Philly native Adam McKay talks 'Reagan' hate mail
Also in Tattle: Local folks get new TV show, new movie and perform autopsy on Prince
A FEW WEEKS ago, Tattle led with a story about
Will Ferrell developing a comedy in which he would play President Ronald Reagan with Alzheimer's. The movie was listed as a comedy.
A number of our readers, including close friends, thought the idea was in terrible taste and let us know in no uncertain terms.
Turns out we weren't the only ones to get hate mail.
A day or so later, Ferrell dropped out of the project.
Ferrell's producing partner, Philadelphian Adam McKay (The Big Short, Anchorman), told The Daily Beast that when news of Reagan leaked, "scary" threats started arriving at his office.
"People hadn't even read the script, it was just three words: 'Reagan, Ferrell, Alzheimer's,' and it became this huge thing," McKay told The Daily Beast. "Finally, The Hollywood Reporter wrote a piece where they actually read the script and thought it was a really thoughtful script and tender towards Reagan, but yeah, it's this culture we live in.
"It was scary, man. There are some scary people out there who respond to stuff like that," he said.
McKay still defends the project, saying it wasn't meant to be a parody.
In other local news . . .
The woman who performed the autopsy on
Prince
is
Dr. A. Quinn Strobl
, chief medical examiner at the Midwest Medical Examiner's Office in Minnesota since late 2009.
According to a 2009 Minneapolis Star Tribune article, Strobl is a native of Philadelphia who attended Penn State and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. She considered going into family practice and surgery, but decided that being a medical examiner was a good mix of the two.
Strobl has been a practicing forensic pathologist since she finished her fellowship in 2005 and is board-certified in anatomic, clinical and forensic pathology.
Tattle comedians
* Items belonging to late comedian
George Carlin
will have a new home in upstate New York. The National Comedy Center currently being built in Jamestown (the birthplace of
Lucille Ball
) has acquired Carlin's archives.
His daughter, Kelly Carlin, says she's excited that her father's files, journals, awards, arrest records and hours of video and audio recordings will have a permanent home.
George Carlin died in 2008 at the age of 71. He constantly pushed the envelope with his jokes, especially with a routine called "The Seven Words You Can Never Say On TV."
This is the first major donation to the center, set to open in 2017.
* According to the New York Times, the family of Joan Rivers has reached a settlement with the doctors and clinic it it claimed was responsible for the comedian's death in 2014. The family had sued for malpractice.
No dollar amount was disclosed but the doctors accepted responsibility for Rivers' death.
The Rivers family lawyers said the dollar amount was "substantial" but they wanted to focus on the lax oversight at outpatient surgical centers, and their goal to seek legislation to improve their safety standards.
TATTBITS
* In Marvel Universe casting news, the
Hollywood Reporter
says
Lupita Nyong'o
is in talks to join
Ryan Coogler
's
Black Panther
, likely as the love interest of
Chadwick Boseman
's T'Challa.
Would that make her a T'Challaback Girl?
* In other comic book news, Entertainment Weekly reports that the CW has given a series order to Riverdale, based on the characters in Archie Comics. The show, from busy producer Greg Berlanti, will reportedly be more subversive than the comics (which weren't subversive at all).
Could this mean that Veronica will be choosing between Archie and . . . Betty?
* Super-busy Kevin Hart is going to join Jack Black and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in a remake of Jumanji.
Because people have been clamoring for a remake of Jumanji.
* The Second Fattest Housewife in Westport (working title), a half-hour comedy from Penn alum and former City Paper columnist Sarah Dunn has been picked up for fall by ABC.
Katy Mixon (Mike & Molly) and Diedrich Bader (The Drew Carey Show) star.
Think funny, non-size-zero woman with flawed family living in Stepford.
- Daily News wire services
contributed to this report.