BITS AND PIECES..06/11 PART 2 of 2
AGC Gossip
--YEAH, BABY! Mike Myers' shagadelic Austin Powers sequel opening at a record
3,312 theaters today, beating the 3,310 mark set last summer by Godzilla.
--HEALTH-CARE INFLATION: George Clooney to get $2 million per episode for each
guest appearance on NBC's ER next season, People says.
--GETTING STERN: Columbia TriStar TV suing Daniel Stern for $25 million over a
CBS buddy-cop comedy pilot he allegedly helped 86. The actor plans to
countersue.
--CLOSE CALL: Lauren Bacall, Dennis Hopper and other crew members on the
Italian set of The Venice Project unhurt after the villa they were staying in
caught fire early Thursday.
--MOUSE BEATING: In Los Angeles Thursday, a judge rules Disney can't access
DreamWorks' financial records in the lawsuit battle with Magic
Kingdom-turned-Dreamer mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg.
--SAVED! The U.S. House quietly dumping a proposed bill that would have
required record stores to post the lyrics to every freakin' song they sell.
--FOR WOMEN ONLY: CNN mogul Ted Turner to launch a gal-minded cable network to
compete against the much-hyped Oxygen Channel start-up.
--POLITICAL SUPPORTERS: Fruit of the Loom dispatching Jesse Ventura 12,000
pairs of boxers after the wrestler-turned-statesman confessed in his
autobiography that he doesn't like skivvies.
--MEANWHILE... Carlo Little, who quit as the Rolling Stone's drummer shortly
before their breakthrough, to sell hot dogs outside the band's London stadium
show this weekend.
USA TODAY...
Euphoria Morning, the highly anticipated solo debut by former Soundgarden
frontman Chris Cornell, arrives Sept. 21 on A&M/Interscope. Produced by Cornell
and guitarist Alain Johannes, the introspective album explores turf beyond the
hard rock Soundgarden mined. Cornell's shift to singer/songwriter status with a
leaning toward experimental pop was partly inspired by his love for The Beatles
and '60s R&B balladry, yielding tunes such as the druggy Flutter Girl, acoustic
Sweet Euphoria and first single Can't Change Me, which goes to radio Aug. 2.
Cornell hasn't abandoned dark themes or rock, nor has he ruled out a reunion
with Soundgarden, which split amicably in 1997. As the band rose to global
fame, pressures and duties began to outweigh the joy of making music.
--Leonardo DiCaprio might play Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars: Episode II. OK,
well, at least producer Rick McCallum, according to the Cinemania Web site,
didn't rule it out. "Both George (Lucas) and I love Leo's work, but we haven't
even begun casting yet for Episode II and won't until September or October." .
. .
--An eight-minute parody, called George Lucas in Love, is burning up VCRs all
over Hollywood, says Variety's Michael Fleming. The film spoofs Shakespeare in
Love, with USC student George Lucas as its protagonist, agonizing over what
would become Star Wars.
--Director Henry Selick, who explored the surreal side of animation with The
Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach, has just started
shooting his latest offbeat outing, Monkeybone. Based on a Canadian comic book,
the dark comedy combines Selick's stop-motion technique with live action and
computer trickery. It stars The Mummy's Brendan Fraser as a comic-strip artist
whose life is overrun by his creation. "The key character is Monkeybone, who
represents what Brendan's character fears most - merchandising," Selick says.
Fraser falls into a coma and is pestered by Monkeybone come to life. Selick
previously used him in Christmas. "I tried a lot of cartoon voices and listened
to all sorts of people. But Paul's voice is like Miles Davis' trumpet. One of a
kind. It's really a unique instrument." Tentative date of release is July 2000.
--What are Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen getting for their 13th birthday? For
starters, the Fox Family Channel will air 13 hours of all things Olsen on
Sunday, starting at 9 a.m. ET/6 PT. The twins will celebrate with friends and
family in L.A. before jetting to Paris to work on the direct-to-video Passport
to Paris, in which each has her first screen smooch. And when not working, the
girls surf the Net. Bookmarked: Felicity, Dawson's Creek and Friends Web sites.
--LOS ANGELES - Winona Ryder sold her former home in Beverly Hills for about
$900,000, or about $100,000 below the asking price, the Los Angeles Times
reported Thursday. The buyer is a former Seinfeld writer whom the paper didn't
identify. Built in 1926, the 2,000-square-foot, Spanish-style home has three
bedrooms, limestone floors and a fireplace. Ryder bought and restored the house
in 1996. The star of the upcoming film Girl Interrupted purchased a nearby home
last year for $2.5 million.
--NEW YORK - Ricky Martin's got Rockefeller Center in an uproar. The Manhattan
office complex handed out maps to workers showing ways to avoid the thousands
of frenzied fans expected for the singer's appearance Friday on the Today show.
The Latin music sensation was scheduled to perform outside NBC's Today studio
at 8 a.m. The viewing area holds about 1,200 people, but police were braced for
thousands more and warned that they might have to close some streets. Martin,
27, is enjoying the wild success of his debut English-language CD, simply
titled Ricky Martin. Its first single, Livin' la Vida Loca, which means living
the crazy life, is topping the charts. Before going solo, Martin was part of
the Latin teen group Menudo.
--OMAHA, Neb. - It may require a leap of faith to take a satirist seriously,
but Martin Mull said his paintings are for true believers. Mull, who stars in
Sabrina the Teenage Witch, is exhibiting a series of abstract paintings at the
Bemis Center for Contemporary Art. He says he's serious about exploring his
childhood and his psyche through art. "It's the great irony of my life," Mull
said. "I have always considered myself first and foremost a painter - that's
where my heart and soul is. The other stuff I did to pay the bills so I could
paint."
--Stately St. Mark's Square reverberated with stanzas of poetry (improvised to
church bells) by Patti Smith in a rare performance by an American artist in
this historic setting. Smith, accompanied by guitarist Oliver Ray last weekend,
sang songs, chanted poetry and showed pictures of her cat and her personal
hero, Pope John Paul II. "I'm not Catholic, but I sing the praises of (the
pope), who has brought so much peace and love to Earth." Condemning the war in
Kosovo, Smith was cheered by the 6,000 fans. "I'm proud to be an American, but
when I see anti-American and anti-war slogans spray-painted on walls around
Venice, I understand where they're coming from," Smith said. "We humans have
evolved to where we should be settling disputes with discourse, not with
weapons."
--Despite a dazzling array of Hollywood stars at Wednesday's Versace gala in
London, the real glitter came from diamonds. Designer Donatella Versace called
her show Diamonds Are Forever, and on display was millennium-inspired jewelry
worth between $29 million and $50 million. Guest of honor: Prince Charles.
Among the Hollywood elite at the West London manor-house party were Pierce
Brosnan, Hugh Grant, Elizabeth Hurley, Michael Caine and Catherine Zeta-Jones.
NATIONAL ENQUIRER...MIKE WALKER
--"Ally McBeal" co-star Jane Krakowski hasn't gone Hollywood despite the
success of the show and a burgeoning movie career -- she still lives in a
modest furnished apartment she rents month to month!
Send all email to PUSSS...@aol.com
kpar...@nova.org
million over a CBS buddy-cop comedy pilot he allegedly helped 86. The
actor plans to countersue. >>
Columbia TriStar TV Sues Actor Over Sitcom
By Cynthia Littleton
HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - Columbia TriStar TV has filed a $25 million
breach-of-contract lawsuit
against actor Daniel Stern, claiming he killed the chances of the CBS
comedy pilot ''Partners''
getting picked up by bad-mouthing the show to network brass.
The suit claims that after the pilot for the buddy cop show was
delivered to CBS in May, Stern
called CBS President Les Moonves to tell him he would not do the show.
Stern and his Lost Men
Prods. are named as defendants in the suit, filed Thursday in Los
Angeles Superior Court.
Stern's attorney, Marty Singer, said the actor has denied making the
phone calls and plans to
countersue. Singer said Columbia TriStar's suit was ``totally without
merit,'' adding that the
counterclaim would detail ``misrepresentations'' made by the studio to
Stern about the
``Partners'' project.
While the legal dispute over ``Partners'' unfolds, Stern remains on the
Columbia TriStar
payroll through his role as the voice of the title character in the
studio's animated UPN
comedy ``Dilbert.''
Columbia TriStar's complaint asserts that Stern was unhappy with the
creative direction of the
show and wanted the buddy cop concept modified ``so that Stern would
serve as the sole major
lead.''
The suit claims that while CBS had agreed to pay a $750,000 penalty if
it did not order at
least six segments of ''Partners,'' the network ultimately refused to
pay the fee after Stern
told Moonves he would not appear in the show.
According to the suit, Columbia TriStar spent $2.3 million on the
production of the pilot, and
paid $1.5 million to Stern through a talent holding deal the actor inked
with the studio last
September.