STAR INTERVIEW: MONKEE MICKY DOLENZ

The real American Idol Micky Dolenz

Times Square Gossip had a moment to catch up with former-and-forever Monkee-MICKY DOLENZ as he was leaving his home in LA for a series of shows in the North East with his final destination being here in New York.
Dolenz, who ended his seven-month tour with PIPPIN' earlier this year is eyeballing a series of whole new projects for the rest of the year, in addition to ramping up his activities with him film shingle, Independent Entertainment, with partner Stuart Gross. Here's Micky:

Times Square Gossip: We’ve seen lots of you recently at some pretty major film premieres, like RICHARD GERE'S THE HOAX; QUENTIN TARANTINO'S GRINDHOUSE; and, Disney's MEET THE ROBINSONS. How'd that all go?

Micky Dolenz: Those three films were all terrific. But the important thing about premieres is that there is a lot of free food. I did AIDA with Disney and we’ve remained friends since. I actually would love to be in business with them again. MEET THE ROBINSONS featured some innovative animation and I had a chance to catch up with TOM SELLECK, who plays 'Cornelius' in the film. I haven’t seen him since we went to high school together. The Gere-film is all about the 'CLIFFORD IRVING' hoax where he claimed he wrote a book on HOWARD HUGHES ... and, did not. Great performance. And, the TARANTINO-film was terrific as well. What an amazing filmmaker. It turns out that Quentin is a big fan and actually has a print of HEAD, the MONKEE movie I starred in that was written by JACK NICHOLOSON. The GRINDHOUSE premiere was quite something. I had a chat with BOB WEINSTEIN, who runs DIMENSION, about my cameo in the new ROB ZOMBIE flick, HALLOWEEN.

Times Square Gossip: What's up with your Independent Entertainment?

Micky Dolenz: Stuart Gross and I are pursuing several projects and I'm even writing one. We want to tailor-make each project, so if we need extra time, we'll take it. We're not looking for immediate blockbusters, but movies and stories we care about. I think later this year we'll be able to announce our first ones.

Times Square Gossip: Tell me a little about PIPPIN.

Micky Dolenz: Just a great production, I had a tremendous amount of fun with the entire cast; Joshua Park, Shannon Lewis and James Royce Edwards were all excellent to work with. Stephen Schwartz was there from day one and his personal participation make the whole thing click. It would have been fun to come to Broadway, but I guess it wasn't meant to be. I have come to love Broadway, and after AIDA; GREASE; and, A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM, I'm hooked. I'm looking at a few other projects like that.

Times Square Gossip: What plans do you have when you're in NY?

Micky Dolenz: Mostly go to Elaine’s. But if I ever get off the Upper East Side, I want to catch up on some plays I've missed during the PIPPIN' run like SPRING AWAKENINGS. I'm also going to catch DONNY OSMOND at Feinstein's and will go to several events at The Tribeca Film Festival ... and, stop by Steve Walter's Cutting Room to plan some shows there. I love the CUTTING ROOM. I spent two years there one night..........

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