane and Bryan Lourd and HBO’s Michael Lombardo and Richard Plepler will host the premiere at Paramount. “You think they volunteered? I asked them,” Weintraub says. “They know I don’t hear ‘no,’ so they couldn’t say it.”