Falling leaves..Falling temps..how about new Fall gossip, new Fall shows??

What continues to play out is Lindsay Lohan’s rehab treatment now at the Betty Ford Clinic in LA where medics want mom Dina OUT as her manager and IN as a parent..gee what a concept huh? The Mel Gibson drama continues with his battle with ex GF Oksana over custody, abuse, etc… Now according to multiple reports looks like Mel will have a cameo in the highly anticipated sequel, The Hangover playing a tattoo artist; not sure if America is ready to laugh at him?!

What’s up with all the recent “celebrity splitsville couples”?  The finally finalized Tiger Woods and Elin; as he shells out $115 million..wowsie!! Too bad so sad, (I’m guessing depends who you ask)! Now Courtney Cox and David Arquette, Christina Aguilera and Jordan Bratman,  and recent sources saying Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck in trouble?  Geez can’t we all just get along?

Moving on..how about the new cast of Dancing With The Stars?  I have to admit my first instinct before seeing any of them dance was putting Brandy at the top with Jennifer Grey not far behind; but now we know Jennifer is truly in it to win it!! Which were hearing behind closed doors some “tension” from fellow castmates that Jennifer’s high scores are really becoming a bit “annoying”?! Hey..the art of competition my friends!  Jersey Shore’s Mike “the situation” was quite the situation on the dance floor “eeeek”, and it was his time up for sure!  Bristol Palin, ehhhh boring..but hey, “A”  for effort!  I can go on and on..tune in on Tuesday’s to get the latest eliminations!

How about the new American Idol news for Season 10 “NEW” judging panel!  I think rocker Steven Tyler will be ROCKIN’!!  They needed to fill that seat with that rocker edge, especially with more and more “rock n’ rollers” auditioning every season..a no brainer..I GET IT!  Ms. Jenny from the block Lopez, yeah..okay..it will work.  I mean, Ellen did NOT belong in that seat..love her as a comdian/show host; not as a judge for IDOL.  Kara’s exit, knowing  she had the “goods” to stay but not that “celebrity power”.  I will miss Simon as I’m sure millions of others will,  you HAVE to give this season a chance; especially to all you IDOL “lifers”!

Finally,  I want to put my thoughts out on the new season of GLEE!  Yes, I’m a 100% certified GLEEK, but every episode this new season has put a high focus on SEX in many different forms.  I’m quite annoyed, considering it takes the 8:00 p.m slot and my 14yr old and 9yr old children have been fans since last season and watch!  Verrrrrry uncomfortable and not getting the “sexual story lines” ??  C’mon Glee directors/producers,  you certainly don’t need the boost in ratings so what gives? Quite frankly,  I think the show will lose some credibility on this.

As always, continue to tune in daily Monday-Friday on 102.9 DRCFM (www.drcfm.com) to hear my “Hollywood Headlines” reports! Follow DFX on Facebook, twitter, and vist us on the web, www.dfxentertainment.com.

Until next time, have a SPARKLIN’ (cider) lol

Michele Quadrato

www.dfxent.com

While playing football at Princeton University, Cris D’Annunzio discovered acting or, more appropriately, he was discovered. Since then Cris has written several plays and been featured on various movies and television shows. His most current theatre project is the autobiographical “Digging Up Dad”. His latest movie, “Chasing 3000″, is something he wrote and will act in alongside Ray Liotta and Rory Culkin.

For more, up-to-date information about Cris, please visit his official website.

Describe your transition from football player at Princeton University to being discovered by the John Houseman Acting Company.

The transition was not an intentional one. My summer job during college was at Chautauqua Institute in upstate New York. I was the instrument mover for the orchestra. One day I was removing the instruments from the pit when some members of the John Houseman Acting Company were preparing to go on stage. They were there doing summer stock. The director (Charles Newell, current artistic director of Chicago’s Court Theatre) saw me and asked if I’d like to be in their play. It was called, “Vaudevillian”. They needed a thuggish-looking guy and apparently there weren’t any in the company.

I didn’t have any lines – all I did was come on towards the end of the play and choke someone to death. But the experience of riding my bike to the theatre, going through the rehearsal process and watching how the actors worked, really stuck with me. I spent the rest of the summer working with the company in Chautuaqua and I was hooked.

Back in February you started your one-man play, “Digging up Dad”. Please tell us a little bit about it and how the idea for the play presented itself.

The play is about the sudden, mysterious death of my father in 1991 and the subsequent chain of bizarre events that occurred afterwards culminating in my being extorted for a significant amount of money by what would commonly be called, “The Mob”.

My parents had divorced when I was 12 and I never really developed much of a relationship with my father. Ultimately, the play is about coming to terms with that and, ironically, developing a relationship, posthumously, with a man I never really knew but loved. The idea was one that I always wanted to explore in the context of performance but for safety and various other reasons I never acted on it until recently. With the passing of years, the personal danger I and my family may have been in dissipated and I was contemplating the father-son relationship as I was about to have my first son. So the timing was right.

“Digging up Dad” is an autobiographical play. What are the pros and cons of presenting something so personal to a large audience?

Throwing your personal life on a stage for all to see is wrought with all kinds of interesting consequences – both good and bad. I would say that for me, it was personally freeing in the sense that I was able to get out a lot of things that I had been holding inside for many years. As far as presenting it to a large audience, there was the over-riding anxiety that as a commercial venture it may not succeed. Regardless of the very personal nature of the play, I still had to step back and deal with the business aspects involved in creating, putting up and promoting a show. That proved challenging at times as it became necessary to be objective about something that I was very close to. Ultimately, in performance, I could not worry about all that. I just had to go out and tell my story in the only way I knew – which was to simply be honest.

“Digging up Dad” opened to rave reviews. Do you have any more theatrical projects in the works?

Presently, I am doing some re-writes on “Digging Up Dad” with the idea of taking it to New York and/or possibly touring it. I am also working on another solo show that is based on my life in a more contemporary sense. I have a ‘performance art’ piece that I am developing as well as a multi-character stage play about – what else – life and death.

You’ve worked on stage and on screen. Which do you prefer and why? Is one easier to get a career in than the other?

Both have their redeeming qualities and as an actor I don’t necessarily see a major difference between doing one or the other.

Obviously, on stage you are asking yourself to adhere to the physical rigor of doing the same show night after night, week after week. But stage does carry an element that is not always present when doing a movie or TV and that is the idea of ensemble or team. You are working with the same people in a very intimate setting over a period of time and when it works, it’s magical. I’m not saying that doesn’t happen on screen, but by and large that is only the case for the nucleus of people – director, DP, stars.

The others often come in for a day or so, do their work and leave. Being a former athlete, I tend to gravitate towards team situations. That being said, I have found that getting and having a career in theater is infinitely harder than having one on screen.

You starred in the short film “Clemency” which was shown at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and won several awards at other film festivals. Please tell us the plot of the movie and the character you play.

The story is about a sadistic killer who tortures his victims in a series of gruesome murders. He is caught and put on death row but granted clemency by the governor. A reporter confronts the killer in an interview seeking to find answers to his seemingly inhuman behavior. What she learns can never be forgotten or forgiven. I play the sadistic killer.

You just wrote a screenplay titled, “Chasing 3000″ that will feature yourself and Ray Liotta. Please tell us a little about it and the character that you play. Do you hope to write more screenplays in the future?

On to nicer topics…the film is about two brothers, one of whom suffers from a debilitating physical condition, that “borrow” their mother’s car to drive across the country with the hope of seeing Roberto Clemente get his 3000th hit.

It’s a story about how the love of a hero brings out the love that two brothers have for each other – and the power that evokes. I play the role of Mr. Motley, the principal from the boys’ school.

I have actually written a few other screenplays as well, but currently, I am working on adapting the novel, “Wild Turkey” by one of my favorite authors, Michael Hemmingson. I optioned the book through my production company and hope to complete the script by the end of the summer and start shooting in the fall/winter of this year.

Actors read a lot of scripts. Some they agree to work on, others they throw away. When reading a script, what elements of it make you want to participate in the project?

I don’t know who those actors are that throw away scripts, but it’s not me. I do not have that luxury. I am attracted to writing that has an original voice and makes me think. That can come from any genre or budget size.

The main part about being an actor is getting into character. What are the basic steps an actor takes in order to get into his/her character?

This is a topic of which I have plenty to say — but I’ll try to paraphrase and spare you.

I think that it’s a personal and subjective choice about how one works. At the end of the day, if the audience believes you, that’s all that matters. For me, the term ‘actor’ is only an occupational description of how one (attempts) to earn a living. What I DO, however, is not act at all. I consider myself, to borrow the phrase from my teacher Eric Morris, a professional experiencer. As such, for me, there is no character. There is only myself saying the words that the author has given me. I must truthfully express what I feel in the given circumstances. It’s simple, but not easy. That’s the paradox. It has to come either from my own personal experiences – of which I have many to drawn on, much to the chagrin of my therapist – or from my extremely over-active imagination, much to the consternation of my wife.

Either way, I have to start by asking myself, “What would I do if…?” Then I must have the courage to apply, truthfully, what I feel – real or imagined – regardless of the consequences. Considering I’ve told you that I recently played a sadistic killer, this may sound a little frightening. But the reality is, I do have the capacity to be a sadistic killer. Now, before you get too wigged out, realize that I also have the capacity for extreme kindness and gentility. We all do. It is only the very foolish that enter the proposition of acting and say, “I would NEVER do that…” I believe that under the right circumstances, we all have the capacity to do anything, certainly to experience the gamut of emotions. So in such an instance, you have to ask yourself, “What would have to happen in order to make me….” For me, it’s very easy to find those answers. But my facility with my emotions is not highly coveted in normal society. Thankfully, acting is my antidote to that.

You’ve also done a lot of work in popular television shows including “Seinfeld”, “Without a Trace”, and “As the World Turns”. How does working on a TV show differ from working on a film? Do you prefer one over the other?

TV is a much quicker medium in which to work. There is not the time to develop a relationship with the other actors, really, unless you are a series regular and working with each other every day.

In that, again, it reduces the element of ensemble or team, so my preference would tend towards film. Unless, of course, as I said, I were to be a series regular. I would absolutely love to get up every day and go to the set at 6am and work until 9pm or so with the same group of people. I mean that, sincerely.

When you’re not acting or writing, what do you like to do in your free time?

I’m not sure I understand the concept of “free time”. I just try to live my life every day. I have four children – 3 girls ages 10, 8 and 5 – and a 6 month old son. I am very active in their lives, school, sports, friends, etc… I am a neat freak bordering on obsessive-compulsive so I am constantly picking things up and cleaning.

I’m a book junkie. There are five novels on my nightstand and another dozen or so on my kindle that I’m reading at any given time. I’m a major clothes horse and have a shoe fetish so I’m constantly looking for new items to add to my wardrobe. And with my manic-depressive nature, I have to go to the gym every day and exercise to the point of near collapse or I am unbearable – even to myself.

Other than that, I follow the New York Mets in baseball and the Tottenham Hotspurs of the English Premier League religiously. I like to eat and listen to music, especially jazz and blues. Is that enough?

What have you learned in your career that you can pass down to actors just starting out?

Make sure you are doing this for the right reasons. Honestly, if you’re not, admit it to yourself and move on. It’s just too hard. What I mean by that is this: most people get into acting because they have an hallucination about what it means to be an actor. What they really want is not to be an actor, but to be rich and famous. If you want to be rich and famous, there are easier ways to do it.

I will not deny that what often initially draws anyone, including myself, to this endeavor is the need to be liked. But you have to realize what the work entails. And it is work. And sacrifice. And insecurity. And many years, sometimes a lifetime, of near-poverty. Those are just the by products.

Brass tacks, if you don’t have a real passion for the process, you are going to be miserable, no matter if you do happen to become rich and famous. I myself have had fits and starts with an acting career. I have tried to do other things. Other things that were much more lucrative, secure and career-worthy. But I couldn’t stick it. I’m addicted to the process of self-discover that comes with the way I work as an actor. There’s no “retreat to the cave”, as I call it, in any other endeavor except this one. I have to do it or really, life is not worth it to me. If you feel similarly, then do it. And never, never, never give up.

Anything you’d like to add?

Thanks for the opportunity to share some of my experiences with you. I absolutely love your site, think it’s a tremendous resource and wish you all the best.

Source – http://jitzul.com/sections/interviews/?target=2762

Cris D’Annunzio on San Diego Living talks about his new film “Chasing 3000.”

Chasing 3000
Ray Liotta … Adult Mickey
Rory Culkin … Roger
Trevor Morgan … Mickey
Tania Raymonde … Kelly
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Scott Aaronson … Baseball Coach
Michael R. Aubele … Dad
Nicholas Brady … Young Roger
Andrew Bryniarski … Gang Member
Seymour Cassel … Poppy
Ricardo Chavira … Dr. Boogie
Mercedes Connor … Admittance Nurse
Cris D’Annunzio … Principal Motley
Keith David … Officer L.
Dan Fastuca … Gang Member
Kevin Gage … Short Order Cook
Michael Govia … The Minister
Willa Holland … Jamie
Lauren Holly … Marilyn
Ryan R. Johnson … ER Doctor
Jay Karnes … Adult Roger
Drake Kemper … Danny
Madison Lanesey … Maddy Straka
Meritt Latimore … Pirates Fan
Louis Lombardi … Short Order Cook
Ryan March … Mets Catcher
Christopher May … Coach Johnson
Michael O’Keefe … Dr. Stuart
Lori Petty … Deputy Fryman
Katie Piel … Jr. Nurse K. Copland (as Katie Piel)
Alisa Schulz … Sally waitress
Patrick Sebes … Bobby Straka
Alisa Shulz … Waitress
M. Emmet Walsh … Chuck Ireland
Blake Woodyard … Young MIckey
Zakk Wylde … Gang Leader

Cris D’Annunzio

www.cdannunzio.com

1. What made you decide to direct this film? Had you always wanted to direct?

I didn’t really even make the decision to direct the film it naturally evolved and before I knew it I was directing the film and it feels as though it was always meant to be that way.

I was initially producing and starring in the film. I was going to play the role of Billy, which ended up being played by Jonathan Tucker who did fantastic work and I couldn’t have found anyone more perfect for the role. Once I added the director hat I knew I couldn’t act in it as well because I am such a crazed freak when it comes to my work. I need to focus on one thing and one thing only and for me that was directing.

2. Your background as an actor, how did it help with directing? What other elements did you feel you had that prepared you during the film?

I have always had the urge to direct and I come from a film background. My father ran the AFI film school for around 14 years and now runs the film school at Chapman University. He has been a director all his life and I think it has always been in my blood. Working on set as an actor, I always watched whenever I could to see what methods and techniques the director was using. I would watch on the monitor, always soaking in whatever knowledge I could… So yes I always had the urge to direct.

My background as an actor helped so much during the filming of Flying Lessons. I was able to really connect deeply with each and everyone of my actors. I know what actors need, when they need encouragement, when they need the camera rolling because I have the keen sense to know when the actor is at the breaking point of finding something beautiful and exciting in the scene. I know when an actor isn’t getting what they want or need from another actor, I can see it in the body language and in the face and eyes.

I know actors so well since I have been doing it for 19 years now that I think I was able to create a deep layer of trust between the talent and myself and for this film, nothing was more important! This was my first time behind the lens and I know and understand when actors of caliber, which I am blessed to have had work with me, become weary of a first time director, no matter who is executive producing or who says what.

I gained the trust of all my actors quickly and that was key for me because I needed them to trust my vision and trust I knew and know what is best for this film as I see it.

I was as prepared as humanly possible to direct this film. I did storyboards of the entire film prior to principal. Going into filming I knew in my head how I saw every shot, every scene, every angle, and every line of dialogue in the scene and how I wanted every frame to look. I was and will always be open to new ideas because I do believe filmmaking is a team effort.

I owe so much of the actual preparation to direct Flying Lessons to my father first and foremost. He was with me every step of the way during prep and really guided me on how to make my film the best it can be and then left it in my hands to create my own life force which is Flying Lessons because as my dad would say, “at the end of the day, it is you who calls the shots, you who yells action, you who controls the energy and flow on set, you.” I don’t think I could have done it without him. I am so grateful and humbled by everyone’s belief in the film and me.

3. How would you differentiate yourself from other directors, is there a specific vision and or genre of films that you are going after?

Differentiating myself from other filmmakers is a tricky question and always a tricky thing to do. In Flying Lessons specifically it wasn’t about the creativity as far as camera work and angles were concerned, it was much more about finding the right place for the camera to sit and letting the scene unfold and the actors unfold within their loose structure. This is a character drama piece and to me it was and is most important in that genre that the audience has every possibility to connect with the characters and become involved in the journey.

The next film I am going to do is a combination of a character drama but also has a huge element of being a thriller at the same time and I find that exciting because I can really go there cinematically.

I find that the truth about how directors define themselves is always a bit obscured and if i’m going to go against that grain and be honest, I am different from any other filmmaker in the sense the is my heart and soul that defines the projects I do.

As far as camera work and shots, I take little pieces from everyone I know and everyone I admire as an artist and director. Pieces from Scorsese, Malick, Kubrick, Kazan, Greengrass, Cassavettes, Cohen Brothers, Paul Thomas Anderson and Darren Arrenofsky.

4. Will you direct again and what about your future in acting?

I will always continue to act as its something that lives in me and I love very much.

5. What were some of your highlights and or memorable moments as a director during production? Please elaborate on any of the talent you worked with.

Working with Hal Holbrook was the biggest and most memorable highlight for me during this process. He is a brilliant actor and a wonderful human being.. I found him to be inspiring to me in so many ways above and beyond how brilliant he is as Harry Pleasant. By the 2^nd day on set he knew everyone’s name and would test himself and almost always was right! He never complained once working in heat that was grueling hitting as high as 103degrees! He is a true solider and warrior and he should be recognized for that in every way possible. I wish there were more people in the world like him and more artists in the world like him. I would be honored to work with him again and am blessed to have had this opportunity to work with him.

6. With how far you have come and opening for the Santa Barbara Film Festival, how was the overall experience. How do you feel people will react to this film?

Being asked to open the 25^th anniversary Santa Barbara International Film Festival is such as honor. I feel so grateful and humbled to be recognized in this manner and to be the first film in the festivals history to open that isn’t a studio film! It feels like it was meant to be and we have come full circle seeing as we shot almost the entire film in the Santa Ynez Valley which is part of Santa Barbara County. I am so excited and nervous for Feb 4^th and I hope what people take with them after watching this film is that they found something within this film and is interwoven story lines that they can relate to and connect to.

I hope people love the film and leave the theatre moved and with a sense of hope and freedom, that through all difficult things there is always a light at the end of the tunnel and we have to fight and struggle and stew in it sometimes to get there but we can and will get there if we try hard enough and if we believe in ourselves and in others. Sometimes it takes a friend to show you the way, a family member, a lover or a stranger but seeing the light and knowing its worth finding is what I hope people feel from this movie.

Los Angeles, CA – Sometimes you have to go deeper to find the truth, and then come to terms with the unexpected results. Cris D’Annunzio, emotionally and physically outgunned in childhood, investigates his past with LOL revelations, and suspenseful twists in places that are otherwise safe. The mysterious circumstances surrounding his father’s death seem to indicate Mob involvement…and whether digging up Hoffa or Nuzzo, the journey is full of surprises.

CRIS D’ANNUNZIO was raised in a traditional East Coast nuclear family – in the sense that his grandparents, both Italian immigrants, lived in the house and there were always bombs going off! He survived to attend Princeton University, where he played football. Cris got his start in acting when he was ‘discovered’ by the John Houseman Acting Company while moving instruments for the symphony orchestra at Chautauqua Institute in upstate NY – his summer job during college. The experience of riding his bike to the theatre and performing stuck with him. After a brief stint in the NFL with the Buffalo Bills, Cris embarked on an acting and writing career that has taken him from the stage to the screen – both big and small. LA Stage appearances include COBB at the Falcon Theater, award winning COCKRAOCH NATION at LATC, and the World Premiere of Beth Henley’s SISTERS OF THE WINTER MADRIGAL. NY credits include MISS JULIE at Manhattan Theatre Club. Selected FILM credits include Ridley Scott’s AMERICAN GANGSTER and CHASING 3000 with Ray Liotta, which Cris wrote. Cris has had numerous TV roles which include appearances on WITHOUT A TRACE, and LAW AND ORDER.

Mike Myers Director/Producer– helmed the critically acclaimed production of FAITHFUL at the Ruskin last season. Other directing credits include THE COMPLEATE WORKS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (Abridged), THAT MAY WELL BE TRUE, MITIGATING FACTORS, PICASSO AT THE LAPIN AGILE, LA CAFÉ PLAYS, SGNARELLE-THE IMAGINARY CUCKOLD and BEYOND THERAPY. He has produced more than 50 projects since 2002 and is a co-creator of the Ruskin’s critically acclaimed CAFÉ PLAYS, a monthly offering of one-acts that are done in 10 ½ hours from conception to staging. Mr. Myers is also a Santa Monica Arts Commissioner.

Brandon Baruch LIGHTING DESIGN
Recent Los Angeles Designs: Orpheus Descending at Theatre/Theater, PROJECT: Wonderland, Doomsday Kiss, and Ken Roht’s 99 Cent Only Calendar Girl Competition at Bootleg Theater; Scarcity, Mercury Fur, and Fatboy with NeedTheater; Son of Semele Ensemble’s Tragedy: A Tragedy; and Celebration Theater’s A Christmas Carol. Other productions include the West Coast Premieres of The Big Random, A Beautiful View, and Say You Love Satan; and the World-Premieres of Fafalo, Muscles in Our Toes, and Wildboy ’74 (which Brandon also designed at the 2008 NYC Fringe Festival.) Brandon is the Resident Lighting Designer for NeedTheater.

There are certain rules — explicit rules — that all made members of the mob are meant to follow: No beards. No sleeping with another gangster’s wife. No cooperation with the government in accordance with “omertà,” the Mafia code of silence.

But then there are those customs that are so engrained as part of the mob way that they never need to actually be spoken. High among them — perhaps right at the top — is the ban on being gay.

So when Robert Mormando, a confessed Gambino family gunman, appeared on Monday for a hearing on his sentence for his role in the shooting of a Queens bagel store owner in 2003, he seemed to indicate that La Cosa Nostra’s laws may sometimes be honored less while being practiced than they are while being breached. Mr. Mormando, 44, not only confessed to acting as a government informer, but he also took the extra — and, it should be said, perilous — step of outing himself in court.

The unusual admission was made in a 10th-floor courtroom of Federal District Court in Brooklyn, though it was clearly more an act of self-interest than one of self-expression. He had already pleaded guilty to taking part in the shooting of the bagel store owner, Angelo Mugnolo, and was trying to obtain a lower sentence by persuading Judge Jack B. Weinstein that his cooperation was riskier than most, since he had lived for many years as a closeted homosexual in the mob.

“He didn’t want to make an announcement to the world,” said one person with knowledge of the case who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the dangers facing Mr. Mormando. “He wanted the judge to know what risks he took — why he wasn’t just your average cooperator, someone who had simply broken the code.”

Mr. Mormando’s hearing was, in fact, cloaked in secrecy, listed on the daily court calendar under the name “John Doe.” The documents in his case are under seal and even Pacer, the online federal court archive, has been scrubbed clean of anything related to the matter.

“He’s in an absolute state of fright,” said the person with knowledge of the case. “You have to understand that his partner is totally freaking out. His partner has no connection to any of this. You can just imagine how fraught the whole thing is.”

A divorced father of two, Mr. Mormando was born and raised in Ozone Park, a neighborhood in southern Queens long associated with John J. Gotti, the former (now deceased) Gambino family don. “At 16 or 17, he befriended them all,” said the knowledgeable person. “They made him feel important. He knows them all. They accepted him into their midst.”

Complicating matters is that Mr. Mormando had a close personal friendship with Richard G. Gotti, Mr. Gotti’s nephew, who is currently in prison on a federal racketeering charge. While there is no suggestion that the friendship was anything more than that, the mere fact that an avowed gay man was once “inseparable” from a Gotti is “an intolerable stain on their name,” said the person who has knowledge of the case.

Indeed, that type of “stain” has led to acts of violence in the past. In 1992, for instance, John D’Amato, a former boss of the DeCavalcante crime family, was murdered by an underling when, after an argument, his girlfriend told his cronies he was gay. “Nobody’s going to respect us if we have a gay homosexual boss sitting down discussing La Cosa Nostra business,” the gunman, Anthony Capo, testified at a murder trial in 2003.

There are, nonetheless, certain gay men who prospered in proximity to the mob — perhaps most notably the lawyer Roy Cohn, who represented dons like Anthony Salerno and Carmine Galante. The mob was also known for running gay bars and night clubs, including the Stonewall Inn, at a time when they were still considered part of the underworld.

Psychologically, of course, the Mafia is built upon a traditional view of manhood, one it shares with the military, wherein “gayness” is considered not only unconventional, but also weak. “The mob is all about men respecting men,” said Gerald L. Shargel, who was John J. Gotti’s lawyer. “That obviously introduces a high level of machismo.”

The case of Mr. D’Amato, in particular, was such a breach of protocol that “The Sopranos” stole his story, introducing a character named Vito Spatafore who was killed after two of his fellow gangsters saw him at a gay bar. Joseph R. Gannascoli, who played the role on TV, suggested in an interview on Tuesday that the Mafia and homosexuality were not an easy mix.

“Having never been gay or a mobster, I can still tell you that it’s got to be hard,” he said, “almost like a kind of triple life.

“Still, you’d figure even mobsters would be getting with the times. My feeling is it doesn’t really matter if they’re gay. So long as they earn.”

Karen Zraick contributed reporting.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/21/nyregion/21gaymob.html?hp

If this happened to anyone else, it would just be a punch line.

David Letterman, who built his career skewering philandering politicians and show business “weasels” and “boneheads,” finds himself in the middle of his own celebrity scandal, after he admitted having multiple affairs with employees of his production company, Worldwide Pants.

For the intensely private Mr. Letterman, the revelations, which resulted from a bizarre extortion attempt, are sure to be extremely embarrassing, especially as he tries to extend his lead in the late-night contest. ”I have had sex with women who work for me on this show,” he told his audience on Thursday night, calling himself “creepy.” He added that he hoped “to protect my job.”

More seriously, they raised questions for both his company and CBS about whether his actions constituted sexual harassment or at least abuse of a power relationship over employees.

A central figure in the case — one of the women who did have a sexual relationship with Mr. Letterman, according to representatives of the show — is Mr. Letterman’s longtime personal assistant, Stephanie Birkitt, who also often appeared on the air. The sexual relationships had ended before Mr. Letterman was married in March, a Worldwide Pants executive said.

For CBS, the episode is doubly embarrassing. The network has been put in a precarious position of trying to steer clear of fallout from some highly questionable activities engaged in by its biggest star, who is experiencing his biggest surge in popularity (and ratings) in years.

At the same time, the man accused in the case, Robert Joel Halderman, known as Joe, who until last month shared a residence in Connecticut with Ms. Birkitt, is a longtime and well-respected producer for the CBS News program “48 Hours Mystery.”

Mr. Halderman, 51, pleaded not guilty to one count of attempted larceny, after he reportedly threatened to expose Mr. Letterman. According to prosecutors, Mr. Halderman gave Mr. Letterman, 62, a one-page screenplay treatment depicting the talk-show host as a great success whose “world is about to collapse around him” with revelations of his trysts. Mr. Halderman also handed over photographs, correspondence and a page of the personal diary of Ms. Birkitt.

Even by the frenzied standards of today’s tabloid media, the scandal has moved remarkably quickly. On Thursday, Mr. Halderman deposited Mr. Letterman’s check for $2 million (so he thought — it was a fake), then went to work at CBS News on the far West Side of Manhattan, where he sat in a story meeting before being met by arresting officers outside.

CBS executives, including Leslie Moonves, the chairman of CBS Corporation, knew nothing about the attempted plot and were informed of the matter only several hours before the taping of his Thursday show. Inside CBS’s headquarters, where employees can usually watch the Letterman show live on closed circuit, the extortion segment was not transmitted.

In private, CBS executives have told the Worldwide Pants executives that they continue to be supportive of Mr. Letterman. But they have included a note of caution in their supportive position, saying that would change only if information of a more damning nature were to emerge.

According to one person inside the company, CBS executives did quietly seek and receive assurances that none of the women Mr. Letterman was talking about were under age and that no woman who was involved with him had felt threatened about her job.

Many who commented on the case requested anonymity either because of the continuing legal action or because of the private nature of Mr. Letterman’s admissions.

Mr. Halderman and Ms. Birkitt did not respond to telephone messages left at their residences.

According to the indictment, Mr. Halderman waited outside Mr. Letterman’s Manhattan home before sunrise on Sept. 9, then gave Mr. Letterman’s limousine driver a one-page draft of a proposed screenplay about the talk show host’s love life.

Mr. Letterman appeared resolved from the beginning of the episode to go to the authorities. “He was very worried — frightened, scared — and there was a resolve from the beginning to do the right thing here,” said a person with knowledge of the matter.

The indictment said that after initially demanding a response from Mr. Letterman by 8 a.m. that day, Mr. Halderman met the host’s personal lawyer, Jim Jackoway, at the Jumeirah Essex House hotel on Sept. 15, where a $2 million demand was conveyed. At another meeting at the same hotel a week later, Mr. Halderman cataloged Mr. Letterman’s trysts and repeated his demands — but this time Mr. Jackoway wore a wire and recorded the conversation.

The two men returned to Jumeirah Essex House one more time, on Wednesday, ostensibly to exchange the $2 million check. Arranged with police help, the check was intended to bounce, and Mr. Halderman was arrested the next day.

The Manhattan district attorney, Robert M. Morgenthau, said the fake check was a tactic to strengthen the evidence that blackmail had occurred. Yesterday afternoon, Mr. Halderman posted bail of $200,000 and left without talking to reporters. Two people with knowledge of the matter said Ms. Birkitt, 34, is not under scrutiny.

While colleagues at CBS News described Mr. Halderman as hard-working and well respected, his personal life has been plagued by problems. A bitter divorce in 2004 left him with a $6,800 monthly alimony payment, according to court filings.

According to documents filed in Stamford Superior Court in 2007, he made an annual salary of $214,000, but that salary, along with assets and debts, came up in a dispute over the amount of alimony he was paying to his ex-wife, Patty Montet, who lives with their two children.

Mr. Halderman’s lawyer, Gerald L. Shargel, said his client denied wrongdoing.

“He pled not guilty, and he stands by that plea,” Mr. Shargel said after the arraignment in a telephone interview. “My position is that, even upon a superficial glance, there is another side of this story and I’m working on it.”

He said that the prosecutor’s remarks in court about Mr. Halderman’s debts showed that “they’re obviously searching for a motive.”

He added, “If that were a motive, you’d have to supply new jails.”

Both Mr. Letterman and CBS tried to get control of the story Friday, with representatives of Mr. Letterman’s company making a point — which they said he should have raised during his confession of the plot’s details on Thursday’s show — that his affairs with his employees had all taken place before he married his longtime girlfriend, Regina Lasko.

CBS executives declined to comment on the record and released an official statement that the network was cooperating with the investigation. But representatives of Worldwide Pants noted that CBS does not employ Mr. Letterman, and CBS representatives affirmed that point.

That distinction seemed to be made to underscore that Mr. Letterman was not subject to any of the CBS policies regarding harassment on the job. Worldwide Pants does have a policy. A spokesman issued a statement that read: “Dave is not in violation of our policy and no one has ever raised a complaint against him.” The spokesman said the policy “does not prohibit relationships within the company — only that they cannot be tied to an employee’s performance.”

Mr. Letterman himself seemed to acknowledge how messy his conduct had been. On Thursday’s show he told his audience that the extortion letter stated, “I know that you do some terrible, terrible things.”

Mr. Letterman said to laughter from the audience, “Sure enough, contained in the package was stuff to prove that I do terrible things.” He also said his affairs with women in the office were “creepy.”

Debra S. Katz, a civil rights lawyer who specializes in sexual harassment cases, said it would be “reckless” for CBS not to conduct an internal investigation.

“CBS is definitely going to have to speak with him and find out who he had relationships with,” she said. “They’re going to have to reach back and see if these women think that the relationships were welcome.”

Several longtime associates of Mr. Letterman said he has a long history of pursuing relationships with employees, dating to his first days on television on NBC in the early 1980s. At that time he was known to frequently date interns and other young women connected to his show, one associate said.

His first longtime relationship was with Merrill Markoe, who was his head writer on his NBC show, “Late Night With David Letterman,” and before they became a couple, Mr. Letterman and Ms. Lasko worked together on his show. Some veterans of the show said it was well-known inside the production that he had also had a close relationship at one time with another previous assistant.

Beyond any potential legal trouble, there is the open question about how fans will receive Mr. Letterman, who has long used his stance as a sarcastic comic commentator to ridicule the behavior of politicians and celebrities. “Today, The L.A. Times accused Arnold Schwarzenegger of groping six women,” he once said in a monologue. “I’m telling you, this guy is presidential material.”

The audience seemed to respond Thursday night: “The Late Show” ratings increased about 20 percent over his average. Mr. Letterman’s rivals began responding with jokes on Friday night, including references to his famous Top 10 lists. Jay Leno told his audience, “This guy who was trying to blackmail Letterman was a producer from the show ‘48 Hours.’ It could’ve been worse, at least it wasn’t a producer from ‘To Catch a Predator.’ ”

Robert Thompson, a professor of television and popular culture at Syracuse University, said that barring any sexual harassment complaints from Mr. Letterman’s unknown number of former sexual partners, “The Late Show” could skate by.

“His core viewers are not the kind that are going to say, ‘He did what? I’m never going to watch again.’ He was not the host of a Disney Channel talk show,” he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/03/business/media/03extort.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

Confessions have become something of a staple for guests on late-night comedy shows. Stars as varied as Hugh Grant, Michael Richards and Kanye West have made appearances to talk about — and publicly apologize for — their mistakes. But the guy twisting in the spotlight on last night’s Late Show with David Letterman was Letterman himself.

The 62-year-old comedian skipped his customary Top Ten list, telling his studio audience he wanted to tell them a “little story.” He then went on to describe a three-week ordeal in which a man had attempted to blackmail him to the tune of $2 million for sleeping with female members of his staff. (See the top 10 disastrous Letterman interviews.)

Sometimes humorous, sometimes serious and occasionally showing flashes of nerves, Letterman explained — to awkward clapping and giggles — that having received a threatening package in the back of his car early one morning, he and his lawyer had called in the Manhattan district attorney’s office.

The DA’s office ascertained that the alleged blackmailer was serious, then arranged to have a fake check cut, handed it over and then arrested its recipient, whom CBS has identified as one of its employees.

As a blackmailing scheme, it was almost comically bad: the alleged extortionist threatened to write a screenplay about Letterman’s affairs. “He’s going to take all of the terrible stuff he knows about my life — and there seems to be quite a lot of terrible stuff he knows about — and he’s going to put it in a movie,” explained Letterman on the show. Still, the host was clearly unnerved. “I want to reiterate how terrifying this is,” he said. “I am a seething mass of Lutheran Midwestern guilt.”

Apparently neither the extortion attempt, nor the fact that Letterman slept with women on his show, were news to Letterman’s wife of seven months, Regina Laskoe, who had told Letterman’s mother Dorothy Mengering about it earlier in the day. “I’m looking forward to seeing the show to see what he has to say,” Mengering told the New York Daily News. “I really just found out today.”

Laskoe and Letterman have a 5-year-old son, Harry, and have been dating since 1986. The comedian now wants to put the “bizarre experience” behind him. “I need to protect my family, I need to protect myself. I hope to protect my job,” he said in one of his serious moments, before making a joke about how nobody in the grand jury believed he had had sex.

While Letterman seems to be in no immediate risk of losing either his family or his job (ratings from last night’s telecast will likely be stratospheric), his troubles may not be over. Having sex with people who were his employees or whom he managed could leave him, or CBS, open to a sexual-harassment lawsuit. It’s certain the comedian has given the network’s lawyers plenty of reasons to be up at night.

Letterman has also probably given truckloads of material to other comedians — or even his own writers. Let’s just say he may come to regret calling his company Worldwide Pants.

“Sopranos” fans who are hoping to see their favorite gangsters come to the big screen can, well, fuhgeddaboudit.

“I don’t think there will be one,” Michael Imperioli confessed at Tuesday’s screening of his directorial debut, “The Hungry Ghosts,” in NYC.

Added his former “Sopranos” co-star Lorraine Bracco: “There is no movie. It’s never going to happen, as far as I know.”