Warren Beatty’s backers are a new billionaire boys’ club.
The 17 producers of Beatty’s new film about Howard Hughes, “Rules Don’t Apply,” include Steve Bing, Ron Burkle, James Packer, Jeffrey Soros and Canadian mining magnate Frank Giustra, who famously gave many millions to the Clinton Foundation.
Steven Mnuchin, finance chair of the Trump campaign, is not only a producer, he has a stiff cameo as a banker.
Unlike his press-averse self of yesteryear, Beatty has been trudging from one screening to the next doing Q&As to promote the film, but as one underwhelmed critic put it, “It’s like Joe Louis — one fight too many.”
“Bad Santa 2” is expected to out-gross Beatty’s movie this weekend, proving I was right last January when I predicted “Santa” would be a big hit for savvy producer Adam Fields, “and everyone will wonder why it took 13 years to get it made.”