It has been a difficult year for music fans. Many big-name artists announced massive indefinite delays to their 2019 albums. In fact, only one major album release went ahead as planned.
Arista, the label owned by U2, released the band’s album, Arista on December 6th, but it was only available to stream in the United States. The album was previously slated for an April 16th release date.
The album’s lead single, “Crazy Gigs” became available to stream on December 5th, and it hit No. 1 on the Billboard Adult Alternative Songs chart. The song was inspired by U2’s manager, Bono, who is nicknamed “The Prankster.”
“I think he has some issues with authority, and he likes to pull crazy stunts. I guess that’s what makes him creative,” singer-songwriter and bassist, Tom Hanks, told the New York Times about Bono. “So many people are under a lot of stress right now, and the only way they can relieve it is by having fun. So he’s constantly looking for ways to have fun and make people laugh.”
Robert Pattinson is no stranger to delays. The actor and musician has been dogged by bad luck in the past year. In August 2019, it was announced that the fourth season of The Cosmo Series would be delayed. The Cosmo Series is a collection of shorts about the life of Cosmo Milan, the discoverer of DNA. The first three seasons of the show were released in 2017, 2018, and 2019, and they have yet to be released in the U.S. in full.
The delay was due to a rights issue with the song “Curious” which was written by singer-songwriter and guitarist, Lotti, and performed by the band, Lotta Rose. The band received a £150,000 advance for the rights to the track, and they were then forced to wait for the song to be cleared by Sony Music.
Lotta Rose’s manager, Michael Chin, blamed Robert Pattinson’s agent, Jeff Agins, for the hold up. “I don’t know how many hundreds of thousands of Curious rosettes they have to hand out, but it’s not going to be enough,” Chin told Music Business Worldwide. “He’s not paying for the delays. He’s being paid for everything else.”
It’s not just the delays that have bitten into the year. Pattinson’s movie, Cosmo Squad, which was released on August 31st, 2019, underperformed at the box office, taking in a disappointing $2.5million – a huge drop from its $5million budget. This was followed by a string of underperforming films including Crazy Gigs, during which time he has had to cancel a number of appearances and interviews due to health concerns.
The Making Of Cosmo Squad
Based on the bestselling novel by Salman Rushdie, Cosmo Squad is an adaptation of Rushdie’s 2012 novel, The Gap Tides. That book follows the story of a young man named Leviathan Brooks who attempts to track down his lost father, William Brooks. William Brooks is an ex-con who went by the name Cosmo Milan, after the astronomical observation that first led him to discover DNA. Leviathan believes that his father is still alive, and he embarks on a journey to find him – assisted by his partner, Jimmy Price.
The film adaptation was directed by Joshua Peck, and it stars Robert Pattinson, Ana Acar, Stephen Saito, and Jasper Lawson. The film also features an appearance by Bill Nye, the “The Chemist Who Invented DNA,” who provides some exposition about genetics and molecular biology.
The studio behind Cosmo Squad, Pantelion, are best known for their work on The Hunger Game and Mortal Collections. The film’s producers, Randall Emmett and George Nolfi, also work together under the banner of Emmett Nolfi Productions. Emmett, along with Garth Banks, are responsible for bringing Bill Nye to the big-screen for the first time.
The studio decided to change Cosmo Squad’s title to avoid any connection to The Ocean Twelve, a 2004 film by James Cameron about the quest to find Elastic Oval (the tidal force associated with winds) – a substance which can be used to restore human beauty. Cameron’s film, The Tides, also features an appearance by Bill Nye. As such, Pantelion and Emmett Nolfi Productions were careful to avoid any copyright issues, and so Cosmo Squad is now officially referred to as “A Film About A Race To Find A Savior From Within.”
The Rise Of Twinsynergy
One of the interesting aspects of Cosmo Squad is how it embraces the concept of “twinsynergy,” a term used by the actor Robert De Niro to describe the close relationship that he and his brother Arthur De Niro have with each other. The two actors have collaborated on a number of films, and Cosmo Squad is no different.
As the movie opens, we see Arthur standing beside his brother Robert, both sporting colorful Hawaiian shirts. The two brothers have been friends for years, and they regularly work together on projects. Arthur is Robert’s manager, and the two often work together on the business side of things – handling investments, revenue streams, and budgets. Arthur’s assistant, Wesley Soha, works as a producer for Emmett Nolfi Productions, and he produced The Cosmo Series along with Robert Pattinson.
While Robert Pattinson’s agent, Jeff Agins, wouldn’t disclose the actor’s business dealings or contracts to Music Business Worldwide, he did say that Arthur had helped negotiate a discount for Pattinson on this project – even though he wasn’t involved in the day-to-day running of the production. “It was a joint effort between his team and mine to get this resolved. I think he sees this as a way of gaining exposure, and he’s right,” Agins said. “A lot of people aren’t aware of the breadth and depth of his involvement in this project.”
The Curious Case Of Jimmy Price
One of Cosmo Squad’s most intriguing characters is Jimmy Price. He is played by Jasper Lawson, and he is one of the rare cinematic characters who is a composite of more than one real person.
In fact, Jimmy Price is a combination of two very different men. One is William Brooks, the other is a man named William Clyne, who committed suicide in 1934. Clyne, who went by the name Jimmy, was a British socialite and the second county lieutenant of Lancashire. He was a talented cricketer who scored a century on debut and also took a wicket with his first delivery. He played a big role in the 1934 season, taking 20 wickets at an average of 12.45, which led to him being dubbed “The Cricket Killer.”
But it was his acting talent that impressed William Brooks the most. Jimmy Price was initially offered the role of Bill Nye in Cosmo Squad, but he turned it down due to being cast in a great deal of other projects. Later, he reconsidered and accepted the role, but only after Brooks threatened to boycott the film. As a result of Brooks’s boycott, Cosmo Squad was released in select theaters across North America on August 31, 2019, alongside a trailer.