The Guilt Trip DVD and Blu-ray!

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Despite the fact "The Guilt Trip" is still in theaters, Amazon are already taking pre-orders on the blu-ray/DVD with 50% off (as of December 29th).

Click here to pre-order The Guilt Trip (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo +Digital Copy) (2012)

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Barbra Streisand Talks Gay Icon Status. Calls For Equal Rights.

Legend Returns To Film In 'The Guilt Trip'

By Chris Azzopardi.
Barbra Streisand takes center stage, but she's not busting out "The Way We Were." Not today, anyway.

The legend is promoting her first major film in 16 years at the Four Seasons Los Angeles. Her hair is perfectly coiffed and - dressed in her usual all-black attire - she's got the off-the-shoulder look going on.

Hello, gorgeous, indeed.

Not long into the interview, a makeup artist waiting in the wings pats any remnants of forehead sweat. You don't let a legend perspire - and Barbra Streisand is the epitome of an American treasure: a consummate singer with a timeless mezzo-soprano; an Emmy, Oscar and Grammy award winner; and the actress who stole hearts in "A Star is Born." To us, a gay icon.

After a short stint of recent sold-out shows, Streisand returns to starring-role status in "The Guilt Trip," opening Dec. 19, alongside goofball Seth Rogen - for real: Babs with the "Zack and Miri Make a Porno" actor - as a mother-son duo that goes road-tripping together and gets into all sorts of shenanigans. If it weren't for director Anne Fletcher ("The Proposal"), a Detroit native who would only do the film with Babs, there'd be no movie - and, worse, no Barbra.

Streisand, along with Rogen and Fletcher, sat down to chat about the reason she finally gave in (thank her own gay son for that), what she thinks of being a gay icon and how she's managed to stay successful for nearly six decades.

What was it like meeting each other for the first time?

Barbra Streisand: Seth sussed me out. He called people.

Seth Rogen: And she checked out. This Barbra Streisand lady checked out. So I thought I'd give her a shot. (Laughs)

BS: I didn't know who to call. I don't know any of those people from his movies, so what was I gonna do? No - I thought he was adorable.

What are you two like off set?

SR: The way we talk in real life is not entirely different than our rapport in the movie. It's a lot of me trying to explain things to her about modern times and her trying to feed me shit I don't want to eat.

BS: I was the one with the iPhone.

SR: She had an iPhone before me. I was like, "I gotta get myself one of these. If Barbra can work an iPhone, it's gotta be fun."

BS: Yesterday he asked me if I had a Twitter account. I said, "I don't know."

SR: I showed her that she did! I change her clocks during daylight savings and all that stuff.

You must know a lot of gay people are going to see this movie -

BS: We hope so.

Because Seth is such a huge gay icon.

SR: (Sarcastically) I'm a gay icon? Do gay people like Barbra, too? I didn't know that.

Barbra, how do you feel about the label of "gay icon" - and do you think your own son, Jason Gould, thinks of you as one?

BS: He doesn't see me as an icon. He sees me as his mother who touches his hair too much. No - I love being an icon to anybody. Equal rights, you know!

SR: Yeah. Me too. (Laughs)

What did your gay friends think when you told them you were working with Barbra?

Anne Fletcher: Everyone in my life is gay, but I have one best friend who has been obsessed with her since he was a child. His entire childhood was saved because of Barbra - with her music and her movies. His mom had just died four or five years ago, so for him to meet her on the movie - and her and I having such a relationship - was just full circle.

Tell me about growing up in Detroit.

AF: What you learn there - your instinct and your street smarts - is like nothing else. You just don't mess with me. But I love Detroit with my soul. I come home every Christmas and I love to go to all my stomping grounds from where we grew up in Belle Isle. I wish I could be rich to own the whole island to make it what it was when I was a kid. I love it because it's my heart.

Barbra, how much contact did you and Jason have when you were considering the role?

BS: He actually was very important in my decision to make the movie. He was recovering from back surgery, so he was in bed for a few days after, and I brought the script over and we read it out loud. It was interesting, actually. His father was in the room, too. Isn't that funny? We were both coddling our son, so he became the audience and Jason was reading the parts with me and he said, "I think you should do it, Mom." I really trust his integrity and his opinion. He has great taste in whatever he chooses to do. And he clinched the deal.

: I was with you all over the world, but I love that Jason just one night says, "Yes, Mom, do it." (I said that) for a whole year!

BS: Well, he's my son. (Laughs)

What about reading it with your son sealed the deal?

BS: Mothers develop guilt trips. I feel guilty as a parent that I couldn't pick up my son every day from school and bake him cookies. I know that feeling. I know that feeling a lot. Having a famous parent is an odd thing. I thought it was interesting to investigate trying to be my son's friend versus a mother.

It was a true story. It's (writer) Dan (Fogelman) and his mother. She was a fan of mine, and Dan wrote this lovely script. It just felt like it was meant to be. Meant for me to come back to work in a starring role. It was time to challenge myself again.

Of course, I made it very difficult for them to hire me, because I kept wanting an out: "I really don't wanna schlep to Paramount. It's two hours each way, so would you, like, rent a warehouse and build the sets in the Valley no more than 45 minutes from my house?" They said yes.

AF: I wasn't gonna do this movie without these two. There wasn't backup. If Seth said no, there was no replacement; if Barbra said no, there was no replacement. It was them, or I wasn't gonna make the movie.

BS: I said to Anne, "Would you make the movie without me?" And she said no. And I felt bad! Another guilt trip, right?

SR: I was open to Shirley MacLaine. (Laughs) No, it's not true. I only would've done it if Barbra was doing it.

BS: It was great to feel wanted.

Who is another gay icon you want to work with, Anne?

AF: I don't really like the "gay icons," by the way. I don't really respond to them very well. I think Barbra is so grounded in many different things, but there's some of them - I'm really insulting gay sensibility. (Laughs) But Liza Minnelli. I do love Liza.

What was Barbra like? What surprised you most about her?

AF: We became friends instantly. She's easygoing, funny, kind, strong and knows who she is. She's unbelievably awesome. She'd tell me some of the greatest, most personable stories that happened in her life that I can't remember one iota of. My best friend's a little pissed about that. (Laughs)

I imagine directing a legend like Barbra Streisand would be intimidating. Was it? Did she call the shots?

AF: It's not intimidating. She comes to work as an actor, as an artist, and she's been doing it for so long that all the pieces fall back into place exactly how they were. We're all there for the common good, so she would come to work as any other actor. She's a legend, so that's a little different. But it was never intimidating, because she's just so genuine. She had my back, and the support I had from her was extraordinary.

So no diva moments?

AF: Never. I know we've all heard the stories about her endlessly throughout all these years, but I can't say whether they're true or false. I just know from my experience I had an unbelievable experience with her, and I would do it again. She works harder than anyone. And her brain never shuts off. That's the only thing I would complain about! Like, "Please stop thinking for just five minutes - because I'm tired." (Laughs)

Even if people think of her as a diva, this role really takes you out of that mindset. You never think of Barbra Streisand, "the diva."

AF: That's the best compliment. I'm glad you say that. This was part of our conversation: "If we're gonna win the audience, you have to be every mother. You have to capture the essence of moms now. You can't be glamorous-beautiful. You have to be every mom for us to tell the story the right way."

Barbra, what's your beauty secret?

BS: God, what is my secret?

SR: Sitting next to me helps.

BS: (Laughs) He is so funny. If you knew all my self-doubt, my god - I don't know. Maybe I'm slightly childish.

AF: Your spirit is youthful.

BS: Yeah. I kind of like the child part of me.

What was harder for you, Barbra: the drama or the comedy elements of the film?

BS: Eating steak! That was the hardest thing, I think. But no, they're both the same. I don't think there's a distinction between how you play drama or comedy, if it's based in truth.

AF: This woman may not like steak, but she's a foodie. You've never met a foodie in your whole life until you've been with Barbra Streisand. This woman loves food more than anything - and she will eat it! She's a bottomless pit. We had many discussions about that steak scene. From Barbra's side it was, "Does it have to be that? It seems a little gross."

Anne, did Barbra ever break into song?

AF: Never. Barbra will not sing. I sang an awful lot to her. But she will not sing. There's a thing that she did in the movie that we cut out where she'd go, "Hmm, hmm, hmm." She would do rhythmic things that she does with her voice that only Barbra can do - and I would take that as singing. But she would never do it. Never. She's so rude. (Laughs) Give us a free concert, Barbra. She's like, "Pay for it!"

You can sing, act, produce, write and direct. What can't you do well?

BS: I can't cook at all. I mean, I would not know how to make coffee. I took cooking classes. I know how to make chocolate souffle. Just ask me if I want to make it. I'd rather have somebody else make the chocolate souffle - and I eat it. When I tried to cook, put it this way: It was never appetizing to eat. And the hands! So filthy with the stuff. And then cleaning up - no, I don't like that part.

Barbra, you must see a lot of scripts, right?

BS: I don't. You see, everybody thinks like you. Meanwhile, I go, "Where are the scripts?" (Laughs) It's not the same as when I last made a film. They're not interested in love stories. It's a different time. I don't like it as much.

What's the secret to your success?

BS: Oh my god. I don't make that many movies and I don't make that many appearances so I ...

SR: ... leave them wanting more.

BS: Less is more. Maybe that keeps a little mystery or something.

What do you want audiences to take away from the film?

BS: I want them to be moved and I want them to see themselves in the movie. I want them to get closer to their children. A lot of things. It's a transformative kind of movie. They start at one point and are both kind of tragically alone, not finding a mate, and then at the end there are many more possibilities. Horizons open. He took me out of my shell. It's about love. I always say it's a different kind of love story.

SR: Which to me sounds gross.

BS: See where your mind goes? Always to the sexual.

SR: Right in the gutter.

Streisand on married life, new movie, Lady Gaga

http://entertainment.inquirer.net/

LOS ANGELES—We half-expected Barbra Streisand to arrive at our interview to the tune of a full orchestra overture of her most memorable hits. But, without fanfare, there she was in front of us, in a black suit, high-collared white blouse and tie that reminded us of her character in “Yentl.”

Once seated, La Streisand took off her round glasses, which she fiddled with. When she was not doing that, she used her hands with those famous long, slender fingers (and nails) to stress points.
“Time has gone so fast,” she declared in this, our second chat with her (the first one was in 2004). She was referring to her enduring marriage to actor James Brolin, whom she calls Jim. “We’ve been together 15 years already. My gosh. It’s funny—it’s great to be alone and be together at the same time. He can do his own thing. He’s always at his computer; I’m not. It’s like we’re in the same house or in the same room and he does his thing and I do my thing.”

Laughing, she quipped in that dulcet voice: “That makes me happy and that makes him happy.”

And surprise, surprise—can you picture the diva going on road trips in a truck and spending the night in a $55 a night motel?

Pack and go

“I go on little trips with my husband because, before I met him, I never did that,” said the singer-actress-director, who marks her 50th year in show business this year. “We bought a truck. That’s a nice feeling of when you want to get away, you pack food, get in the truck and you go.”

Relish the humor in her next sentence: “I would travel with my own produce—low-fat sour cream, yogurt, cottage cheese and whatever.”

The ageless icon, now 70, recalled the night they stayed in one of the big hotels in Las Vegas owned by a friend: “I couldn’t believe that the refrigerator was broken in this enormous suite which was very fancy.”

She added: “Then the next night, Jim said, ‘I’m going to take you to a place where you don’t have to talk to people or anything.’ It was a motel for $55 a night. He just backed up into a [parking] spot. The icebox worked. To me, that was fantastic. I didn’t have to talk to anyone. They had TV. The room smelled a little of smoke, but what can you do? I love road trips—short ones.”

In her new film, “The Guilt Trip,” she plays a mom who goes on an eight-day road trip with her son (Seth Rogen).

Life with Jim includes playing games. (In one game, he even beat former US President Bill Clinton.)

“I play games with friends—cards, backgammon, rummy cube,” she said. “He’s a good rummy cube player. We played on Thanksgiving with friends and that was really fun. The last time we played rummy cube was with President Clinton. My husband actually beat him. President Clinton did not like that, but he hadn’t played for a while.”

Likes Gaga

Switching to other topics, she was asked about Lady Gaga. “I like her a lot,” came her quick, sure answer. “I think she really has something. She’s gifted, a real talent. Her television special was amazing. She has a very good voice, which she doesn’t show in a lot of her songs. But when she sang with Tony Bennett, it was like, ‘What? Who is that?’”

On “Glee” and Lea Michele, who idolizes Barbra on- and off-screen, she said, “I never saw ‘Glee’ until [I watched] a Golden Globe [show] when Ryan Murphy got an award and he thanked me. He said, ‘Thank you, Barbra Streisand.’ I said, ‘What? I don’t even know what you’re talking about.’ So that was when I saw ‘Glee.’ So, oh, the character (Lea’s) is sort of obsessed with me.”

She continued: “It’s very sweet because she (Lea) came to the last night of this concert at the Hollywood Bowl. She was too shy. Not that night but another night. It must have been some show (Grammy Awards’ MusiCares Feb. 2011 gala). She was too afraid to come up to me. I went up to her, ‘So you’re the girl, blah blah blah.’ It was very sweet.”
There was a time when she rarely performed. Barbra explained: “As I said in my show, I sang at Central Park in 1967 and I forgot the words to, I think, a couple of songs. I was so frightened by it that I could forget the words to songs that I didn’t perform for 27 years, except for fund-raisers where I didn’t have to charge. But I’m very relaxed now. That’s a great thing about getting older and having experience. I just wasn’t frightened as much, put it that way.

Forgetting words
“I still have a fear of forgetting the words, but I can get up, go past it and be there. It’s not like I’m terrified anymore now, especially having my son. To me, it was about presenting him.”

Barbra was referring to that Hollywood Bowl concert last month where she proudly introduced Jason Gould (her son with actor Elliot Gould).

The famous momma said, “I used to tell my son when he thought that maybe his problems were about having well-known parents, but then as he grew up, I could show him that other families that didn’t have celebrity parents also had problems. But he’s done an amazing job on himself, on his growth as a person, so that all of a sudden, he feels like he wants to sing. He plays me a record that he made and it’s so magical and incredibly good. All of a sudden, he can stand in front of 19,000 people and sing. It just made my heart explode out of joy. I’m so proud of him.”

Comeback movie

How she was convinced to act again in a film written by Dan Fogelman and directed by Anne Fletcher was another candid anecdote from the superstar. “Dan’s mother was a fan of mine and he wrote this about his mother.” With a smile, she said, “She wanted me to play her. It took her a year to convince me to do it, but I thought it would be interesting to play a starring role again after 16 years. I made it hard for them to hire me. I threw all kinds of obstacles in the way.”

Added Barbra: “I didn’t take the road trip. I want to stay at home. I didn’t even want to take an hour and a half riding a car in the morning to get to the Paramount Studios. So I said, ‘If you get a warehouse in the Valley no more than 45 minutes away from my house and you build the sets there…’

Barbra pointed out that in most movies, “you have to get up very early in the morning. I am not an early morning person. Jim and I stay up until 2 or 3 a.m. We sleep in the day. It comes from the theater—when I was doing ‘Funny Girl,’ I went to bed at 4:00 in the morning and got up at noon. I kept saying, ‘I can’t do it (‘The Guilt Trip’) because you’ll never give me this and I don’t blame you.’ But they just really wanted us to do it.”

Perfectionist

When we asked Barbra about her reputation as a perfectionist, she replied: “Perfection is a funny word. I strive for excellence. I don’t think perfection exists in a sense. You can just strive toward it. Humanity is in the imperfection. I said this when I was 15 years old. I remember in an article [where I said], ‘Perfection is imperfection because it can’t be so perfect.’ Because then it’s inhuman.

“I am much more relaxed about it but I regret it sometimes,” she admitted with a laugh. “I did something the other day. I didn’t care about the lighting and then I went, ‘Oh my God, I should have cared more.’ Even in the book on my passion for design that I wrote a year ago, I wasn’t going to talk about perfectionism, but then I realized, wait a minute—I am not ashamed of being called a perfectionist. I welcome that.

“When you hear an architect talk about a wall that was 1/16th of an inch off and he made them tear it down and build it straighter … he’s a great architect.”

Now, she was on a roll: “In terms of men, when they are called perfectionists, it’s a compliment. I think it was coming from the fact that women were not supposed to be in such kinds of positions of power. So now, I say unabashedly I’m probably still a perfectionist. I even wrote about it in my last album. I wouldn’t release songs because they were less than so-called perfect. There was a note that I didn’t like, and now, I’ve released the album called ‘Release Me.’ There are things that, when I hear them again, I go, ‘That’s not bad. It’s just different.’ It’s one take of something—it’s how good is good, in other words. How good do you have to be? What’s good enough? It’s good enough.”

Environmentalist

How does the perfectionist chill? “In my house, in my comfy robe,” said Barbra, who is also a passionate environmentalist. “I have my vegetable garden so I have organic produce. I have eggs from chickens. I have gorgeous flowers, including roses, in my garden. What more do you need?”

The garden brought memories of her mom and food. “My mother always fed me,” she said with obvious fondness for Diana Streisand. “Instead of saying ‘I love you’ or giving me a hug, she would bring me half of a cantaloupe. Food was love.”

One exception

However, there is one exception—steak does not equal love in Barbra’s world. And she had to be filmed eating steak for three days. “That was a tough sequence,” she said. “The interesting thing is that I didn’t want to do it because I eat one bit of steak and then I get sick of steak. I can’t eat a lot of it. I was talking to Dan, ‘Can we come up with some other thing that I could eat?’

“Then I realized, no, it’s the real thing. It’s the real story of Dan and his mother. As a filmmaker, I thought this works for the movie so the actress has to take second place to the filmmaker in me. It serves the film. The steak was 50 ounces and with the baked potato and everything. It’s a real place they must have gone to. I kept trying to just eat it and spit it out. I had a bucket underneath.”

On her eagerly awaited return to directing via “Skinny and Cat” with Cate Blanchett and Colin Firth, Barbra revealed that raising money for the project was a problem.

“It’s a very interesting thing now,” she said. “Studios want to spend over $100 million on action movies with CGI and all that stuff, or they’ll do movies for basically around $10-$15 million. But there’s nothing in between.

“This is a beautiful love story that needs around $18 million. For a while, the project stopped because we could only raise $13 million. I just found a place that will give us $15 million. I’m trying to raise more money because I don’t think anybody really gets tired of love stories. It’s what makes the world go round.”

Looking into the future, she repeated a question and answered, “How to spend the rest of my life? One minute, I’m ambitious and I want to direct films and sing in other places in the world. Then the next minute, I’m going, ‘Oh God, it’s just so fun to stay home and watch movies, read books, write and not to have to talk.’”

This award-winning multi-hyphenate disclosed yet another dream: “I’d love to play the cello. It’s not over yet. I may yet play the cello.”

She added: “I’m going to write my memoir after I direct a couple of movies if I can or play ‘Gypsy,’ if they ever work out the rights deal.”

Cancelled: Barbra On "Piers Morgan Tonight".

Due to the senseless and tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut this morning, Barbra's interview with Piers Morgan will NOT be airing this evening as originally planned. We will alert you for when the interview is rescheduled to air.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families during this painful time.

Paramount Certain Barbra Would Get Golden Globe Nomination.

UPDATE, 10:34 AM: Paramount moved swiftly to remove the clip from its YouTube page and has sent along this statement: “Given Barbra’s incredible performance in the film, there was certainly every hope in our mind that she would be duly recognized this morning. Like all studios, we create many advertising spots in advance of they key award nomination announcements so we are prepared in the event of a nomination. One such spot was inadvertently posted online and immediately taken down.” The spot in question was a 20-second ad for the road-trip comedy due out December 19, with a voice-over touting Streisand just having been nominated for a Golden Globe, with words appearing on the screen to that effect.

 PREVIOUS, 8:02 AM: Somebody in the Paramount awards department was a bit too eager to tout Barbra Streisand‘s Golden Globe nomination for Guilt Trip, posting this promo to the studio’s YouTube page last night. Of course, it would have been forgiven probably — if Streisand had actually been nominated this morning. It goes to show just how sure Paramount and many others were that she would land a nom. After all, she’s a darling of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, having been nominated for countless Globes for acting, directing and songs. She even won the group’s lifetime achievement honor, the Cecil B. DeMille Award, in 2000.

The Guilt Trip Updates.

The Guilt Trip Updates.

Official website (with many video clips): http://www.guilttripmovie.com/

The premiere will be held in Los Angeles tonight. I'll try and bring you an update tomorrow with photos... depending on whether Barbra poses for the press.

Barbra on Piers Morgan:

Barbra Streisand on Piers Morgan show this Friday Dec. 14th. CNN.

Barbra on Dr. Phil:

Aired yesterday (Monday). Watch clips here:

http://www.drphil.com/shows/show/1935

Video: Barbra talks to E!

Barbra gives an update on the "Lady Gaga" leak... and talks about whether she will direct Gypsy or not. 

(Note how FUN these interviews are! I'm loving all of the PRESS we're getting).

http://uk.eonline.com/videos/200089/take-a-guilt-trip-with-barbra-streisand

Emmy winner Jake Hamilton sits down to talk with Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogen about their new comedy, THE GUILT TRIP:

http://youtu.be/QolZr1Zdn88

The Today Show Interview.

Barbra Streisand: ‘I’m not a diva’

The legendary singer and actress chats with TODAY’s Savannah Guthrie about filming her new holiday movie, “The Guilt Trip,” with co-star Seth Rogen, the road trips she takes with her husband, and the “pure joy” of singing onstage with her son.

http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/50116165/#50116165

Article: Art Streiber on photographing Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogen for the “Guilt Trip” movie poster

http://stocklandmartelblog.com/2012/12/07/art-streiber-barbra-streisand-seth-rogen-guilt-trip/

Article: Riding Shotgun With Your Mother: Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogen Discuss ‘The Guilt

Trip’

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/09/movies/barbra-streisand-and-seth-rogen-discuss-the-guilt-trip.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0

Clips from the movie:

Paramount have added some great clips from the movie on their official youtube channel here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/Paramount/videos?query=guilt+trip

Forthcoming Press Interviews:

Keep an eye on my website for new interviews with Barbra over the next week or so. I've been told Barbra will speak to AP, USA Today, LA Times, US Weekly and Parade Magazine, to name a few. There is so much press happening each day - that it's hard to keep up with. I will try and update you all as frequently as possible.

Other News:

Back to Brooklyn Tour - Blu-ray/DVD?

Alot of people are asking if I know when the tour DVD will be released, especially since some of the recent interviews with Barbra included fantastic footage of Barbra and Jason singing from the tour. I have no information on the DVD yet. As soon as I know more, I will update you.

Barbra Streisand on 'Gypsy': What's age gotta do with it?

Click here to read the article:

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2012/12/06/barbra-streisand-gypsy-2/

Barbra Streisand: Classical Barbra. Completely Remastered with Two Previously Unreleased Bonus Tracks.

In 1973, Barbra Streisand went into the studio to make one of the first – and still considered one of the best – classical crossover recordings, CLASSICAL BARBRA. This unique collection of art songs and arias was originally released in February 1976, with its striking cover portrait by Francesco Scavullo, and has never gone out of print. The German composer and arranger Claus Ogerman conducts the Columbia Symphony Orchestra and accompanies Streisand at the piano in music of Canteloube, Fauré, Handel, Orff, Schumann and Wolf.

Thirteen-time Grammy –winning producer Steven Epstein has remastered the original recording for this reissue, the first since its original CD release in 1987. Most importantly, it contains the first ever release of two additional tracks recorded during the original sessions but never available until now – two of Franz Schubert’s best-known songs, “An Sylvia” and “Auf dem Wasser zu singen.”

TRACKLIST:

“Beau Soir” - Debussy

“Brezairola” (Berceuse) from Chants d’Auvergne (Part III) - Canteloube

“Verschwiegene Liebe” (No.3) from Eichendorff Lieder - Wolf

Pavane in F Sharp Minor, Op. 50 (Vocalise) – Faure

“Aprés un rêve” from Trois melodies, Op. 7, No. 1 – Fauré

“In trutina” from Carmina Burana – Orff

“Lascia ch’io pianga” from Rinaldo – Handel

“Mondnact” from Liederkreis, Op. 39, No. 5 – Schumann

“Dank sei Dir, Herr” – Ochs

“I Loved You” - Ogerman

BONUS TRACKS:

“An Sylvia”, D.891 – Schubert

“Auf dem Wasser zu singen”, D. 774 – Schubert

Click here to pre-order.

Driving Miss Barbra

By Joel Stein - Time Magazine.

I could easily go on a road trip with my Jewish New Jersey mom, like Seth Rogen’s character does with Barbra Streisand in the movie The Guilt Trip. I’d just crank the AC, blast some Sirius XM Broadway, stop for lots of Starbucks lattes, pretend to listen—no problem. But I couldn’t imagine taking a long drive with Barbra Streisand. She’s like my mom, only literally a diva.

But I wanted to see just how good a Jewish boy I could be, so I offered to pick Barbra up at her Malibu house and take an hour-long drive to Beverly Hills. When I arrived, her assistant led me to a stately room overlooking the ocean that was filled with John Singer Sargent paintings, Chippendale furniture and a disturbing number of dolls. I sat nervously trying not to touch anything for half an hour until finally Barbra appeared and said, “You’re a little crazy, right?” When I realized that she had prepared for our drive by reading my columns, she moved on to her second question: “Why are all Jewish boys so horny?” I got about a quarter into my answer when, luckily, she started giving me a tour of the house, one of three she owns right next to one another. She took six years off work to help build the newest, most spectacular one and goes there less than once a month. “The bed isn’t comfortable,” she told me.

Barbra packed a Voss water and a cup of berries for our trip. As we headed out to the driveway toward a brand-new Ford C-MAX hybrid I was borrowing, she asked, “Is your car clean?” Then she got inside and—just like my mom—told me it was too warm. Five minutes down the road, as I was shivering, she said, “We have to turn the air down.” When I happily turned the dial up, she said, “No, leave the temperature the same, but turn down the air blowing. For the sound for your recording.” I told her the recording would be fine. “No, there’s too much air.” I began to feel relieved that Barbra hadn’t agreed to stop somewhere to eat, since we would have spent the whole time changing tables.

Unfortunately, we’d gotten a late start, so we couldn’t do any sightseeing. I had suggested a day trip to Santa Barbara, but she agreed to only a one-hour drive. The movie director had wanted to shoot The Guilt Trip by having the two actors actually drive cross-country, but Barbra said no to any location more than 45 minutes from her house. “I love my home,” she explained. I can’t imagine how hard it would be to make the time to see your home while you’re on a long location shoot when you can’t even manage to see it while living right next door.

Although Barbra did not sing along in the car, she provided a fair amount of drama. Whenever we came within 20 feet of another car, Barbra would thrust her hand in front of her and make a little noise. “Look at that guy, all over the road!” she yelled about a car changing lanes. “Look at this guy!” she exclaimed about a driver ahead of us who was driving. When I suggested she drive part of the way, she told me she doesn’t drive anymore. “You know why? I was driving one day, and I found myself driving up the off-ramp of a highway.”

“When’s the last time you drove?” I asked.

“In the ’80s maybe.”

“You haven’t driven since the 1980s?”

“Wait—this is 2012. Maybe the ’90s.”

At first she refused the unsalted minipretzels I brought that I’d heard she liked, since she was about to get her photo taken and didn’t want any minipretzel bloat. “This is a pretty good brand,” she said, looking at my bag of Snyder’s of Han­over pretzels. “I’ll have one.”

Other than the temperature controlling and backseat driving, Barbra was a really fun, mellow driving buddy. She told me about her cousin Lowell, I told her what a mullet is, she told me she’s thinking of casting Lady Gaga as the lead in her remake of Gypsy, and I told her I was really, really cold. We agreed that she looks really young and that I should say so in this column. Barbra also told me that her body is trained to wake up at 6:25 a.m. so she can start trading stocks in her nightgown right when the market opens in New York City. When I asked her for picks, she told me the exact same thing my mom, who also has CNBC on all day, does: “Apple! Apple!” Toward the end, we called my mom, who was very, very excited. During the conversation I found out the only person more horrified than my mom at the fact that I haven’t seen The Way We Were is Barbra Streisand.

I dropped Barbra off at the hotel, where she gave me a hug, took the bag of pretzels and seemed a little too eager to get away. And as I drove home, feeling a bit lonely, I realized that I’m not at all sure my mom would be willing to take a road trip with me. But she sure as hell would take one with Barbra.

Read more: http://entertainment.time.com/2012/12/05/driving-miss-barbra/#ixzz2EBlbbbDx

Alternate Poster for The Guilt Trip

New Press.

New Clip: Barbra on Dr. Phil.

Barbra will appear on the Dr. Phil show this Monday. Here is an exclusive clip from the show:

http://www.barbranews.com/drphil.htm

Other press:

I've also heard that Barbra has recorded an interview with The Today Show which should air this Friday. 

Joel Stein, who hosted the Q&A session with Barbra and Seth on Sunday recently spent some time with Barbra - and his interview will be published on Friday in Time Magazine.

As soon as I have more concrete information on forthcoming press spots - I will bring them to you.