Silverman Spurs New Neil Diamond LP
February 9 -- We'll be saying "Hello Again" to Neil Diamond this year — with a new album later but more immediately in the film Saving Silverman, in which he's a running gag that unifies the plot about two friends (played by Steve Zahn and Jack Black) trying to extricate a third (Jason Biggs) from a relationship with a domineering psychologist (Amanda Peet) whose control extends to forcing him out of their Diamond tribute band.
"I was very hesitant," the 60-year-old Diamond says of the film, in which he ultimately agreed to make a cameo and perform a couple of songs. "Then the script came, and I was a little dismissive. But I started reading it and I started laughing, which is the real test. So I met with the director [Dennis Dugan], the producer, and the head of Columbia Pictures, and basically they said, 'We need you. This is a picture that we want your for, and we need you and please do it.' So, of course, I'm like anybody else; I'm pliable and I'm open to being persuaded, and I got persuaded. It's not the kind of thing that comes up every day. Just the idea of doing it was fun, and it was a little bit like Being John Malkovich, but with music."
Diamond says he had a great time with the actors — "I went over to them, gave them a big hug, and said, 'Thank you for being in my movie,' because I think of it as being my movie. From the opening scene to the very end, I'm part of this movie." — and the filmmakers' request for a new song yielded not only "I Believe in Happy Endings" but also got Diamond on a creative roll that netted the proverbial LP's worth of tunes, which Diamond hopes we'll hear during the first half of the year.
In addition to Saving Silverman, which opens to wide release tonight, Diamond is also being fêted these days by a series of real tribute bands — the most visible being Super Diamond, which Diamond performed with during December in Los Angeles. Diamond says he finds such kitschy but reverent endeavors "only flattering" and appreciates that they do ultimately serve to promote his music more than anything else.
