E! - Ted Casablanca:
8/31/00
DiCaprio calls for room service

Leonardo DiCaprio calls for room service (and, babydolls, that's lickety-split). L.D. was stuck in traffic on Sunset, and he was not hurting for company in his electric-blue Lexus. Filled to his viser with a bevy of butes, including his Brazilian vixen, Gisèle Bündchen. The runway pro entertained Leo and the other gals by sticking her tiny canine through the sunroof.
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CBS News:
8/31/00
News By The Stars

Maybe Not A Bad Idea, Says CBS News Correspondent Bob Schieffer In His Weekly Commentary My friends at ABC have been taking a lot of heat because they sent movie cute guy Leonardo DiCaprio to interview the President instead of sending Sam Donaldson or Peter Jennings. I've tried to stay out of it, because it's so unfair to Leonardo. After all, he is cute and an aspiring reporter has to start somewhere -and I predict a great future for him. I was disappointed that his network says that from now on the roles of journalists will be played by journalists. Frankly, I think people would enjoy seeing movie stars in these jobs. NBC Nightly News would be a lot better with Tom Hanks instead of Tom Brokaw. Brokaw wrote a great book about World War II but Hanks was in a movie about it, for Pete's sake. Peter Jennings is awfully debonair, but think if Fred Astaire were still around. No one could wear a pocket hanky like Fred - a suave anchor before his time. Dan Rather is perfect. Case closed. Wouldn't change a thing there. But I am torn about where to cast Oscar winner Hillary Swank. Her beautiful smile reminds me so much of Cokie Roberts. Yet when she cuts her hair short like she did in that movie, she's a dead ringer for young George Stephanopoulos. Glad I'm not a news boss. With those kinds of decisions I wouldn't know what to do.
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Entertaindom.com:
8/30/00
THE WEIGHTING GAME

THAR HE BLOWS! Leonardo DiCaprio has stunned the Italian public with his new image -- a stomach big enough to brand him a "Beach" whale. The "Titanic" star -- currently filming his new movie in Italy -- proved to onlookers that he may have sank his teeth into a few plates of pasta too many whilst enjoying sights such as the Colosseum in Rome. Leo, who is seeing Brazilian supermodel Gisele, is starring in the new Martin Scorsese movie "The Gangs Of New York," about Italian immigrants traveling to America and getting caught up in violent riots.

Full story
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Fox 411:
8/30/00
Leo’s Money Man Wasn’t Slandered

Very quietly, a New York judge has ruled that celebrity money manager Dana Giacchetto, currently in jail and awaiting sentencing for fraud, was not slandered by his former partners. Hon. Barry Cozier ruled on August 2 that Giacchetto had not been defamed by his partners in Chase Cassandra Entertainment Partners. Jeffrey Sachs, Samuel Holdsworth and Robert Egan can all breathe a sigh of relief. Giacchetto’s case against them was dismissed. On October 27, 1999, the threesome informed Giacchetto that per their written agreement, he was being made a "retired" partner and would receive only 25 percent of his one-third share, or 8 percent, of the company’s assets. Giacchetto filed the suit in December claiming that Sachs and Holdsworth had bad-mouthed him to his clients like Leonardo DiCaprio, Michael Ovitz and Cameron Diaz. Nearly all his celebrity clients were gone within weeks. Part of Judge Cozier’s reasoning for the dismissal was that Giacchetto was unable to get DiCaprio, specifically, or anyone else to say that Sachs and Holdsworth had come to them with allegations. In other Giacchetto news, the SoHo loft where most of the manager’s big blow-out parties took place is now back in the hands of its owners. Whoever lives there next will have some karma to deal with: this is where Leo lived, where Gwyneth partied with John Kennedy Jr. and where famous people danced on the roof — mostly to the chagrin of neighbors. Another chapter in New York decadence is written, and a book is closed. Almost.
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Kansas City Star:
8/30/00
New Sports flicks could get guys choked up

There are no official rules about men crying at movies, but most guys I know would agree with the following three-part theorem:
1. "Brian's Song:" OK to cry.
2. Every other movie ever made: Not OK to cry.
3. "Steel Magnolias:" Not even OK to admit you've seen this.
...It's amazing the control "Brian's Song" has on men. You can throw every tear-jerking, sob-wrenching, "Love Story," "Titanic," "Other Side of the Mountain" movie at us, and the closest thing to tears will be hysterical laughter, especially that part where that guy with the gun tries to kill Leonardo DiCaprio, something many guys think about anyway.

Full story
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National Enquirer:
8/30/00
DEMI'S SECRET LIFE

A new biography of "Striptease" star Demi Moore strips bare the intimate secrets of one of Hollywood's most powerful women...

...Stories of Demi's wild behavior -- including allegations of a fling with "Titanic" heartthrob Leonardo DiCaprio, dirty dancing with young studs in a Beverly Hills restaurant, gyrating braless atop a New York bar and "partying up a storm" with actor Johnny Depp -- fanned the flames of Willis' suspicions.

Full story
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Washington Post:
8/30/00
A House Embattled

The Gucci family and film director Martin Scorsese may be on the brink of a battle, Fashion Wire Daily reports. Scorsese announced plans last week to make a movie out of Gerald McKnight's 1987 book "Gucci: A House Divided." Guccio Gucci, great-grandson of the fashion dynasty's founder, promptly denounced the book, telling the Italian newspaper Il Giornale that it "is not the true story of my family" and is full of "exaggerations and inventions." Now Gucci has invited Scorsese to visit him and "talk to those of us who know the real story." Scorsese is currently on location in Rome, directing Leonardo DiCaprio in "Gangs of New York."
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Entertaindom - Hollywood Babble on:
8/29/00
"Beach blanket Leo"

Checkout this cute little flash clip about Leo and Gisele in "Beach blanket Leo"

Flash clip
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LA Times:
8/28/00
Gucci: A House Divided

Mobster movie boss Martin Scorsese ("Goodfellas" and "Casino") will direct a movie about the Gucci empire. The film, adapted from Gerald McKnight's 1987 book, "Gucci: A House Divided," will tell the juicy tale of the murder of Maurizio Gucci, grandson of the label's founder, Guccio Gucci. In 1998, Maurizio's wife, Patrizia Reggiani Martini, was sentenced in Italy to 29 years in prison for ordering the shooting of her husband. Production and cast info has not been released. Scorsese is currently in Rome filming "Gangs of New York" with Leonardo DiCaprio. Another book about the storied family, "The House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour and Greed," written by former Women's Wear Daily Milan bureau chief Sara Gay Forden, was just released by William Morrow.
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MSN:
8/28/00
Hot Girl

Gisele Bundchen, who at the age of twenty makes about $7,000 an hour and $5 million a year as the world's most sought-after fashion model, wants to see fireworks. She wants reds and whites and oranges to bloom and pulse in front of her eyes, and thunder-crack explosions to pound from her ears all the way down to the curling, clear-coated tips of her toenails. She wants to shiver with excitement. Only this will delight her. "I do love fireworks," she says breathlessly, "and I have missed them before, and I can't miss them again - oh, that would be horrible!" There is a problem, however. The problem is that she is in Brazil, her home country, working a fashion show in Sao Paulo, and the fireworks are tomorrow in Los Angeles, home of her beloved bungalow Number Eighty-five at the Chateau Marmont hotel, as well as of Leonardo DiCaprio, who at the moment is still her beau. Those fireworks are a long way off, and time is running short. But it's her last day on the job here, and maybe she can catch the last plane out. It leaves in eleven hours. "I've got to catch that flight," she says. "I am not losing those fires." So that's her plan, to get to L.A. in time for fireworks. But, really, like anyone else with a plan, she will just have to wait and see what happens.
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E! Online - Ted Casablanca:
8/28/00
Runway Runaway

Ms. Bündchen, the South American model with whom Leo has been so socially preoccupied, as of late, has been doing a little wandering herself. No, not down Bizarro Boulevard, like the broad above, but down Lover's Lane. Uh-huh. You read right. For once, it's not the dude who's dancin' the dirty, it's the dame. Gisèle has made advances toward a rising actor who's certainly not interested in getting a rise out of the good-lookin' vixen. And, really, don't shed any tears for poor Leo. The big-screen babe's never been all that emotional for Gisèle. My pals who know Leo well (and I mean well) tell me L.D. has only been hooked by one (female) famous-type in the past, and that would be another mannequin gal by the name of Kristen Zang. Of course, we won't get into that other celebrated creature Leo was taken with a few months back, now will we? Only because my lawyer (not my mother, for once), simply says it would be in the worst possible taste. Oh, brother. Too many crotchety cooks in my kitchen these days, I declare.
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USA Today:
8/28/00
VIPs

Is Barbra Streisand going to sing Happy Days Are Here Again at tonight's Gore fundraiser at the Shrine Auditorium? Maybe. During Gore's speech, she'll be rehearsing her three songs; Enrique Iglesias and Boys II Men also are on the program. Irmelin DiCaprio, mom of Leonardo DiCaprio, checked out the convention floor Tuesday night. A Los Angeles resident, she went first with New York friends to that delegation to seek a seat, but they got an unfriendly reception. In the California section, where Irmelin was still incognito, they got a warm Angeleno welcome. Full story
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Variety:
8/28/00
Diaz may flavor Crowe's Cruise starrer

Cameron Diaz is negotiating to join Tom Cruise and Penelope Cruz in "Vanilla Sky," which writer/director Cameron Crowe will start shooting this fall. Although the plot is a closely guarded secret, the Paramount Pictures project reteaming the "Jerry Maguire " tandem of Cruise and Crowe is a love story produced by Cruise and his CW Prods. partner Paula Wagner. Diaz would play a supporting role. Diaz is now in Rome, about to begin production in "Gangs of New York," the Martin Scorsese-directed drama in which she stars with Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis and Liam Neeson. She would likely squeeze in the Crowe film before taking the lead role in an untitled film to be directed by Roger Kumble ("Cruel Intentions"). Diaz will next be seen starring alongside Drew Barrymore, Lucy Liu and Bill Murray in "Charlie's Angels," which opens in November.
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Variety
8/27/00
Martin Scorsese Will Fashion Gucci Picture

Martin Scorsese is on board to direct ''Gucci: A House Divided,'' a sprawling epic tracking four generations of the Italian fashion dynasty. The project is based on a 1987 book of the same name by Gerald McKnight, and is being developed by Hollywood dealmaker Michael Ovitz' Artists Production Group. Scorsese, whose films such as ``GoodFellas'' and ``Raging Bull'' have immortalized the Italian-American experience, is currently preparing to shoot ``Gangs of New York'' in Rome starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
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Variety
8/24/00
Writer's cramp for JEFF NATHANSON

While most screenwriters are scribbling with a frenzy to complete projects before the expected production strike next year, perhaps none has been more successful recently than screenwriter Jeff Nathanson. After a writing stint on "Coyote Ugly," Nathanson was just brought in for a rewrite of the Sony comedy "Scared Guys," to be directed by Dean Parisot, which is among several films being considered for Jim Carrey's next slot. Nathanson wrote "Rush Hour 2," which goes into production this fall at New Line with Brett Ratner directing Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan. He also wrote the DreamWorks drama "Catch Me If You Can," which Leonardo DiCaprio will star in this March, possibly for director Gore Verbinski. And "Rodolfo," a script he wrote several years ago for Imagine, has been reinvigorated, with Fina Torres ("Woman on Top") ready to direct the story of a Mexican immigrant's journey from L.A. to Mexico after he finds America a lousy place to live.
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Premiere Magazine:
8/23/00
The Beach

Action; starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tilda Swinton; directed by Danny Boyle (Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment) Boyle's film of the best-selling novel-about a trio of twenty somethings who stumble upon a tropical Eden, only to witness their paradise turn into hell-got a bum rap during its theatrical release. Yes, the plotting is murky, and the final 30 minutes go completely off the rails. But watched with lowered expectations, the movie offers more than enough buff bodies, exciting shark scares, and clever video-game-like flourishes to hold your interest.
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Philadelphia Daily News
8/23/00
Gleeson signs on for pair

Brendan Gleeson ("The General") has been tapped to join the casts of Warner Bros./DreamWorks' "A.I" for director Steven Spielberg, and Miramax Films/IEG's "Gangs of New York" for director Martin Scorsese. Both are slated to shoot in the fall. "A.I.," which stars Jude Law and Haley Joel Osment, is set in the distant future when robots with artificial intelligence populate Earth. In "Gangs," opposite Leonardo DiCaprio and Daniel Day-Lewis, Gleeson will star as an Irish mercenary in a story of political corruption during the 1840s.
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Calgary Sun
8/21/00
Filling James Dean's shoes Stars fight for chance to play screen legend Hollywood is determined to film the life of James Dean. Leonardo DiCaprio was attached to the project for almost two years. Now both Brad Pitt and Matt Damon are rumoured to be fighting to play Hollywood's beloved rebel who lived fast, made three movies and died young. Both Pitt and Damon have said they're willing to negotiate an acting fee instead of asking for their usual $10 million US.
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LA Times
8/20/00
The actor will contribute to an exhibition of works by the late Polish emigre sculptor Stanislav Szukalski, who was a family friend

Leonardo DiCaprio , whose fame buoyed after the hit movie "Titanic," will shine his starlight on an obscure Los Angeles artist with an exhibition in Orange County. DiCaprio confirmed his intention to sponsor the art show, "Struggle: The Art of Stanislav Szukalski," which opens Nov. 12 at the Laguna Art Museum. DiCaprio will contribute up to $15,000 as part of a gift, museum officials said. The artist, who died in 1987, was a Polish sculptor whom DiCaprio knew when the actor was a boy. This is the first major retrospective of the artist's work since his death. He lived in Burbank until he died at age 93, virtually unrecognized in the United States. Szukalski "was a Polish mystic and a Promethean artist whose message, in a borrowed typeface from a dead language, would mean: 'Help Yourself to the Sacred Fire.' It is prankish that he is still so unknown," said DiCaprio and his father, George, in a written statement. The show is titled after one of Szukalski's best-regarded sculptures, "Struggle," a hand with fingers made to resemble an eagle and other bird-like creatures attacking one another. Made in 1917, the piece will be shown alongside more than 25 other bronze sculptures, drawings, scrapbook pages and sketchbooks. Fusing the avant-garde, futurism and Cubism styles into a single form, Szukalski's works verge on the fantastic and humanistic. Close friends nicknamed him "Stas." "Stas loved to sculpt hands; his ingenuity can be measured in the manifold way that he used them to express his ideas," the DiCaprios' statement reads. "The hands are the artist-creator passing ideas to use that glow and shimmer when compared to the dull, mordant concepts that have gained acceptance in the present day." The sculptor befriended the DiCaprios after he moved to Los Angeles in 1940. George DiCaprio was an underground comics artist and distributor who introduced Stas to his son, who is named after Leonardo da Vinci. "I introduced George to Stas," said Glenn Bray, who owns the artist's estate and is executor of Archives Szukalski, based in Los Angeles. Bray and Szukalski met with the DiCaprios at their home in 1983. "Leo was a little rug-rat running around. Stas, who was always fascinated by forms, commented on how long Leo's arms were for his body and that he had a striking face," Bray said. Described by those familiar with his work as a forgotten genius with an eccentric personality, Szukalski was honored by the Polish government in 1936 before most of his bronze work was destroyed by the Nazis, melted down for war efforts or stolen. The sculptor, who was broke when he moved to Los Angeles, was known in small artists circles. This is not the first time the Laguna Art Museum has collaborated with celebrity. In the 1940s, Hollywood photographer William Mortensen had a studio in Laguna Beach and his work was shown at the museum. In 1993, actor Nicolas Cage supported the Kustom Kulture exhibition. Horror writer Clive Barker also showcased his paintings in 1995. DiCaprio's contribution is an effort to bring life back to Szukalski's legacy. "Szukalski is one of those truly extraordinary artists who had been forgotten through history," said Tyler Stallings, museum curator of exhibitions. "He is an artist who did not follow the mainstream modernism," Stallings said. "It's really fascinating that he developed this amazing new vision."
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LEO SHORE LOOKS IN LOVE
8/19/00

IT SEEMS Leonardo DiCaprio never tires of sun, sea, sand - and beautiful women. Leo, 25, spent weeks filming in Thailand for his movie The Beach. When he is off-camera nothing beats a romantic stroll along the shore with girlfriend Giselle Bundchen. No wonder he looks happy - the 19-year-old Brazilian model was voted the world's sexiest woman in a magazine poll. Leo - linked in the past to Kate Moss and All Saints' Nicole Appleton - was soaking up the sun with Giselle near his home in Malibu, California. A beach-side home, naturally.
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ABOARD THE MARK TWAIN (AP)
8/19/00
Gore's 4-Day Boat Trip

Having raced east to catch the sunrise, Democrats Al Gore and Joseph Lieberman shoved off from the banks of the Mississippi River on Friday for a paddlewheel cruise meant to stir heartland excitement for their freshly launched campaign. "We're for you, we need you to help us," Gore appealed to voters in a voice faded and hoarse with fatigue. Gore and Lieberman, with their families, set off on their "Charting America's Course" cruise in La Crosse, Wis., barely 12 hours after claiming their party's nomination for the White House half a continent away. A white-suited Mark Twain impersonator, a barbershop-style a cappella singing group and a crowd that La Crosse police Lt. Michael Brohmer put at 5,000-plus saw the candidates off at Riverside Park. An unwieldy entourage of campaign aides and journalists also piled onto the 120-foot, triple-decked Mark Twain, complete with calliope. Boats of Secret Service agents sputtered along on either side of the Mark Twain, whose maximum speed according to pilot Ray Richmond was a mere eight miles-per-hour. Posing near the bow, Gore turned down photographers' suggestions he balance himself hands-free - as Leonardo DiCaprio's character did in "Titanic." "No. Wrong metaphor," Gore chuckled.
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USA Today
8/19/00
Actors raise party-hopping to art with election project

MOVIES Donovan Leitch -- musician, model, actor and son of the famed '60s folk rocker -- now can add director to his business card. Since Super Tuesday, he has been overseeing the making of Last Party 2000, a documentary on the presidential campaign, including coverage of the GOP and Democratic conventions Just like 1993's Last Party, which featured Robert Downey Jr., the movie is an unconventional look at the political process, complete with a fairly well-known on-camera host -- acclaimed character actor Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Talented Mr. Ripley, Magnolia). ''We wanted somebody on the verge of crossing over from respected actor to huge movie star,'' Leitch says. Hoffman takes his Everyman role seriously. ''His mantra is 'Why should I care?' '' Leitch, 32, has cared about politics ever since 1986 when he contributed to Jane Fonda's effort to get a California clean-water proposition passed. He hopes to go beyond what the TV networks cover, including such hot topics as police brutality and poverty. ''Clinton gave an amazing speech,'' Leitch says. ''But while that was happening, police were outside firing tear-gas canisters and clubbing kids.'' LP2K, which will come out after the inauguration, will include interviews with celebs such as Susan Sarandon, Rosie O'Donnell and Sean Penn, footage of Hoffman and Leonardo DiCaprio at a protest, and one-on-ones with George W. Bush and Al Gore, as well as a post-election chat with President Clinton. Besides the movie, to be released close to Inauguration Day, there will be a Web site (lastparty2000.com) and a soundtrack album (Leitch will cover his dad's Universal Soldier). Which party throws the best party? Says Leitch, ''Philadelphia was very nice, but the Democrats just have it together. The food selection is better. And Hollywood just knows how to put on a show.''
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ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
8/19/00
"Casting" call

Martin Scorsese is hoping that Liam Neeson has a speedy recovery from surgery after fracturing his pelvis in a motorcycle accident last month. Neeson is to play Leonardo DiCaprio's father in Scorsese's Gangs of New York. A production insider (another one!) says Neeson should be able to make the Italian shoot, even though he'll have spent six weeks in a cast (as opposed to the cast).
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Funny stuff
8/18/00

David Lettermen:

"Did you see Elian interviewed this morning by Leonardo DiCaprio? Elian signed a deal to become the Taco Bell chihuahua. Actually, Elian is going to be raised by David Crosby and a team of lesbians. Juan Gonzalez, though, wants to take his son to Cuba to live 'La Vida Commie.' Juan came all the way from Cuba. When I was a kid, my dad wouldn't even pick me up from band practice." "Hollywood pretty boy Leonardo DiCaprio will be the first dumb blond in the Oval Office the President hasn't hit on."

Jay Leno:

"It makes sense for Leonardo DiCaprio to interview Bill Clinton. Leo hit an iceberg. Bill married an iceberg. Leo's parents were hippies. Bill's girlfriends are too hippy. Leo dates supermodels. Bill dates supertankers. Leo has cool sideburns. Bill has rug burns. Leo's a heartthrob. On Bill you don't want to know what's throbbing. Leo's a great actor. Bill: 'I did not have sex with that woman.' Leo went down on the Titanic. The Titanic went down on Bill." Jon Stewart (The Daily Show) "Finally the offended ABC newscasters admitted Leonardo's interview with President Clinton was DiCaprio-tastically Fabilicious." Conan O'Brien "ABC had to use Leonardo DiCaprio to interview President Clinton on environmental issues . Sam Donaldson couldn't do it because he wears an endangered woodchuck on his head."
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Catch Me If You Can 8/18/00

Future Film Details Genre: Drama Estimated Release: TBA

Active Development: July 31, 2000

Project Based On OTHER

Production Companies Distributor Bungalow 78 Productions DreamWorks Pictures DreamWorks Distribution

Project Notes SOURCE: Original script by Jeff Nathanson. Based on the true story.

Project Summary: Frank Abagnale, imposter extraordinaire, lied his way through stints as an FBI agent, a lawyer, and a pilot, wrote some $2.5 million in bad checks, got caught, and broke out of jail. After five decades as a career criminal, he retired and became an FBI consultant on white collar criminals.

Attached (11) Name Description Status As Of MacDonald,Laurie (Executive Producer) Committed 08/02/00 Parkes,Walter F. (Executive Producer) Committed 08/02/00 Romano,Tony Producer Committed 08/02/00 Kemp,Barry Producer Committed 12/16/97 Shane,Michael Producer Committed 12/16/97 Berman,Larry Producer Committed 12/16/97 Moos-Hankin,Devorah Co-Producer Committed 08/02/00 Verbinski,Gore Director Attached 07/25/00 Fincher,David Director Interested 07/25/00 Nathanson,Jeff Writer Committed 12/16/97 DiCaprio,Leonardo Cast In Negotiation 07/31/00
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Salon
8/17/00
Little frankfurter lost

Leo sez: Don't believe everything you read ... even if it's true. Plus: It's a sad day under the big top; and Winslet won't play Bridget, v. bad!
You've read all those rumors about Leonardo DiCaprio and his wild, club-hopping buddies. Who hasn't? The late-night rampages, drug-crazed parties, adolescent pranks, poor treatment of women, and -- worst of all -- stingy tipping.
But while the actor is ready to admit that "the core" of what's written about him "might come from somewhat real events," he figures only about 10 percent of what you hear about him is true.
"I don't want to get into specifics, because it's just a waste of time," DiCaprio says in the upcoming issue of Rolling Stone, "but I will comment on one."
A rumor that causes him great pain, that is as starkly disturbing as the cartoons of DiCaprio's boyhood buddy R. Crumb and that I, for one, am rather sorry to see go:
The Pussy Posse.
The actor says he doesn't know who's responsible for coining the catty phrase to describe him and his frisky compadres, but it wasn't him. "I think it's the most degrading thing toward women I've ever heard in my life," he tells the magazine. "I've never used that term in my entire life."
Regrets? He's had a few. And they mostly have to do with the true rumors. "I wish I hadn't said 'Screw this ... I'm going to go out there and do whatever the hell I want to do, whenever the hell I want,'" DiCaprio says, before admitting that he "still [has] that attitude."
And it started young, when he and his Bohemian dad joined something called the Mud Men. "These guys smeared their bodies with mud and put rags over their genitals and made these mud masks and ran around," he says. Once -- mud-smeared, loinclothed -- he broke away from the group and jumped out at a poor, unsuspecting woman trying to buy a hot dog.
"She lost her s***," he chortles. "It was dope."
Well, it's all dope until someone loses a hot dog.
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London Telegraph
8/18/00
KEN SUNSHINE Public relations consultant.

"He would kid me mercilessly about my celebrity clients and the problems they were having with the paparazzi. He would call me up and do a killer imitation of Barbra Streisand or Leonardo DiCaprio . As Barbra, he would yell at me because the press wasn't treating her fairly. He'd kvetch about something and then start singing People. If it was Leo, he'd say, 'They're hounding me! They won't leave me alone! Why can't I just be a regular guy going to a nightclub?' And then he'd launch into a routine from Titanic, like 'I'm the king of the world!' He had a mischievous streak."
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GOP celebrity pushes cause
8/18/00

By Jeannie Williams

LOS ANGELES -- ''It was the first time for me at a Democratic convention,'' said Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has hit both political gatherings this summer while campaigning for his favorite cause, kids who need a boost to realize their opportunities. The star was among Kennedy family members listening to speeches Tuesday by Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg and Sen. Edward Kennedy, after which he and wife Maria Shriver hosted a party at their Los Angeles home. What sounded like a family party became the senator's thank-you event. Republican Schwarzenegger found himself hosting 600 Democrats. ''Maria introduced Teddy and spoke eloquently, and Teddy thanked me and Maria and all the people who had helped him,'' he said. ''We had a great mariachi band and disco music. Maria did an outstanding job of organizing.'' Wolfgang Puck of Spago fame catered for guests including Lauren Bacall, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Donna Mills, William Baldwin, Tom Arnold, Olympic champ Carl Lewis, Tom Brokaw, with Jean Kennedy Smith, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Bobby Shriver. Wednesday, Schwarzenegger had his own big event, hosting seven big-city mayors at a Los Angeles center for his 14-city Inner-City Games summer program, where kids work with computers, gymnastics and boxing. Most important, they are told ''they are winners,'' he said. (Details are on www.schwarzenegger.com or www.inner-citygames.org.) He gave the kids medals and said later, ''My hope is that some (convention) delegates would take two hours out of their busy schedules to see the Los Angeles where the gangs go on and families are in poverty. Instead of blaming one another like the parties do, they should work together. America is capable of solving every problem.'' Although he grew up poor in Austria, ''I came to America with the fire in my eyes to use this land of opportunity. Because I had mentors, I was told all the time I was a winner. That's why I'm equipping these kids to use the land to their advantage.'' Out and up: Melissa Etheridge, who sang at Wednesday's Christopher Reeve Foundation fundraiser, is still on a high from her weekend chat with President Clinton. ''He said some really sweet things,'' she told me. At Saturday's fundraiser for Hillary Rodham Clinton, Etheridge told the crowd she and Bill Clinton are ''linked historically'' because at his first inaugural she decided to come out as a lesbian. She told him, ''Thank you for inviting (gays) into the house.'' At dinner later, ''I said, 'Well, thank you for what you've done.' He said, 'I just wish I could have done more.' And that meant a lot to me, 'cause there wasn't anybody around listening to us, just me and him.'' Etheridge also sang at Monday's ''The Grammys Rock the Dems'' at the Recording Academy. Prez Michael Greene welcomed guests; arts supporter Chevy Chase was emcee. Julie Cypher, Etheridge's companion, was outside doing interviews for VH1. VIPs: Is Barbra Streisand going to sing Happy Days Are Here Again at tonight's Gore fundraiser at the Shrine Auditorium? Maybe. During Gore's speech, she'll be rehearsing her three songs; Enrique Iglesias and Boys II Men also are on the program. . . . Irmelin DiCaprio, mom of Leonardo DiCaprio , checked out the convention floor Tuesday night. A Los Angeles resident, she went first with New York friends to that delegation to seek a seat, but they got an unfriendly reception. In the California section, where Irmelin was still incognito, they got a warm Angeleno welcome.
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USA Today:
8/18/00
Happy days are here again

Is Barbra Streisand going to sing Happy Days Are Here Again at tonight's Gore fundraiser at the Shrine Auditorium? Maybe. During Gore's speech, she'll be rehearsing her three songs; Enrique Iglesias and Boys II Men also are on the program. Irmelin DiCaprio, mom of Leonardo DiCaprio , checked out the convention floor Tuesday night. A Los Angeles resident, she went first with New York friends to that delegation to seek a seat, but they got an unfriendly reception. In the California section, where Irmelin was still incognito, they got a warm Angeleno welcome.
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New York Post:
8/17/00
Alarm bells sound

The alarm bells should go off when a promising young star begins to destroy that promise by appearing in one embarassingly bad flop after another, or when he or she makes a truly catastrophic choice - like Barry Pepper. So hot after playing a scripture-toting sniper in "Saving Private Ryan," he is now said to be colder than a corpse, thanks to the disaster that was John Travolta's sci-fi epic, "Battlefield Earth." Cuba Gooding Jr. had Hollywood at his feet after his terrific Oscar-winning performance as the "show me the money!" football player in "Jerry Maguire." Then he went and made "Instinct," "What Dreams May Come" and "Chill Factor," and found himself increasingly relegated to Tinseltown's minor league. There's a long tradition of smart, experienced actors who pick the wrong movies again and again - just look at Nathan Lane, Kim Basinger or Richard Gere. If they're big enough and lucky enough, their careers recover. But when bad movies happen to less established stars, they can be crippling. Then it's time to get a new agent, or these days, a new manager, someone who can see the potholes ahead and is strong enough to steer the client around them. Winona Ryder hasn't been in anything truly dire since the debacle of "The Crucible" in 1996, but this talented actress seems to have been advised to play a pixie until she's a little old lady. "Girl, Interrupted" should have been her big showboating role but co-star Angelina Jolie got all the glory. As it doesn't look like the saccharin "Autumn in New York" will drive up her asking price, a lot will ride on the success of the supernatural horror flick "Lost Souls," due to come out this fall. Sometimes a massive success can overshadow a star's subsequent career, making stumbles seem more catastrophic than they really are. For instance, "Titanic" hangs like a curse over both Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. To their credit, both young actors disliked the idea of a lifetime spent in remakes and rehashes of the movie. (Both, after all, had received praise in offbeat, independent projects before becoming the world's best-known young lovers.) But Winslet chose to star in two self-indulgently arty failures - "Hideous Kinky" and the awful "Holy Smoke!" - perhaps drawn by their exotic locations and hippie-ish sensibility. And Leo - as millions who have never met him like to call him - did something very similar with "The Beach." Now, it's no secret that many actors are incapable of telling the difference between good and bad scripts - that's why they pay agents (and to an increasing degree, managers) up to 15 percent of their paycheck. But that's a high price if you had the clout to get top roles but ended up starring in lousy films that never found an audience.
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Variety
8/17/00
Gangs of New York casting news

Henry Thomas has signed to join Leonardo DiCaprio , Cameron Diaz and Daniel Day-Lewis in ``The Gangs of New York,'' with director Martin Scorsese poised to begin production in Rome in September. Thomas will play Johnny Sirocco, the best friend of Amsterdam Vallon (DiCaprio), the young man who tries to unite Gotham's ethnic gangs. He'll next be seen starring with Matt Damon in the Billy Bob Thornton-directed ``All the Pretty Horses,'' the co-production between Columbia and Miramax, which will be released by the latter. He has also starred in three independent films: the Sergei Bodrov-directed ``The Quickie,'' the Zev Berman-directed ``Briar Patch'' and the Gustavo Lipsztein-directed ``Dead in the Water.''
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NY Post:
8/15/00
BIG APPLE FAT CATS FILL DEMOCRAT COFFERS

New York fat cats will kick in half of the more than $20 million in "soft-money" contributions Democrats expect to receive in Los Angeles this week, party insiders say. The Democratic insiders also predict a record amount of money will be raised - for Vice President Al Gore, U.S. Senate candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton, and for the Democratic National Committee - during five continuous days of gold-plated fund-raising events at some of Los Angeles' finest locations. While dozens of wealthy New Yorkers are expected to be on hand for the convention, a handful of longtime fund-raisers were identified by party leaders as among those likely to play key roles. The "A-list" contributors include Miramax co-chairman Harvey Weinstein, international financier Alan Patricoff, Red Apple supermarket magnate John Catsimatidis, Wall Street moguls Bruce Ratner and Stan Shuman and Denise Rich, ex-wife of fugitive financier Marc Rich, party leaders say. "It's really unbelievable," said Manhattan public-relations consultant Ken Sunshine, a long-time Democratic activist and fund-raiser. "I probably have at least 50 invitations for convention events seeking money within a five-day period. "And all of the invitations are for things I could consider going to, they're not at all frivolous," continued Sunshine, who counts Barbra Streisand, who'll be raising money for Clinton this week on her own, and Leonardo DiCaprio among his clients. Added a prominent Democratic fund-raiser, "From my point of view, Los Angeles is all about ‘soft money' and who can raise the most of it. "In Manhattan and in southern California, you have some of the richest and most liberal political contributors in the world, and they've always been more than willing to support the Democratic Party."
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NY Post:
8/15/00
WILD, WILD WESTIN

DESPITE enduring a week from hell, it doesn't seem as if ABC News President David Westin is going anywhere anytime soon. Westin was depicted last week in a New Yorker profile as vain, petty, secretive and socially inept. I don't know about you, but I'd be pretty embarrassed if I was depicted that way in a magazine article... ...The New Yorker piece recounted just about everything that's gone wrong at ABC News (and some of the things that didn't) since Westin became president of the division in 1997. Some of the revelations - especially those about the deal ABC struck to secure an interview last year with Monica Lewinsky and the dust-up over Leonardo DiCaprio's face-to-face sitdown with President Clinton for a prime-time ABC News special - had some industry observers (OK, it was mostly people at the other networks) assuming Westin's days were numbered.
Full story
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The Telegraph:
8/14/00
Perils will not deter hordes on 'New Hippy Trails'

FOR hundreds of thousands of young Britons, backpacking across the globe has become part of the student's social culture. Either on a gap year, before attending university, or taking a year out after university, it has become de rigueur for young men and women to fork out £870 for a RTW (round-the-world ticket). Despite appalling incidents, such as the murder of Kirsty Jones, more and more each year are setting off for the New Hippy Trails of South-East Asia, Australia and the United States. Usit Campus, the backpacking specialist travel company, estimates that it arranges more than 100,000 RTW itineraries for gap-year students alone. They sell another 100,000 to graduates travelling after university. Their other 200,000 customers tend to be in their early thirties at most. Louise Clark, assistant marketing manager at Usit Campus, said: "This murder was such a one-off incident. It sounds dreadful, but it could happen anywhere. But I do not believe it will deter young people. There has been an incredible increase in the number of young people taking a year off to travel, and I can't see it stopping. The world has become a smaller place. It's so accessible. So much is written about travelling, fares are so reasonable, so they have very good reasons to go." Australia is the most popular destination for young Brits. Usit Campus says that most go via the United States and come back via South-East Asia. Miss Clark said: "There has been an incredible increase in the popularity of Thailand since The Beach." The novel by Alex Garland, and its film, starring Leonardo DiCaprio , has made Thailand one of the "must-dos". It is cheap and attracts huge tribes of young Britons on budget-travel trails, clutching Lonely Planet or Rough Guide handbooks. The Beach's narrator, Richard, goes to Thailand to find paradise in a remote island commune, but finds disaster instead. The book, translated into 15 languages, now has cult status. It has inspired many, not least Judith Payne, 21, a dental nurse from Castleford, Yorkshire, who packed in her job and hit the Thailand trail last December. She ended up walking for two weeks barefoot through jungle to escape from a prison sentence after cannabis - which she knew nothing about and which belonged to a fellow traveller sharing her room - was found in her Bangkok hotel. But backpacking RTW is now as commonplace as inter-railing around Europe was in the 1970s and 80s. It has become a brand in itself, marketed through specialist travel companies, guidebooks, films and websites - but mostly through the tales of those returning having had the adventures of a lifetime.
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The Telegraph:
8/14/00
Sharks infest Hollywood's talent pool

The talk of the town is of a new war between the top talent agents. John Hiscock reports from Los Angeles SUE MENGERS, the Hollywood super-agent of the Sixties and Seventies, had a favourite line she would use to persuade a rival agent's star client to join her instead. "Get rid of that f-ing agent of yours," she would tell her target. And, more often than not, the star did as he or she was told and signed with Mengers. Since the earliest days of Hollywood, agents have been the power-wielders behind the studios' thrones. They have thrived as wheeler-dealers who guide clients' careers, negotiate salaries and, nowadays, arrange those all-important "back-end deals" - percentages of a film's gross profits. Until a few years ago, the most powerful agency was the one founded 102 years ago by William Morris. It built its name by representing such legends as Charlie Chaplin, Mae West and Al Jolson. It went on to claim Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Sammy Davis Jr and Frank Sinatra. In the late Seventies and early Eighties it ruled supreme, with clients including Tom Hanks, Kevin Costner, Julia Roberts and Barbra Streisand. Even its mail room was a breeding ground for talent, spawning such industry luminaries as entertainment moguls David Geffen, Barry Diller and Michael Ovitz...

...A growing number of A-list stars are opting not to have agents at all. Kevin Costner and Sharon Stone use their lawyers to close deals, while Leonardo DiCaprio and Jackie Chan are represented solely by their managers.
Full story
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Entertaindom:
8/14/00
Leonardo DiCaprio Poll
Leonardo DiCaprio followed one huge hit ("Titanic") with one huge bomb ("The Beach").

What should his next film project be?

"Coyote Handsome"

"Pokey Man 2000"

"Leopatra"

"Leo-thal Weapon 6"

Forget films, join the cast of the next "Survivor"

Better yet, join "Big Brother" for Leo 24/7

Give Leo a break. Everyone makes a bomb sometime.

Cast your vote here
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NY Post:
8/14/00
Sob story

CELEBRITY bilker Dana Giacchetto wants to tell his side of the story - to Barbara Walters. Apparently Giacchetto feels he's gotten short shrift from the famous friends, like Leo DiCaprio , Cameron Diaz and Ed Burns, he leeched of millions in investment money, and wants to vent, according to the Hollywood Reporter. "I've never seen rats leave the ship like this before," says Giacchetto's laywer Ronald Fischetti. "These are people he made millions for."
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SF Gate:
8/14/00
Next Generation's Activists

The Bay Area's new crop of political activists includes many teenagers whose parents are veterans of the '60s civil rights and anti-Vietnam War struggles...

...Stella doesn't look terribly terroristic -- at least, not since she gave up crayons. At 19, she's the portrait of urban teenhood in baggy jeans and tousled hair. Her bedroom boasts three boom boxes and shelves of dance and hip-hop CDs. The walls host everything from childhood drawings to photos of Albert Einstein and Leonardo DiCaprio . But she's also a seasoned, Earth- wise activist who plans to attend the demonstrations outside the Democratic National Convention. ``My main concern has always been the environment, though now I'm starting to see the larger picture,'' she says. ``There are so many things to be concerned about. Right now, my attention has gone into sustainable agriculture. For me, it encompasses everything -- pollution, labor exploitation, racism.''
Full story
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LA Times:
8/14/00
'Beach' No Washout

In her July 27 Home Video column, Susan King repeats the myth that "The Beach," in her words, "sank at the box office." More than $140 million worldwide is hardly chump change. Even the domestic gross at close to $40 million is a respectable amount, considering the subject matter of the film wasn't high-concept. It beat by a large margin "The Insider," "Girl Interrupted" and "Being John Malkovich," films not bandied about in similar "flop" terms. It's almost done in a mean-spirited way, perhaps because the hype of Leonardo DiCaprio's first produced film since the release of "Titanic" did not perform to overblown expectations. This is true. But it didn't tank. It has made a profit, and his popularity worldwide brought more money into the studio that produced it than a generally considered hit, such as "The Talented Mr. Ripley," which grossed millions less worldwide. Though I mean no disrespect to the talents of Christian Bale or Ewan McGregor, imagine how much more "American Psycho" ($15 million domestic) would have grossed had DiCaprio been in it (as earlier announced) or how much less "The Beach" would have grossed if McGregor had played the role (as was the original plan).

MICHAEL RUSSNOW West Hollywood
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Yahoo News:
8/11/00
DiCaprio "Undress for Celebrity Auction"

Britney Spears, Faith Hill and Blink-182 are among those donating their britches to a Yahoo auction. More than sixty celebs will shed and sign their blue jeans for "Undress for MS Yahoo! Celebrity Jean Auction." Proceeds will benefit the National Multiple Sclerosis Society's Southern California Chapter. For those interested in acquiring a set of celebrity jeans, the auction kicks off on August 28 at Yahoo Auctions
Other celebs offering their pants include Leonardo DiCaprio , James Cameron, Jamie Lee Curtis, Arnold Schwartzenegger, Oliver Stone, Bruce Willis, Melanie Griffith, Antonio Bandaras
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The Telegraph:
8/11/00
Magnet for world's backpackers

THAILAND is the most popular budget destination for backpackers and is visited by five million travellers a year. Their numbers have risen since the publication of The Beach, Alex Garland's best-selling novel about sexual intrigue and murder among backpackers. A Hollywood film of the book, starring Leonardo DiCaprio , was released this year. Despite Bangkok's seedy reputation and thriving sex industry, Thailand is said to come as a welcome respite to female travellers used to being harassed by strangers in some countries. The Rough Guide to women's travel says: "Although lone travellers are the focus of attention, and subject to curious questioning, the atmosphere is generally tolerant and relaxed, and the interest rarely feels threatening." Chiang Mai is Thailand's second largest city, with a population of 1.5 million. It has retained some of the character of a village, despite rapid tourism growth. Situated about 450 miles north of Bangkok, the city is the gateway to the north of the country and a good base for treks into the mountains. Backpackers are generally welcomed in Thailand, often promoted as the "Land of Smiles", as long as they do not insult the nation's royal family or Buddhist religion.
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LA Times:
8/11/00
VIDEO NEWS

Last week's Top 5 VHS rentals:
1. "The Whole Nine Yards"
2. "The Beach" A tedious and unsatisfying film about a young American vagabond (Leonardo DiCaprio) who journeys to a hidden Thai paradise after being given a secret map. DiCaprio's character is naive, self-involved and pretentious, and the island's community of dropouts and slackers seems slightly weird and even sinister almost immediately. (Turan, Feb. 11) R for violence, some strong sexuality, language and drug content.
3. "The Ninth Gate"
4. "The Green Mile"
5. "The Hurricane"

* Last week's Top 5 DVD rentals:
1. "The Beach"
2. "The Whole Nine Yards"
3. "The Ninth Gate"
4. "The Hurricane"
5. "Bicentennial Man"

Last week's Top 5 DVD sellers
1. "The Beach"
2. "The Green Mile"
3. "Independence Day"
4. "The Whole Nine Yards"
5. "Jaws Collector's Edition"
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The Mirror:
8/11/00
BACKPACK STRANGLER

Hunt for friend as Brit graduate is raped and murdered A BRITISH woman was found raped and murdered in a backpacker's hostel in Thailand yesterday. The partially-clothed body of Kirsty Sara Jones, 24, was discovered lying face down on her bed with a T-shirt knotted around her neck. Detectives were last night hunting a 28-year-old man thought to be British or Australian who had befriended her at the Aree guesthouse in Chiang Mai, a city 400 miles north of Bangkok. Guests heard sounds of a scuffle and a scream coming from her room during the night, but thought it was no more than a lovers' tiff and did not intervene. Panthitha Chaisuwan, girlfriend of the Aree manager, said: "At about midnight to 1am I heard shouts coming from Miss Kirsty's room, number four. A woman was shouting, 'Get out, get out', followed by 'Help me, help me'. "I went to investigate but a tourist came out of a neighbouring room and said 'Don't worry. It's just a lovers' quarrel'. "I went back to my room, heard a door closing and heard no more sound and thought the matter over. When I went to investigate in the morning I found the room padlocked from the outside, which was very odd." But it was at least another 15 hours before the guesthouse owner forced the lock and found Kirsty dead. The Liverpool University graduate booked into the pounds 7-a-night hostel a few days ago after trekking in the hills. Police Detective Lieutenant Sanit Pinta said: "We wish to interview a guest who was staying here for some time and who had overstayed his visa." The suspect had brown eyes, curly hair and fairly dark complexion. He arrived in Thailand on June 14. Police have a photograph of the man and are taking it around the city's bars to try to identify him. Det Lieut Pinta added: "He disappeared this morning, came back just before her body was discovered, and left very quickly. "We know he had befriended Kirsty and they had been out together and that he had also been in her room. "We know she had been out on the town with him and on another occasion together with another woman." Kirsty, from Brecon, South Wales, was working in Chiang Mai to fund her solo, round-the-world trip. The city, known as The Rose of the North, is surrounded by mountains, has 300 temples and attracts thousands of young Westerners. Briton Sarah Wiggett, 25, was with Kirsty just a few hours before she was killed. The two became friends after meeting last week. Sarah, who lives near Huntingdon, Cambs, said: "We were out on the town last night. I'm at a different guesthouse so we parted at the end of the night. "I knew nothing about her death until tonight. It's awful. I don't know if I'm going to stay out here after this." A Liverpool University spokeswoman said Kirsty graduated last summer with a 2:1 BA combined honours degree from the Faculty of Social and Environmental Studies. She added: "We're greatly shocked and saddened to hear of Kirsty's death and wish to express our deepest sympathy to her family and friends." The Leonardo DiCaprio film The Beach helped make Thailand the top tourist destination in South East Asia. But danger lurks even away from the notorious red light areas of Bangkok. At least three Britons have been killed and 22 seriously injured this year in shootings, stabbings and accidents.
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USA Today:
8/10/00
Brown: A resonant voice talks on

Tina Brown's word to describe the past year?
''Tumultuous.'' Her Talk magazine celebrates its first anniversary with the September issue, on newsstands in New York and Los Angeles today, everywhere Tuesday. As the 46-year-old publishing mogul moves into new downtown Manhattan offices and is about to take her first real vacation since launching, she reflects on the bumpy ride. She went into Talk with a reputation for knowing how to be ahead of the curve. She shocked readers with a nude, pregnant Demi Moore on the cover of Vanity Fair, and she caused a stir by adding photos to the venerable New Yorker. Add her flair for throwing A-list celeb parties, and she became the Queen of Buzz. Now, as Talk's chairwoman and editor in chief, she acknowledges that the magazine has yet to hit just right. It hasn't created the must-read buzz that for years was her trademark. Yes, she had the first interview with Leonardo DiCaprio since Titanic, but then everyone had interviews with him...

...She had talked to DiCaprio's publicist often through the years, laying the groundwork for an interview request. When DiCaprio came through New York, she asked to meet with him. She went to his hotel and talked about an interview. Then she had to get DiCaprio to agree to the writer, Aaron Latham. He did. And ''Leo Rises: His First Interview Since the Ship Sank'' ran in February. When she's pleased with something, she's likely to send ''ecstatic memos'' around. ''I try to make sure people know I'm thrilled, because they work very, very hard and know the pressure is on them to produce.'' And when she's not? ''I stalk around, looking kind of thunderous.'' She says she's ''not somebody who hides her emotions. I don't weep easily. I've never cried on the job. I cry at movies, but not at the job. I get very, very persistent in the face of negativity.

Full story
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FOX News:
8/10/00
Does Hollywood Want To Recast Gore's running mate

Hollywood may not be rolling out the red carpet with enthusiasm for next week's Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles. The party's new platform doesn't exactly thrill Hollywood's movie industry. It criticizes the entertainment industry for on-screen violence in many movies. And that's not sitting too well with industry insiders. Armed with a petition last year, Joe Lieberman made a dramatic "Appeal to Hollywood," urging executives — including Walt Disney Co. Chairman Michael Eisner, Time Warner CEO Gerald Levin and News Corp. Ltd. CEO Rupert Murdoch — to change the "toxic culture of violence and vulgarity surrounding our children." Hollywood donates millions to the presidential ticket, and Lieberman's "Appeal to Hollywood" has many in Tinsel Town asking if the Connecticut senator was attacking Hollywood or simply pointing out his concerns. Lieberman claimed he was not advocating censorship or government regulation but restraint. "It is possible to draw minimum lines of decency, without sacrificing artistic integrity," he said. Among Lieberman's critics at the time were Jack Valenti, president of the Motion Picture Association of America. Valenti talked to Fox News Channel's Linda Vester on the afternoon edition of Fox News Live. Vester pointed out that the two boys responsible for the shooting tragedy at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., said they were influenced by at least one violent movie that starred Leonardo DiCaprio . Vester asked if he agrees with Lieberman, that violent movies can influence young people. "It's possible," Valenti said. "But the young Columbine boys were mentally disturbed. Others watch the same movies and listen to the same music, the only difference (is) these two young boys were crazy." The Motion Picture Association of America has been giving advance warnings to parents for 32 years through their rating system. "We have been exercising responsibility long before anyone in Congress thought about this," Valenti said. Valenti believes the warning is for parents, not politicians. "I find some movies totally unwholesome, but parents can make informed judgments. The Democratic platform of accepting more responsibility is just nonsense and I made it clear to the officials of the Democratic National Convention how I felt." While there was widespread praise for the Connecticut Democrat's integrity, several industry professionals said they had mixed feelings about having someone so openly critical of "Hollywood excesses" in the White House. But Gore will certainly have his own "star-filled support," including Steven Spielberg and Barbra Streisand. Model Christie Brinkley is a delegate, Jimmy Smits is set to deliver a convention speech and Warren Beatty will address the Shadow Convention. "Hollywood is a very conformist place," political consultant David Horowitz said. "It has been a one party town for 30 years and I think it will stay that way in this election." Joel Kotkin, contributing editor of the Los Angeles Times, agrees. "I don't think they are going to be as enthusiastic about Gore/Lieberman as they were for Clinton. But Hollywood is a Jewish dominated industry and even Jews who may be annoyed by what Lieberman says are going to be proud to have a Jewish person running for VP"
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USA Today:
8/10/00
Ad agency tells site: Ah-nold must go-go

By Internet standards, the video of a Japanese television ad for DirecTV featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger, posted on the Gaijin a Go-Go Cafe site, is rather tame. But the three guys from Victoria, British Columbia, who posted the ad may have to say ''hasta la vista, baby'' to it tomorrow. That's the date lawyers for DirecTV's Japanese ad agency cited in a cease-and-desist letter demanding the video's removal. The Gaijin (Japanese for foreigner) Cafe, a project of multimedia firm Zero One Design, has for three years posted copies of Japanese ads featuring actors and celebs from this side of the Pacific. The three guys started the site after going to Japan and seeing all the ''insanely cheesy commercials with Western stars.'' Now others send them contributions on videotape. Stars in videos on the site include Leonardo DiCaprio , Antonio Banderas, Sean Connery, Demi Moore and Meg Ryan. Until now, they've posted the videos with impunity. ''There's no profit,'' says David Alexander, one of the trio. ''It's just purely entertainment.'' For now, they'll continue to post the offending commercial with a note telling surfers they shouldn't make copies of it -- but also giving directions on how to do just that. He says they haven't decided exactly what they'll do Thursday. ''We're going to wait and see.''
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CNN:
8/10/00
Trendy hotel settles hiring lawsuit

A chic Sunset Strip hotel will pay a combined $1 million to nine mostly minority bellmen who were fired and replaced by "cool-looking" white workers. The settlement, announced Wednesday, stems from a federal hiring discrimination suit filed in January against the Mondrian hotel, home to Oscar parties and a hip spot for celebrities including Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Moss. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission claimed that hotel owner Ian Schrager had hired casting agents to find attractive employees with "cool individual-looking style." Evidence included a memo handwritten by Schrager saying certain hotel restaurant employees were "too ethnic." Schrager said later he meant some employees had too many tattoos. Of the bellmen who sued, two were Hispanic, five were Asians, one was black and one was white. Each worker will receive about $120,000 over three years, according to the settlement, reached Thursday. Schrager -- who founded New York's Studio 54 during the heyday of disco and owns other stylish hotels including the Delano in Miami Beach -- bought the bankrupt Mondrian in 1995. He reopened it the following year after a renovation that included Skybar, owned by model Cindy Crawford's husband, Rande Gerber. The nine bellmen were fired just days before the reopening, according to court documents. David Weidlich, the West Hollywood hotel's general manager, said the hotel was pleased to settle the case. "We feel badly that these former employees were lost in the chaos of reopening and that their discharge may not have been handled as sensitively as it could have been," Weidlich said in a statement.
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NY Daily News:
8/9/00
Hurley and Cleese'

Elizabeth Hurley knows a thing or two about a pretty face. Not only does she have one, but she's also about to front a television show that deals with beautiful faces. Hurley has teamed with funnyman John Cleese to do a series for the BBC called "The Human Face." I understand she's being paid $500,000 for six shows, the first of which will concentrate on the faces of Catherine Deneuve and Leonardo DiCaprio . The hope is to get the show off the ground in England and then sell it here, as happened with "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire." But without the money, the tension — and Regis.
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Excite News:
8/9/00
`Last Party 2000' Explores Political Process Under Direction of Donovan Leitch; Phillip Seymour Hoffman to Host Feature Documentary That Follows Artist Through Political Machine

OFFLINE Entertainment Group and Camouflage, in association with Palisades Pictures and Stanley Bucthal, have teamed up to produce a full-length, nonpartisan, interactive feature documentary about this year's presidential campaign and the many issues surrounding it, titled "The Last Party 2000" (LP2K). In the spirit of the acclaimed 1992 documentary "The Last Party," LP2K will take a thought-provoking look at the political machine as seen through the eyes of host Phillip Seymour Hoffman ("Magnolia," "The Talented Mr. Ripley," "True West"). Directed by Donovan Leitch ("Gas, Food, Lodging," "Glory," "I Shot Andy Warhol"), the project exploits both traditional and new media, and defines the true model of convergence by marrying both on- and offline partnerships including an online channel, live Webcast, television broadcast, soundtrack and live event culminating in a theatrical release on Inauguration Day. "The majority of the American voting public chooses not to vote. We want to reach out and inspire these people to participate in the whole political process and give them a voice," said Rebecca Chaiklin, who is producing the project along with Stephanie Sharis. "Being involved with a project of this magnitude and political scope is incredibly important to me. We hope to utilize this project to educate as many Americans as possible, and tackle the issues the candidates won't address," stated Leitch. Much like "The Last Party," which was directed by Marc Levin and followed Robert Downey Jr. during the 1992 election, LP2K will delve into issues ranging from following Hoffman at radical civil disobedience protests to the floor of the Republican and Democratic conventions, from covering both the political climate on the street to behind-the-scenes at the political main stage. Candidates, delegates, activists, celebrities and the public at large will all participate in this story, which is destined to spark a cultural revolution as it unfolds in the months to come. Hoffman's journey beyond the hyper-sanitized network coverage of the elections will also be found on frequently updated Webcasts, allowing viewers to address the issues in a timely manner. The nearly completed film will air the night before the election, thus taking enthusiasts on one last joyride. On election night the LP2K crew will broadcast live with minute-by-minute coverage of events leading up to the casting of the last electoral vote. Upon completion, LP2K is slated for release to theaters nationwide. "As producers, we were attracted to this project because of Phillip Seymour Hoffman's unique and self-effacing attitude toward the political process. He is taking such a creative hands-on approach to learning about politics, which we know will translate into an experience reflective of everyman's journey," stated Vincent Roberti on behalf of the producing team. Additional elements of the film include a trip with Hoffman and fellow thespian Leonardo DiCaprio , where they will learn the latest techniques in peaceful protesting at a specialized training camp. Hoffman has also been cleared to trail both Al Gore and Governor George W. Bush for one day, in addition to spending a morning at the White House with President Bill Clinton. Candid and emotionally charged interviews with celebrities including Marilyn Manson, Rosie Perez, Donald Trump, Pat Buchanan, Rosie O'Donnell, Moby, Chris Rock, Senator John Kerry, Susan Sarandon, Jerry Seinfeld, Beck and Woody Harrelson and others will also be featured in LP2K. Under the direction of legendary music producer Nile Rodgers, popular artists will cover political tunes from the past as part of the soundtrack. VH1 is set to do a one-hour special on the making of the soundtrack to air before the election. OFFLINE Entertainment Group is a New York-based entertainment and finance boutique producing feature films, documentaries, television programs and Internet programming. OFFLINE has garnered numerous accolades for a variety of projects including "The Last Party" and its feature film debut "Slam," which won the Camera d'Or at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival and Grand Jury Prize at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival in 1998. Rounding out the impressive roster of projects is feature documentary "Twilight: Los Angeles," a six-hour television mini-series on the musical history of the Blues. Palisades Pictures Entertainment Group, a joint venture between Palisades Pictures and VARII Entertainment, is a fully integrated independent entertainment company. Drawing from the assembled talent and expertise of its three chairmen, Palisades is building a diverse and profitable portfolio of entertainment properties. Providing valuable services such as capital investment, talent representation, marketing and distribution, Palisades targets worthy projects that fall outside the radar of the major and mini studios. Past projects include the development, production, domestic distribution and ancillary rights sales for two feature films, Sundance entry "Ten Benny" and the critically acclaimed "Restaurant." Palisades has currently optioned several scripts for development and secured first look and representation deals with emerging talent. Camouflage is a film and new media company that integrates film production with interactive design and digital video production to create dynamic digital narratives. Comprising a team of leading filmmakers, art directors, producers and media technicians, Camouflage produces innovative films and offers its clients turnkey solutions to create refreshing user experiences in the digital domain, making a mark in the converging world of television, film and the Web.
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Official DiCaprio Site:
8/8/00
DICAPRIO SUPPORTS ACTORS IN SAG STRIKE

Over the past few months members of the Screen Actors Guild have been striking against the advertising industry. The dispute between the two sides stems from advertisers wanting to cut actor’s residuals from network television while actors are seeking residuals from cable. It’s a fact that the actor’s commercial contract has not been updated since 1988, while during that same time cable revenues have risen more than 2,000%. Further, advertisers want to decrease the actor’s rates to an average of 38 dollars a day, which is less than what someone on un-employment would earn. The reality is that actors receive less than 1.4% of the total expenditure on television advertising, a business that generates billions of dollars in profits annually. Fortunately some big time names, such as Gwyneth Paltrow, have gone public in support of the strike and recently, Leonardo DiCaprio went on record by saying, "I support my union and my fellow actors in the strike against the advertising industry." Hopefully there will be resolve in the not too distant future, as the ad industry needs skilled actors and at the same time, the actors need to make a living. As of now, there are no scheduled meetings between the two sides.
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E! Online:
8/8/00
Arnold Terminating Website

Apparently Arnold Schwarzenegger doesn't want Webheads to know he's a sell out. Everyone's favorite Terminator, who usually refrains from doing commercial endorsements in the United States, is looking to snuff out a Website that shows a goofy Japanese ad in which he hawks DirecTV. The ad, which is being streamed at Zero One Design's Gaijin a Go Go, features Ah-nuld donning several disguises, from a flag-waving politician, to a news reporter, to a football coach, to a dorky mustachioed, curly-wig-wearing TV viewer, all to promote the export of American entertainment to Japan. The 15-second spot ends with the actor himself actually getting boxed up and shipped away. Now, attorneys for DirecTV and the Hollywood megastar have sent Zero One Design a cease-and-desist letter demanding the company take down the ad, accusing the Website of infringing on the actor's intellectual property rights and violating the satellite company's copyright. The lawyers gave Zero One Design until August 10 to remove the video stream or face possible legal action. For their part, the people behind Gaijin a Go Go argue the site doesn't charge to show the Schwarzenegger spot or any of several other Japanese ads, for which A-list Hollywood stars get buckets of cash (they can make millions for a 30-second ad) to hype products in commercials they'd would never be caught dead in Stateside. "When we started Zero One Design...three years ago, we wanted something to have fun with, to cut our teeth on, and to hopefully generate interest in our firm," says cofounder Jonathan Lathigee. "Gaijin a Go Go was the result." "These stars are doing insanely cheesy commercials in Japan and making big bucks over there," site cofounder David Alexander adds. "We thought it would be fun to put it on the site and let anyone look at them." In addition to Schwarzenegger's DirecTV spot, Gaijin a Go Go shows Leonardo DiCaprio pitching credit cards, Meg Ryan selling beauty cream and Harrison Ford hawking beer. Other celebs on the site include Keanu Reeves (whisky), Demi Moore (an energy supplement) and Sean Connery (Mazda cars). The Zero One folks also deny they were purposefully violating copyright. They claim they're not trying to cash in on Schwarzenegger's commercial exploits (they say they haven't made any money off the site), but simply think the spots deserve to be seen by American fans. Nonetheless, they plan to comply with the cease-and-desist letter and take down the Schwarzenegger spot.
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Zap2it.com:
8/8/00
ABC News Targeted by New Yorker

ABC News better brace itself this week. David Westin, ABC News' president, has been targeted by the New Yorker, in the most serious media attack during his controversial three-years in the position. The magazine has uncovered some potentially embarrassing information regarding two heavily criticized interviews done by ABC News: the Leonardo DiCaprio interview with President Clinton and the Barbara Walters interview with Monica Lewinsky. According to the report, a memo leaked from ABC News that, when published in the media, made its decision to hire DiCaprio look even more crass, was leaked by Westin himself. The note was initially leaked to the press to defend ABC News' hiring of DiCaprio . When the note backfired Westin told reporters that he was angry about the so-called unauthorized leak. The story also says that ABC News landed their exclusive interview with Monica Lewinsky thanks to a $25,000 payment made to Washington attorney Theodore Olson. Breaking the network's policy of not paying for interviews, Olson was reportedly paid to acquire a waiver of immunity agreement from Kenneth Starr so Lewinsky could do the primetime interview with Walters. A spokeswoman for ABC News told Variety the network paid the lawyer "for his specialized knowledge and expertise in immunity agreements" and "for work directly connected to obtaining the necessary legal permission" for the interview, thus not violating the network's policy. As for the DiCaprio memo, the spokeswoman said the incident was so thoroughly covered in the press last March that "it's now an old story, and a big yawn." In its attack against Westin, the New Yorker also brought up the decision to kill a "20/20" report about faulty screening practices at theme parks owned by ABC's parent company, Walt Disney, that led to the hiring of convicted child molesters. The New Yorker also recalled what many media critics called the mishandling of Diane Sawyer's interview with Elian Gonzalez, specifically the decision to bury Gonzalez's statement that he didn't want his father to take him back to Cuba.
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Daily Telegraph:
8/7/00
Children bored by the Bard'

A DIRECTOR of the Globe Theatre has given a warning that pupils are being "turned-off" by "dull" Shakespeare lessons because the Government is failing to invest in the teaching of England's greatest playwright. Patrick Spottiswoode, the Globe's director of education, said that despite the success of films such as Romeo and Juliet, starring Leonardo DiCaprio , and Kenneth Branagh's Much Ado About Nothing, which had made Shakespeare "cool and sexy", some schools were failing to capitalise on the Bard's popularity. He said that the reason was that their teachers did not teach the plays in a lively and imaginative way. Courses to help them do so have been provided by the Globe Theatre for three years, but, because of a lack of Government funding, attendance by British teachers has been "disappointing".

Story source
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LA Times:
8/7/00
When You Wish Upon a Politician

A star brings to the theater or political party people who wouldn't normally be there. A Julia Roberts or a Tom Cruise helps attract an audience and gives a film the desired "buzz." More important, add a star like Leonardo DiCaprio to a film such as "Titanic," and you guarantee that his audience of teenage girl fans will go see a film they might have overlooked, thus broadening the movie's appeal.

Full story
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Salon.com:
8/7/00
Robin Hood complex, anyone?

"Ever since I was a little boy I thought I was put on this planet to do good things." -- Dana Giacchetto, former high-flying investment advisor to the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio , Cameron Diaz, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, who has admitted to defrauding his clients out of $10 million.
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NY Post:
8/7/00
ARNOLD: stop, or else

CONAN in a commercial? Arnold Schwarzenegger joined the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio , Meg Ryan, Demi Moore and Sean Connery who pocketed big bucks appearing in ads in Japan - usually never seen on these shores. But when Web company Zero One Design posted a cheesy spot for DirecTV starring Arnold in a wig and a fake mustache, lawyers for the satellite TV company sent a cease-and-desist letter. DirecTV said the site infringes on its trademark and Schwarzenegger's intellectual property rights, according to CNETnews.com.
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Variety:
8/7/00
New revelations keeping heat on ABC News

ABC News figures to be vibrating unpleasantly this week over the most serious media attack yet on the troubled three-year reign of its president, David Westin. New Yorker scribe Jane Mayer has uncovered new information regarding two celebrated ABC News interviews: - Westin himself actually leaked the memo that was meant to defend ABC News over its hiring of Leonardo DiCaprio to interview President Clinton about environmental matters. When the memo backfired and made ABC News' DiCaprio decision look even more crass, Westin put the word out that he was angry over the so-called unauthorized leak. - The key connection that led to the celebrated March 3, 1999, exclusive Barbara Walters interview of Monica Lewinsky was the Washington attorney Theodore Olson. Mayer says ABC News paid Olson $25,000 for interceding with Kenneth Starr to get a waiver of the immunity agreement Lewinsky has signed so she could do the primetime Walters interview. About Olson, a spokeswoman for ABC News said the network paid the lawyer "for his specialized knowledge and expertise in immunity agreements" and "for work directly connected to obtaining the necessary legal permission" for the interview with Lewinsky. Thus the payment didn't violate the network's policy of not paying for interviews with newsmakers. The spokeswoman says the DiCaprio incident was so thoroughly hashed over in the press last March that "it's now an old story, and a big yawn." The New Yorker piece recapitulates some of the incidents that have brought unwelcome attention to ABC News, including: - The killing of a "20/20" report by Brian Ross about faulty screening procedures at theme parks owned by ABC's parent company, Walt Disney, that let convicted child molesters get hired; - The mishandling of Diane Sawyer's interview with Elian Gonzalez, in which his comment that he didn't want his father to take him back to Cuba was almost buried in the report; and - The close friendship of Westin and Diane Sawyer, which has created tension in the contract renegotiations between ABC News and Barbara Walters.
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Cnet.com:
8/7/00
Leaked ad draws legal fire

If you've ever wanted to see Arnold Schwarzenegger crated and shipped out of the country, now is your chance. The Hollywood megastar is not generally known for endorsements, but he gamely plays the role of a boxed entertainment export in a commercial in Japan. He also dons a fake mustache and a wig to portray a reporter and "funky guy" in the production, which was not meant for release in the United States. But it has slipped onto the Web. Hollywood superstars including Leonardo DiCaprio , Meg Ryan, Demi Moore and Sean Connery can now be seen pitching products in Japanese commercials on Gaijin a Go Go Cafe. Produced by Canadian Web design firm Zero One Design, the parody site has streaming videos of TV commercials featuring film stars hawking Mazdas, Suntory Whiskey and beauty cream.

Full story
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MSNBC:
8/7/00
‘Coyote Ugly’ howls like a fold-out

Piper Perabo, the little star of “Coyote Ugly,” is like Pia Zadora crossed with a Barbie. We are asked to believe that she can tame a saloon full of rowdy, screaming drunks by shaking her little bod and lip-synching to Blondie’s “One Way or Another.”...

...Violet needs the boosting support of three people: Dad, who gives permission for the 47-mile move; Kevin (Adam Garcia), an Aussie drool muffin, and Lil (Maria Bello), the”old pro” (pushing 27?) who runs the Coyote Ugly Bar and gives Violet her first break...

...While soon uninhibited enough to be a coyote starlet, Violet still has stage fright as a singer. Kevin keeps meeting her cutely, which steadies her nerves. He makes delicate love to her in front of cardboard cut-outs of Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, John F. Kennedy, Fabio, Patrick Swayze, Bill Clinton, Leonardo DiCaprio , even Abraham Lincoln (alas, the film was finished before Dick Cheney could be added).

Full story
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Excite News:
8/7/00
Stars flood Harvard Square

The producers of Harvard Man, distributed by Lion's Gate Films, were squinting up through the gray mist at the faade of Au Bon Pain Wednesday, hoping to create some perfect exteriors for their self-proclaimed teen/crime/thriller... ...The writer and director, Toback, previously created the provocative films Two Guys and a Girl and Black and White. The production of Harvard Man has been in the works since 1995, as Toback works independently on a small budget. Uberhunk Leonardo DiCaprio was originally the picked as the basketball star, but after playing the tortured character in Basketball Diaries, DiCaprio's agents considered a second dose of drug-addicted basketball playing to be somewhat excessive. The Harvard Man, besides falling for his young, attractive and tenured professor, goes the way of DiCaprio's character and becomes involved with drugs--and then spirals into crime and a connection with the Mafia. Though it's unlikely that many "real" Harvard men network with Mafia members, Toback attempts to recreate a modern day version of his days at Harvard--somewhat dramatized, of course.

Full story
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Philadelphia Daily News:
8/7/00
DiCaprio is going on a crime spree

Leonardo DiCaprio is going on a crime spree. DiCaprio has found his next film: DreamWorks' "Catch Me If You Can." The actor agreed last week to star in the true-life story of the youngest man ever to make the FBI's 10 Most-Wanted List. The actor will segue into "Catch Me" in March 2001, after he completes his turn as a gangster in Martin Scorsese's "Gangs of New York" for Miramax Films and Initial Entertainment Group. Gore Verbinski is the front-runner to direct "Catch Me," but no deal has yet been negotiated. Other directors - including David Fincher - are said to still be circling. Following a meeting Friday afternoon, sources said there are no foreseen dealbreakers for DiCaprio's agreement, which is in final negotiations. Verbinski and DiCaprio met on the project just over a week ago, and the actor has been in serious discussions ever since. DreamWorks' executives are very high on Verbinski, who directed "Mouse Hunt" and is directing Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt in "The Mexican" for them. It's not clear who will produce the project. "Catch Me," scripted by Jeff Nathanson ("Rush Hour"), is based on the memoirs of Frank Abagnale Jr., who from 1964 to 1966 successfully impersonated an airline pilot, a doctor, an assistant attorney general and a history professor. He also cashed more than $6 million in fraudulent checks in 26 foreign countries. After he was captured by the FBI, Abagnale went on to become a consultant to the bureau. After the director deal closes, the filmmakers will next turn their attention to fill the lead role of the FBI agent, who is key in the cat-and-mouse story. DiCaprio next begins production on "Gangs of New York" in August in Rome. "Gangs," set during the era of the Tammany Hall political corruption in the 1840s, traces the history of Irish crime gangs in New York. DiCaprio stars as gangster Amsterdam Vallon, a man who organized gangs in an effort to control the city's street wars between Italian and Irish immigrants. Artisan hopes 'Thor' thunders on to TV The god of thunder is driving Artisan Entertainment into the television business. Artisan is developing a live-action series based on the classic 1960s Marvel Comics title "Thor," an outgrowth of the wide-ranging character licensing pact Artisan struck with Marvel in May. Artisan is now shopping for a show-runner to take the reins of its first TV project. "Thor" is being designed as a series for first-run syndication or cable. An Artisan spokesman declined to elaborate Friday on the project
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Time Magazine:
8/4/00
Red Bull

PRODUCT A highly caffeinated energy drink that doubles as a mixer HOW IT STARTED Popular with athletes in Austria, its country of origin, before it hit clubs in the U.S. JUDGMENT CALL Cool, we think. After a few mixers, it's hard to tell The Austrian beverage Red Bull stands out in an oversaturated market by leading a double life: energy drink by day, mixer by night. Red Bull, which retails for $1.99 a can, sponsors such varied sporting events as street luge and Formula One racing, but its core constituency is fast becoming clubgoers, not athletes. The sugary yellowish brew, first introduced in California in 1997 and now available in more than 20 states, has hit the club circuit at such hip spots as Sky Bar in Los Angeles and Twilo in New York City. Leonardo DiCaprio served Red Bull at his millennium bash, and, according to the company, Demi Moore orders cases of the drink that promises to "give you wings." Among the active ingredients in the concoction are the amino acid taurine, vitamin B12, sugar and a jolt of caffeine (each 250-ml can has about as much caffeine as a shot of espresso). For added punch, party regulars prefer their Red Bull with vodka or champagne. "It gives you a high, especially when mixed with other substances," says Lauren, 27, a New York City art dealer. "It lets you party all night long." Best of all, it's legal
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Fox 411:
8/4/00
Giacchetto's Lawyer: Ovitz Abandoned Us

Here's a little more from Wednesday's stunning court proceeding in which former financial manager to the stars Dana Giacchetto pled guilty and admitted he defrauded his clients. Giacchetto's lawyer, Ronald P. Fischetti, maybe the best dressed attorney in New York, was responding to my observation that Hollywood has attacked their former friend with much venom. "We came up against this when we wrote people for help with bail," Fischetti said. "Courteney Cox, Leonardo DiCaprio , all of them. Michael Ovitz. I mean, Dana literally was with him on his boat and negotiated his Disney deal for him. Now I can't get him on the phone." In open court, while sobbing, Giacchetto gave judge Robert Patterson a lesson in Greek mythology. Without being asked to, he explained what the name Cassandra meant. He also made passing reference to his own Catholicism and insisted that "as a child, I was an artist." A friend of Giacchetto's, upon hearing that, said with some amusement, "Now he's lying right to the judge's face." Giacchetto's fiancée, Allegra Brascia, fielded some questions from reporters after court with Fischetti. Slight and blonde, Brascia has been steadfast in her court appearances. Her companions seem to be members of her own family, with no Giacchettos in sight. Or celebrities. When Giacchetto spotted her in court before his speech to the judge he smiled at Brascia with a big open grin. She looked noticeably grim and serious, however. She and Fischetti told us that Giacchetto had not decided definitely to go ahead with the plea bargain until Wednesday morning. And that Giacchetto does plan to repay the people whose money he took. "There's an art collection worth millions," he said.
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Variety:
8/4/00
Web site on overseas commercials

It isn't a secret that major Hollywood stars appear in lucrative foreign commercials not meant for release in the United States. But a new Web site called Gaijin a Go Go Cafe, launched by Canadian design firm Zero One Design, now enables Netizens to view the product pitches shot by Leonardo DiCaprio , Arnold Schwarzenegger, Meg Ryan, Keanu Reeves, Sean Connery and Demi Moore for Japanese television hawking everything from Mazdas to beauty cream. However, attorneys aren't happy. Satellite broadcaster DirecTV and commercial producer Dentsu this week sent Zero One Design a cease-and-desist letter asking it to remove a spot featuring Schwarzenegger, claiming the site infringes DirecTV's trademark and Schwarzenegger's intellectual property rights. Zero One Designs has until next Thursday to remove the video. Zero One's founders said they are not trying to violate any copyrighted materials and instead are just trying to show what cannot be seen in the U.S.
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Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
8/4/00
Munch goes to the Artist's Cafe

Munch "What does eggplant have to do with Paul McCartney?" Is this a trick question? asks Munch while sitting down to dinner with Friend of Munch at the Artist's Cafe in Squirrel Hill. "No, look at the menu," says FOM. "Tell me how grilled eggplant topped with marinara, spinach and cheese is related to the cute Beatle. And tell me how sliced ham and chicken breast are related to Monet. I went to his house in Giverny once and I found no trace of either." FOM, being hungrier than Munch, had already picked up the menu and discovered that all the cafe's sandwiches are named after famous artists. Munch, however, was still figuring out the pencil drawings of Elton John hanging on the wall and had not yet surveyed the fare. "Not only that," continues FOM, in a barrage of observations, "They serve the 'Monet' on a Kaiser roll! A Kaiser roll for a Frenchman?!? I can only carry this European Union thing so far." Hmmm, muses Munch. Seems the folks behind this small, new cafe on Murray Avenue don't know their world history. But do they know their food? "Well, I'm getting a 'John Coltrane,' " FOM says. And Munch opts for le Monet. Turns out the simple sandwiches were pleasant and hearty, though not all that memorable, save for the names. They would have made more of an impression if they'd been better salted and spiced, but they were generally enjoyable due to their little twists. For example, the Monet -- a grilled chicken breast with sliced ham, provolone and tomato -- included two sprightly sprigs of asparagus inside the bun. Unfortunately, though, there was no bacon ranch dressing as the menu promised. The John Coltrane was a grilled cheese sandwich made up of three -- count 'em, three! -- cheeses: American, provolone and Swiss. FOM, though, would have appreciated more layers of cheese. The Leonardo (da Vinci or DiCaprio?) is made up of grilled veggies in garlic olive oil. The Picasso is sliced ham and turkey on sun-dried tomato bread. The Phyllis Hyman is a salad dressed with lemon-garlic oregano dressing. The Angela Davis is grilled tomatoes with basil and mozzarella. Munch and friend tried the Angela Davis and were pleased with the soft, grilled tomatoes. But there was no trace of basil -- again, the menu was not adhered to. Munch also tried the soup of the day, which was split pea, and declared it tasty and thin, with not too much salt but not enough ham. The prices, along with the sandwich names, are in keeping with the theme of the place. That is, they are within the range of the starving artist. Sandwiches range from $3 for the John Coltrane to $7 for the Monet. Salads are in the $6.50 range. Oh, and as for those Elton John drawings, they were among the many pieces of original artwork hanging on the walls of the cafe. All the pieces are available for purchase, and the menu notes that the exhibition space is free. There are also some magazines on a corner table available for reading while munchin'. The decor of the cafe is simple -- somewhere between coffeehouse and restaurant. It isn't the Cafe des Artistes, but the Artist's Cafe is a welcome enclave for any artist -- or pseudo-artist such as Munch, whose minimal artistic talent is expressed solely in the culinary wonders created in the home kitchen. (Yes, loyal readers, Munch sometimes eats at home.)
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E! Online - Ted Casablanca:
8/3/00
Tedbits

Leonardo DiCaprio is having a "big party" at his Hollywood home this weekend. So says Leo himself, who's actually looking rather on the svelte side these days, contrary to weighty reports to the opposite. More contrary info on one of the few heartthrobs in this town who can actually emote on camera is that Gisele What'shername has not been seen in Leo's company as often as she has in the past. At least, that's what those who work with L.D. tell me. And they're all chain-smoking, pierced and tatooed types, so you know they know their kinky stuff.
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Fox 411:
8/3/00
Celebrity Money Manager Accepts Plea

Dana Giacchetto has finally wised up. Openly sobbing in federal court Wednesday, the former celebrity money manager pled guilty to fraud. He has accepted an offer from the U.S. Attorney's office to spend the next three to four years in jail, rather than stand trial. Giacchetto, as reported in this column, had previously turned down an offer from the U.S. Attorney's office to serve four years time in prison in lieu of a trial. This new plea bargain officially calls for a sentence of 47 to 56 months. But in federal court prisoners can get a 15 percent reduction off the lower number — meaning that Giacchetto will likely spend three years and three months in jail. While fighting back tears, Giacchetto told Judge Ronald Patterson, "I always intended that everyone would get paid back." Giacchetto admitted to the judge that he knew he was violating the law when he misappropriated funds from client accounts. "I did it knowingly and willfully," he said. Giacchetto, who had his girlfriend but no family members or celebrity friends present at the hearing, said, "This is a terrible day in my life. Ever since I was a little boy I thought I was on this planet to do good things." The result is that Giacchetto's many former celebrity clients such as Leonardo DiCaprio , Matt Damon and super agent Michael Ovitz will not be in the embarrassing position of having to testify in open court. Their financial and personal secrets are safe with Giacchetto silenced.

Full story
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Variety:
8/3/00
Money manager Giacchetto pleads guilty

Dana Giacchetto, disgraced money manager to the stars, pleaded guilty Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan to fraud charges. Under the plea agreement, he acknowledged misappropriating between $5 million and $10 million from clients of his Cassandra Fund. He faces a sentence of between 46 and 57 months in federal prison. Before pleading guilty, Giacchetto, 37, dressed in prison blues, gave a long, tearful apology to a courtroom packed with reporters. He told the court he was an artist and that he had wanted to help other artists because he believed they were so often taken advantage of. He apologized to his clients, saying things had just gotten crazy and that he also had intended to pay them back. At one point he said: "This is the most difficult day of my life. I've been kept in a box for the past several months." He also noted that it was perhaps appropriate that he had named his Cassandra Fund after the Greek prophetess of doom. Giacchetto's attorney, Ronald Fischetti, described his client as "absolutely distraught." Fischetti told Daily Variety: "What Dana wants to do is work with the SEC and the bankruptcy court to try to locate the true victims and see that they get paid." Given Cassandra's record-keeping, that apparently will be no easy task even with Giacchetto's cooperation. While acknowledging there were many victims, Fischetti said many of his clients, such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz, did not lose money.

Full story
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This is London:
8/3/00
Why she-woman wants a he-man

It's not easy being a man. They have ever such trouble with relatively simple things, like passing GCSEs and watching football without shouting rude things at one another, and then we have to load them up with impossible demands. One minute we want a New Man, complete with a fondness for childcare and a running familiarity with core household tasks like, erm, doing everything. Then, all of a sudden, we wanted a Lad, a charming rogueish, kickabouting thing, who liked a bit of eight-pints-and-a-curry and wasn't ashamed to say so. Sorry, was ashamed to say so, but went out and did it anyway, charming us enormously when he came home looking all drunk and sheepish. When this became irksome and infantile, we wanted Just Gay Enough (JGE) - not, we repeat, not just a replay of the New Man. For this, you take a pinch of Laddery, three tablespoons of kitchen prowess, a fluid ounce of interest in dog-racing, half-bake it, and hey presto, it's Jamie Oliver! He's not the only JGE on the role-model market, but I can't be bothered to list the others. Why? Because they're boring, This is capricious womankind we're talking about here and Just Gay Enough has run his (short-lived) course. The new breed of desirable, must-have male is He-Man...

...The rebirth of the He-Man, if we're to be honest, started with Gladiator. Still, discovering a Russell Crowe is a bit like discovering a long word. Once you've seen him, you suddenly see other hims everywhere. And you want to use them all the time. But let's get some ground rules sorted. Certain role models have to be cast off here and now, and they include: Jude Law, Leonardo DiCaprio , Brad Pitt (the younger), James Spader, Colin Firth and Hugh Grant. When Russell recently stayed at a London hotel, according to one gossip column, staff were stealing his pants on the way to the laundry. As if anyone would want to nick Hugh Grant's dirty undies - nobody does if you're Just Gay Enough.

Full Story
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NY Post:
8/3/00
WEEPING DANA PLEADS GUILTY

Financial fraudster to the stars Dana Giacchetto sobbed and sniffled as he pleaded guilty yesterday to stealing millions of dollars from his young Hollywood clients. "What I built became so big and so overwhelming that I lost control," Giacchetto cried in Manhattan federal court. "This is a terrible day in my life." He admitted to plundering between $5 million and $10 million from the accounts of his clients, a long list of Who's Who in Tinseltown that included Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Courteney Cox and the rock band Phish. The bad-boy investment banker promised to make good by helping the feds sort through his cooked books and muddled bank accounts. "I pray and hope that we will make reparations, and no one will lose any money," Giacchetto said, his voice breaking. "I mean that from my heart. "As I stand here I know one thing - I've committed a crime," he told judge Robert Patterson. "I'd like to apologize to everyone that I've caused harm to." Giacchetto insisted he always intended to pay the money back. Prosecutors say Giacchetto, 37, looted his clients to keep his company, Cassandra, liquid - and to pay for his lavish lifestyle on the Hollywood party circuit. Among other things, he used the stars' money to pay for helicopter rides, mammoth credit-card bills and sumptuous hotel stays as he rubbed elbows with everyone from clients like Leonardo DiCaprio to Cameron Diaz. Giacchetto built Cassandra into a $100 million empire with about 300 clients before his elaborate shell game finally fell apart at the end of last year. He faces up to five years in prison when sentenced in November. Giacchetto has been stuck in a federal jail since April, when authorities say he tried to flee the country with a fake passport and a bag full of money and airline tickets. "I've been in a box for six months, it's very difficult," said the disgraced money manager as he stood before the judge in prison blues. His lawyer, Ronald Fischetti, said they will now begin going through all of Giacchetto's assets to help pay back his angry A-list creditors. He owns millions of dollars in artwork, but expects to sell it all off, Fischetti said. "Dana will be left penniless," said Fischetti, who also predicted Giacchetto will someday re-emerge as a business success. Fischetti said his client has always wanted to help both poor and successful artists achieve financial security, and even created a charity to provide musicians with health care.
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Philadelphia Daily News:
8/3/00
Celebrity guru admits fraud

A financial adviser to young celebrities pleaded guilty to fraud charges yesterday, tearfully admitting that he ripped off some of his clients after the business he built "became so big, so overwhelming, that I lost control." "This is a terrible day in my life," Dana Giacchetto, 37, said, sobbing while admitting his crime in a plea deal with U.S. prosecutors in federal court in Manhattan. The deal called for Giacchetto to be sentenced Nov. 3 to a prison term ranging between three years and 10 months and four years and nine months for losing between $5 million and $10 million of his clients' money. The blond-haired college graduate in the last decade had built his investment business, the Cassandra Group, into a large enough name that he found himself a regular on the Hollywood party circuit. The boyish looking Giacchetto mingled with young celebrities, including Matt Damon, Cameron Diaz and singer Alanis Morrisette. All became clients, as did Leonardo DiCaprio , Ben Stiller and Courteney Cox Arquette. Giacchetto made no mention of specific clients as he pleaded guilty to fraud under the federal Investment Advisers Act, but he did say he would "pray and hope we will make reparations and no one will lose money." "I'd like to apologize to everyone that I've caused harm to," he said. Sniffling and wiping his eyes with a tissue, Giacchetto told U.S. District Judge Robert P. Patterson that he started his business because he dreamt of creating an investment bank to empower the artist community. He said he was an artist as a child and thought artists were routinely exploited. He said he thought he had reached his goal when "what I built became so big, so overwhelming, that I lost control." The judge asked him if he knew he was violating the law. "Yes I did," he said. "I did it knowingly and willfully. I always intended that everyone would be paid back and taken care of." His $1 million bail was withdrawn earlier this year after prosecutors said he was caught at Newark International Airport in New Jersey with an expired passport, a bag of cash and $44,000 in airline tickets
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Metropolis Magazine:
8/2/00
Market for old team emblems

The thriving market for old team emblems is driven by nostalgia for a mythical sports past...

...Blue Marlin, on the other hand, goes for the style-conscious. The list of celebrities spotted wearing its caps— Leonardo DiCaprio , Beck, Cindy Crawford, Steve Buscemi, Bruce Springsteen—helped secure its place in the fashion firmament and push sales to around $5 million a year. The company was among the first to bring back the soft, prewar–style cap. To its first offerings from the Negro Leagues, it has since added the logos of various minor-league teams, Latin American teams, Hawaiian plantation teams, and even prison teams. Blue Marlin’s caps don’t claim to be full-fledged reproductions. They have adjustable backs and the name of the team, along with the year, embroidered on the back. They’re made of cotton. Original caps were made of wool, as are those worn by today’s Major League players. Companies pay for rights to most of the images. The Kansas City Monarch’s emblem, for instance, is now owned by the Negro Leagues Base-ball Museum, in Kansas City, Missouri. Royalties run between three and 10 percent.
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LA Times:
8/2/00
In Los Feliz, Life Little Less Sweet

After 54 years, it's ciao to Sarno Pastry Shop in Los Feliz. On Sunday, the family-owned bakery, where generations of Italian Americans came to buy cannoli and cream puffs, panetonne and Marsala wine cakes, locked its doors...

...Through it all, Sarno's the bakery carried on while nearby businesses came and went. The Onyx, a hip espresso house, morphed recently into the very French Figaro Boulangerie. The onetime site of DeMarco's restaurant, later a bank, is now to be--what else?--a Starbucks. A store calling itself Archaic Idiot opened with an eclectic mix of vintage clothing and memorabilia. But, clients assumed, there would always be Sarno's. Then, about a month ago, a sign went up in the window. "Thank you, Los Angeles, for 54 years . . . we are closing our doors for retirement." The Sarno family wished everyone "Buona fortuna!" Some longtime customers were in tears, says Ghomi. "They'd tell us their whole life story, about their wedding cake, about when their children used to come in and my grandmother [Frances, now 94] used to give them cookies." Through the years, customers included Frank Sinatra, John Travolta, Danny DeVito and Leonardo DiCaprio.
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The Village Voice: We love Jackie Collins for the flap copy alone. The short-attention-span crowd heads right to the plot breakdown and, with her latest book, Lethal Seduction, learns about characters like "Rosarita Falcon—an ambitious and sexy would-be New York socialite with a yen to murder her husband" and "Joel Blaine—the playboy son of a billionaire with an unquenchable taste for public sex." We know these people. We are these people. Even better is Collins's actual prose, which crackles with light, beach-ready scandal and suspense, with lips glossed and legs akimbo. Only she could come up with a character named Varoomba, so called "because of the amazing contortions she was able to perform with her outrageous bosom." (And I thought it was a once-trendy restaurant on Seventh Avenue South.) There are even celebrity drop-ins, like Leonardo DiCaprio, about whom it is observed, "He was shorter than she'd expected, and much too young. But all the same, he was a major star." And can perform amazing contortions with his outrageous bosom.

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LA Times:
8/2/00
2 Division Chiefs to Share Top Job at Fox

Fox division heads Tom Rothman and Jim Gianopulos will share the chairmanship of Fox Filmed Entertainment, succeeding ousted studio chief Bill Mechanic... ...Gianopulos, who has been president of 20th Century Fox International since 1994, helping build the division into a powerhouse with annual revenue north of $1 billion, said he believes the studio's strategy to retain worldwide rights to movies as often as possible gives Fox an advantage in the market and with filmmakers. "Saying we're a buyer not a seller of international rights helps, and it's a strategy that will continue," he said. In some cases, Fox movies have more than doubled their domestic grosses overseas. "The Beach," with megawatt star Leonard DiCaprio, barely managed $40 million domestically, but took in $105 million internationally. Gianopulos previously served as Fox's president of international pay television and before joining the studio was a senior executive at Carolco Pictures, Paramount Pictures and RCA/Columbia Pictures International Video.

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Sydney Morning Herald:
8/2/00
Catching Leo

Hollywood heart-throb Leonardo DiCaprio is in final negotiations to star in DreamWorks' Catch Me if You Can, a tale about a teenage con man scheduled for production next year. The movie tells the story of Frank Abagnale Jr, who impersonated so many people and passed off so many bad cheques in the mid-sixties that he became the only teenager ever placed on the FBI's 10 most wanted list. By the time he was apprehended in 1966 while still only 17, Abagnale had passed himself off as a Pan Am co-pilot, a chief resident pediatrician at a Georgia hospital, Louisiana's assistant attorney general and a professor of American history at a French university. He had also written $US6 million ($10.27 million) in bad cheques in all 50 states and in 26 foreign countries - all before his 18th birthday.
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Premiere Magazne
8/1/00
"Rosebud" And 99 Other Movie Lines We Can't Live Without

"I'm the king of the world!" Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio) in Titanic (1997)

Leonardo DiCaprio's joyful exclamation from the bow of the Titanic early in the film was destined to become a classic. It was the subject of parody-notably on the sitcom Spin City-and later became infamous when director and screenwriter James Cameron shouted the line after collecting his Best Director Oscar. Cameron takes full credit for the line but admits that it was a last-minute creation, since there was no dialogue for the scene in the original screenplay. On the day of shooting, DiCaprio and actor Danny Nucci were perched on the mock-up of the ship, with Cameron sweeping by in a crane basket. "We were trying to figure out how to give some sense of the kind of cinematic epiphany that I was going for," Cameron says. They tried several different approaches, including having DiCaprio pretend he was an airplane, but they abandoned that idea because they had already planned to do it later in the film, with DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. Finally Cameron had an idea. "I yelled across to him, 'Leo, say, 'I'm the king of the world!' and he goes, 'What!?!' And I said, 'Just say, 'I'm the king of the world!' and he's like, 'Okay, what the hell?' I said, 'Don't worry; it will probably be stupid, and we probably won't use it.' And it turned out to be exactly the right thing.
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E! Online:
8/1/00
We Are the World Wide Web

If you thought high-minded stars were annoying at awards shows, just check out celebs' philanthropic efforts on the Web. Leonardo DiCaprio (www.leonardodicaprio.com) posts pix from his Earth Day experiences and warns that there are "less than 650 mountain gorillas left" in the world (and only half of them have seen Titanic).



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MR. Showbiz:
8/1/00
Leo's Con Man Catch

Since making a splash with Titanic, Leonardo DiCaprio's been as choosy as Jodie Foster with his film projects, although his name's been attached to everything from Spider-Man (which just went to pal Tobey Maguire) to Star Wars: Episode II. According to Variety, Leo's instead likely to star in Catch Me if You Can for DreamWorks, the title of which could easily apply to studios' pursuit of the $20 million-a-film heartthrob. Catch is the true story of teenage con man Frank Abagnale Jr., who received the dubious distinction of being the only teenager ever placed on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted List. In the 1960s, the charming con artist passed himself off as a co-pilot and flew more than 2 million miles without paying a cent. He also pretended to be a pediatrician, an assistant attorney general, and a professor of American history at a French university. By the time he was finally caught, Abagnale had written $6 million in bad checks in all 50 states and in 26 countries — all before his 18th birthday. In other words, it's a dream role for an actor, and one tailored for 25-year-old Leo's still-youthful appearance. Leo, who was last in theaters with The Beach, is in final negotiations to star in Catch, which is slated to begin shooting by March 2001. He's currently committed to star in Gangs of New York, which has an August start date in Rome. Gore Verbinski (Mouse Hunt and the upcoming The Mexican) is the front-runner to direct the picture, with Fight Club's David Fincher also being mentioned.
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Variety:
8/1/00
Latest Hollywood script deals

Before producers Michel Shane and Tony Romano see their new Leonardo DiCaprio starrer "Catch Me If You Can" go into production at DreamWorks next spring, they will move forward on another crime drama, "Dog Eat Dog." It's a $5 million indie project that author and ex-con screenwriter Edward Bunker is adapting with the project's director, Steve Anderson ("South Central"). "Dog" is Bunker's autobiographical story of three young and committed criminals who decide to target the group least likely to call the cops: other crooks. A November start is planned. "Dog Eat Dog" was originally optioned by indie producers Edward Pressman and Ken Lipper in 1996. After that option expired, Anderson optioned the book from Bunker, who spent 17 years behind bars for bank robbery and is a former member of the FBI's 10 Most Wanted List. Since then, Bunker has written the screenplays for the Dustin Hoffman prison drama "Straight Time" (based on Bunker's novel "No Beast So Fierce"), "Runaway Train" and "Animal Factory," which he also adapted from his own novel. DiCaprio's "catch" is based on the true exploits of a teen con artist who was also a one-time member of the FBI's 10 Most Wanted List.
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MSNBC:
8/1/00
Leo as ‘Catch’ of the day

Leonardo DiCaprio, last in theaters with “The Beach” is in final negotiations to star in DreamWorks’ “Catch Me if You Can,” a con man tale that likely will begin production by mid-March 2001. “Catch Me” tells the true tale of Frank Abagnale Jr., who impersonated so many people and kited so many checks between 1964 and 1966 that he won the dubious distinction of being the only teen-ager ever placed on the FBI’s 10 most wanted list. The charming rogue passed himself off as a Pan Am co-pilot, and flew more than 2 million miles without paying a cent. But then, Abagnale often had good reason to make a speedy getaway: during that same time he also pretended to be the chief resident pediatrician at a Georgia hospital, Louisiana’s assistant attorney general and a professor of American history at a French university. By the time he was apprehended, Abagnale had written $6 million in bad checks in all 50 states and in 26 foreign countries — all before his 18th birthday.
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Sydney Morning Herald:
8/1/00
'Anthony' to marry 'Cleopatra'

Why did Billy Zane propose to Leonor Varela, the title character in TV's Cleopatra, during a play rehearsal with a bunch of people around? "I think men like to ask women to marry them in public so it's harder for them to say no," said the stunning Chilean-born beauty in August's Movieline magazine. Zane is best known for playing the ruthless Cal Hockley in the Oscar-winning Titanic, and played Marc Antony to Varela's Cleopatra in the 1999 ABC mini series. Varela, 27, who made her film debut in The Man in the Iron Mask with Leonard DiCaprio, says she would have accepted Zane's proposal under any circumstances. "I love Billy so much and I knew right away I wanted to marry him," said Varela, who will play opposite Dylan McDermott and James Van Der Beek in Texas Rangers and star with Pierce Brosnan in The Tailor of Panama. Varela, who moved to Costa Rica when she was two months old and spent time in Boulder, Colorado, Germany and Paris, says Zane, 34, has brought stability to her life. "Billy's given me a sense of security, which is one of the most beautiful things you can derive from a relationship," she said.
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E! Online:
8/1/00
Leo: DreamWorks' Most Wanted Man

Leonardo DiCaprio is gonna break the law big-time next year. Already signed on as a street thug in Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York, the poster-ready thespian is now set play a con man in DreamWorks' Catch Me if You Can, according to Hollywood trade papers. Catch Me is the true story of Frank Abagnale Jr., a Zelig-esque crook known as "The Impostor" in the 1960s for his successful impersonations of a Pan Am copilot (flying thousands of miles for free), a college professor (students loved him so much the dean wished he could've hired him), an assistant attorney general (he passed the bar having never had a law class) and a pediatrician (where he successfully ran a pediatric wing in a hospital). During his chameleon-like crime spree he wrote about $6 million in bad checks in all 50 states and in 26 foreign countries, and became the youngest person ever to make the FBI's 10 most-wanted list--all before his 18th birthday. After serving prison time, Abagnale became a consultant to the FBI. The film is based on Abagnale's memoirs. DiCaprio will start shooting Catch Me in March, after finishing Disney's Gangs of New York, which begins shooting in Rome in August. Gore Verbinski (Mouse Hunt) looks to be the likely choice to direct Catch Me, but David Fincher (Fight Club) is also said to be in the mix. Verbinski is already directing the Julia Roberts-Brad Pitt-starrer The Mexican for DreamWorks. A producer has not been chosen. The Hollywood Reporter says Verbinski and DiCaprio first met and talked about the project about a week ago, and the actor has been in serious discussions to take the lead ever since. After the director deal closes, the filmmakers will decide who plays the other lead--the role of the FBI agent hunting for Abagnale. DiCaprio was last seen on screen in the international flop The Beach.
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JAM Showbiz:
8/1/00
DiCaprio eyes con-man biopic

Leonardo DiCaprio is in talks to play the role of a con-man who made role-playing his life's work. Variety reports DiCaprio is in final talks with DreamWorks to star in "Catch Me If You Can," which he would begin work on immediately after completing Martin Scorsese's mob epic "The Gangs Of New York." DiCaprio would play Frank Abagnale Jr., a real life imposter who, between 1964 and 1966, was the youngest person ever placed on the FBI's most wanted list. At various times, Abagnale posed as an airline co-pilot and flew more than two million miles for free, a pediatrician, Louisian's assistant attorney general and a professor of American history at a French university. He also wrote $6 million in bad cheques -- all this before the age of 18, Variety said. "Mouse Hunt" director Gore Verbinski and "Fight Club" director David Fincher are both in talks to direct the movie, Variety said.