Hamptons Habitues

Good news gossip about our notable friends and neighbors

I can’t believe that it’s already the end of another year. Time really does fly when you’re having fun!
So many exciting things have happened in 2019, and I’m looking forward to just as many more to come in the New Year. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet. There’s still just a bit of time left to celebrate what’s going on right now.

Rockin’ Mode
If you haven’t yet caught the “Depeche Mode: SPIRITS in the Forest” documentary, I strongly suggest you find it and screen it. Wow!
Starring lead singer Dave Gahan, who has a house in Montauk, the doc / concert film captures the multi-platinum selling band’s Global Spirit Tour from 2017 and 2018. The full-length feature, by award-winning filmmaker and longtime artistic collaborator Anton Corbijn, is told through the eyes of six fans and it really turns the genre on its ear. I love how the film not only conveys the considerable energy and spectacle of the group’s performance, but also takes a deeper look into how their music is woven into the fabric of fans’ lives.
“I’m exceptionally proud to share this film and the powerful story that it tells,” says Gahan. “It’s amazing to see the very real ways that music has impacted the lives of our fans.”
I highly recommend watching this one, even for those who only recognize the band’s megahit song “Personal Jesus.” Totally worth it.
Troubled Times
Another Montauker also has some new work out. Congratulations to Liev Schreiber, whose seventh season of “Ray Donovan” is now screening on Showtime. Nominated for three Emmy awards and five Golden Globes for the role, Schreiber has some seriously compelling problems to work on this time as his character comes back from the near-dead.
Gotta love that the Hollywood fixer goes to none other than Water Mill’s Alan Alda, as analyst Dr. Arthur Amiot, to help him through his latest most serious troubles. We hear that the six-time Emmy winner is in nearly every episode this season. Awesome.

On the Rocks
Alda is also in “The Marriage Story,” alongside Amagansett’s Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver. Released in theaters in November and now streaming on Netflix, Noah Baumbaugh’s acclaimed family drama follows a married couple in the throes of an east-coast-to-west-coast divorce.

Blackout Riots
Schreiber’s ex wife, Naomi Watts, is starring in “The Wolf Hour,” a thriller that is set in 1977 New York, just before the blackout riots. She plays June, the central character and a former counter-culture figure of the 60s who has all but faded into obscurity.
Housebound, and deeply paranoid, she watches the violence and destruction unfold just below her South Bronx fire escape during the “Summer of Sam.” There’s not a lot out on the movie, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January, but I’ve seen the trailer and it looks interesting. Can’t wait to check it out.

‘Morning’ Surprises
What a treat it has been to see our old pal Fred Melamed, formerly of Montauk, onscreen on “The Morning Show” on Apple TV.
The series, which started streaming last month, is set in the competitive world of morning television news and its themes draw heavily on current culture. Starring Jennifer Anniston, Reese Witherspoon, Billy Crudup, Steve Carell, and Hamptons visitor Mark Duplass, whom we caught up with a few years ago at the Hamptons International Film Festival, the insidery show goes behind the scenes and into the unvarnished and messy lives of America’s favorite (fictional) news personalities.
Also scoring some major time on the series, quite literally, is Carter Burwell, who has composed the series’ theme music — his first work for episodic television. The East Ender also recently completed the film score for “The Good Liar,” starring Helen Mirren and Ian McKellen and has been nominated for Academy Awards for Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures for “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” starring Frances McDormand and “Carol,” starring Cate Blanchett.