"Diddy's" Star is Rising
When the one-man, publicity-generating whirlwind that is Diddy met the well-oiled hype machine of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, sparks were bound to fly.
Sean Combs received a star Friday on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, an event most honorees mark by turning up at the assigned time, smiling for cameras and going about their business.
Not Combs.
He put a video online asking fans to show up for the star-unveiling, set to the tune of Lupe Fiasco's hit "Superstar." He sat down at the Beverly Hills Hotel for advance interviews with infotainment TV shows and The Associated Press. And he's being feted with a lavish party Friday night at billionaire Ron Burkle's sprawling Beverly Hills estate.
"It's also like my coming-out party here in Hollywood," Combs told AP. "I don't have nothing to hide about that. If I'm going to come someplace, I'm going to make some noise, and you're going to know I'm here."
Fellow actor Jamie Foxx was on hand to introduce Combs as his star was revealed.
"He throws the best party you've ever seen in your entire life," said Foxx, who led dozens of people in a chant of "Diddy! Diddy! Diddy!" and rapped out famous choruses of the artist's songs.
"This is big. This is legendary," Foxx told the music label intern-turned-entertainment mogul. "And they will never be able to take this away from you."
Combs, wearing a white suit, slapped hands with Foxx and told the crowd: "Today is proof that if you believe, all your dreams can come true. I've gone from Harlem to Hollywood." He lay down on the red carpet next to his star to pose for photographers.
Combs is house-hunting in Los Angeles now, and plans to split his time between here and New York to pursue his acting career. To that end, he's looking through scripts in search of the next role.
He calls it a perfect time to stop and reflect on recent successes. Two of his "Making the Band" groups -- Danity Kane's second album and Day26's first -- just landed at the top of the Billboard charts. His ABC movie "A Raisin in the Sun" was a hit with critics and viewers in February.
"Sometimes you got to take a step back and breathe and enjoy and realize the magnitude of it, where you came from, how hard you worked, all the people that rode with you through your ups and downs," Combs said.
Family and friends from the block he grew up on in New York's Harlem neighborhood joined him at the ceremony outside the Hollywood and Highland shopping complex.
"It inspires them," Combs said. "It inspires, you know, millions of young people all over the world that are in a place that I grew up in right now, and they want to make it to that point. I don't know if we know where Brad Pitt came from, or George Clooney.
"People are familiar with my journey, so it may inspire them more," Combs said. "So whether it's Eminem or Britney Spears or myself, you know of that journey. Whether it's coming from a small town, coming from a trailer park in Detroit, or coming from Harlem, New York. So when certain things happen to us, it's bigger than us. It inspires people."
What about that party, which was sure to inspire a few paparazzi in the direction of Burkle's mansion? Combs calls it an "intimate 250-person party" with "just very very close friends and family and people that I know throughout the industry."
The constant salesman drops shout-outs to sponsors Ciroc vodka and Cadillac, but wouldn't reveal the guest list -- except to note that David Beckham couldn't make it. Becks was playing a game in Utah on Saturday.
"I've had great parties with no celebrities there, great parties with tons of celebrities. We're all people," Combs said. Asked about the fest's rumored price tag, Combs smiles and responds: "It's up there, but I can't confirm it's $4 million. It's priceless."
Wearing a royal blue sweater over an elegant shirt and tie, with cufflinks shimmering next to a Cartier watch, Combs said he hasn't rewarded himself for the Walk of Fame star with any new toys or baubles. "We going through a recession right now, so I'm cutting back," he said. "Whatever I don't need, I'm just not buying it."
But he does have a few suggestions if friends are worried about what to get a guy who seems to have everything: "This party that we're throwing, it is a gift. I'm not going to turn down a gift. So if somebody wants to buy me a Maybach or a house in Beverly Hills, I'll accept it."
More seriously, Combs said he hasn't yet decided yet whether to file a lawsuit against the Los Angeles Times, which last month retracted a March story implying that associates of Combs were behind a 1994 assault on Tupac Shakur, and that he knew about it in advance.
"I don't have nothing against them now," he said. "And if I sued them, they'll understand it's business. It's not personal. Just like if they were going to write a story about me, it wasn't really personal, it was business. But they didn't handle their business the right way. I was happy that I kept my faith in God and that the truth came out as quick as it did."
The man who launched the careers of Notorious B.I.G. and Mary J. Blige said he's back in the studio now, tinkering in preparation for another album. He's is utterly unabashed about utilizing reality TV or the occasional publicity stunt -- relieving himself on YouTube, for example -- to further his ambitions (fragrances! liquor! marathons!).
"I'm a definition of how to build a brand and a 360 model. I feel like I'm the definition of that," Combs said. "This new concept that people have, I've been doing it for years. Creating a way out of no way, making lemonade out of lemons, that's what I do.
"So if the music industry's getting cannibalized by the Internet, I figure out how to work with it, I figure out how to survive. You throw me in the jungle butt-naked, I come out with a lion's head, some bearskins and a bunch of food. I may be driving a Maybach."
Box Office Numbers
"Iron Man" was pure gold at the box office.
The Marvel Comics adaptation, starring Robert Downey Jr. as the guy in the metal suit, hauled in $100.7 million during its opening weekend and $104.2 million since debuting Thursday night, the second-best premiere ever for a nonsequel, according to studio estimates Sunday.
The film also scored overseas with $96.7 million in 57 countries where it began opening Wednesday, putting its worldwide total at $201 million.
The movie, distributed by Paramount, is the first release by Marvel Studios, which has begun financing its own productions after such studio-backed hits as the "Spider-Man," "X-Men" and "Fantastic Four" flicks.
"We could not have hoped for a better way for Marvel Studios to blast off," said David Maisel, chairman of the unit, a division of Marvel Entertainment, which stands to pull in a greater share of box office receipts and merchandising money by financing movies itself.
Debuting in second place with $15.5 million was Sony's romantic comedy "Made of Honor," starring "Grey's Anatomy" heartthrob Patrick Dempsey as a man who tries to woo his best pal after she asks him to be "maid of honor" at her wedding.
"Iron Man," which won rave reviews from many critics, features Downey as billionaire arms designer Tony Stark, a boozy womanizer who builds a high-tech suit and becomes a superhero, mending his ways after he's taken captive and sees firsthand the devastation his weapons cause.
The film is directed by Jon Favreau, and also stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges and Terrence Howard.
Despite the huge "Iron Man" opening, Hollywood's overall business was down compared to the same weekend last year, when "Spider-Man 3" had a record debut of $151.1 million. The top 12 movies took in $154.1 million, off 15 percent from a year ago.
"Nonetheless, `Iron Man' did better than expected," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box office tracker Media By Numbers. "This is certainly the shot in the arm the marketplace has needed."
Movie attendance this year is running 6 percent behind that of 2007, so the arrival of "Iron Man" may jump start the box office as the busy summer season begins.
"If that first May movie is a big hit, it tends to lead to a big summer," said Rob Moore, Paramount vice chairman. "There hadn't been a big event movie yet this year. So you have the first event movie of summer, and people go `And I hear it's really good. All right, I'm in."'
"Iron Man" was the 10th biggest opening of all time and the fourth biggest for a superhero movie. Among nonsequels, it came in behind only the first "Spider-Man," which premiered with $114.8 million.
"If we have to, we're happy to come in second to another Marvel property," Maisel said. "It emphasizes how lucky we are to have such a powerful brand that's not loved by just comic book fans but also general movie fans."
The next Marvel production arrives in June with "The Incredible Hulk," distributed by Universal and starring Edward Norton.
In limited release, David Mamet's martial-arts drama "Redbelt" opened solidly with $68,646 in six theaters. Released by Sony Pictures Classics, "Redbelt" stars Chiwetel Ejiofor as an honorable instructor caught up in corruption in the world of mixed martial-arts competitions.
Paramount Vantage's "Son of Rambow," a comic tale of two British boys making their own "Rambo" movie, also opened well with $52,549 in five theaters.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "Iron Man," $100.7 million.
2. "Made of Honor," $15.5 million.
3. "Baby Mama," $10.3 million.
4. "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," $6.1 million.
5. "Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay," $6 million.
6. "The Forbidden Kingdom," $4.2 million.
7. "Nim's Island," $2.8 million.
8. "Prom Night," $2.5 million.
9. "21," $2.1 million.
10. "88 Minutes," $1.6 million.