(image via telegraph)
How quickly the blush comes off the rose in Tinseltown. At the start of the year Brad Grey was The Goldenboy who could do no wrong. (Averted Gaze) But, as they say: What have you done for me Lately, Brad? Now, Gray is tainted with the Pellicano sleaze. And who is being chatted up as a replacement? Why, none other than the Sir Edmund Hillary of Social Mountaineering, our own E. Graydon Carter.
We wonder what "room of power" the head of Paramount occupies? Seventh room? Certainly not the Sixth. (Exaggerated cough suggesting feigned detachment) According to those intrepid Page Sixxies:
"EMBATTLED Paramount chief Brad Grey's days seem to be numbered, and speculation on a possible replacement for him is running rampant.
"Hollywood insiders are now referring to Grey as the 'temporary' head of the studio in the wake of the Anthony Pellicano scandal. Grey has been questioned by the FBI in the ongoing wiretap investigation, although it is unclear whether he condoned Pellicano's alleged use of illegal eavesdropping on his behalf.
"Whether he's ultimately charged with anything or not, the negative press coverage might be Grey's undoing. He has been less than candid about his ties to Pellicano. 'It's a public company, and they just can't afford all the bad publicity,' says one insider.
"There's a buzz that Vanity Fair Editor Graydon Carter has spoken to Grey's boss, Viacom President and CEO Tom Freston, about the job, but he'd be a long shot due to his lack of studio experience. A Vanity Fair rep denied any discussion took place.
"... A damaging story in the magazine could well be the nail in Grey's coffin. Vanity Fair does not comment on stories it may or may not be working on."
Page Six also mention that Carter's experience with the movies is his producing credit on "The Kid Stays in the Picture," which, curiously enough, chronicles the life and times of that irascible hooker-chasing Robert Evans, who, actually headed production at Paramount in the tumultuous 1970s.
Of course, Carter's "extra-curricular work" for the movie industry has been much discussed among the Chattering Classes. As Jack Shaeffer memorably put it back in his May 2004 "Defending Graydon Carter" piece in Slate:
"The problem with the current flurry of Carter coverage is that it insists on viewing him through the ethical lens you'd use on the editor of Barron's. That's crazy. I'm not suggesting that Vanity Fair should operate in an ethical universe of its own choosing, but the bar needn't be as high as that of the New York Times (or depending on your view of Weinraub, as low). The ethics cops walking the Carter beat don't seem to appreciate that Vanity Fair like Wenner's Rolling Stone and Brown's Talk is primarily an entertainment book. Just because it dabbles in Hollywood investigation from time to time shouldn't distract us from its primary role as whore for the Hollywood beast."
But you have to hand it to Graydon. Whether or not the whore follows in the beast's hoofprints, you just know Carter's hair will remain, as always, inscrutable.
More Page Six here.
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