BITS AND PIECES 09/21 Part 1
PUSSSYKATT
--Actress Linda Dano was scheduled to host tonight's Women in Cable and
Telecommunications 2001 Lea Awards in Los Angeles. But after returning from
Europe with her husband, Frank Attardi, this past Tuesday - a week after the
terrorist attacks - Dano didn't want to immediately get back on a plane and jet
to L.A. "General Hospital" star Nancy Lee Grahn (Alexis Davis) will sub for
Dano, who announced yesterday on "The Rosie O'Donnell Show" that she will
co-host a new Lifetime show, "Lifetime Now," with Sloan Lindemann and Tanika
Ray. The new show, scheduled to begin taping later next month in L.A. before a
live audience, will air Saturdays at 11 a.m.
NY POST/PAGE SIX...
--THERE'S no love lost between Courtney Love and her former mentor, art rock
icon Kim Gordon. When Love's name was brought up during an interview with
Gordon for Shout magazine, Gordon, who co-produced Hole's 1991 debut album,
"Pretty on the Inside," sniffed that she tries to "stay away from people like
that." Gordon, best known for her band Sonic Youth, added: "I don't think
Courtney has friends. She only has people who work for her."
--FIREFIGHTER James Austin Murray is exhausted after spending the last 11 days
digging through the rubble at Ground Zero, but that's not going to stop him
from opening his solo painting exhibition tomorrow at the L.I.C.K. gallery in
Queens. Murray, who works for Bronx Ladder Company No. 29, says simply: "To
abandon your dreams is to let them win." Among his works will be a painting he
did two years ago of the tragic Twin Towers, which will be auctioned off at the
opening reception, with the proceeds going to the families of terror victims.
--IS Donald Trump a modern-day Nostradamus? Trump's book "The America We
Deserve" - published last year while he was mulling a run for president -
contains an eerily prescient warning of a terrorist attack on an American city.
In a chapter titled "Freedom From Terrorism," Trump wrote: "It's time to get
down to the hard business of preparing for what I believe is the real
possibility that somewhere, sometime, a weapon of mass destruction will be
carried into a major American city and destroyed." Though Trump seemed to be
expecting a small nuclear device or biological weapon, the fully fueled
jetliners that destroyed the World Trade Center were a tragic realization of
that fear. "Let's point fingers," Trump writes. "The biggest threat to our
security is ourselves because we've become arrogant. Dangerously arrogant. It's
time for a realistic view of the world and our place in it. Do we truly
understand the threats we face?"
--MARTHA Plimpton - on seeing the hundreds of people looking for lost relatives
at St. Vincent's Hospital - putting her hand to her mouth and saying, "We have
to go. This is too much" . . .
--MATT Damon, in the garden at B-bar, and leaving early as the joint filled up
with Tuesday's mostly gay crowd for the Beige party, missing Jocelyne
Wildenstein, who was celebrating her birthday with Rocky Aoki . . .
--PRINCE Abdul of Kuwait leaving a $1,000 tip on a $41 bar tab at Rue 57.
--ANTHONY Hopkins is being stalked by a 280-pound woman amed Yvonne. The
enormous fan turned up at the front door of Hopkins' L.A. mansion and refused
to leave until he kissed her, according to Internet reports. An aghast Hopkins
called the cops, but by the time an officer arrived, Yvonne had stomped off.
She apparently had been stalking the star of "Hannibal," who is known for being
intensely private, for several weeks.
NY POST/NEAL TRAVIS...
--THE terrorist attack on America continues to play havoc within the film
industry. The latest movie to be shelved is, of all things, a remake of H.G.
Wells' "The War of the Worlds." The picture was about to start shooting in
Seattle, according to Britain's Channel 1, when the terrible news broke.
Director Timothy Hines had already captured the recent wildfires in Washington
state on film. Producer Pendragon Pictures says the company is "assessing the
project's potential effects on the spirit of the world." Director Hines says he
doesn't wish to "potentially contribute to the pain and grief of those affected
by this senseless act of terror." Hines was about to start shooting scenes of
cars burning on city streets while shop windows shatter in a Martian invasion
sequence. Industry observers think the film may not be made at all. A more
obvious casualty is the movie that action hero Jackie Chan was preparing. He
was to appear as a World Trade Center window washer who thwarts a terrorist
plot to blow up the Statue of Liberty.
--It seems that Carol Matthau isn't afraid of heights. Walter's widow has sold
the houses they shared in L.A. and Connecticut, and is coming hack to her
hometown and preparing to move into a lofty apartment in Donald Trump's tower
across from the U.N. She's also begun wading through piles of documents,
letters and photographs for the bio she's about to write on the famous actor
who was her beloved spouse.
--At first glance, a headline in the October issue of W magazine would appear
to be trying to implicate a conservative bete noire in the tragedies. "Jane
Fonda did a very evil thing," it says. It turns out that this is a quote from
famed costume designer William Ivey Long, who blames old Hanoi Jane for the
shape women are in today. "She made hips undesirable," he argues. He calls it
"reprehensible" that since Fonda started selling her exercise videos in the
'80s, the accepted ideal of American beauty has become something that's "not
human."
NY DAILY NEWS/RUSH AND MOLLOY...
--Tonight's simulcast of Michael Jackson's new video for "You Rock My World"
has been put off till the end of the month. The gangster-themed video features
cameos by Marlon Brando (who was booed at Jackson's Madison Square Garden
concert) and Chris Tucker, among others. …
--Artists Against AIDS will donate half the proceeds from its own benefit CD,
recorded two weeks ago, to the United Way's relief efforts. Covering Marvin
Gaye's classic "What's Goin' On" are Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Bono,
Destiny's Child, Jennifer Lopez, Wyclef Jean, Alicia Keys, Eve, Britney Spears,
Gwen Stefani and others. You can hear the Columbia Records release today on MTV
at 4:56 p.m. and Clear Channel radio stations at 5 p.m. …
NY POST/MITCHELL FINK...
--Yesterday, Rosie O'Donnell and Jim Carrey each donated $1 million to the
American Red Cross. Today, Sandra Bullock announced she'll give the same amount
to the charity. Okay, who's next? The Gotham Awards are held every year to
benefit local filmmakers through the Independent Feature Project; this year,
the group will share some of the proceeds with disaster-relief agencies. The
awards show, Oct. 1 at Chelsea Piers, will honor Robert De Niro and Uma
Thurman. Those attending will include Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, Edie
Falco, Harvey Keitel, Mike Nichols, Ethan Hawke, Chazz Palminteri and Marcia
Gay Harden.
USA TODAY...
--George Clooney, who'll be part of Friday's TV benefit, was spotted on his
motorcycle in L.A. this week handing out a U.S. flag to a passer-by. And Celine
Dion will sing God Bless America live from New York on Friday's benefit. She
also plans to record the song for a future album, her spokeswoman said
Thursday.
--Michael Bolton canceled his charity foundation's gala and golf tournament
that was to be held this weekend in Connecticut, but the entertainer will
dedicate the sponsor's contributions to funds for New York's firefighters and
police.
--A signed Picasso ink drawing was stolen from the Richard Gray gallery Monday,
and the gallery's director says the thief may have been taking advantage of New
York's crisis situation. The 1923 drawing, Young Nude Man at the Mirror,
Playing a Pan Flute, and Child, is worth $320,000.
--Two Las Vegas Strip casino companies are donating $1 million each for the
families of police officers and firefighters killed in last week's terrorist
attacks on New York City. "Our hearts go out to every victim of this
unspeakable tragedy," Mandalay Resort Group Chairman Bill Richardson said in a
Monday statement announcing the donation. Harrah's Entertainment spokesman Gary
Thompson said company employees also will be encouraged to contribute to other
relief funds. The money will be funneled through a Firefighters and Police
Rescue Fund. Last week, MGM Mirage donated $1 million to the American Red Cross
relief effort.
UPI....
--Cate Blanchett has been a busy lady. The Oscar-nominated actress, for her
title role in 1998's "Elizabeth," will appear in four high-profile films before
year's end -- the crime comedy "Bandits," the romantic drama "Heaven," the
eagerly awaited mythical adventure "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the
Ring" and the Oscar hopeful "The Shipping News." "I just keep working and just
keep true to what interests me," explained Blanchett, 32. "I've had such a
great year... I think that if I had a lot of time off, it might send me crazy,
but I've just kept working." "Lord of the Rings" is a trilogy, and all three
installments were filmed at the same time. Asked what that was like, Blanchett
replied: "I think it's probably the first time it's even been done. It's
completely crazy, but [director] Peter Jackson ('The Frighteners,' 'Heavenly
Creatures') is completely crazy. For the last seven months whenever I've gotten
there, every Saturday was like a rugby match. He and Viggo Mortensen ('28
Days,' 'A Perfect Murder') would go off to battle 30,000 orks and these 30,000
orks would turn up in some studio in Wellington and they'd just continue this
battle. I mean they've been going for 18 months to finish everything for
Christmas." "Bandits" is scheduled for release on Oct. 12, "Heaven" on Dec. 7,
"The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" on Dec. 19 and "The
Shipping News" on Dec. 25.
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