In 1980, THR ran an ad promoting the "original" faux film "Argo" -- so perhaps it's only natural that THR helped Ben Affleck find the original "producer" of it. THR's own Bill Higgins recently located makeup artist Robert Sidell, who had posed as the fake film's producer.
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Rothman’s Movin’ Out: Moving vans were spotted on the Fox lot Oct. 12 as departing film chief Tom Rothman packed up his office. “I was there for 18 years, and I’m a pack rat,” Rothman tells THR. The recently ousted exec has been working out of an office at DreamWorks, where he’ll produce Steven Spielberg‘s Robopocalypse, and he’ll soon move to more permanent space he rented at Columbia Pictures before heading to London for the Spielberg shoot. In the meantime, Rothman is figuring out what to do with items like a sword that director Peter Weir gave him when he finished shooting 2003’s Master and Commander. “As a producer,” he jokes, “I may need it.”
The Real Fake Argo
In 1980, THR ran an ad promoting the “original” faux film Argo — so perhaps it’s only natural that THR helped Ben Affleck find the original “producer” of it. THR‘s own Bill Higgins recently located makeup artist Robert Sidell (E.T., The Waltons) — now 75 and living in Vegas — who had posed as the fake film’s producer. When Higgins ran into Affleck at a dinner and told him about it, the actor-director said that he’d never tracked down Sidell, thinking he was dead. Subsequently, Warner Bros. flew Sidell to L.A. for the premiere, and Affleck referred to him from the stage. “It was surreal,” says Sidell. “I suddenly had closure to a story that started in 1980. And I think the movie’s going to get four or five Oscar nominations.” A Hollywood veteran, through and through.
Lois Smith Remembered
ID Public Relations partner Mara Buxbaum worked 10 years with beloved PMK founder Lois Smith, who died Oct. 7 at age 84 from a sudden fall in Maine. Buxbaum attended Smith’s funeral Oct. 12 in Newburyport, Mass., and she tells THR: “Everyone shared classic, often funny, Lois stories and shed many tears.” Among those who flew in were former client Rosie O’Donnell, 42West head and ex-PMK partner Leslee Dart and PMK’s Cindi Berger and Marian Koltai- Levine. “There was a photo montage dating to the ’60s,” notes Buxbaum, “with shots of her with Marilyn Monroe, Gina Lollobrigida and Robert Redford.” Memorials are planned for L.A. and New York.
Power Lunch
Spago debuted its revamped interior Oct. 11. Those who booked lunch together on day one included TV producers Darren Star and Dennis Erdman, CAA’s Michael Kives and Boston Red Sox chair Tom Werner, manager Stephanie Simon and producer Cary Woods, and restaurateur Peter Morton and sons Harry and Matthew. Others who came in included ICM’s Carol Goll, WME’s Brandon Liebman, top attorney Carolyn Hunt, Brett Ratner and Molly Sims. … Rob Reiner took a seat at E baldi as producer Jon Avnet sat nearby. … Halle Berry and fiance Olivier Martinez returned to Fig & Olive. … In New York at Michael’s, Blythe Danner dined with Bette Midler, while another day Starz chief Chris Albrecht ate in one corner of the room as Lesley Stahl held court at another. … Natalie Portman and Benjamin Millepied and Michael Bay and Jerry Bruckheimer have all shared tables at FIG of late. … Universal Music Publishing chair Zach Horowitz visited LA Farm. … Jane Lynch and Lea Michele have been spotted at Mid-City’s Graffiti recently.
