John Scalzi - Agent to the Stars

"It's not about Miss Beck being Jewish or not," said Avi Linden, communications director for the JAA. "What bothers us is the fact that here is someone who is so clearly cast for box office purposes. She's made $300 million in her last two films, and that's what the producers are looking at — not how truthful the casting is to reality. The fact is, there are dozens of actresses, Jew and gentile, who are more suited to the role."

Roland Lanois, the Oscar-nominated director and producer, acknowledges that his selection of Beck was bound to be controversial.

"We understand that this casting is not intuitive at first blush," he said, noting that Beck was not the first choice, landing the role only after actress Ellen Merlow dropped the role to take on a television series. "We ourselves were hesitant at first. All we can say at this point is that it was Michelle's performance, not any other consideration, that got her the role."

Avika Spiegelman, spokesperson for the Spiegelman family, which had unusual veto rights on the casting of the role, issued a terse press release. "Michelle Beck is the best person for the role, period," The release said. "She has the full support of the Spiegelman family."

Entertainment Weekly , March 17

Jim Mullen's Hot List

.....

3. Jim Carrey's Poodle:They say you shouldn't work with dogs or children. Well, the poodle was warned.

4. Michelle Beck: 25-year-old beach babe cast as serious, 50ish civil rights crusader. Next up for Beck — playing Jim Carrey's poodle.

5. Roseanne's Country Album:Stop her before she sings the Star-Spangled Banner!

.....

Variety , March 24

JUST FOR VARIETY

BEVERLY HILLS — The atmosphere was electric at the Fine Arts theatre on Wilshire avenue, but not for the usual reasons. On Saturday night, the Fine Arts was the scene, not of a movie, but of an unprecedented SRO reading of Hard Memories, the film made controversial by the casting of Michelle Beck in the central role of civil rights activist and Holocaust survivor Rachel Spiegelman. The guest list for the reading included the cream of the film industry and several members of the Jewish groups that had criticized Beck's casting. It was a tough crowd, and Hard Memories director-producer Roland Lanois knew it. "If I were in their shoes, I would have the same reaction that they have had. Absolutely. No doubt," Lanois said prior to the reading. "What this is about is helping them into our shoes. I think they're going to be surprised." Beck, in the center of the storm, waded into the crowd before the reading, thanking folks for coming and chatting directly with those who had opposed her casting, as if to show there were no hard feelings. At 8:30, Beck, co-star and noted legit theater star David Grunwald, and Lanois and producer Avika Spiegelman sat up front on simple stools and read the script, Beck as Rachel Spiegelman, the other three trading off the other roles. By 9, there were already tears. At 10:30, when the reading was finished, Beck and her crew were treated to an ovation the likes of which I have not seen in many a year. It was a tough crowd, but Beck won them over in spectacular fashion. Next up: the audience at large.....

Hollywood Reporter, April 30th

Young Ankles Lupo Associates

Elliot Young, star of the mid-rated ABC series Pacific Rim , has dropped agent Ben Fleck of Lupo Associates in what insiders call an acrimonious split. Young was apparently disappointed in Fleck's inability to transfer Young's moderate television stardom into a film career.

"Fleck had come in promising Elliot the moon," said Pacific Rim director Don Bolling. "Then he of course experienced trouble delivering. Elliot dropped him and, I think, rightly so."

Young is currently being repped by Paula Richter of Artists Associated.

Daily Variety, May 22nd

DISH: MERLOW'S FURLOUGH FROM 'GOOD HELP'

Dish hears that the already legendarily tense set of Good Help is Hard To Find has had the tension cranked up another notch, when two-time Oscar winner-turned-would-be-sitcom-comedienne Ellen Merlow jetted back to her Connecticut horse farm during the middle of taping, placing the show in jeopardy of making its series debut September 9th. This latest flare-up follows last month's standoff between Merlow and co-star Garrison Lanham (who played Weezix, the alien butler), that resulted in Lanham's replacement by Bronson Pinchot, and by last week's mass crew walkout, protesting their treatment by Merlow and her entourage. The Dish hears that Merlow's latest act might have placed her in violation of her $20 million contract, giving exasperated producers Jan and Steven White the excuse they need to bounce her from the show....

Daily Variety, June 16

MILESTONES

Tom Stein,29, of La Canada married Miranda Escalon,28, of Manhattan Beach, on Saturday, June 14th at the Vivian Webb Chapel in Claremont. He is an agent at Lupo Associates. She is also an agent, newly-promoted, at the same firm. Stein's best man was Lupo boss Carl Lupo; Escalon's maid of honor was Michelle Beck, who flew in from the Czech Republic for the wedding.....

Ad in Daily Variety and Hollywood Reporter , July 10

Lanois Productions

and

Century Films

Are proud to announce the completion of principal photography on

HARD MEMORIES

Starring Michelle Beck and David Grunwald

Written by Connie Reiser & Larry Card

Directed and Produced by Roland Lanois

LIMITED RELEASE: DECEMBER 19 IN NEW YORK AND LOS ANGELES

WIDE RELEASE JANUARY 23

Entertainment Weekly, August 8

Stingless 'Scorpion'

Mindless Summer Explode-Fest Rings Hollow

......Inquiring minds want to know: in this utter loss of a movie, does anything work? Well, the explosions are pretty. Apologists may note the presence of Michelle Beck, whose upcoming performance Hard Memories is one of the most intensely awaited of the Oscar season. Maybe some of that alleged intensity rubs off here? No such luck. This Michelle Beck, at least, is scene decoration, hardly onscreen before her helicopter is blown out of the sky by a preposterous string of coincidences. Don't worry, this revelation won't ruin the plot for you: there'd have to have been a plot at all for that to happen.

Rating: D

Daily Variety, August 11

'SCORPION' VENOMOUS TO COMPETITION

$19.7M takes tops BO report; 'Gold Master' takes silver at $6.2M

Scorpion's Tail proves that some films are critic-proof; the widely panned action flick stung the competition with a $19.7 million take, injecting a boost in the severely lagging summer box office......

Entertainment Weekly, September 22nd

OSCAR WATCH

....Oscar-nominated director-producer Roland Lanois ( The Green Fields ) may have another contender on his hands with Hard Memories. Insiders at a Century Pictures rough cut screening say the film caused notoriously thick-skinned Century head Lewis Schon to cry into his trademark Goobers. Of special note is Michelle Beck's performance, which those at the screening labeled "revelatory". Century's marketing department is already getting in high gear for the Award season....

The Arizona Republic, September 25th

Obituaries

Sarah Rosenthal,of Scottsdale, of complications from a stroke, at 3:15 pm, September 23rd. Mrs. Rosenthal born in Hamburg, Germany on April 3, 1911 and emigrated to the United States in December of 1945. She is survived by daughter Elaine Stein, also of Scottsdale, and grandson Thomas Stein, of La Canada, Ca.