In a keynote speech laced with wry irony and winking sarcasm, Tim Robbins managed to slap back at his right-wing critics, recount an entertaining history of radio and TV and urge broadcasters to "appeal to our better natures," saying news directors and producers have a responsibility to "the health of the nation."
Robbins also denounced television's "pornographic obsession with celebrity culture" and warned that meaningful civil discourse is being threatened by it.
Instead of the soothing and rallying bromides that fill most keynotes, Robbins' speech alternated between dire warning and stern plea.
Addressing the kickoff of the National Assn. of Broadcasters confab in Las Vegas, Robbins at first hesitated over whether to deliver the speech he had prepared, thinking he might serve the audience better by submitting to a Q&A session with a moderator.
But after some back and forth with the audience, which encouraged him to go with the speech, Robbins obliged. He launched into an apology to conservative talkers Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly "and Laura whatshername," noting that all had labeled him traitorous or unpatriotic for having called for more time to be given to U.N. weapons inspectors before deploying military force against Iraq.
"They said I was a dupe of left-wing appeasement ... and how right they were," Robbins quipped. "Had I known then of all the smiling faces" that now populate Iraq, "the wildfire of democracy that is spreading throughout the Middle East," he would have not spoken as he did, he said.
He added that he can see now that his words were indeed "traitorous, unfounded and irresponsible, so I apologize to the talkradio geniuses." TIME WARNER DROPS AX ON NEW LINE
It's the end of the line for most of New Line, with Time Warner cutting 450 jobs as part of its earlier decision to fold the studio into Warner Bros.
The pinkslips, announced Monday afternoon, leave New Line with 40-50 employees. A Time Warner spokesman said about 40 New Line employees are being offered jobs within Warner Bros.
Notifications of the dismissals began Monday and will continue Tuesday.
New Line is expected to remain in its West Hollywood headquarters on Robertson Boulevard rather than move to the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank. The WB unit also will continue to operate a New York office, but it's unclear where that will be located.
New Line will maintain its own development, creative and production teams as well as its own marketing, publicity and business affairs staff. Warners is taking over distribution of completed New Line pics.
Time Warner topper Jeff Bewkes announced Feb. 28 the conglom was folding New Line into Warner Bros. as part of a move designed to save $50 million annually, with New Line to make six to eight pics per year. Prexy-chief operating officer Toby Emmerich has indicated New Line will focus on creating niche films in the vein of "Wedding Crashers" and "Freddy vs. Jason" along with occasional tentpoles such as "The Hobbit."
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DreamWorks has acquired rights to the Japanese manga "Ghost in the Shell" with plans to adapt the futuristic police thriller as a 3-D live-action feature.
Story follows the exploits of a member of a covert ops unit of the Japanese National Public Safety Commission that specializes in fighting technology-related crime.
Created by Masamune Shirow, "Ghost in the Shell" was first published in 1989. It went on to generate two additional manga editions, three anime film adaptations, an anime TV series and three videogames. The second anime film, "Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence," was released in the U.S. by DreamWorks in 2004.
Avi Arad, Ari Arad and Steven Paul of Seaside Entertainment are attached to produce and brought the project to the studio. Jamie Moss has been tapped to pen the adaptation.
Universal and Sony were also chasing "Ghost in the Shell," but Steven Spielberg took personal interest in the property and made it happen at DreamWorks.
" 'Ghost in the Shell' is one of my favorite stories," Spielberg said. "It's a genre that has arrived, and we enthusiastically welcome it to DreamWorks."
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