These Days Who Isn't Going Hollywood?

There is such an odd feeling from being at your regular sushi restaurant on a Friday night, nursing a Martini, and having your son and his girlfriend stop by your table to say hello and then to invite you over to their table.
On one hand you ask yourself "Am I really that old?" and on the other hand you calmly think "Ah, how lucky I am to have this incredible adult son, who's responsible, intelligent, diligent and getting on with life.".

When my son was young I wondered if by being raised in Los Angeles he would choose to go into the entertainment industry, which is by far the dominant business here. He had been exposed to a lot of people in that business, especially given that he was classmates with the son of a president of a television network, the son of the head of a major production company, the grandson of an owner of a movie studio, and the daughter of an agent who was reputed to be, at that time, "the most powerful man in Hollywood".
Happily, he had little interest in entertainment and chose to pursue a different professional path entirely.

What is it about the entertainment industry that causes people to "Go Hollywood"?
Recently, one of my European clients, who had absolutely no background in the movie business, has now become a film producer. And a few weeks ago I met with a young-ish French man, a former investment banker, who is now developing scripts and looking for backing for his film projects.
The lure to be in the business, especially for people who didn't grow up in this city, is certainly strong.

And now I just read that Saadi Gaddafi, the son of fashion plate dictator Muammar Gaddafi, is now going Hollywood.
From The Wrap
Gadhafi Goes Hollywood: Dictator’s Son Gets In With $100M
Hollywood’s latest financial backer is the middle son of the Libyan dictator, Saadi Gadhafi, who is backing a movie production fund called Natural Selection to the tune of $100 million.

Certainly like his father, Saadi is a man of many talents, especially given that Saadi's previous career was in professional soccer
From Ask Men
Sure he’s located a little outside the Gulf and he isn’t officially a Sheikh, but if you had to pick a “K-Fed of Arabia,” Saadi Gaddafi would be a pretty good choice. Not only did this “fortunate son” get to feed his own visions of grandeur by playing professional soccer in Italy (where he played two games in three years before being suspended for doping), but Saadi also routinely parties with celebrities who have made their way on talent rather than last names, such as Nicole Kidman, 50 Cent and Anna Kournikova.

And what playboy lifestyle would be complete without yacht crashes and disorderly conduct? Certainly not Saadi’s, who crashed his 130-foot yacht into a wharf and has been ejected from the illustrious Billionaire’s Club.


Well, from this photo he sure looks worthy to have played with the pros.

But moving on, he certainly has qualities that will get him far in Hollywood.

He has a sharp sense of style...come on, you've got to love a man dressed head to toe in light blue.

He loves movies

“He loves movies,” explained Beckerman in an interview in his suite on the seventh floor of the Carlton Hotel at the Cannes Film Festival, where he’d come to look for new projects. “He’s seen ‘Lost’ 30 times. He has stacks of DVDs of American films.”

He's cool

He’s 35, gracious, nice – and really cool,” said Beckerman

And of course he has the big buck$

or at least $100 million or so to play around with

It's good to know that Saadi is spending his time and money productively, especially after his brother Hannibal's little issue with Switzerland last year

The kerfuffle began a year ago, when Hannibal, Gadhafi’s youngest son, and his pregnant wife were arrested in a Geneva luxury hotel for beating two servants with a belt and a coat hanger (he’d been busted in both France and Italy for beating a woman, fighting a cop and driving drunk down the Champs Elysee at 90 mph -- the wrong way).

Libya retaliated to the arrest in Switzerland by recalling some diplomats, suspending visas for Swiss citizens, withdrawing funds from Swiss banks, shuttering the Tripoli office of Nestle and threatening to cut off oil deliveries to Switzerland. Two Swiss businessmen were barred from leaving the country until Libya received an apology for Hannibal's arrest.

I for one welcome Saadi to the western way of doing business, and am wondering when the sons of Kim Jong Il, Robert Mugabe and Ahmadinejad are going to "Go Hollywood" too.

Happy Saturday!