Packer returns to Hollywood after co-producing Melania doco

Once a media mogul, always a media mogul, it seems. Billionaire James Packer has quietly made his return to Hollywood, with an executive producer credit on a new documentary.

The former owner of Nine Entertainment, owner of this masthead, sold out of his remaining stake in Nine in 2008 to concentrate on gaming and casinos.

But now he is back, baby, listed as an executive producer on the oxymoronically named mountaineering documentary The Last First: Winter K2.

And already the production is kicking goals, after the “acclaimed Sundance Film Festival selection” from director Amir Bar-Lev was snapped up by Apple Original Films for an undisclosed sum.

The doco’s synopsis explains: “K2’s first winter ascent claimed five lives, revealing modern alpinism’s struggles with commercialisation, social media impact, and conflicts between marginalised climbers and traditional elites.”

Struggles with commercialisation and traditional elites sounds very Packer, we can all agree.

Normally, an executive producer credit means one of two things. You funnelled cash into a film production, or you found someone else to funnel cash into a film production.

So it was fascinating to read in The Australian Financial Review recently that Packer was also involved in the poorly reviewed documentary Melania, about US first lady Melania Trump, directed by Brett Ratner, who was previously shunned by Hollywood after #MeToo assault allegations.

The paper reported that Ratner’s RatPac Entertainment, which Ratner had co-founded with Packer, before the latter sold out, produced Melania after a period of bankruptcy. The paper reported: “Packer is also involved. He and Ratner quietly resurrected the production company and have spent $US40 million making Melania, at least 10 to 20 times the price of any other very well-funded documentary.”

As we reported last week, Packer’s investment vehicle, Consolidated Press Holdings, reshuffled the decks and last year increased its revenue to $5.9 billion, paid no income tax, and paid Packer a dividend of $110 million. Not bad.

What will Packer invest in next? Bike Boy the Movie?

Optus fiasco casts long shadow over Michelle Rowland’s new lieutenant

Regular readers of this column will no doubt recall our interest in the appointment of James Chisholm, former deputy secretary of the Department of Communications during the Optus email fiasco, to the top job in Attorney-General Michelle Rowland’s office.

For those coming in cold: Chisholm was hit hard by senators during the Optus inquiry last year for his department’s failure to set up automatic email replies after Optus emailed an out-of-date departmental address to notify them of a Triple Zero outage that caused three deaths. He has since landed a new gig as Rowland’s chief of staff.

Well, on Tuesday, Chisholm was thrust back into the spotlight during Senate estimates, after, to our shock, a CBD column item was read aloud during the hearing. Senator Sarah Henderson had a hatful of questions for Chisholm’s former boss, Communications Department Secretary Jim Betts, including when Chisholm was placed on leave, and whose decision it was.

Better than our last mention in parliament, we guess, which related to a misidentification of Labor Senator Don Farrell, for which we are still apologising.

Betts gave us a few more crumbs. It was his decision, he said, and Chisholm had requested leave until “the 13th or 14th of January”. Betts wanted to give him a breather after a big 18 months on the tools. It should be noted that Betts commended Chisholm and his work.

Betts went on to say that he and Chisholm had a conversation early in the year, and that he had been mulling an executive reshuffle. Subsequent to that, Betts said, Chisholm had landed his new gig as chief of staff to Rowland. Betts informed staff of the department of Chisholm’s new gig on February 6.

But the next bit raised our eyebrows. Is it possible, Henderson asked, that Communications Minister Anika Wells advised the department she no longer wanted to work with Chisholm?

Betts didn’t appear to like Henderson’s line of questioning, and dismissed her claim there were tensions between Wells and Chisholm following the Optus inquiry. In response to a request for comment, Wells’ office also dismissed Henderson’s claims.

“Senator Henderson’s claims are false,” a government spokesman said. “We respect the important work the public service does.”

Betts said Wells hadn’t expressed concerns to him about Chisholm’s performance in the inquiry, and firmly shut down the suggestion that Chisholm was “sacked”.

“Well, he wasn’t sacked,” Betts said.

Frydenberg shaves his beard on parental orders

Taking our cue from Rupert Murdoch, this column generally takes a dim view of facial hair. We were consequently perturbed to spot former federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg seated prominently at the Australian Open sporting a beard.

Seems we weren’t the only ones to look upon this with some negativity, for days later, Frydenberg, the Goldman Sachs Australia chairman whose potential return to federal politics is unclear, was spotted in public denuded of his holiday growth, joking to friends that a higher power had ordered its removal.

Not Murdoch, nor even the almighty, CBD has learnt. Frydenberg removed the facial hair on the orders of his father, Harry, a surgeon.

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