Richard Johnson’s gossip column in The Daily is sitting on a photograph of the reclusive Hollywood reporter Nikki Finke, reports The Wrap. The only known photographs of Finke are college portraits and a black and white author’s photo. Gawker once offered a $1000 cash prize for a more updated shot.
Despite the ubiquity and accuracy of Finke’s blog, Deadline Hollywood, she is famously reclusive.
“She finds it uncomfortable to run into people she has vilified, and is often laid up by illness or exhaustion or an attack of self-doubt. In recent years, as her fame has increased, she has felt so vulnerable to public scrutiny that she no longer sees her subjects at all,” Tad Friend wrote in a polite New Yorker profile.
When Daily reporter Hunter Walker (formerly of The Observer) ran into her boss, CEO of Mail Media Corporation Jay Penske, at the Sundance Film Festival last month, he told him he planned to obtain a photo of Finke.
Looks like he got one. Her lawyers have reportedly been in touch with The Daily, who postponed publishing it until they can locate two sources who will verify that it is, in fact, Finke.
We propose a compromise: The Daily gets the scoop, Finke gets the cash prize. Denton’s probably still good for it.
UPDATE: Finke Says Photo’s Phony!
kstoeffel@observer.com :: @kstoeffel
