La Jolla’s unsaintly mogul

He had nothing to do with the surprise Oscar-winning Manchester by the Sea, but ex–Union-Tribune owner and San Diego Republican kingpin Douglas Manchester, awaiting senate confirmation as Donald Trump’s ambassador to the Bahamas, has long been a low-budget Tinseltown player.

As reported by Don Bauder in July 2013, the wealthy La Jolla denizen showed up as a background player in two cable TV movies by producer Brad Krevoy’s Motion Picture Corporation of America: Talhotblond, on Lifetime, and The Sweeter Side of Life for the Hallmark Channel.

“I watched Talhotblond twice before I found him,” noted Bauder. “He could be seen on the screen for one — or, at most, two — seconds.” Added David Elliott, ex–movie reviewer for the Union-Tribune and the San Diego Reader, “It is fairly common for investors or minor producers to be given little guest cameo appearances as ego ribbons, usually in party scenes.”

Neither Manchester nor the movie company would discuss the San Diego mogul’s screen time, but a few additional details have now emerged. According to a financial disclosure report filed this spring as a requirement of the controversial ex-U-T publisher’s presidential nomination, he owns between $1 million to $5 million worth of a corporation called Saint Season One, Inc., a “television/movie production located in Los Angeles.” It has the same Santa Monica address as Krevoy’s production company. Manchester’s return on the investment is thus far reported to be “None (or less than $201).”

The website Deadline Hollywood reported last year that Krevoy has been working on a deal to remake the spy-themed thriller The Saint at Paramount. “If the deal makes, the studio may have another franchise in development as the character itself seems ripe for a re-do in a modern age of terrorism and corruption in the political ranks.” No word yet on the role Manchester might have in the picture.