“We were informed by the FBI today that there is an increased threat of a bombing attack aimed at one or more of the studios,” News Corp. chief Peter Chernin told the staff of Twentieth Century Fox in an e-mail yesterday afternoon. It wasn’t lost on any of the recipients that the nearby Fox Plaza tower had been spectacularly blown up in the movie “Die Hard.”
Though the tip to the FBI was uncorroborated, Chernin warned his staff that “we are taking this very seriously and we will be doing everything humanly possible to ensure the safety of all of our Los Angeles-based employees.” Not since Jack Warner famously worried that Japanese bombers might mistake his Burbank studio for a nearby Lockheed plant has Hollywood sweated bullets like this. (Indeed, Warner Bros. is going so far as to arm some of its guards).
Watching the real-life terror unfold at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon last week, many Americans told themselves “It looks just like a movie.” Now all of America-especially Hollywood-is learning the difference. Not only are studios having to beef up security-ID checks and X-ray machines are now the order of the day at many studios-but Hollywood is having to rethink the very meaning of the word “entertainment.”
For now, it seems, the offerings of pyrotechnic producers like Jerry Bruckheimer and even snarky “unpatriotic” comments by hosts like Bill Maher are out. “Feel good” fare is in. “I’d expect you’ll start seeing lots of sweet films like you had in the ’50s. Think ‘Seven Brides for Seven Brothers’,” says one Hollywood executive. The new ethos means you won’t see Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “Collateral Damage” or director Barry Sonnenfeld’s (“Men in Black”) “Big Trouble” in theaters tonight-the studios pulled them from the release schedule after last week’s attack. But you will see Julia Roberts and Tom Cruise on the tube in a two-hour telethon, “America: A Tribute to Heroes,” which is expected to raise as much as $30 million for relief efforts related to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Celine Dion will be singing “God Bless America.”
As in the rest of the nation, a New Patriotism has taken over Tinseltown-only with more glitter. George Clooney rides around on his motorcycle, passing out American flags. The citizens of Beverly Hills decorate rows of miniature palm trees on Rodeo Drive with red, white and blue bows. Michael Jackson gathers singers to record “What More Can I Give” (think “We Are the World” redux) in hopes of raising $50 million for survivors and victims. Disney donates $5 million, plus all of this week’s proceeds from auctions of its memorabilia on eBay (own the “D” from the Disneyland Hotel sign!). Next Tuesday has been designated “Victims’ Benefit Day at the Movies,” with 100 percent of all proceeds from ticket and concession sales at most theater chains will be handed over to relief efforts.
Meanwhile, the dreammakers are left to go about their business in a world that suddenly seems as dangerous as any disaster film. The difference now is that all of America-not just Hollywood-has its hands in this script.
