In this morning’s roundup of Oscar news ‘n’ notes from around the web, friends and colleagues react to a strange, tragic death.
There was probably some other awards-related news in Hollywood on Tuesday, but nothing as startling and devastating as the Beverly Hills murder of awards publicist Ronni Chasen in the early morning hours after a premiere and party. TheWrap has been following the story (“Ronni Chasen Shooting,” “Hollywood Reacts with Shock,” “Chasen Murder Mystery Deepens” “Ronni Chasen, Publicist”), but plenty of others also took the time to share memories of an enthusiastic, tenacious, pint-sized dynamo with big hair, an impressive client list and a habit of making phone calls (rarely before late afternoon, it seemed) in which she’d question and pitch and work her way through as many possibilities as it’d take to find some interest: “Okay, we’ll set you up with Trent Reznor, and think about ‘Alice in Wonderland,’ and maybe you can do something else with Hans Zimmer next month .… ”
In Patrick Goldstein’s fond reminiscence, Chasen was “an old-fashioned star” with stories about George Burns and John Travolta, and a saleswoman who “probably persuaded me to do more stories on people I didn’t care about than any other publicist.” (The Big Picture)
Jeff Wells calls Chasen “tough, sharp and fair,” and calls the killing “more than tragic – it’s surreal.” (Hollywood Elsewhere)
Pete Hammond shares stories and sums up Chasen as one of a “lost breed” of publicist: “Of all my time in this business I can think of no one more dedicated to her clients, more doggedly determined to help them achieve their goals.” (Deadline)
For David Poland, she was “a tough little perfectly coiffed woman,” and “old school, but forever young in spirit.” (Movie City News)
Anne Thompson perfectly captures the Chasen experience in her opening sentence: “On Saturday night, press agent Ronni Chasen came up to me at the [Governors Awards], kissed me on the cheek, asked me if I had greeted producers Dick and Lili Zanuck and ‘Inception‘s’ Hans Zimmer and Chris Nolan, reminded me that she wanted me to interview composer Eliot Goldenthal for Julie Taymor’s ‘The Tempest,’ and told me to save the date for her Christmas party.” (Thompson on Hollywood)
Anne certainly wasn’t the only one to receive that treatment: I saw Chasen at the same event, and she did what she always did at those things: told me I looked great (she always seemed surprised when I put on a tuxedo), introduced me to whatever client she was shepherding, and said “you should do a story on him, I’ll give you a call.” And I just knew that the call was forthcoming – probably within a couple of days, and probably at about 5:30 in the afternoon.
I’ll leave it to Kris Tapley to supply an apt conclusion: “The sad reality is this business, the business she had such a hand in shaping, will take a moment to grieve and then it’ll be taking calls and business as usual. But part of me thinks Ronni, who never slowed down, wouldn’t have it any other way.” (In Contention)
