Electronic Telegraph:
6/29/00
Dokic returns to hotel for economy service

FOR a 17-year-old expected to earn more than £300,000 on the tennis tour this year, Jelena Dokic does not appear to be letting her new-found wealth go to her head. While other Wimbledon competitors stay in £5,000-a-week rented houses in SW19, Miss Dokic and her family have returned to the same economy hotel they stayed in last year, to the amazement of her growing band of fans. Dokic, the Serb-born player known as the "Little Sparrow", caught the public imagination last year when she reached the quarter finals, beating top seed Martina Hingis along the way and almost doubling her career earning with the £60,000 cheque she received for her efforts. At the time there were some unkind reports of Jelena and her father going to the local supermarket to buy bread and cheese because they were unable to afford the prices in the restaurant at the £59.99-a-night Travel Inn hotel in Putney, south-west London. This year, however, Miss Dokic returned to Wimbledon with no such budgetary constraints having already won more than £75,000 on court. Her management company, Octagon, estimate that she will earn another £190,000 before the year is out, promoting everything from mobile telephones and computer games across Europe and Japan. The only concession the Dokic entourage appears to have made this year is to hire two rooms at £69.95 each instead of the single "family room" that Jelena shared with her mother, Liliana, father Damir and younger brother Savo. The accommodation, erroneously described as a "bordello" by one BBC commentator last year, is sparse but comfortable. It includes tea and coffee, colour television and en suite bathroom. Watching her daughter in practice before her first round match earlier this week her mother gave the simplest reasons for their choice of hotel. "We like it there," she said, adding that it was "good value" and in a pleasant spot by the river. The Dokic family have been used to leading frugal lives, unlike many of the teenage stars on tour who have been brought up in the closeted surrounds of the world's tennis academies. At the age of eight, Jelena was forced to flee with her family from their home in Osijek in Croatia following the outbreak of civil war in 1991. Until her recent success as a tennis professional the family were not well off. Her father was a lorry driver, her mother a clerk but the family ploughed all their spare energy and resources into launching Jelena's career. They are a close family, according to Ivan Brixi, the vice president of Octagon, and Dokic spends much of her time with her brother, who is a junior judo champion.Like many teenagers she has a weakness for the actor Leonardo DiCaprio and clothes shopping, he adds. After a comfortable first round victory against the qualifier Greta Arn, Dokic now has a good opportunity to repeat the quarter-final run which kick-started her professional career, shooting her 100 places up the rankings to her current spot at number 30. Both seeds in Dokic's half of the Wimbledon draw were knocked out in the first round, leaving the way clear for a possible quarter final match with Kim Clijsters - the Belgian girlfriend of Lleyton Hewitt, the Australian tennis player - who defeated seventh seed Natalie Tauziat. If she were to win that match Dokic stands to pick up another £100,000 for reaching the semi-finals, not to mention any winnings from the doubles tournament. Enough, surely, to treat the family to a night at the Dorchester, the Wimbledon fortnight residence of Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf.
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LA Times:
6/29/00
Mix one part makeup with one part attitude

The result is Skinmarket in Redondo Beach, where girls and young women can hang out, experiment and shop. You've got now to flash a smile at a stranger. You've got now to flash someone you know well. You've got now to be happy right where you are. You got now to split and go somewhere else. When someone tells you who or what to be, you've got now to tell them where to go. -- From Skinmarket's catalog/magazine In the 1980s, a lot of people thought it was "better to look good than to feel good." Leave it to the Internet-savvy, Y2K generation to figure out that if you feel good, duh, you will like so totally look better. Well, maybe with a dab of lip gloss and a sprinkle of glitter, just to be sure. Take that attitude plus the gloss, mix it with a healthy dose of witty empowerment-speak and you get Skinmarket, a fast-growing chain of stores expressly designed for young girls to hang out, try on makeup and feel good about themselves. "Skinmarket doesn't press people to buy things," explained Kristie B. (nee Borowski), editor of the store's catalog/magazine (or "catmag") and the "voice of Skinmarket." "This is a company that puts having a fun experience in our store above making money. It's enough to see you feel really good, enjoy yourself and get away from it all." After its initial March 1999 opening in the trendy Beverly Center, drawing the likes of singer Christina Aguilera and heartthrob actor Leonardo DiCaprio, Skinmarket outlets soon popped up in Sacramento and Riverside. Today, Skinmarket's fourth store opens at The Galleria at South Bay in Redondo Beach.
Full story
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E! Online: Ted Casablanca
6/29/00
Letting his faucets run for this Giselle chick

Leonardo DiCaprio is really letting his faucets run for this Giselle chick, just as he was doing at the Gaslight in New Yawk. Stopped in at the trendy watering hole and was most pleased that his model-half made the special effort of asking the deejay to play songs particularly to Leo's liking--"Games People Play" being one of them, no doubt.
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Genre Online:
6/28/00
Beach DVD Review
This review along with others can be found on the Genre Online site Click here

Title: The Beach: Special Edition
Region: One
Genre: Thriller
Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tilda Swinton, Virgine Ledoyen, Gullaume Canet, and Robert Carlyle
Writer: John Hodge
Based On The Novel By: Alex Garland
Director: Danny Boyle
Feature length: 119 minutes
Extras: Feature Length Commentary With Director Danny Boyle, Deleted Scenes, Music Video, Storyboard Gallery, Theatrical Trailers, TV Spots
Languages: English Dolby Digital 5.1 and English and French Dolby Surround 2.0
Subtitles: English Captions and Spanish Subtitles
Packaging: Alpha Keep Case
Chapter Stops: 30
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Stereo Surround Sound
Year of Theatrical Release: 2000/DVD Release: 2000
Theatrical Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox
Home Video Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
MPAA Rating: R
Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera
"The Beach" was Leonardo DiCaprio's first post "Titanic" film and while the hype around "Titanic" and Leonardo DiCaprio has died down, there are still some people that for whatever reason will always associate DiCaprio with "Titanic" that for better or worse, he was involved in a picture that might forever be considered a film classic for both commercial and critical reasons and because of that great success there will also be a backlash against DiCaprio and whatever he does. Personally, I think DiCaprio is a young developing actor and honestly I can take him or leave him in a film. I definitely do not think he is a bad actor, but I will not run out and see a film because he is in it. So taking that into consideration, when I saw the trailers for "The Beach" in the theaters I wasn't really excited enough to run out and see it, but I was not repulsed by it either. I was pleasantly surprised when I screened the VHS edition of "The Beach" last week and am even more adamant about my feelings toward the film having now watched the upcoming Special Edition DVD that will be available to consumers priced to sell day and date with the rental VHS. "The Beach" on the surface is a story about three young backpacking tourists, who are in search of the ultimate "experience" of a sublime pleasure in a world untouched by western tourism and end up on a secluded island paradise after receiving a mysterious map without realizing the dark side that lurks just under the surface of this world they have entered. On another level, the film seems like a journey into the dark side of human nature in the face of tremendous decadence and how it is a reflection of the technologically driven consumer society that the attitude of Leonardo DiCaprio's character ultimately mirrors. "You cannot escape your true nature even if you are not aware of it consciously" might be one moral that one can find in a story that I think does have a nihilistic undertone hidden within the sensuality and beauty of the film's surface. The DVD Edition from Fox features an excellent anamorphic widescreen transfer with a 2.35:1 aspect ratio. There is no grain, artifacts, or color bleeding at all and the color balance is wonderful so that the world of this film has a nice contrast without an overt over contrast between the light and dark colors. The soundtracks have a nice ambience to them. Fox provides the English Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 Surround Tracks along with a French Surround Track accompanied by English Captions and Spanish Subtitles. The Music Score by Angelo Badalamenti just sounds beautiful with that dream like quality the Composer has given to the films of David Lynch. Director Danny Boyle provides screen specific audio commentary for the feature and nine deleted scenes, which give insight into the acting, music, and creative choices in the editing. Particularly the alternate ending struck me as interesting. Without spoiling anything I think the original ending as shown in the deleted scenes fit the finished product better than the less bleak ending the film currently has, which to me sort of sanitizes the events of the film too much. The nine deleted scenes can also be watched without Danny Boyle's commentary as well, but we cannot watch it without the reminder that these scenes are the "Property Of Twentieth Century Fox" pasted across the top of the screen and the words "Deleted Scenes For DVD" at the bottom. Why this was superimposed over these alternate takes and deleted scenes makes no sense to me. It is an insult to anyone watching this film really, I mean who the heck would want to copy deleted scenes that do not even match up in picture and sound quality to the rest of the film on DVD. I hope Fox and any other studio and independent alike give the consumers some trust and credit that aside from regional coding and macrovision copy protection and whatnot as a deterrent, I think most people who buy and rent DVD videos do so to enjoy the best video and sound available in the mass market and I doubt the greater amount of these consumers including myself, would try and reedit "The Beach" in any medium, let alone have the time. Fox also includes a teaser trailer, and three theatrical trailers, which include an international trailer that I think personally captures the true essence of the film above the domestic trailers. No less than ten TV spots are also included as well as a storyboard gallery and extensive cast and crew biographies. A music video for the song "Pure Shores" by All Saints is included along with a thirty second commercial for the Soundtrack CD as well. The featurette runs just above five minutes and features the videotaped behind the scenes footage and promotional interviews one has come to expect from these sort of things. A dynamite self promotion of Fox DVD Titles, which also features scenes from this summer's Fox Films like "The X-Men", "Me, Myself & Irene", and "Titan A.E." opens up the DVD just after the FBI warnings. It can easily be skipped, but I think this self promotion commercial is the most exciting one I have seen yet on a DVD, so why some may feel resentful for this sort of thing that many studios do, in this case, I liked it and thought they did a good job putting it together too. The menus are animated with a nice mix of three-dimensional scrolling images and scenes from the film. Overall, this is a good DVD effort from Fox and one that aside from the unnecessary superimposed reminder that the deleted scenes are the property of Fox, I enjoyed very much. "The Beach: Special Edition" DVD will be available priced to sell day and date with the VHS rental on July 25, 2000.
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The Sun:
6/28/00
house-hunting in LA

LEONARDO DiCaprio and supermodel girlfriend Gisele Bündchen have been house-hunting in LA. Despite his millions, Titanic star Leo is homeless and usually lives in hotels.
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NY Daily News:
6/28/00
Surveillance

Leonardo DiCaprio joined Dunk.net in throwing a party for Shaquille O'Neal Sunday at L.A.'s Sunset Room. DiCaprio hung with assorted Lakers and pal Toby Maguire. Shaq wore matching shorts and hat that one wag said "made him look like Buster Brown." Over at the Mondrian, Billy Bob Thornton, Shannen Doherty and Verne ("Mini Me") Troyer made for quite a trio at at the Whiskey Bar on Friday
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Columbus Dispatch:
6/28/00
Caught in Spider-Man's web

Caught in Spider-Man's web Spider-Man scouts are scouring the streets of New York, looking for locations for the picture that is slated to roll in November -- with no star yet set. Despite seemingly countless Internet reports that this actor or that has the part, director Sam Raimi and Columbia Pictures are still searching for the actor who'll land the coveted lead role in the big-screen adaptation of the Marvel Comic character. As Stan Lee wrote the comic, the hero was a teen, but you'd never guess that from some of the Hollywood names -- including Jim Carrey -- reportedly vying for the role of Peter Parker, who develops superhuman powers after being bitten by a radioactive spider. There are also rumors that Leonardo DiCaprio will star in the picture that will shoot in N.Y. and L.A., with release targeted for the summer of 2001. Not only have Felicity hunk Scott Speedman and Whatever It Takes actor James Franco recently tested for the part, but Raimi is reportedly also considering Ewan McGregor, Chris Klein, Tobey Maguire, Patriot son Heath Ledger and Wes Bentley. Freddie Prinze Jr., who has said he was going to personally push for the role, said, "I've always felt very strongly about playing Spider-Man. I read comic books to this day. 'Spider-Man' was one of my favorites when I was growing up.''
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NY Post:
6/27/00
LEO AND GISELE IN JOINT PAD PURSUIT

LEONARDO DiCaprio and Gisele Bundchen are apartment-hunting together. Last Friday afternoon the actor and the supermodel were at the Corcoran offices at 490 Broadway to meet with a broker. "He meets with real estate people all the time," says DiCaprio's rep, Ken Sunshine. "But I never discuss his personal life." A rep for Bundchen's agency, IMG, says she doubts the pair are shacking up. Last October, DiCaprio looked at buying a Manhattan pad, but decided against it. He used to stay with his disgraced money manager Dana Giacchetto at his Soho loft, but now he favors chic hotels like the Mercer. Gisele has a place in the American Thread building, where Naomi Campbell and Isabella Rossellini used to live. She says she never goes to the gym, but gets her exercise by running up and down the stairs there. Bundchen also has a small country place near New Paltz where she goes to get away from it all, but so far, her booker says, Leo hasn't been there. The other day the couple, who've been caught canoodling all over town, were spotted exiting the W Hotel together. Last week they were at Lotus with friends when rocker Lenny Kravitz tried to hit on her, but Bundchen stuck by her man. We hear that Dragon's Head, the turreted Southampton castle started by Barry Trupin and finished by Francesco Galesi, is for rent for the month of August for the princely sum of $650,000
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San Jose Mercury News:
6/27/00
`Spider-Man' yarns spinning

From Marilyn Beck, Stacy Jenel Smith and Stephanie DuBois in Hollywood `Spider-Man'' scouts are scouring the streets of New York, looking for locations for the picture that is slated to roll in November -- with no star yet set. Despite seemingly countless Internet reports that this actor or that has the part, director Sam Raimi and Columbia Pictures still are searching for the actor who'll land the coveted lead role in the big-screen adaptation of the Marvel Comic character. As Stan Lee wrote the comic, the hero was a teen, but you'd never guess that from some of the Hollywood names -- including Jim Carrey -- reportedly vying to play Peter Parker, who develops superhuman powers after being bitten by a radioactive spider. There are also rumors that Leonardo DiCaprio will star in the picture, which will shoot in New York and Los Angeles, with release targeted for summer 2001. The list goes on -- and it's suspected that many of the names being bandied about in the press are the result of plants by agents eager to have their clients nab the role. Not only have ``Felicity'' hunk Scott Speedman and ``Whatever It Takes'' actor James Franco recently done screen tests for the part, but Raimi reportedly also is considering Ewan McGregor, Chris Klein, Tobey Maguire, ``Patriot'' son Heath Ledger and Wes Bentley. Freddie Prinze Jr. has said he was going to personally push for the role. ``I've always felt very strongly about playing Spider-Man. I read comic books to this day. `Spider-Man' was one of my favorites when I was growing up.'' Incidentally, the scheduled November start date may be months away -- but it will very likely take months to get someone in shape to play the rigorous role of the wall-walking superhero.
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London Evening Standard:
6/27/00
What the label 'top model' really means

How do you tell the difference between a top model and the biggest in the world? Magazine covers are a good indication, recent appearances on the covers of Vogue and The Face have made Liberty Ross the British face of the moment. Star turns on the catwalk are also a clue - Gisele Bundchen got her big break on Alexander McQueen's runway two years ago and has never looked back... ..."When a girl gets a big campaign it sets her apart from the rest of the pack," says Tori Edwards of Models 1. "From being a working model she becomes a supermodel and reaps the rewards that the status brings." That doesn't just mean moving up from first class to flights on Concorde, but money and lots of it. Now girls can expect to bank a cheque for between £350,000 and £500,000 for each campaign and if she signs an exclusivity clause, banning her from advertising any other products, that figure can triple. Kate Moss's exclusive Calvin Klein contract, which ended last year, was worth £2 million. And then there's the exposure, the fame which comes with having your face on billboards, TV and magazine ads across the world. And who knows what can happen then (so far we've seen publishing deals, movie deals and dates with the likes of Leo DiCaprio). Full story
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SF Gate:
6/27/00
ALEX WARP
WHERE: Click here

WHAT: Everyone has an inner artist who is just itching to get out. At AlexWarp, creative Web surfers can distort, remodel and remake celebrity images to their own wicked designs. Watch Leonardo DiCaprio be transformed into a grinning, melted alien! Give Miss Piggy a face-lift or stretch her into a mass of pink putty and false eyelashes! AlexWarp supplies a celebrity photograph from a list of celebrities; budding artists then simply click and drag their mouse across the image to achieve remarkable and occasionally hideous transformations. Candidates include Christina Aguilera, Barney the Dinosaur, Mariah Carey, Mick Jagger, Calista Flockhart and many, many more. Warning: can be addictive. ADDED ATTRACTION: A Pick-a- Face survey to determine which celebrities should be added to the roster. WHY: Because in the right hands, plastic surgery can be fun.
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Sacramento Bee:
6/26/00
Russell Crowe: Angry young man

We can thank Sharon Stone for her good taste. She's the one who brought Crowe to the attention of American producers and audiences when she fought to have him cast in Sam Raimi's 1995 "The Quick and the Dead" (which Stone produced), an underrated Western that also starred Gene Hackman and Leonardo DiCaprio. But some of us had already heard of Crowe -- from such varied performances in Australian films as a skinhead in Geoffrey Wright's "Romper Stomper" (1993) and as a young gay man dealing with his father in Keith Dowling and Geoff Burton's "The Sum of Us" (1994). He's scored in such U.S. films as Curtis Hanson's "L.A. Confidential" (1998) and Michael Mann's "The Insider" of last year (for which he was nominated for an Oscar). For some reason, Robert Greenewald's "Breaking Up" (1995), based on the Michael Christofer play, in which Crowe and Salma Hayek struggle to keep their relationship together, never got much of a theatrical release. Check it out on video. Full story
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NY Post:
6/26/00
GEORGE TAKES HOLLYWOOD BY 'STORM'

After several false dawns, George Clooney has found just the right role to carry him to the top of Hollywood's elite. For a while, it looked as though the heartthrob would have Doug Ross' "ER" stethoscope hanging around his neck forever. His post-TV career had sputtered through such films as the embarrassing "Batman & Robin" and the critically acclaimed box-office duds "One Fine Day," "The Peacemaker," "Out of Sight" and "Three Kings." But then "The Perfect Storm" blew in... ...The actor says he, too, is happily single. Since breaking up with French girlfriend Celine Balitran last year, he has had no steady someone in his life, though he continues to date - most recently, "Melrose Place" star Brooke Langton. When Vogue decided to feature him on the cover of its July issue, the magazine borrowed Leonardo DiCaprio's girlfriend, 19-year-old model Gisele Bundchen, to pose with him. "Oh, man," said Clooney this week, recalling the shoot. "She's a good-looking kid, but I look like her father." Full story
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The Mirror:
6/26/00
YOU LOVED ME OR LOATHED ME

MATTHEW WRIGHT: THE END OF A SHOWBIZ ERA IT'S been an exhilarating four-and-a-half-year rollercoaster ride, but I've now decided it's time to get off. Yes folks, yours truly is quitting the world of showbiz. And unlike some other celebrity names I could mention, I know the best time to bow out is when you're still No. 1. I've brought you the hottest stories about the hottest stars and had the time of my life along the way. I know one or two celebs will be celebrating my shock announcement today, but quite a few others will, I'm sure, go into mourning. In my time at The Mirror I've had great glimpses into the lives of the rich and famous, and shared their joys and tragedies. As I clear my desk I look back on my reign as Britain's top showbiz columnist with a few chuckles - and a few tears. I've had the honour of meeting my heroes, and taken great pleasure in exposing those celebs who show one face to the public and quite another, more sinister, face in private. And, boy, have I partied hard - though I can still remember most of it! One of my most cherished memories was in my first weeks in the job. One spring day in 1996 I found myself lunching with those kings of charisma, Boyzone, at a posh West London hotel. Everything was going swimmingly until I spied Robert De Niro, one of the world's greatest movie superstars, sitting at a nearby table. I nipped over and introduced myself as one of the band's managers, telling him how much the boys would like to meet him. I ended up chatting to De Niro for ages and fulfilled a lifetime ambition by persuading the shy actor to pose for a picture with me. There have been plenty of times when I have humiliated myself in the ludicrous pursuit of getting my mug in the paper, but one photo opportunity stands out in my mind - the day I took on world heavyweight champ Lennox Lewis. Lewis, Gawd bless him, didn't know which way to turn when I bounded out from a dressing room wearing an enormous pair of Union Jack shorts and boxing gloves. "Come on, Lennox, I'm ready for you," I shouted as I leapt into the boxing ring. For five minutes I was battered black and blue, but Lennox's punches were nothing compared to the pain I felt when the pictures were printed the next day. Playing dumb has, without doubt, been one of my strengths. It's amazing how far you can get when you come across as a grinning idiot. Take Jim Carrey. I met him just before Liar Liar came out, and we ended up spending an afternoon together clowning around and pulling funny faces. Carrey has made millions from manipulating his rubber mug but he'd be the first to admit this humble hack can pull even uglier grimaces. Talking of dumb, I got to meet Dame Elizabeth Taylor last year after playing the fool at a press conference before the Bafta movie awards. Liz, as I call her, endured a string of deadly dull questions from my dim-witted rivals before I got the Big One in ... "Liz," I piped up. "It's the Grand National tomorrow. Your first film, National Velvet, was about the race. Have you any good tips?" The room went silent at my impertinence but Liz loved it and christened me Knucklehead, a nickname she still uses whenever we see each other. The Cannes film festival is always full of crazies so I felt quite at home there, visiting floating porn shows with Noel and Meg Gallagher, lunching with Hugh Grant and Liz Hurley and drinking coffee with Leonardo DiCaprio. Full story
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NY Times: 6/26/00
Changes at Fox Studio End Pax Hollywood

The unexpected resignation late last week of Bill Mechanic as head of the 20th Century Fox movie studio, coming after a period of growing discord between him and Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corporation owns Fox, puts a firm end to a period of relative calm in the revolving-door world of top studio executives. Hollywood was already buzzing about whether the sale of the Seagram Company to Vivendi S.A., announced earlier last week, would mean a change in leadership of the 81-year-old Universal Studios, a Seagram property. And top executives at both Walt Disney and Warner Brothers were still settling into their jobs after top management shifts the last year. Mr. Murdoch was said to have been upset over the dark tone of some of Fox's recent films, like "Fight Club" and "The Beach," but even more upset that the films had performed poorly at the box office. "The Beach," the Leonardo DiCaprio return to the screen after "Titanic," did well overseas but was weak in the United States. Fox's big Christmas holiday release, "Anna and the King," also cost a bundle and performed poorly, as did "Titan A.E.," an expensive animated feature (estimates of its cost run from $85 million to $100 million) that earned only $9.2 million in its opening weekend, a dismal performance for a potential summer blockbuster. The relationship between Mr. Murdoch and Mr. Mechanic began to sour after "Fight Club," which opened last fall, a violent fantasy starring Brad Pitt that attracted vehement champions and equally vehement critics. "At a certain point, you're just headed on that inevitable path where it's not working," Mr. Mechanic said in an interview late last week. So, he added, he began to meet with people to discuss what he might do if he left Fox, including starting his own production company, much as the former Disney executive Joe Roth did when he left that studio six months ago. Mr. Mechanic's resignation caught so many here by surprise, two Fox executives said, because he had not intended to announce it so soon. Someone released word of it to news organizations on Thursday afternoon. Coming last week after the box-office failure of "Titan A.E.," Mr. Mechanic's departure looked like just another case of an executive being forced out after a string of failures, a common Hollywood story. Had the announcement been delayed until after the opening on Friday of the Jim Carrey comedy "Me, Myself and Irene," which is expected to do very well at the box office, it might have come across differently. Mr. Mechanic, who has been a top executive at Fox since 1993, said he intended to spend several weeks deciding whether to form his own company or, perhaps, return to an executive job at another studio. "I like studios," he said. "I like the history of studios. I like the camaraderie of the thing." Mr. Mechanic said of his departure, "For me personally, it's very good. For me emotionally, it's kind of devastating and devastating to the people I work with." Peter Chernin, president of the News Corporation, said that it might be several weeks before a replacement is named. In the interim, Fox executives said, Mr. Chernin intended to play a close role in supervising the studio's operations. So now attention shifts to Mr. Mechanic's successor. Many here are predicting that Mr. Murdoch and Mr. Chernin will select an in-house candidate, possibly Tom Sherak, a seasoned Hollywood executive and the studio's distribution wizard, or Tom Rothman, who started the studio's small-film division, Fox Searchlight, before being named president of its film group last year
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Yahoo News:
6/23/00
Looking for More Reality TV

NBC boss Robert Wright is reportedly upset that, so far, his network has missed out on the reality TV bonanza. Here's CBS mopping up with ``Survivor'' and, in two weeks, launching ``Big Brother.'' ABC has just announced something for next season called ``Mole.'' But NBC? So far, nada. Well, I'd like to help. Mr. Wright, here's your next hit: the reality game show ``Elevator.'' ``Elevator'' (I prefer the name ``Shaft'' but it was already taken) would travel with a tribe of contestants as they go up and down in an elevator car, each vying to get voted off by rival passengers. It's a grueling competition. Who can make the most witless small talk? Trample on the most toes? Wear the foulest cologne? Hum the furthest off-key? After each episode-concluding tribal council (caution: no torches), the worst offender is then asked to leave immediately - or rather, at the next floor. Promoted with the tagline, ``Many stories will be reached by `Elevator,''' this show can't miss! And it would be cheap to produce. Most elevators are already equipped with a security camera and microphone. Pack 'em in, push Up, and start taping! Don't like that idea? Here's another, which takes shrewd advantage of new medical technology. You must have read about the pill-size video camera that, when swallowed by the patient, makes its way through the body, transmitting pictures to a tiny wireless recorder carried on the patient's belt. Mr. Wright, try a little Fox-style flagrancy: NBC presents ``World's Most Amazing Gastrointestinal Tracts!'' Don't like that one either? Well, I can take it elsewhere. Maybe rejigger it as ``Gallstones Rock!'' for MTV. Or, if Leonardo DiCaprio would agree to swallow that little gizmo, as an environmental special for ABC News. Meanwhile, I'm plotting a spinoff from those ads for the United States Mint. You've seen them, portraying George Washington as more than a face on a dollar bill. In the two commercials, which promote the mint's new golden dollar coin, the father of our country is a modern urbanite whose dollar-bill head is digitally grafted onto a live-action body. His face may be greenish, deadpan and always in three-quarters pose. But thanks to computer wizardry, ``SpokesGeorge'' can move his mouth and eyes, and he can also speak, blithely assuring us that he doesn't feel the least bit miffed at getting bumped from the new coin. ``Appearing on money isn't my only gig,'' he declares as he goes about his business riding the subway, teaching an aerobics class, scuba diving. Those commercials crack me up. But they also get me thinking. If George's head lends authority to the anonymous actor in the ads, consider the benefits of using the same computer voodoo on well-known TV personalities. What about Kathie Lee Gifford? Long ago, she could have silenced detractors who called her a saccharine hypocrite with just a bit of digital image enhancement: Imagine Kathie Lee's body with the head of Eleanor Roosevelt. Similarly, Kelsey Grammer, fresh from his Broadway flop in the title role of ``Macbeth,'' may be feeling pretty scarred by that debacle. How better for Grammer to demonstrate Shakespearian stature than to film next season's episodes of ``Frasier'' wearing the head of Sir Laurence Olivier? And ABC News might continue its mission to reach younger, hipper viewers with a simple variation on having hired Leonardo DiCaprio to interview President Clinton: Superimpose Leo's head on Peter Jennings anchoring ``World News Tonight.'' Oh, sure, the network denied that the twentysomething megastar was meant to play the role of a TV journalist for its Earth Day documentary, which inspired a White House spokesman's wry reference to ``a quasi-theological debate that's happening at a certain news organization about what's an interview and ... when is a celebrity a journalist?''
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LA Times:
6/23/00
Fox Studio Chief Calls It Quits After Box-Office Slump

Fox Filmed Entertainment chief Bill Mechanic is leaving as head of the studio under intense pressure from Rupert Murdoch, chairman of Fox parent News Corp., and the mogul's No. 2 executive, Peter Chernin...

...Mechanic's departure comes at an especially sensitive time for News Corp., which has been preoccupied with the planned spinoff of its global satellite television operation in an initial public offering. One of Murdoch's top deputies, Chase Carey, is being deployed to head the venture. Mechanic, a highly respected executive who is well-liked by his staff and filmmakers, has had a generally strong run as Fox's movie chief, overseeing such mega-hits as James Cameron's epic "Titanic," "Independence Day" and the Farrelly Bros.' raunchy comedy "Something About Mary." At Disney, he was credited with building its hugely profitable video business. However, he has been under increased pressure to turn around the sagging fortunes of the movie division, which only recently got a lift from the comedy hit "Big Momma's House." Earlier this year, Fox's highly anticipated Leonardo DiCaprio movie, "The Beach," bombed domestically with barely $40 million in ticket sales, though the film did more than $100 million overseas and the studio said it has turned a profit.
Full story
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Fox 411:
6/23/00
Loft Where Leo Lived and Partied in Legal Brouhaha

Before my July 4 vacation begins, how can I not revisit the Dana Giacchetto story one more time? Giacchetto, the money manager who represented Leonardo DiCaprio and friends, has been in jail since the end of April. He comes back to court on June 29, at which time he may get a trial date... or maybe not. His case moves slowly and takes unexpected turns. His lawyer, Ronald Fischetti, may try and reopen his bail plea. But remember what the judge said last time: don't hold your breath. After being told not to go anywhere, Giacchetto faked a passport, threw some cash in a bag and ran around the country. Meanwhile, what about the loft in Soho where Dana lived, and where Leo bunked for extensive amounts of time? In the halcyon days, it seemed as though Dana owned the loft. But as we know now, he had no cash. In fact he rented the apartment. Or rather, sublet it, from the owner, who lives in Italy, I am told, but used Kantar Realty to make the deal. Some Soho loft buildings still require that their tenants — even subtenants — be artists registered with the Department of Culture. This was an old law designed to keep people like Dana out, o-u-t. But there are ways around that. Dana, I can tell you, did not sign his lease alone. His co-signor was Robin Renzi, a Soho jewelry designer who has a burgeoning line called Me & Ro. Her biggest client is Julia Roberts, who wore her stuff in Notting Hill and came to her store opening on Elizabeth Street. (I bought some nice earrings there one afternoon recently for my sister-in-law while I was looking for Robin.) Renzi told me, "Dana needed my name for the artists-in-residence clause." She could not explain why she co-signed. And Renzi claims to know nothing else. But she is now being sued, along with Dana, for back rent and to get out. Some of their neighbors have complained in a legal filing that Dana's Dec. 31, 1998 New Year's Eve party, starring Leo, got out of hand. The lease on the loft ran out, according to court documents, in February 1999. So the question remains: why is a friend of Giacchetto still there, and who is paying the $6,500/per month rent. And with what?
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NY Post:
6/23/00
JENNIFER: GIVES FEVER

COUNT Toby Maguire among the fans of Jennifer Love Hewitt. At the Hollywood hotspot Las Palmas last week, the "Cider House Rules" star was dumbstruck as the shapely Hewitt shimmied on the dance floor. Maguire sidled up next to her and "accidentally" fell against her, say our spies. After Hewitt rolled her eyes at him, Maguire retreated to a table where Leonardo DiCaprio was holding court and moaned to his pals, "I gotta get with her
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Salt Lake Tribune:
6/23/00
Lure of Titanic's Treasures

...This is the story of a shareholder revolt that has shaken the governments of England, France, Canada and the United States, which want to protect the Titanic as an international memorial. It is the story of new leaders who want to cut into Titanic's hull in search of greater treasures and shareholder profits. It is the story of investors and show business and the dreams that drive men into little, dangerous submarines. "We want the first-class mail. We want the first-class baggage. We want the safes and the purser's bags," said stockholder Joe Marsh of Akron, Ohio. "We know exactly where everything is. We can hit it like a target." This is the story of the real Titanic, 88 years later...

...There is no mistaking Tulloch's passion. Look around. The place is packed with memorabilia. A Titanic life preserver. A plastic Titanic model made by a 12-year-old fan. Titanic books. A Titanic jigsaw puzzle. Titanic survivor photos. Titanic posters, including one from Sweden and one from France. And on the far wall, Leonardo DiCaprio is nuzzling Kate Winslet's neck on the ship's bow.
Full story
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SF Gate:
6/23/00
A damsel's work is never done

Young women today are faced with the same cultural mythology and sexism that women have been up against for eons, only now the slogan for princesshood tells them: "Feminism didn't work! Women don't want equality after all!" Young women haven't turned down equality. Young women never had equality. Women will be equal when they don't have to choose between being successful and being attractive. Women will be equal when Madeleine Albright and Hillary Clinton are considered sexy just because they are charismatic leaders. Women will be equal when Leonardo DiCaprio stars in a Hollywood blockbuster as the love interest of the older Annette Bening, and she gets top billing.

Full story
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SF Gate:
6/23/00
A damsel's work is never done

Young women today are faced with the same cultural mythology and sexism that women have been up against for eons, only now the slogan for princesshood tells them: "Feminism didn't work! Women don't want equality after all!" Young women haven't turned down equality. Young women never had equality. Women will be equal when they don't have to choose between being successful and being attractive. Women will be equal when Madeleine Albright and Hillary Clinton are considered sexy just because they are charismatic leaders. Women will be equal when Leonardo DiCaprio stars in a Hollywood blockbuster as the love interest of the older Annette Bening, and she gets top billing.

Full story
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Sydney Morning Herald:
6/23/00
American success story

Nine weeks after the overseas release of the film version of American Psycho, the first adaptation of the disturbing, polarising 1991 novel by Bret Easton Ellis, the movie has taken a healthy $US22 million ($36.7 million) worldwide. That's roughly $1 million for each corpse... ...Perhaps more shocking than the finished product, which is indeed stimulating and strangely exhilarating, is the way Harron and the film's star, Christian Bale, were treated during the production. After Harron had been working on the project for months, the studio that owned the project, Lion's Gate, sent a script to red-hot Titanic survivor Leonardo DiCaprio with an offer of $20 million. In May 1998, during the Cannes Film Festival, Harron was stunned after Lion's Gate announced that Leo had hopped aboard. "Leonardo wasn't remotely right," said Harron, who had previously directed I Shot Andy Warhol. "There's something very boyish about him. He's not credible as one of these tough Wall Street guys. Besides, he brought way too much baggage with him. "I did not want to deal with someone who had a 13-year-old fan base. They shouldn't see the movie. It could've gotten us in a lot of trouble." Predictably, the studio sided with DiCaprio. Harron was ousted, and rumours started circulating about other possible directors, including Danny Boyle, Martin Scorsese, David Cronenberg, and even Stanley Kubrick. Then, suddenly, Oliver Stone was rewriting the script, but fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your perspective) DiCaprio became tied up with The Beach.
Full story
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Official DiCaprio Website:
6/22/00
BirkenZine # 3

For those of you that have a membership to the official site they have published a new issue of the Newsletter. If your not a member you can become one at the following address.
Join the club
Hello and welcome to BirkenZine # 3. Well, now that THE BEACH wave has come and gone, we’re ready to tell it all. Behind the scenes stuff you can’t get anywhere else. From the first day on set to Leo’s tumultuous world-wide press tour, BirkenZine was there and is more than willing to share the inside scoop with you. So without further ado, we at Birken Studios give you... BirkenZine # 3.
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Official DiCaprio Website:
6/22/00
LAKERS WIN IT ALL !

A dozen years. That’s how long it took the Lakers to win another NBA championship. Certainly not cheaper by the dozen, the Lakers and city of L.A won a hard fought seventh championship and are hoping that this is only the first of many to come. Die hard Laker fan Leonardo DiCaprio had to be in New York on business but watched the game with eyes peeled to the T.V. Following a devastating 33 point drubbing in Indiana, the Lakers showed a resiliency expected of true champions and gamed back to their home court to take care of some "finals" business. And oh did they ever, with Shaq O’Neal pounding in a walloping 41 points. And so, The Big Daddy finally is, The Big Champion!
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E! Online - Ted Casablanca
6/22/00
Tedbits

Leonardo DiCaprio must have some sort of feelings for that Brazilian model he's dating, Giselle whatever. Leo, who's certainly looking less ragged lately than he did a few months ago, has been bringing the gal to his office in Hollywood. And, I'm sorry, that means something when you bring a date to watercooler territory. (To mom and pop's is an even more serious journey.)
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Newsday - Liz Smith:
6/22/00
A Taylor-Made Gaffe

IN THE CURRENT issue of the National Review, there is a tribute to the late, great Sir John Gielgud. In this celebration of Gielgud, there's also a comment on the actor's penchant for social gaffes. They note that Gielgud said to Elizabeth Taylor: "I don't know what happened to Richard Burton. I think he married some terrible film star and had to live abroad!" (I've heard a variation on this tale. That Gielgud made such a gaffe, but was actually speaking to Taylor of Michael Wilding. He had forgotten that the then Mrs. Burton had once been Mrs. Wilding. Either way, it's a classic!) The National Review also carries an excellent analysis of Rosie O'Donnell by Jay Nordlinger. He writes as fairly as possible for one with a conservative viewpoint, noting her importance as a political activist. He says, "Rosie is making conservatives choke. She is using the bully pulpit of her stardom with a vengeance. And in some ways she is the perfect expression of modern liberalism." Nordlinger notes, "Many TV insiders believe Rosie runs a risk with her politicking." Rosie answers, "I never enter it into the equation." Here's my two cents: I think Rosie O'Donnell has made so much money, so much more than anyone dreams of, that she can act like the 2,000-pound gorilla anytime she likes. And more power to her! PERUSING E! ONLINE'S story about the "back end" salary deals of superstars (how much they really make, after percentages, etc.), I was once again struck that of the 12 top earners listed-with Tom Cruise as No. 1 and Leonardo DiCaprio as No. 12- there's only one woman, Julia Roberts. Good grief! Once upon a time, women dominated the box-office lists, and not so very long ago at least half on the list were females. We keep hearing about how women are becoming more powerful in Hollywood. Oh, yeah, then why can't Hollywood develop a few more bankable leading ladies? SPEAKING OF LADIES who rule the box office, Dame Elizabeth Taylor, who had a full decade in the Top 10, is a doll, as we know. Now she is literally a doll, thanks to the folks at Mattel, who have created a series of delicious little things fashioned to resemble Miz Liz. The latest doll, which will be available in the fall, is dressed in a facsimile of the famous Edith Head gown that ET wore to the 1970 Oscars (Mattel bought the dress last year at auction, the money going to the American Foundation for AIDS Research.) Draped around the bosom is a replica of the mammoth 69-carat diamond that Richard Burton bought for his beloved. A stone that La Liz later sold to help pay for Sen. John Warner's campaign expenses! (He was her sixth husband.) The voluptuous doll-like figure of the world's greatest movie star (even if she never makes another movie) will be offered with a purchase of the actress' White Diamonds Eau de Toilette. P.S.: Busy Miz Liz will be in Philadelphia on the 25th, accepting the Marian Anderson Award (and a big chunk of change for her Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation). Then she'll sit with the "Today" show's Matt Lauer for a three-part interview.
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NY Daily News:
6/22/00
Liam May Gang Up With Scorsese

Liam Neeson is in final talks to join Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis, Willem Dafoe and Cameron Diaz in "Gangs of New York," we're told. How director Martin Scorsese would use Neeson is unclear. Day-Lewis is playing Bill the Butcher, the leader of a 19th-century anti-Catholic gang. But Irish Catholic Neeson may catch grief from partisans if he joins up with him. The "Phantom Menace" star, recently turned down the key to his hometown in Northern Ireland after his nomination riled local Protestants. Liam Neeson Scorsese is off this week to Rome's Cinecitta studios, where he's creating a replica of New York's docks circa 1850. As usual, he's being scrupulous about bringing his eagerly awaited period piece to life. Just as scrupulous is DiCaprio. The star has lobbed so many script ideas at his director that it's begun to bug Scorsese, claims one insider: "Marty is used to actors genuflecting before him." That supposedly has pitted Scorsese's Artist Management Group handler, Michael Ovitz, against DiCaprio's AMG handler, Rick Yorn. But Scorsese's rep argues, "Marty wants an actor to participate." And DiCaprio's rep concurs: "Leonardo has long dreamed of working with Martin Scorsese. He's very committed to his vision." One source contends that DiCaprio has deliberately put on some weight because "he hates being a movie star." Funny, he looked pretty good Tuesday night at Spa on W. 13th St. Getting in his nightclubbing before heading off to the long Roman shoot in August, the die-hard Lakers fan made the letters "L" and "A" out of straws. Hat turned backward, he was mouthing the lyrics of his favorite rap songs into the wee hours. Also on hand was model Frankie Rayder, who ended up covered in her own birthday cake after a massive food fight broke out.
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Excite News:
6/22/00
Billy Crudup: All Work, No Fame

Believe it or not, Billy Crudup was very close to becoming king of the world. The 31-year-old actor who gravitates toward low-budget, dark films was on the short list for the goody-two-shoes role of Jack in "Titanic," the highest-grossing movie of all time. He didn't get it, of course. Director James Cameron handed the part to the blond and cheery Leonardo DiCaprio. Probably that was a good thing, says Crudup. "If I had done 'Titanic,' it would have made, probably, $200,000 - worldwide," he says, laughing. "So I think my life would have been very, very similar." Not so the hero aboard the doomed ship: "I would have said, 'Jim, this guy is too happy-go-lucky, man. I don't get it. Maybe, out of a moment of confusion, he decides to drown a little girl on the way to safety?"' He's only partly kidding, folks. Crudup's more likely to play guys you'd rather not share a lifeboat with: a killer in "Sleepers," an arrogant sprinter in "Without Limits," a heartless cad in "Inventing the Abbotts" and a haunted politician in "Waking the Dead." None of those movies have made much cash or elevated the talented actor into DiCaprio-like stardom. But Crudup says he's in no hurry for hype. "It's hard for me to say I don't feel successful because there aren't photographers outside my apartment wanting to get a picture of me when I'm going to get a slice of pizza," he says. "As long as people keep letting me do this, I'd be an idiot to complain." True to form, his latest role is a doozy: In "Jesus' Son," Crudup plays a heroin-addicted, house-demolishing, directionless moron. The character doesn't even have a name - just an unprintable expletive. A Disney movie, it ain't.
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Complete Delta News Story
Delta News:
6/22/00
Modern image of masculinity changes

The world in which the archetypal male was a man's man reeking of smoke, leather and day-old socks -- well, that world is vanishing. In today's popular culture, the once-unchallenged machismo of cowboy and marine is competing with post-millennial embodiments of the male ideal that are far softer, gentler and prettier than the Marlboro Man ever, ever was. "The new era of male attractiveness has really arrived," says Syracuse University professor Robert Thompson, president of the International Popular Culture Association. Think of it this way: John Wayne, George Patton and Jackie Robinson are making room on the pedestal ... for Leonardo DiCaprio.

...Today's movie theaters are filled with tweens, teens and twenty-somethings, young enough to be the children of craggy hunk Harrison Ford, the great-grandchildren of resolute heartthrob Gary Cooper. It is the vulnerability of DiCaprio, the boy-next-door comeliness of Matt Damon and unalloyed beauty of Jude Law that draws today's young patrons, and their money.

...Gay culture The softer, gentler iconic male is primarily a homoerotic ideal, some experts believe. "With the greater acceptance of homosexuality, there's less phobia about showing men who are more androgynous in their beauty," says Steele. Advertising in the mainstream media takes its cue from gay media, Edisol Wayne Dotson points out. Dotson is author of Behold the Man -- the Hype and Selling of Male Beauty in Media and Culture (Harrington Park Press paperback, $19.95). That is why images of pale young men with less-than-determined gazes make the easy leap to the mainstream, he says. Today, the desires and expectations of gay society are openly published and broadcast, adds Stan Herman, president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America. "So it infiltrates all of society."
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Excite News:
6/21/00
Celebrity Spotlight & Birthdays

Michael Douglas likens Tobey Maguire, his co-star in "Wonder Boys," to Spencer Tracy and Humphrey Bogart. "I'm going to enjoy watching his career," Douglas says. Maguire, who was born on June 27, 1975, starred in a short-lived Fox sitcom "Great Scott!" in 1992. The following year, he made his feature film debut in "This Boy's Life," which starred his friend Leonardo DiCaprio. By 1997, he was attracting serious attention with his performances in "The Ice Storm" and "Deconstructing Harry." His first starring role was in the 1998 film "Pleasantville." He was also one of the stars of "The Cider House Rules." Carly Simon wrote most of the songs for her new album "The Bedroom Tapes" (Arista) while undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer. "I'm feeling so much as if music once again has come to my rescue," said Simon, who was born on June 25, 1945. She says she is now in good health. Simon doesn't have a favorite song on the CD, though she enjoys moving to the beat of "Big Dumb Guy" and likes "Actress," which was inspired by hearing little girls worrying about bad camera angles after an audition. "I could easily put myself in that place - a little girl putting on lipstick, imagining I was going to be a movie star one day. It became my voice. Sometimes songs start with somebody else's voice and become my voice," she said. Celebrity birthdays June 25-July 1: June 25: Actress June Lockhart is 75. Singer Carly Simon is 55. Singer George Michael is 37. Rapper Candyman is 32. June 26: Singer Chris Isaak is 44. Singer Patty Smyth is 43. Singer Terri Nunn of Berlin is 39. Musician Colin Greenwood of Radiohead is 31. Actor Sean Hayes ("Will and Grace") is 30. Actor Chris O'Donnell is 30. Actor-musician Jason Schwartzman ("Rushmore") is 20. June 27: Actress Isabelle Adjani is 45. Actor Tobey Maguire ("The Cider House Rules") is 25. Actress Madylin Sweeten ("Everybody Loves Raymond") is 9.
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Newsday - Liz Smith:
6/20/00
Technology is a wonderful thing

Technology is a wonderful thing. Just ask any celebrity, agent, manager or Hollywood VIP who shops at the spanking new Motorola emporium on Sunset Boulevard. I do mean supernovas such as Ben Affleck, Kevin Spacey, Warren Beatty, Leonardo DiCaprio. Everybody wants the new V Phone, the Two-Way Pager and the Talkabout two-way radios. (The better to know instantly how your movie did over the weekend!) The V Phone is especially hot. It is said to be the smallest, neatest looking portable ever.
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Electronic Telegraph:
6/19/00
Student 'died in Titanic stunt

AN Oxford student fell 200ft to his death after climbing a crane to re-enact a scene from Titanic, an inquest was told yesterday. Kai Dawson, 21, had been drinking at a friend's birthday party before climbing the crane in the centre of the city. He inched his way along the jib before standing with his arms outstretched, as Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet did in the film. After a few seconds the third year metallurgy student from St Edmund's Hall College lost his balance and fell, hitting a tree in a garden and then a bicycle beneath it. His parents, Steven and Bridget Dawson, were at Oxford coroner's court where it was said that he climbed over a fence before scaling the crane, which was visible from the window of his bedsit. Anthony Partridge, the landlord of a public house near the crane, said: "He was standing at the end of the boom, bolt upright, arms outstretched in a DiCaprio and Winslet sort of thing." Police were called but could find no sign of anyone. Mr Dawson's body was found in the back garden of a house the next day. Verdict: accidental death.
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Variety:
6/19/00
THE ACADEMY'S STUDENT AWARDS

THE ACADEMY'S STUDENT AWARDS program paid off for three young creators, thanks to Steve Guttenberg. He was a presenter and was so impressed, he's set the trio for his own feature film, "P.S. Your Cat Is Dead" from James Kirkwood's play and novel. Guttenberg is directing, as well as starring, and he co-adapted the script with Jeffrey Korn and is producing with Kyle Clark. Steve is financing the pic on his own. The three student winners working on his film: David Armstrong, cinematographer; Derrick Vaughn, editor; and Marnie Banack, co-director. But the pic shuttered while Guttenberg recovers from a shoulder injury. He was also doing his own stunt! … Melanie Griffith's sister Tracy is the chef, along with Jason Yamazaki at Mark Fleishman's Tsunami eatery. On hand to well-wish 'em at their bow Wednesday: Melanie (natch), Pierce Brosnan, Suzanne Somers, Jennifer Aniston, Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kevin Spacey, Drew Barrymore, Cybill Shepherd, etc. P.S. Tracy's on the lower level sushi bar, cooking … Add family showbizness: At the D.C. preem of the National Geographics docu "Destination Space," producer John Rubin, his father Stanley (who produced "Destination Gobi" in 1952) and his mother, actress Kathleen Hughes (who starred in "It Came from Outer Space" also in 1952). Spaced out!
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Newsday - Liz Smith:
6/19/00
Can we ever get enough movie star photo books?

Of course not! In the fall, Vanity Fair will publish the latest and perhaps glossiest addition to this genre. It'll be called "Vanity Fair's Hollywood," 320 pages, edited by Graydon Carter (a real labor of love for him), text by Christopher Hitchens and an afterword by celeb maven deluxe Dominick Dunne. The photos, from VF's archives, will display stars from Garbo, Gloria Swanson and the Gish sisters to Tom Cruise, Madonna and Leonardo DiCaprio.
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Complete London Evening Standard article
London Evening Standard:
6/19/00
The death of the superstar

All things about stardom are just f***ing bullshit,' said Noel Gallagher last month when his brother Liam announced that he was born to be a star. 'The more you believe it the more stupid and meaningless your actual life becomes.' Patsy Kensit is suffering from 'depression and exhaustion and her marriage to Liam Gallagher is on the rocks Noel has discovered that normal life and stardom are incompatible, so he's taken up fishing and swapped the fun-house atmosphere of Supernova Heights for a clifftop mansion in Ibiza... ...But whatever way you cut it, being a superstar takes more than wearing tinted Lennon specs and going awol now and again. It takes more than starring in the most successful comedy series of all time (sorry, Jennifer) or even a blockbuster movie. Leonardo DiCaprio, Gwyneth Paltrow - very famous, yes indeed, but not in the superstar league. Star quality is two parts mystique and only one part genes. A real star, as we are finding out, is rarer than Anna Wintour's steak diet.
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USA Today:
6/19/00
Diana's son turns 18 As William enters adulthood, public interest climbs -- and the press prepares to pounce

Stand back, Leonardo. Out of the way, Ricky. Get lost, Backstreet Boys. Make way for His Royal Highness Prince William of Wales -- the boy who will be king some day, the boy who becomes a man next week, the boy who is already a global superstar. Not that William Arthur Philip Louis Windsor is thrilled about that last part. But all eyes are on him because he is unmistakably Princess Diana's son: He has her startling blue eyes, her blond beauty and lanky grace, her brilliant smile, even that bashful way she had of ducking her head. More to the point, he's rich, he's gorgeous, he's royalty, and he's the most eligible teen heartthrob on the planet. What does he expect the world to do, ignore him? Fat chance. On Wednesday, he turns 18 and comes of age under British law. That means he can be addressed as Your Royal Highness. It means he could ascend the throne without the need for a regent. It means his royal relatives can position him as their best hope to improve their image and save the monarchy from terminal irrelevance in the 21st century. Perhaps most important to William, turning 18 means he will no longer be protected from the prying pens and lenses of the press. For nearly three years, since the shocking death of the much-mourned Diana, even the British tabloids have adhered to a gentlemen's agreement that curtails press coverage of the princes. As a result, William and his brother, Prince Harry, 15, largely have been left alone to recover from the trauma of their mother's death, to bond with their much-maligned father, Prince Charles, and to grow up unmolested in the cosseted precincts of Eton College, Britain's most elite private school. Now, everything could change for William, affectionately known as ''Wills.'' His mother is gone. So are Jackie Onassis and John F. Kennedy Jr. That leaves William as the world's most fascinating celebrity. ''He's Leonardo DiCaprio in a crown,'' says Kitty Kelley, American author of the unauthorized biography The Royals. ''But he's going into this huge celebrity glare with the goodwill of the globe. Everyone wishes this young man well. All hearts are open to him.'' ''He has to take his place with the rest of the senior members of the royal family, and it will be open season from now on,'' says British biographer Brian Hoey, author of 14 books about the royals. ''The gentlemen's agreement will be off, and he will be subject to a great deal of media attention.'' But not yet, if his father and the royal bureaucrats have their way. They are saying as little as possible about William and his birthday plans, except to note that he will be taking his A-levels, the equivalent of final exams and SATs, on the big day. His father's office at St. James's Palace plans to release photos and news tidbits today, as it did on his 16th birthday. Most likely, the announcement will involve his education -- recent reports say he will go to the University of Edinburgh in Scotland to study art history -- and plans for his ''gap year,'' the customary year off between secondary school and college. In honor of the occasion, William will appear on stamps, a set for Commonwealth countries that will depict him growing from a toddler to a young man. But because of his exams, William won't be joining his royal grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, at Windsor Castle for the huge bash she is giving Wednesday to celebrate the Queen Mother's 100th birthday, Princess Margaret's 70th, Princess Anne's 50th and Prince Andrew's 40th, all of which take place this year. Instead, there are reports that William will throw his own party with close friends at a later date at a cook-your-own-meat bistro in London. There also are stories that his plans provoked a row with Charles, 51, who is said to want him to celebrate more quietly at their country home, Highgrove. And there is starting to be more talk about the budding Prince of Hearts and his apparent eye for the opposite sex, along with fevered speculation about whom he'll marry some day. Stiff upper lips zipped To all this, the palace responds with disdainful silence. In fact, there is a concerted effort, spearheaded by Charles, to keep William under wraps until he's 21, an apparent contradiction given that he can reign at 18. Courtiers make hopeful noises that the media will treat William at 18 as carefully as they treated him at 17. ''They will continue with the code, since in theory, he will still be in full-time education,'' says Dickie Arbiter, a Buckingham Palace spokesman. Royal expert and family friend Lord St. John of Fawsley agrees: ''I think now the protective cloak will be loosened, but it won't be dropped altogether.'' Peter Archer, the longtime royals correspondent for the British Press Association, adds a caveat: ''The problem will be the first time he is spotted with a girlfriend. It will probably be a media feeding frenzy.'' Still, London media critic Matthew Engle says that in the post-Diana environment, the press faces pressure to stick with the agreement. ''It's doubtful that an editor could survive a major breach of privacy, there would be so much moral pressure from the public.'' However, there are signs the palace is losing control. The tabloid News of the World on Sunday printed unauthorized pictures of William playing football and polo and running at school. Charles angrily objected to the Press Complaints Commission, which will issue new guidelines on covering William once he leaves Eton. Also, a British TV channel will run a 30-minute documentary on William next week, despite Charles' refusal to cooperate. On the other hand, the British Broadcasting Corp. dropped its birthday documentary for fear it was too critical of the prince. Aside from Charles' understandable desire to shield his son, there is precedent for his strategy. ''The palace won't be trotting him out in public much until he's 21,'' the traditional age when royal duties kick in, says Bob Houston, editor of Royalty magazine in London. Moreover, William is not likely to be Prince of Wales, let alone King William V, for decades, owing to the queen's likely longevity and Charles' determination to take his turn on the throne. The royal and legal experts agree on this: Neither the queen nor Charles will abdicate in favor of William. In the meantime, the British people's regard for William is likely to grow, assuming he doesn't disappoint them. All his relatives are ''damaged goods,'' Engle says. ''The public is longing for William to turn out as a glamorous, heterosexual bachelor who eventually settles down and has 2.4 children. This is what the monarchy needs and what the public wants.'' William is not signed up to enter university this fall, Hoey says, so it seems likely he will travel and work part time in his gap year. The international press, which doesn't give a toss for gentlemen's agreements, is sure to view William as fair game: He can make a lot of money for the media. Where will he go on his year off? Argentina has been mentioned, but Canada and Australia are more likely. William was greeted by hordes of squealing teens in a visit to Canada with his father in 1998, and Down Under is the place where his father and his close friend Zara Phillips, a cousin, spent happy times during their gap years. Also, the queen is anxious to preserve the monarchy in those wavering countries, so it couldn't hurt to send William to make nice with the locals. If William goes to Edinburgh (an unprecedented choice -- his father and Uncle Edward went to Cambridge), that would be seen as bolstering the monarchy's image in republican-leaning tartan land. Wherever he goes, he will be followed by a wolf pack of paparazzi. William has been grumpy and uncooperative with the pack in the past; he believed they hounded his mother to her death. One report has it that William at 15 angrily told his father he didn't want to be king because he associates the monarchy with Diana's misery. Someone must have advised him to get over it. At a ski holiday in April in Switzerland, William was relaxed, smiling and joking in published photos with his brother and father, with whom he clearly has a loving relationship. Indeed, the obvious father-son bond has helped redeem Charles' battered image. ''His father is responsible for how well (William) has turned out,'' says Harold Brooks-Baker, Charles' longtime defender and publisher of Burke's Peerage, which tracks British aristocracy. Keeping his distance Yet, like many teens, William is uncomfortable with attention. When he got his driver's license last year, his father arranged a photo opportunity with William zipping about in a borrowed car. ''How embarrassing,'' William was heard to say as the session ended. But he must have really squirmed when the papers breathlessly reported that he was seen snogging (kissing) an older girl last year. Not to mention the unverified, and unverifiable, report that he lost his virginity on a yachting trip in the Aegean last summer. This month, America's Talk magazine, edited by British-born royalty fan Tina Brown, ran a six-page spread identifying 22 royal and non-royal girls --including some he has never met and teen warbler Britney Spears, with whom he has only exchanged e-mail -- who might be in the running for the Future Wives Club. In reality, royal trackers say, it's unlikely William will marry soon. (His mother married at 19, and look how well that turned out.) ''People are beginning to talk about it, but it's far too early to make any bets,'' Brooks-Baker says. Maybe, but William is still a media target. In addition to his looks, his position and his great expectations (he is heir to a 10-figure fortune), people respond to him and want to know more about him. They know he was the first royal heir to wear disposable diapers and the first to go to McDonald's. They know he often played peacemaker during the painfully public disintegration of his parents' marriage, and they saw how he conducted himself with courage and dignity during his mother's funeral. As a future king, and compared with his father, William's upbringing has been unprecedented, and not just because Diana took him on visits to homeless shelters. ''There's never been a situation with a male heir where there's been so much press interest,'' says Jerrold Packard, an American who has written three books about British royals, including Victoria's Daughters. Despite the palace's best efforts, royalty reporters and authors have gleaned some information over the years about who William is. As a child, he was bossy and something of a little terror, but he has grown into a tall (6-foot-2) young man widely praised as decent, intelligent, responsible, self-confident, independent and fun-loving. He is said to be down-to-earth, with something of his mother's social conscience, but not her emotional openness and instability, and some of his father's integrity and sense of duty. He is close to his brother and is both protective of and competitive with Harry, especially in sports. He likes shooting, hunting and other outdoor sports that the Windsors love and his mother loathed. For his confirmation, his father gave him a pair of hunting rifles. He has taken up polo, the sport of his father and grandfather, and has his own polo pony. He has a dog, a black Labrador named Widgen; a car, a gold credit card and the only key to his own flat at St. James'. His father's longtime mistress and possible future wife, Camilla Parker Bowles, whom William is said to get along with, reportedly has quarters next door. He works hard in school and gets good marks. All the other boys are addressed by their last names, but he is addressed as William and wears the letters WOW, for William of Wales, on the back of his school jacket. He put Cindy Crawford's poster on his wall. He has been spotted in hair gel and wraparound sunglasses. He likes jeans and khakis, but he also wears suits from Savile Row and shirts from Turnbull & Asser, just like his father. He does not especially like protocol and meddling courtiers and has been known to complain if his father's press secretary is on the scene. Soon he will have his own press secretary. He already has assistants to handle his schedule and answer his bags of fan mail. Although Diana sought to introduce him to people from all walks of life, his circle of friends now includes mostly young aristocrats, the children of his father's friends and his older Windsor cousins. He also is friendly with some of his Spencer cousins, although the influence of his mother's clan has diminished since his uncle, the Earl Spencer, defiantly vowed in his eulogy for Diana that her ''blood family'' would shape her sons' upbringing. Now it is clear that even if William looks like a Spencer, he is a product of the Windsors. Meanwhile, some of William's close chums -- including Tom Parker Bowles, son of Camilla -- have publicly admitted to using cocaine. But William has not been tagged with serious misbehavior. ''I've seen no sign that he's interested in drugs or drink,'' Lord St. John says. In any case, he is followed at all times by bodyguards; reportedly, he wears an electronic tracking bracelet. And observers suspect he is too sensible to do anything that would embarrass his family. After all, he has to go to tea at Windsor Castle every few weeks to visit the queen, who is said to be pinning her hopes on William as the family's standard-bearer. ''He has to be extremely careful who he is seen with or where he is seen,'' Hoey says. ''He does not want to be trapped by clever reporters into saying something that could be used as a sound bite.'' Having low-key fun Instead, high jinks for William are relatively tame. In April, while on a school field trip in northern England, he was among a group of Eton students who took to the stage of a karaoke bar to belt out the campy Village People hit Y.M.C.A. The bar owner said the prince was polite: He stuck to mineral water, thanked the staff and bussed the glasses from his table to the bar. However, Williams also sometimes smokes, to his father's despair. He and friends like to hang out in nightclubs in Chelsea on the weekends. And he has been known to quaff a lager: After New Year's, he joked that he still had a hangover from millennium celebrations. Like most young royals, William can be expected to serve in the military. The family tradition is to join the navy. But William reportedly has expressed interest in joining the SAS, a sort of British Green Berets. But royal watchers say that idea is a non-starter: It's too dangerous, and the SAS is a clandestine service. ''You can't be an undercover prince,'' Archer notes dryly. More than likely, William will join the Welsh Guards, probably after college. He also might spend time at Harvard; his father has always had a high regard for the other Cambridge. ''It would do him a world of good,'' Hoey says. In the meantime, Hoey says, Charles is looking for a house in Wales for his son to use as a base. ''Next year, the queen will be 75, and a lot of her duties will pass to Charles, especially the long-distance trips and state occasions, so he will need someone to take over some of his responsibilities,'' Hoey says. That would be William's job. It might not be the job he'd like, but it's the job he was born for.
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Complete Bergen Report article
Bergen Report:
6/19/00
In pursuit of the new masculine ideal

Antoinette Albus, aesthetician, dipped a tongue depressor into a bowl of hot wax and spread it across the back of an average man. "It's going to feel a little warm," she said, "and then like you're having a Band-Aid ripped off." No problem, the shirtless gentleman reasoned, a small price to pay to bring him one step closer -- as close as this particular man would get, anyway -- to resembling a model in a Calvin Klein underwear ad. What's a few bucks and a few tugs to become more sleek, more in tune with the times, more desirable to the opposite ... YEEEEOOOOWWW! The gentleman was me, and -- strictly in the interest of research -- I was paying a visit to Toppers Spa. Call it temporary insanity. True, women have done this kind of thing for generations (and with far less whining), going through all sorts of pain and discomfort as they strove to live up to some impossible media-imposed ideal. We didn't. That's what made us -- or so we liked to think -- men. Today, though, more men are getting facials, dye jobs, manicures, pedicures, and cosmetic surgery, and even using cosmetics. There are more men's grooming products on the market than ever, and we are buying them. Men's services have become the fastest-growing segment of the day-spa-and-salon industry: Where only a brave, dandy, Niles Crane-ish few ventured 10 years ago, men -- many of them regular Joes -- now account for up to 30 percent of business, salon operators say. And many are there to get waxed -- backs, shoulders, chests, eyebrows even. "Men's services are becoming huge," said Richard Keaveney, president of Toppers Spa, which added a men's club this year. "My guess is that the emphasis on fitness led to men subscribing to men's magazines, and that leads to 'Oh, I can look like that,' and that leads to the realization that none of these people have hairy bodies." Others say the hairless look got its start in San Francisco's gay community, and that it -- if not the whole increased emphasis on appearance among males -- caught on among heterosexuals who realized that, relatively speaking, they were looking pretty frumpy. Whatever it is -- fighting age, an offshoot of the fitness craze, having too much money and time, simple vanity, or wanting to increase our sex appeal -- men, more than ever, are striving to obtain perfection as defined by the fashion, entertainment, and advertising industries. Call it the Beauty Myth, male version. Like the female version, it involves the creation of an ideal that is totally arbitrary, difficult, costly, and time-consuming to achieve, and subject to change at any time. Just as the ideal of beauty for women has changed, so it has -- though not overnight -- with men. Peruse Playgirl, check out some Chippendale dancers, look at that hunk on the cover of the latest romance novel, or ogle any trendy male movie star: What do Brad Pitt, Keanu Reeves, Tom Cruise, and Leonardo DiCaprio all have -- or, more precisely, lack -- in common? Chest hair. The Burt Reynolds look is as old as, well, Burt Reynolds. For today's model male, much like today's male model, body hair is "out" -- not just on your back and shoulders, where it has commonly been viewed as gross, but pretty much everywhere else you have it with the exception of your head. "It might be argued by a cynic that the media have stretched the limits on how far they can manipulate women, and now are choosing to go to work on men," said Jeffrey David Ehrenreich, a professor of anthropology at the University of New Orleans. "Men's magazines," he added, "are now doing to men what women's magazines have been doing to women since their inception."
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Jam Showbiz:
6/19/00
LION-LIKE:

For any squealing teenage girls who were horrified that I described Leo DiCaprio as having put on a few pounds when I spotted him in Central Park recently (my date was wrong, but it was him), let me just clarify: I meant it as a good thing. No real woman likes a scrawny guy. And finally, finally ... he's filling out
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Official DiCaprio site:
6/16/00
LAKERS WIN ! .... AGAIN !

In an overtime plot boiler ripe with drama, The Lakers came out on top in game four of the NBA finals. The battle, set between the L.A Lakers and Indiana Pacers, was guaranteed to satiate the craving of any basketball fan. With Shaquille O’neal fouling out in the final seconds of regulation, it was up to young gun, heart of gold and purple, Kobe Bryant to dash the hopes of the Pacers in overtime by displaying his dazzling one on one moves and scoring 8 points. And so, the Pacers face elimination in game five, set for Friday in Indiana. Can they stave off the Laker onslaught? Well, we shall see.
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Official DiCaprio site:
6/16/00
UNEP SAYS DIVERS CAN HELP CORAL REEF CONSERVATION

Though coral reefs in South East Asia are at serious risk, there are solutions to the problems they face, a workshop in Phuket, Thailand found recently. The answer lies in bringing together the many parties who have an interest in the reef ecosystem, says the United Nations Environment Program's (UNEP) Hugh Kirkman. Coordinator of UNEP's Regional Seas Unit in Bangkok, Dr Kirkman says that when the true value of coral reefs is understood, most people will see they have a vested interest in keeping them in a healthy state. In South East Asia 230 million people live within 100 kilometers of coral reefs. They provide seafood, medicinal materials, tourism income and buffering from storms, and are one the planet's most biologically rich environments. Despite these impressive values, 80 percent of the region's reefs are at risk, from coastal development, pollution and over-exploitation, particularly through destructive methods like cyanide and dynamite fishing. The Coral Reef Monitoring and Data Acquisition Workshop, held last month in Phuket, focused on gaining information so that coral reefs can be mapped, monitored over time, and successfully managed. About 25 representatives from academic, government, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and commercial agencies were at the meeting. "Success stories are being created where people are taking an active interest in the well being of the reef," Dr Kirkman says. Anne Miller of the Reef-World Foundation, a United Kingdom-based NGO, is coordinating the activities of dive operators in Thailand towards coral reef conservation and resource management. A network of Reef-World action centers distributes educational products to support Reef Check surveys of dive sites and other community-based reef conservation initiatives. Phuket-based dive operator Ms Pakdee Khrouthanang is typical of a growing number of entrepreneurs who are helping educate divers about the environment they visit, through the program. Among her company's itinerary of trips she offers the opportunity to complete a Reef Check survey of a dive site. Reef Check, founded by workshop participant Dr Gregor Hodgson, is a method for checking the health of a coral reef that can be easily used by volunteers. Reef-World provides the tools and means for dive operators to offer Reef Check as part of their services, and links the survey data collected by volunteers with other data collection programs carried out by Government agencies and universities in the region. Ms Miller said the program now operating in Thailand could be extended through out South East Asia. Dr Kirkman said the meeting identified the need for greater standardization and sharing of information, and the importance of providing feedback to the community so that it could participate in monitoring and managing the environment. "In recognizing problems and finding solutions we can learn a little from the reef itself," Dr Kirkman said. "Corals are colonies of individual animals and plants which succeed through collaborative strategies. As we become more aware of, and responsive to, the patterns we see in nature, then we will be in a better position to protect the region's coal reef ecosystems," Dr Kirkman said.
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Fox 411:
6/16/00
Madonna Ribbed by Former Friend

Let's give comic actress Sandra Bernhard some credit. She's not afraid to take on the tough subjects. At last night's CFDA Fashion Awards, Bernhard — who once stuck to Madonna like glue — gave the singer a zetz. "Am I speaking in a funny accent?" she said when she took the stage to present an award at Lincoln Center. "Well don't you know? I'm a different person now." Several people in the audience immediately commented that Bernhard was mimicking Madonna's recently adopted British accent. Madonna, of course, comes from Michigan and is Italian-American. The CFDA pulled quite a star-studded crowd. Everyone from Wyclef Jean, of Fugees fame, to Puff Daddy was there. Models were in abundance of course, including Naomi Campbell and oft-noted Leonardo DiCaprio news item sharer Giselle Bundchen. Nancy Kaszerman/ZUMA Naomi Campbell Puffy, by the way, did not win his award for his Sean John line of clothing. At the after party, where Destiny's Child played under a tent in front of Avery Fisher Hall on the Lincoln Center, Billy Zane — once of Titanic fame — was among the B-level movie stars mingling in the crowd
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Excite News:
6/16/00
On hand to well-wish 'em

Melanie Griffith's sister Tracy is the chef, along with Jason Yamazaki at Mark Fleishman's Tsunami eatery. On hand to well-wish 'em at their bow Wednesday: Melanie (natch), Pierce Brosnan, Suzanne Somers, Jennifer Aniston, Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kevin Spacey, Drew Barrymore, Cybill Shepherd, etc. P.S. Tracy's on the lower level sushi bar, cooking.
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Complete Washington Post article
Washington Post:
6/16/00
For Plane Talk, Bush Is First-Class, Gore Goes Coach

Bush makes the reporters feel that they each have a personal relationship with him. They all get nicknames (Frank Bruni of the New York Times is "Pancho"; CNN's Candy Crowley is "Dulce," Spanish for "sweet"; Australian-born Patricia Wilson of Reuters is "Outback Woman"). He has running gags; he always talks about fixing up Pelosi with a Newsweek writer, always asks ABC producer John Berman, a Boston native, how the Red Sox did last night. He talks so much about his two favorite topics, sports and his Texas ranch, that the reporters roll their eyes when he gets started. On other subjects, Bush is less well informed; the reporters are surprised to learn that the governor of Texas has never heard of Leonardo DiCaprio.
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E! Online- Letters to Ted:
6/15/00
Dear Ted

Dear Ted: Your comment about an animated flick not being worth $265 mil was a bit simplistic. Dinosaur is not an ordinary animated film. Disney used an innovative technique that combined live-action backgrounds and computer-generated imagery. Innovation usually costs big bucks, especially when it comes to special effects. What's the difference between Dinosaur's budget and that of Titanic, besides $65 mil? Shan Elyria, Ohio

Dear Shan Shun: Stars like Leonardo DiCaprio and a director like James Cameron, who require multimillion-dollar contracts, for starters. And for the record, Disney insists its lovely little flick cost a mere $200 mil--before marketing. I still say that's a lot of cash for what's basically a very competent computer-generated cartoon. Fine, so I'm simplistic. I've been called worse (and not just by my mother).
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USA Today:
6/15/00
Fight club

L.A. finally has a major championship boxing match, and it's Saturday at the Staples Center. Major names are paying $900 a head to see hometown boys Oscar de la Hoya and "Sugar" Shane Mosley duke it out. Mel Gibson, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith,Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson, Denzel Washington, Sylvester Stallone, Drew Carey, Edward Norton, Adam Sandler, Pamela Anderson Lee, Sean "Puffy" Combs and Jennifer Lopez, Mark Wahlberg, Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant and Mark McGwire are just some of the VIPs confirmed. They also will attend receptions before and after the fight hosted at the Staples Center Grand Reserve Club by center prez Tim Leiweke and Pat O'Brien of Access Hollywood.
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USA Today:
6/15/00
'Titan' looks to draw in teen audience

An unlikely crew member was aboard for the making of Titan A.E., an animated sci-fi movie opening Friday. Costume designer Kym Barrett helped create a futuristic but realistic look for Titan's animated characters, who embark on an epic space journey after Earth is destroyed in 3028. ''We've never gone to the trouble of hiring someone specifically trained to do costume design before,'' says Titan co-director/producer Gary Goldman (An American Tail, Anastasia). ''Usually the animators spread out and do lots of jobs. This is a first for us.'' The studio behind the combination of computer and traditional animation, 20th Century Fox, was ''trying to get as many ideas that were fresh and new and not what you saw in traditional animated movies,'' Goldman says. The reason: The film's target is teens, an audience tough to lure to animation. Barrett had experience with teen-oriented fare, designing costumes for flesh-and-blood actors in William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet, which starredLeonardo DiCaprioand Claire Danes. This time, she was called upon to create costumes for 'toons voiced by such actors as Matt Damon, Drew Barrymore, Bill Pullman and Janeane Garofalo. ''Fox said, 'How would you feel about doing a cartoon?' I thought, 'I can't draw. I have no idea how I would do that,' '' Barrett says. Animators were to do the actual drawing, she was told. She just needed to conceptualize. Because much of the film was created by computer, the costumes could be more detailed than in traditional animation, so Barrett spent about three months stretching her imagination to accommodate ''really interesting weirdo characters.'' ''We really went to town -- especially on the extras,'' Barrett says. Barrett even ventured beyond clothes to creating looks for creatures from outer space. ''I tried to mix up cultures and races into how an alien world might be after people had assimilated,'' she says. She suggested that one character sport a yin-yang tattoo across his bald head. The reaction? '' 'Oh, hmm, a bit radical,' '' she reports. Studio execs ''would say, 'There's too much nakedness; that character's too bald; don't make him look so Buddhist.' But you have to give them stuff to bounce off of. You start out in far left field and then come to right field.'' Her suggestions intrigued Goldman. ''Some of them made the final cut and some didn't,'' he says. ''She had some really clever designs that we incorporated, like Akima's costume.'' Akima, the character voiced by Barrymore, wore ''boots to the knee and slightly aviation-style pants with leather insets,'' Barrett says, ''and a good sleeveless jacket with a halter shirt underneath.'' Barrett took her inspiration from aviation, heavy on the leather, hoping to convey a sci-fi Indiana Jones look. The biggest challenge was Damon's character, Cale, a reluctant hero who holds the key to mankind's future. ''He was the hardest because everyone had an opinion of what the man who saved mankind should look like; every executive wanted it to be himself,'' she jokes. Though she's back to clothing real humans (Johnny Depp and Heather Graham in From Hell, now filming in Prague), Barrett says she'd gladly work the animation beat again. ''I like the way I got a glimpse into another world,'' she says. Plus, there are some definite advantages. ''It was really fun to have characters that could fit into anything.''
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Salt Lake Tribune:
6/14/00
These Five Classics Are Ripe for Remaking

"Gone in 60 Seconds" has set a low standard for this summer's remake attempts. But rather than rail against the studios for all the bad remakes they have foisted upon us, here is a short list of those we would pay to see: -- "The African Queen": Imagine Leonardo DiCaprio in the Humphrey Bogart role, Kate Winslet for Kate Hepburn, and James Cameron directing. And don't forget what happened the last time the three of them made a movie about a boat. -- The time is ripe for a new "Shampoo." But instead of a hair salon, set it in a tattoo parlor. Billy Bob Thornton succeeds Warren Beatty as the philandering protagonist who wields a needle in lieu of a blow dryer. His new bride, Angelina Jolie, has the lush-lipped potential to make audiences forget Julie Christie's scandalous scoop-backed dress. And poor Laura Dern can draw from real-life experience to play the ditzy blonde whose naivete blinds her to her boyfriend's pathological infidelity. -- It wouldn't take much of a stretch for Jack Nicholson to play the middle-aged writer drowning in alcohol and cynicism in "Sunset Boulevard." Add a "Chinatown" chaser with Faye Dunaway as the delusional over-the-hill actress and Roman Polanski as her director-turned-butler. -- The way Vince Vaughn swaggered through "Swingers," he could do a mean Sinatra in a new "Ocean's Eleven." Unfortunately, rumor has it that the project is already being shopped to the usual suspects -- Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Bruce Willis. That's no way to round out a Rat Pack. Here's how we would cast it: Ben Affleck as Dean Martin, Hugh Grant as Peter Lawford, Ben Stiller as Joey Bishop, and Cuba Gooding Jr. as Sammy Davis Jr. As the token dame replacing Angie Dickinson, forget Julia Roberts -- Oscar winner Hilary Swank has already proven her ability to blend in with the boys. -- As long as dinosaurs are still the rage, what better moment to revive "One Million Years B.C."? Pamela Anderson is a natural to reprise the role that made Raquel Welch and her fur bikini famous. Opposite the prehistoric Victoria's Secret model, we would install Tommy Lee as the cave-dude with the big club. Maybe the folks who did the special effects for "Dinosaur" could update Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion handiwork. Best of all: No dialogue!
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IF Magazine:
6/13/00
THE BEACH

WE SHRED THE NEW DESERT ISLAND DRAMA STARRING LEONARDO DICAPRIO...
THE BEACH
EXT: BEACH - DAY

A group of blissfully happy-faced HIPPIES walk down an idyllic white sandy beach holding hands. They stop as LEONARDO DICAPRIO washes up on shore.

DICAPRIO

Hello everybody. I bet you thought I’d died at the end of TITANIC.

HIPPY #1

Welcome to our secret idyllic beach Leonardo DiCaprio. You can stay with us as long as you don’t do anything to bum us out.

Suddenly ten of DiCaprio’s entourage WASHES up on shore. Leo jumps into the air and KICKS his feet together.

DICAPRIO

All right dudes! Let’s party.

DiCaprio and his buddies proceed to get drunk, BEAT UP all the hippy men and SCREW all the hippy women.

HIPPY #2

Leonardo, you and your pals are real downer merchants. You have brought all of the bad parts of civilization and ruined our modern day Eden.

HIPPY #3

Yeah, just like the hippy episode of Star Trek.

One of the beaten hippies pulls out a rams horn and BLOWS into it. A shrill honking noise pierces the air and within seconds all the kids from LORD OF THE FLIES and THE SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON show up and proceed to savagely BEAT DiCaprio and his pals.

DICAPRIO (dying)

For this I waited two years to get back into films?

The leader of the Flies guys steps forward and removes his tribal mask to reveal he is EWAN MCGREGOR.

MCGREGOR

Eets wot chew geet chew basturd for stealing mah moo-vie.

McGregor tosses DiCaprio back into the water, grabs a naked BROOKE SHIELDS and SKIPS off toward the jungle.

MCGREGOR

Knewe shoah mah whar that Balue Lagoon be lassy.

THE END
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BBC News:
6/13/00
Thai tourist ferry sinks

Thai marine police have rescued 120 tourists from a blazing ferry off the popular southern resort of Phuket. The wooden King Cruiser sank shortly after being engulfed in flames following a fire in the engine room. The 27-metre ferry had been en route to the Phi Phi chain of islands, made famous by the Leonardo DiCaprio film "The Beach," which was filmed there.

The tourists, who came from Hong Kong and Europe, were evacuated to other boats in the Andaman Sea. Reports said none of the passengers was injured. Police are investigating the cause of the blaze which broke out at around 0900 (0200GMT). Safety Minister Pavena Hongsakul, who oversees the Tourism Authority of Thailand, had recently vowed to boost safety precautions aboard tourist boats. Last October four Singaporean tourists and their guide died when their tour boat capsized on Bangkok's Chao Phraya river. The tragedy came a year after at least 18 people, including a number of tourists, drowned when a ferry sank in the Gulf of Thailand off the popular Koh Samui resort island. Police suspect the King Cruiser, which was carrying an undetermined number of passengers, was overloaded with cargo.
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The Daily Star:
6/12/00
Film-maker carves out a solid career from a land of illusion

In the mecca of overnight success, Nabil Mechi realized his dream would only be achieved with perseverance, writes Nehme Abouzeid One thing you learn when spending time with Nabil Mechi is that he doesn’t like name-dropping. He knows that as a film editor in Hollywood, it comes with the territory. But he would rather show you his sample reel ­ evidence of his evolution as an artist ­ than talk about editing the Leonardo DiCaprio feature film Don’s Plum. Ironically, the 40-year-old Mechi is quite removed from the illusory world of Hollywood. At his comfortable offices in Santa Monica, California, just steps from a beach that would remind any good Lebanese of Raouche, he generally works alone and in silence, poised in front of a machine that whittles down hours of expensive footage into usable form. “Film editors are a one-man show,” says the Achrafieh native, noting a fact of life in the industry. After 15 years in the entertainment industry, Mechi’s hard work is finally paying off. In a city where everyone looks like an overnight success, he has built a reputation as a top-notch editor based on years of quality work. “Nabil is a true professional who knows how to tell a story,” said director Paul Boyd. “I trust him enough to give him the high-budget jobs.” Boyd recently used Mechi’s editing skills on Sting’s Desert Rose video, which features Algerian singer Cheb Mami crooning in Arabic. The video is wildly popular in the US for the ambiance it evokes of the Orient. Born in 1960, Mechi loved growing up in Beirut. “My street in Karm al-Zeitoun was full of palm trees and dates,” he remarks wistfully. “And Beirut was a liberal place. I saw Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange in theaters when I was 16. Musically, culturally, cinematically, it was a great education.” His father, George, and uncle Alfred operated Boutique Mechi, a clothing firm that designed haute couture for women. At the company’s peak, it had a storefront in Hamra and a factory in the Starco building in Bab Idriss. When the war hit, Mechi was a high school student in Fanar. After one of the buildings was bombed and schools started closing, his father sent him to live with his brother in southern California. But when the teenager emigrated, he found an America unlike the one he had seen in the movies. As a student at California State University in 1979, Mechi encountered a general ignorance of Middle Easterners. After four years at Cal State, Mechi won a scholarship to study film-making at the California Institute of the Arts. Upon completion of film school in 1985, his student visa expired and he was in the US illegally. “At the time, both Beirut International Airport and Port Beirut were closed. I would have had to swim to get back there,” he jokes, looking back on those desperate days. It was a difficult time personally and professionally, one that Mechi endured by reading Kahlil Gibran for inspiration. In search of opportunity, he moved to Philadelphia to work as a freelance newspaper photographer, a job he could do without a work permit. Later attempts to break into the film industry in Brussels and Paris failed. Then, in 1990, he got a straightforward two-week assignment as director of photography on a movie shoot in New Orleans, Louisiana. Mechi accepted it, figuring he would get a mini-vacation out of the deal. The film, titled Maggie May, ended up winning the 1993 Kodak Prix de Tournage at the Avignon Film Festival. The shoot also revealed that New Orleans was in need of directorial talent. His two-week stay turned into four years, during which time Mechi cast himself as an independent film-maker in the city. In New Orleans, he directed documentaries on topics as diverse as gospel music, drug use in the housing projects, and jazz musicians. His portrait of the celebrated local painter Rockmore earned him great exposure in the city. “New Orleans was the perfect place for me to learn and grow as a film-maker,” Mechi remarks. In 1994, he returned to Los Angeles, the mecca of the entertainment industry, with renewed confidence and a more substantial body of work. With business finally coming his way, he opened Murex Films as a post-production firm. For the name, he drew from his love of Lebanon’s ancient history. In Phoenician times, Lebanon was as famous for its dazzling garments made from the murex, a sea snail that emits a purple dye, as for its giant cedars. Murex Films’ first project was to edit a documentary on rock group the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Success on that job led to other high-profile assignments, such as the position of chief editor on sultry Toni Braxton’s video, You’re Making Me High, which had a budget of $1 million. Since then, music videos have made up the bulk of Mechi’s workload. He has edited nearly 200 of them, from artists such as Bryan Adams and Smashmouth to The Backstreet Boys and Babyface. Roman Coppola, the son of famed director Francis Ford Coppola, has worked with Mechi on a number of those projects. “Nabil is a very talented editor,” Coppola said. “He’s persistent and always willing to revise an edit until it’s perfect.” Ultimately, Mechi sees his future as a director. For the past two years he has been writing an original script for a film set in Lebanon. “It’s about coming full-circle. As a director, I get to use all the knowledge I have acquired over the years,” Mechi says. Unlike Ziad Douiery’s 1998 West Beirut, Mechi’s film is not a meditation on the civil war. In fact, it bypasses recent history altogether in favor of the country’s ancient past. “I want to show how important Lebanon was to the development of Western civilization,” Mechi says. Raphael Smadja, a director of photography and a former classmate at Cal Arts, feels Mechi has all the tools in his arsenal. “He has the great eye of a director of photography, the pace and rhythm of an editor, and the worldly perspective a director needs,” Smadja said. Currently, Mechi is trying to raise money for his film project. When the capital is secured, he is hoping to find an American male lead actor and either a French or Lebanese female star. The rest of the cast, he says, will be 90 percent local Lebanese. If all goes well, Mechi could be in Lebanon, filming soon. Regardless, Mechi is proud of his success because he has done it his way. He has had offers from wealthy investors who want to influence his script’s storyline, but he is resolute. “I’d rather not make this film than make it as someone else’s vision,” he declares.
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Kanasa City Star:
6/12/00
Pithy quotes

"I'm the first me. I have mad respect for Leo, but he throws out a lot of energy, whereas I'm like a spirit level."

-- Freddie Prinze Jr., telling the U.K.'s Smash Hits why he despises being dubbed "the new DiCaprio."
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JAM Showbiz:
6/12/00
DiCaprio obviously living the good life

SUNDAY IN THE PARK: Who'da thunk that that chunky-looking Italian guy rollerblading in Central Park last Sunday was heartthrob Leonardo DiCaprio? No one, not even the scantily clad young women playing volleyball recognized the disguised actor, decked out in sunglasses and his trademark baseball hat as he skated little circles on the pavement. Perhaps his best disguise of all was the extra inches of the good life he has put on around the waistline and his chipmunk cheeks. "With flesh like that," noted my speed-walking companion, "he'd never sink with the ship."
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Complete Yahoo News article
Yahoo News:
6/9/00
International Smorgasbord

This month, "Backlot Buzz" expands its usual New York-centric scope, to offer a slightly wider global view. Herewith: a world-famous, New York-based playwright's first international screenplay, a French director's first New York shoot, and, of course, "Hamlet" in New York. Can you say "chauvinistic?" Israel Horovitz: "Sunshine" "I've had two plays on Broadway by accident, and 50 Off," jokes playwight and screenwriter Israel Horovitz, sitting in the ground-floor office of his Greenwich Village brownstone, its walls lined with dozens of posters, including several in French and German from his various European productions. Horovitz's myriad works have been translated into at least 30 different languages, and he spends what he deems "an enormous amount of time every year mostly in France and London, and lately in Germany as well. Increasingly, I find my plays being done in other languages, even before they're done here." A few years ago he also began acting occasionally in his own plays (plus a few small films), and last August he starred in the London production of his "Stations of the Cross." All of this made Horovitz the perfect candidate to collaborate on the screenplay of "Sunshine" (opening June 9), the first English-language film from renowned Hungarian auteur Itsvan Szabo. "Two years ago my [late] agent called, saying she had something she knew would interest me, but it wouldn't pay any real money," recalls Horovitz. "At the time, I'd only seen 'Mephisto' [Szabo's first international hit, starring Klaus Maria Brandauer], so I rented 'Colonel Redl,' and it was like discovering [Ingmar] Bergman for the first time." Szabo and Horovitz's works reflect their Jewish roots. The latter grew up in Massachusetts with "a father who sounded like JFK." But his grandfather came to America from an orphanage in Eastern Europe, so the trip to Budapest to meet Szabo was a kind of homecoming, and the two had what Horovitz deems "an instant affinity." He was given a 600-page, word-for-word English translation of Szabo's original concept--a six-hour political history of Hungary in the last century. Horovitz says, "I'd never collaborated with anyone before, and this certainly was not a get-rich-quick scheme for a movie. I was tempted to run from it as fast and as far as I could." From script to film took two years and "Sunshine" clocks in at three hours, covering such major events as both World Wars and the rise and fall of Communism, as they affect the lives of one family. English star Ralph Fiennes plays three separate generations of Sonnenschein family patriarchs, and the stellar cast also includes Rosemary Harris, her Tony-nominated daughter Jennifer Ehle, Rachel Weisz, Deborah Kara Unger, and Horovitz himself, in a cameo. "Sunshine" has already won a Felix (the European Film Academy Award) for Best Screenplay and the Genie (the Canadian Oscar) for Best Picture. Although Horovitz demures at "sloganizing a profession," he feels strongly that "screenwriting is a very tough life, so writers should not give up the theatre. You just can't wait for the phone to ring, and besides theatre's so much more satisfying. Either get some actors and do a show or get a digital camera and film your script. It doesn't matter--the process is the same, although writing screen images is certainly different from writing stage language." Horovitz is currently finishing bio-pix about two heroes of his youth: one on actor James Dean, to be directed by Mark Rydell ("On Golden Pond"); the other for Miramax on jazzster Chet Baker (with Leonardo DiCaprio rumored for the lead). And, practicing what he preaches, Horovitz will see his play "My Old Lady" on Broadway next season.
###

LA Times:
6/9/00
Geery Had No Fear for Kennedy

Adam Geery of Kennedy High has a long way to go before equaling the heartthrob status of his distant cousin, actor Leonardo DiCaprio, but he has already topped Leonardo in one department--pitching at Dodger Stadium. The 16-year-old sophomore right-hander put on a magnificent display of courage Tuesday night in Kennedy's 4-2 City Championship victory over El Camino Real at Dodger Stadium. "That kid has a huge heart," Coach Manny Alvarado said. "He's so intense. He's so emotionally mature on the field. I dread going to the mound because I'd have to pry the ball out of his hand." Geery (5-5) struck out seven, walked none and finished with a flourish. After Kennedy scored three runs in the top of the seventh to take the lead, Geery retired three consecutive El Camino Real batters, two on strikeouts. He refused to give All-City shortstop Conor Jackson one last chance to bat with the tying run on base. "I was praying for one," Jackson said. Geery was not the first choice to start on the mound. He pitched a three-hitter last week to defeat Banning, 10-1, in the semifinals. Alvarado considered using Tim St. Pierre, but Geery's success in big games won out. "Anybody who went out there would have pitched as hard as he could to win the game," Geery said. "El Camino Real has one of the toughest lineups I've faced." Geery's former club teammate, sophomore pitcher Greg Acheatel, held Kennedy to one hit and no runs through five innings. He pitched the best game of his high school career. "I'm glad if we didn't win, [Geery] got to win," Acheatel said. "He's a great guy." Kennedy (23-11-1) entered the playoffs as the No. 9 seed, but the Golden Cougars left no doubt they deserved to be City champion after knocking off four perennial baseball powers in the playoffs--eighth-seeded Carson, top-seeded Chatsworth, fifth-seeded Banning and sixth-seeded El Camino Real. Alvarado tried for weeks to bring out the best in his players after they began the season with a 2-6-1 record. "I've been pulling out my hair," Alvarado said. "This team has been slow starting to breaths of life to rock bottom to where we are now. It was a roller coaster ride. This [City Championship] is no accident. They deserve it. They earned it. I don't see a selfish bone in our team anymore and I don't think I could say that a month ago." Alvarado took a moment before the playoffs to ask his players for a commitment. "All I want to do is talk to you guys and look into a bunch of you and see two eyes, with the same goals and same desires," he told them. No errors and no walks. Defense and pitching. That's how Kennedy was able to defeat El Camino Real. "That's a formula to win any championship," Alvarado said. From center fielder Danny Mata's running catches to shortstop Juan Sepulveda's flawless fielding to catcher Phil Avlas' scooping up pitches in the dirt, the Golden Cougars made every play. Left fielder Brandon Burton said the defensive wizardry is no accident. "It's the small things in practice," Burton said. It's going to be hard to defeat Kennedy next season. The Golden Cougars return all three of their starting pitchers--Geery, St. Pierre and Mata, plus two backups, Burton and sophomore Eric Moore. All-City catcher Avlas also returns, along with second baseman Chad Shaw.
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TV Guide:
6/9/00
Rob Lowe: Don't Call It a Comeback!

Former tabloid headliner and amateur videographer Rob Lowe just can't seem to escape those scurrilous rumors. The West Wing star gets a kick out of hearing how the hit show supposedly jump-started his career, and that he's back on top. "I never went away. I always worked and made a lot of money. I mean, it's not like I had to go and do a bus-and-truck tour of The Fantasticks," Lowe tells Mirabella. "I certainly was aware that I wasn't making any '20 Hottest Guy' lists, [and] I'm definitely at a time where I'm not thrilled about having my damn waist size on the back of my Levi's!" But at least now they're zipped. In case you'd forgotten, back in 1988 Lowe got himself into a heap of trouble and took some nasty industry hits when the embarrassing story broke about how he had videotaped himself and two girls having sex (one was underage) while attending the Democratic National Convention. Forget nominee Michael Dukakis — it's Lowe's youthful sexcapades that people remember. "Well, my experience with people who come up to me on the street is that they don't give a s---," he says. "The only people that do are editors, journalists and, to use a Washington term, the liberal elite." While he keeps a much lower public profile these days, Lowe does harbor thoughts on being a few passes removed from the teen-idol torch, carried these days by the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio. "I have a lot of sympathy for him," Lowe says. "But, hey, I'm also aware that it's hard to get a pity party going for somebody who's rich and famous and being chased by women. Oh, well, what the hell — somebody has to do it."
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Ain't it cool news:
6/8/00
Sister Satan works her evil charms upon the GANGS OF NEW YORK script!

Damn, look at my sister go! Holy macaroni! Who knew she was a script consuming super-beast... triple numbers and all! Hey folks, Harry here... and I have to say my evil sister's taste have obviously been taken over by the evil monster being inside of her. Suddenly she's stopped slaying drifters and serving up milk carton kids... and she's become one of us... google goggle... one of us. Here she chimes in with a look at GANGS OF NEW YORK... take a look... Hello all, Sister Satan here with my review of "Gangs of New York" the new Martin Scorsese film.This script was handed to me by Fathergeek about a week ago, and when he told me this was Scorsese's up and coming film I kinda got nervous about me writing a review for a script of such magnitude, and I am still nervous...oh well, ummm...it was written by Jay Cocks & Martin Scorsese, its the fourth draft dated 3/31/99 so that does leave room for some changes. Here we go--it starts off in 1846 New York's Five Points, the most dangerous place on earth at the time... opening with an incredibly barbaric fight between gangs and through out the entire script the fighting hardly ever stops. The battles include men and women beating each other to bloody deaths with weapons of extremes: boards with nails, cleavers, dead new york rats bodies filled with lead being used as a blackjacks...very..very intense stuff! This film is definitely not for those with weak stomachs. The script covers a period of 17 years following the lead character "Amsterdam" whom has vowed to avenge his father's death by all means. This character is going to be played by Leonardo DiCaprio. ummm...(I personally think they should cast someone a little more convincing in the "I can kick your ass department" but hey--- maybe little ole Leo will pull it off.)Anywhoo-- Amsterdam reforms his father's old gang and while he grows within the script he meets his love interest "Jenny" a mort (thief/prostitute) who is to be played by Cameron Diaz(i believe she will be good) The film ends during the draft riots of 1863 and has a VERY climatic ending. Knowing Scorsese, we all know he is great at filming violence. However, things within this script, if done the way they are written, well I don't know how happy the rating people will be. There is soooooo much graphic stuff in this that some of it undoubtably will be cut. I hope not, I love all the carnage!!And it really is pretty gut wrenching stuff. However, Scorsese is working with cinematographers, film editors and designers he has worked with before and although this script contains MUCH more violence than any of his prior films I do believe they will edit it in a way that will get the point across perfectly and still show alot.I have total faith in Scorsese he has yet to really disappoint me. The character development is handled very well, and I am truly impressed that they did not turn this into a love story trapped in hell, rather they made HELL with a "COUPLE" who is just as bad as everyone else...In this script there are NO goodguys really, yes you'll take sides but no matter who you favor they're all pretty rotten...the lovey dovey couple is not really what you expect and there are no loyal friends...but all the characters have depth, which is of great importance...oh and so no one thinks this and to reassure you there is no comedy in this script whatsoever and thats good...I am really impressed with this piece of work and I hope any changes they make will not be drastic, because personally I think this draft is perfect, no corny lines, no supermushy stuff,no stupid lets throw in a comedian for laughs, none of that...Just good old fashion revenge with no fringe. Well my only real worry about this project is if DiCaprio will be able to pull his character off, I mean I can't really look at him as being a supreme kick butt kinda character, but MMMmmmm, maybe... If he does pull this off he will really move up in my book and surprise alot of people whom just see him as a prettyboy, this would really give people another image in their minds... OK well I hope everybody likes this and I am not hated by all the "Leo is god fans". If anyone has suggestions on how I can improve my reviewing or anything just let me know...and if there is anything else too...??? Well, I must depart to assemble my soon to come critters cage, it is very complex and the electrical barbed wire has been giving LOBO and I some trouble, so I will talk with you again soon...
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Excite News:
6/8/00
Entertainment Highlights in History

One year ago: "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me" took in $54.9 million on its opening weekend, making more in its first three days than the original movie did in its entire run. The original, "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery," tested poorly and opened to a tepid $9.5 million in May 1997. But audiences warmed up to Austin's humor, and the $16 million-budget film hung on through the summer to gross $53.9 million and turn a profit. And the top 10 of The Hollywood Reporter's Star Power '99 survey of bankable stars were, in order: Tom Hanks, Mel Gibson, Tom Cruise, Harrison Ford, Jim Carrey, Leonardo DiCaprio, John Travolta, Julia Roberts, Robin Williams and Brad Pitt. The Hollywood Reporter surveyed 135 entertainment industry executives, bankers, buyers and sales agents. The top 10 list was "a subjective look at the bankability of 525 actors and actresses worldwide."
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NY Daily News:
6/7/00
'Gang'-ing up on Daniel

It's a deal: Daniel Day-Lewis is coming out of retirement. The Oscar-winner has agreed to co-star with Leonardo DiCaprio in Martin Scorsese's "Gangs of New York." "Four years without Daniel Day-Lewis on the screen is enough," Miramax honcho Harvey Weinstein tells us. Last month, Weinstein, Scorsese and DiCaprio took Day-Lewis to Rao's restaurant in East Harlem and used all their powers of persuasion to get him aboard the 19th-century drama. "I think there was a lot of love in the room," says Weinstein, who worked with the moody actor on "My Left Foot." "Daniel worked with Marty on 'Age of Innocence.' And Leo idolizes Daniel. Daniel needed a couple of days to talk with his wife [Rebecca Miller]. But now he's ready to do it." Day-Lewis, whose last movie was "The Boxer," will play Bill the Butcher, an anti-Catholic vigilante who tries to block DiCaprio's character, Amsterdam, from uniting the ethnic-based street gangs. Robert DeNiro bailed out of the Billy part because of the long shoot in Italy. But Day-Lewis should have no problem with that. Since going into movie retirement, he's spent much of his time there learning how to make shoes. Shooting starts in August.
###

ABC News.com:
6/7/00
UK cinemas switch off All Saints film debut

"Honest," the movie debut for three of the British girl band All Saints, was being withdrawn from cinemas across Britain on Thursday after it was panned by the critics and flopped at the box office. The film's executive producer accused the media of waging a vicious campaign against Honest which opened at 220 British screens last Friday. "We have suffered vitriolic attacks from much of the tabloid press, and many of the broadsheets, which have taken myself and our distributors Pathe aback," Keith Northrop told the BBC. The movie about three sisters who turn to crime in London during the 1960s will be on show at only about 60 cinemas from Thursday. "The fact that it was given an 18 certificate, when one suspects that the core audience would be teenagers, has not helped the film," said a spokeswoman for the UCI cinema chain, which has dropped Honest completely. The ban on viewers aged under 18 was the result of scenes with nudity, violence and obscene language. CONTRAST WITH CANNES Northrop rejected the criticism and said the film had played better with non-British critics at the Cannes Film Festival, where its stars were less well known. "It's not an All Saints movie, we didn't set out to make "Spice Girls II," we set out to make 'Honest'," he said. "They were cast for creative reasons rather than cynical commercial ones." Eurythmics guitarist Dave Stewart made his directorial debut with the film that stars All Saints members Nicole and Natalie Appleton and Melanie Blatt. The band's fourth and only black member, Shaznay Lewis, was not involved. "We have even been accused of racism because we didn't cast Shaznay from the All Saints as part of the cast in the film," Northrop complained. At least All Saints can rely on the musical career that took off with a first hit single in 1997. They reached number one in the British music charts earlier this year with "Pure Shores" from the Leonardo DiCaprio movie "The Beach
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Electronic Telegraph:
6/7/00
Head for the sun . . .

Summer can wreak havoc on your hair, but a wave of new products offers protection from salt, chlorine and heat. Verity Owen reports UNLESS you keep your hair hidden under a hat for the entire duration of your summer holiday, it's all too easy to come home looking like Worzel Gummidge. Luckily, however, the latest hair care products are designed to protect your tresses from the damaging effects of the sun. Girls about town will no doubt be investing in the Phytoplage products from Phytologie. Rumour has it that Catherine Zeta Jones bought the entire range. Leonardo DiCaprio used the Sun Protection Oil (£9.50) while he was filming The Beach. It contains a blend of essential oils to soften and protect the hair, but is a little greasy. The Moisturising Sun Gel (£9), used by Cybill Shepherd and Bette Midler, is non-greasy and works wonders on dry, curly hair.
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SF Gate: Letters to Datebook
6/7/00
Letters to Datebook

Editor -- You know what is more creepy than a roommate owning the ``Star Wars'' theme on CD? Or the return of Jar Jar Binks? Or the fact that Leonardo DiCaprio wasn't even considered at all. What is more creepy is a reporter writing yet another sarcastic piece of dribble. Let that tired magazine Entertainment Weekly do that. I'm sure Mick LaSalle is capable of rising above its tired formula. I'd rather read an article written by Jar Jar Binks than another one like his. Yawn.

SCOTT MILAM Seattle
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Complete Outside Online article
Outside Online:
6/7/00
Trouble in Fantsay Island

Twentieth Century Fox sought out an isolated tropical beach in Thailand. Then they put Leonardo DiCaprio on it. And then created a vision of wilderness despoiled by a tale of wilderness despoiled. Out of which unfolds a media fable with real-life consequences in a world haunted by travelers' dreams of paradise. By John Tayman And how does Leo arrive on the beach? Is his route tangled, governed by mere chance, like all things that land on Maya Beach? Has he been pushed by winds swirling counterclockwise from the Indian Ocean? Ridden along on the easterly swells of the Andaman Sea? Spun up into the Phangnga Bay and squeezed between the high limestone faces of the twin islands Phi Phi Don and Phi Phi Lay? Did he move with the gentle current across the shallow bowl of Maya Bay, ten pulses each minute, and then wash aground on the narrow half-crescent of fine white sand? That is how things find themselves on the beach, after all, driven there through fluke and serendipity and fleeting human whim. And such forces apply universally, even to Leonardo DiCaprio. But start earlier: Open on Phi Phi Lay, a curling slip of an isle in the Hat Noppharat Thara National Park, 400 miles south of Bangkok. Pure chance has covered Phi Phi Lay in dark green casuarinas, bamboo, pandani, and palms. It brought red jellyfish and leopard sharks and angry green crabs into the bay, and set upon these creatures the inevitable predators: hungry macaques and hornbills and Andaman kites. Decades ago chance led the chao náam—small bands of Thai nomads—to Maya Beach, only to chase them away again when a random discovery on the island yielded a bounty of fragile swiftlet nests. Boiled and served as soup, the birds' nests are worth their weight in gold to Chinese gourmands. So off were shooed the chao náam settlers, and in 1983 Phi Phi Lay was declared officially uninhabited, no overnighters—yet another law for the island, immutable as the natural ones, and enforced by park rangers policing the shoreline in belching longboats, lest a swiftlet grow disturbed in its nesting by an errant human. The ephemeral influence of fiction first came to Maya Beach in the form of a popular novel, The Beach, written in 1997 by a 25-year-old Englishman named Alex Garland. His book tells the story of a young backpacker who by luck and chance locates a paradisiacal Thai beach, befriends its blissed-out occupants, and then unwittingly brings the Eden to a bloody and cinematic ruin. The best-selling novel—which is glib and fast and possessed of icy dark undercurrents—reads like a screenplay.
###

Official DiCaprio Website:
6/6/00
LAKERS WIN ! LAKERS WIN !

June 4th, Staples Center — For the first time in ten years, the Lakers are going back to the big dance. Powering over the Portland TrailBlazers, the Lakers managed to comeback from a fifteen point deficit in the fourth quarter and hold on for a win. They now advance to the championships, where they’ll meet the Indiana Pacers in a best of 7 showdown. With L.A’s most die hard fans in attendance, including Leonardo DiCaprio and friend Q-Tip, the surging synergy in the arena harkened back to the days of lore, when Magic Johnson held court on his thrown at center court. Indeed the Blazers seemed to crumble towards the end thanks to the overwhelming battle cry’s sounding abundantly from the more than 19,000 fans in attendance. And when, in the closing seconds, Kobe Bryant alley-ooped to Shaquille O’Neal for a monster dunk to seal the victory, The Staples Center made history by becoming the only man made facility ever to actually be transformed into an erupting volcano. Afterwards, as the fans flowed from the exits, DiCaprio could be seen screaming, high fiving and hugging with the rest of them, celebrating the Lakers on a most momentous occasion.
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The Mirror:
6/6/00
stuntman Andy Bennett dies hard

KILLED 25 TIMES IN PRIVATE RYAN AND 5 TIMES IN TITANIC, BURNED ALIVE IN MUMMY, ELIMINATED TWICE BY JAMES BOND, ANDY BENNETT HAS A . . JOB TO DIE FOR FEARLESS stuntman Andy Bennett dies hard - time and time again. For whenever the 33-year-old father of two appears in a film, he winds up dead. Tough guy Andy was killed 25 times playing hapless US and German soldiers in Steven Spielberg's war epic Saving Private Ryan. He died five times in the blockbuster Titanic and was set alight 14 times filming The Mummy. On top of that, he has twice been eliminated by James Bond as well as being blown up in TV's London's Burning and dying in a sea of contaminated fuel in Casualty. Andy admitted yesterday: "My life expectancy has not been very good so far. "Basically I get paid a lot of money for being killed." Filming Private Ryan on the beach at Wexford, Ireland, Andy met his end up to four times a day. He was: BLASTED by a German hand grenade which landed beside him in an underground American bunker. BURNED alive after a bomb exploded in his beach landing craft. CUT DOWN in a hail of bullets from a tank as he fled a burning building. DROWNED after leaping from a landing craft when his lifebelt failed him. BLOWN apart after treading on a landmine and being fired 10ft into the air. Former soldier Andy, who saw service in Ulster, said: "Death was a daily occurrence. It was a case of run up the hill to get shot, then run down the hill to get shot. "Get bombed on the beach, then get bombed in the sea. Get your left leg wounded, then wound your right. "Filming the landmine explosions was fun - you get blown high in the air by special stunt equipment called air-rams." Titanic buffs can spot Andy being trampled to death as a steward by terrified passengers, swept off the deck by a huge wave as he battles to free the last lifeboat and plunging to his death as the ship sinks. He is also crushed in the water by a massive metal funnel and makes a final fatal fall into the ocean as star-crossed lovers Kate Winslett and Leonardo DiCaprio watch in horror. Even when Andy realised a childhood ambition to appear in a James Bond film, he found it was a short-lived experience. The intrepid stuntman played two bad guy security guards in Tomorrow Never Dies. They were both shot in the chest by Pierce Brosnan's 007. Playing a Russian agent in The World Is Not Enough, he was wounded by Bond. Then he was machine-gunned to death by his own boss, Robert Carlyle. Disaster continued when Andy appeared in Fifth Element, starring Bruce Willis. He died in a hail of machine-gun bullets while falling over a bannister. There was no respite in The Mummy. Apart from being repeatedly set alight for a scene in which an Egyptian guard is burned alive, he was also mummified. Andy, from Chippenham, Wilts, quit the Army Air Corps to become a stuntman five years ago. He spent pounds 10,000 on lessons in sky-diving, fencing, trampolining, swimming, horse riding and scuba-diving to qualify for his Equity card. Now it looks as though Andy is finally going to get a life. When the curtain comes down on his latest film - so far unreleased Birthday Girl, starring Nicole Kidman - he is still alive after swimming across a freezing cold lake. Andy said: "I'm not really an actor, but I love clowning around and showing off. "Now I've survived my latest film there's hope for the future. Things are looking up."
###

The Mirror:
6/6/00
stuntman Andy Bennett dies hard

KILLED 25 TIMES IN PRIVATE RYAN AND 5 TIMES IN TITANIC, BURNED ALIVE IN MUMMY, ELIMINATED TWICE BY JAMES BOND, ANDY BENNETT HAS A . . JOB TO DIE FOR FEARLESS stuntman Andy Bennett dies hard - time and time again. For whenever the 33-year-old father of two appears in a film, he winds up dead. Tough guy Andy was killed 25 times playing hapless US and German soldiers in Steven Spielberg's war epic Saving Private Ryan. He died five times in the blockbuster Titanic and was set alight 14 times filming The Mummy. On top of that, he has twice been eliminated by James Bond as well as being blown up in TV's London's Burning and dying in a sea of contaminated fuel in Casualty. Andy admitted yesterday: "My life expectancy has not been very good so far. "Basically I get paid a lot of money for being killed." Filming Private Ryan on the beach at Wexford, Ireland, Andy met his end up to four times a day. He was: BLASTED by a German hand grenade which landed beside him in an underground American bunker. BURNED alive after a bomb exploded in his beach landing craft. CUT DOWN in a hail of bullets from a tank as he fled a burning building. DROWNED after leaping from a landing craft when his lifebelt failed him. BLOWN apart after treading on a landmine and being fired 10ft into the air. Former soldier Andy, who saw service in Ulster, said: "Death was a daily occurrence. It was a case of run up the hill to get shot, then run down the hill to get shot. "Get bombed on the beach, then get bombed in the sea. Get your left leg wounded, then wound your right. "Filming the landmine explosions was fun - you get blown high in the air by special stunt equipment called air-rams." Titanic buffs can spot Andy being trampled to death as a steward by terrified passengers, swept off the deck by a huge wave as he battles to free the last lifeboat and plunging to his death as the ship sinks. He is also crushed in the water by a massive metal funnel and makes a final fatal fall into the ocean as star-crossed lovers Kate Winslett and Leonardo DiCaprio watch in horror. Even when Andy realised a childhood ambition to appear in a James Bond film, he found it was a short-lived experience. The intrepid stuntman played two bad guy security guards in Tomorrow Never Dies. They were both shot in the chest by Pierce Brosnan's 007. Playing a Russian agent in The World Is Not Enough, he was wounded by Bond. Then he was machine-gunned to death by his own boss, Robert Carlyle. Disaster continued when Andy appeared in Fifth Element, starring Bruce Willis. He died in a hail of machine-gun bullets while falling over a bannister. There was no respite in The Mummy. Apart from being repeatedly set alight for a scene in which an Egyptian guard is burned alive, he was also mummified. Andy, from Chippenham, Wilts, quit the Army Air Corps to become a stuntman five years ago. He spent pounds 10,000 on lessons in sky-diving, fencing, trampolining, swimming, horse riding and scuba-diving to qualify for his Equity card. Now it looks as though Andy is finally going to get a life. When the curtain comes down on his latest film - so far unreleased Birthday Girl, starring Nicole Kidman - he is still alive after swimming across a freezing cold lake. Andy said: "I'm not really an actor, but I love clowning around and showing off. "Now I've survived my latest film there's hope for the future. Things are looking up."
###

TV Guide:
6/6/00
Age Before Beauty for Celebrity Drinkers

Yes, Leonardo DiCaprio is 25 years old and can legally knock back a few brewskis, but a majority of Americans say the baby-faced actor is the celebrity of drinking age most likely to be asked for ID when buying alcohol. A recent study by Anheuser-Busch indicates that 86 percent of Americans believe that ID-checking is an excellent or good way to reduce underage drinking, and 55 percent of those polled think Leo is the celebrity most likely to be carded. Runners-up included Will Smith, Winona Ryder and Gwyneth Paltrow. Will Smith? The man is 32 years old! The poll, conducted by the Data Development Corporation, reveals that it's not unusual for folks in their 30s to be carded, though. Nine in 10 young adults (ages 21 to 39) say they have been carded when buying alcohol, meaning that bartenders and shopkeepers are doing their part to prevent underage drinking. The best part of checking someone's ID, however, is that you're able to ascertain someone's true age! Thirty percent of those polled want to check Cher's ID to learn her true age (she claims to be 54), followed by Dick Clark (19 percent), Raquel Welch (15 percent), Zsa Zsa Gabor (15 percent) and Paul Newman (8 percent). Doesn't anyone want to see Susan Lucci's ID?


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Reel.com:
6/5/00
DVD extras

Here are some details on the extras included on the Beach DVD
Beach, The (Widescreen) (2000) Format: Widescreen DVD Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Subtitles: English, Spanish

Special Features: Director Commentary, Deleted Scenes, Theatrical Trailer Closed Captioned

Click here for some streaming media
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Popcorn.com:
6/5/00
Casting Ouch

FRANKENSTEIN
Leonardo DiCaprio:

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Complete LA Times article
LA Times:
6/5/00
The Hills

Leonardo DiCaprio loves it. So do Ben Affleck, Ben Stiller and Renee Zellweger. They love Hollywood Hills, a big residential draw for Young Hollywood. Old Hollywood loved the hills too. Charlie Chaplin lived there. So did W.C. Fields, Groucho Marx and Jean Harlow. Young celebrities have moved in and out of the hills since the beginning of the movie industry about 1915. But now the area, north of Sunset from Beverly Hills on the west through Los Feliz east of the 101 Freeway, is hotter than ever with Young Hollywood. "A generational shift is taking place in homeownership in Hollywood Hills," said Garrison Key of Key Properties in West Hollywood. Stars younger than 35, as well as scores of other young actors, musicians and behind-the-scenes entertainment types, are moving into the hills in greater numbers than ever, because the area makes them feel safe and comfortable at a comparably reasonable price. Realtors call it "The Great Migration East," because the farther east one goes, the more house one gets for the buck, although the 20,000 homes in Hollywood Hills are starting to catch up with the Beverly Hills area in terms of price, according to Deborah Moore of Coldwell Banker Previews in Beverly Hills. "You can still get more property with architectural integrity for a better price in Hollywood Hills," said Barry Peele of Sotheby's International Realty, Beverly Hills. During the last few months, Affleck, Stiller and Zellweger paid about $1.8 million each for their houses in Hollywood Hills. In the fall, DiCaprio bought a house there, once owned by Madonna, for $3 million. Though the community is not inexpensive, it's a far cry from more ostentatious neighborhoods where rising stars flocked in the past.
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LA Times:
6/2/00
Star Guru's Firm Headed for Bankruptcy

The former investment company of indicted money manager-to-the-stars Dana Giacchetto will be put into bankruptcy within a month, a court-appointed receiver for the company said Wednesday. Lawyer Steven Cohen said Giacchetto's Cassandra Group has only about $50,000 in cash to its name and virtually no other assets. Cohen said he will recommend to a federal judge that the New York-based company be liquidated under Chapter 7 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. The development marks still another chapter in the dramatic free fall of Giacchetto, 37, who is facing five federal criminal counts for allegedly misappropriating at least $9 million, much of that from celebrity clients such as the rock group Phish and actor Leonardo DiCaprio. Giacchetto, through Cassandra, was a highflying money manager with a client list and social circle of wealthy Hollywood stars and executives that also included actor Ben Affleck, actress Courteney Cox Arquette and talent manager Michael Ovitz. The federal indictment handed up in April alleges that Giacchetto squandered client money on such things as $120,000 in hotel bills, $100,000 in airline tickets, $55,000 in restaurant tabs and $8,000 on helicopter flights. Figuring out the size of Cassandra's debts is proving problematic because Giacchetto's books are so sloppy and, in some cases, questionable, sources said. For example, some assets listed as loans on the books appear to instead be repayments to people from whom Cassandra had instead borrowed money. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission lawyer Alexander M. Vasilescu added that complicating matters is that many of Giacchetto's assets are illiquid, notably investments in private companies. As a result, it's hard to figure out exactly how deep into the red Cassandra is, although sources said it could well be in the $10-million-to-$15-million range. Cassandra has about $9 million in liabilities, they said, and lists assets of $6 million to $7 million. But investigators believe some of those assets are dubious, which would inflate Cassandra's liabilities. Last week, Giacchetto, using money from his parents, hired prominent New York defense lawyer Ronald Fischetti after his first lawyer, Andrew Levander, bowed out when Giacchetto was unable to pay him. Fischetti has represented defendants in a number of high-profile cases, such as former New York police Officer Charles Schwarz, convicted of criminal charges in the highly charged case stemming from an assault on Haitian immigrant Abner Louima in a police station. Fischetti said Giacchetto is innocent and plans to apply to be released on bail. But he acknowledged that it might be difficult because Giacchetto was arrested earlier for violating the terms of his bail. In April, Giacchetto was discovered at an airport carrying a doctored passport, $4,000 in cash and 80 airline tickets worth $44,000. "It's never easy once a client has been remanded because the court found he violated bail provisions. But I think we have grounds to show what happened is really a misunderstanding and an overreaction by the government," Fischetti said.
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People Magazine:
6/1/00
Poll: Card DiCaprio

To promote the checking of ID as a means to deter underage drinking, the Anheuser-Busch beer company recently sponsored a survey, asking the public what celebrities should be carded. (Carded is the term for checking IDs for proof of age.) The runaway winner, with 55% of the vote, is Leonardo DiCaprio, who at 25 has been of legal drinking age for the past four years. He was followed by Will Smith (31), Winona Ryder (28) and Gwyneth Paltrow (27). At the other end of the spectrum, 30 percent of those polled said they'd like to check Cher's ID -- to find out her true age. (By PEOPLE's account, she recently turned 54.)
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Fox News.com:
6/1/00
Scientists Condemn Rainforest 'Hype'

If celebrities such as Sting, Leonardo DiCaprio and Naomi Campbell really want to make a difference to the environment, they should save the seas rather than rainforests, according to a founder of Greenpeace and a British scientist. They say that rainforest conservation is "eco-hype", and little more than a green confidence trick. Forestry scientists in Britain have turned on Dr. Patrick Moore and Philip Stott, accusing them of talking nonsense and being "selective with the evidence". The critics refuse to recant, however, saying that the oceans have far more wildlife than forests and are likely to harbor more potential cures for Aids or cancers. Dr. Moore and Professor Stott argue that logged tropical forests rapidly regenerate. "Anyone who has been in the jungle knows that if you want to live there you'd better take a few machetes. Otherwise it'll all be back," they said yesterday in an article in the New York Post. Dr. Moore, who helped to set up Greenpeace, and Professor Stott, of London University's School of Oriental and African Studies, believe that, even if areas such as the Amazon were lost, it would hardly matter in the great scheme of things. "Most things that happen on land are mere blips to the system, basically insignificant," Professor Stott, who also edits the international Journal of Biogeography, said. "In terms of world systems, the rainforests are basically irrelevant. World weather is governed by the oceans." The pair say that celebrities who campaign on the environment are cashing in on the popular but unscientific concern for rainforests. "Many of these stars want to have an impact beyond their normal music, and the environment is an area that they feel they can move into quite easily. A lot of young teenagers follow them," Professor Stott said. The critics, who flew over some of the 2.7 million square miles of tropical Amazonia, say that celebrities and green groups are grossly overestimating the extent of forest in the Amazon lost to logging and ranching. "We found that more than 90 per cent is still intact," Dr. Moore said. However, forestry scientists said that their figure is misconceived: secondary forests that have regrown are far different to primary jungle. Melvin Cannell, of the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology in Cambridgeshire, said that Food and Agriculture Organization figures proved that over recent years about 37 million acres of rainforest were being lost annually worldwide. In the Amazon, it was five to 20 million acres annually. Professor Cannell conceded that logged forests did regenerate, but said that they would never regain their former wealth of wildlife. He added that losing the entire rainforest of Amazonia was likely to increase temperatures in the region by 2C and reduce rainfall by a third. Professor Paul Jarvis, of Edinburgh University's Institute of Ecology and Resource Management, said that tropical forests were being lost at a rate of 5 per cent a year. "At this rate they will disappear in the next 50 years," he said. Paul Gardingen, also of the institute, said that the two experts had failed to take into account the impact on water quality. Logging silted up rivers and the mud washed out to sea suffocated coral reefs, which were nurseries for fish and of great value to tourism. On Dr. Moore and Professor Stott's view that it was nonsense to describe tropical forests as lungs of the Earth, Professor Cannell agreed that rainforests absorbed little carbon dioxide or emitted large amounts of oxygen, but said that felling forests affected carbon levels released into the atmosphere. He said that it was estimated that felling of tropical forests was adding between 1.6 gigatonnes and 2.5 gigatonnes of global warming gases. Current fossil fuel emissions were 6.5 gigatonnes annually. "To say that what we are doing to the tropical rainforests is inconsequential is nonsense," he said. Stephen Jennings, of Oxford University's forestry institute, said that while he disagreed with the broad thrust of the attack, he understood why the pair had made it. Too many experts felt that far too much funding was going into tropical forest research at the expense of other important areas, he said. He said it was true that vast areas of dense, untouched forest remained, especially north of the River Amazon, but in some areas, which once would have had 90 per cent forest cover, only 60 per cent remained. Logging might in some cases take few tracts of forest, but Dr. Jennings said that the roads built by loggers were increasingly opening up remote areas for damaging "slash and burn" agriculture.
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Variety:
6/1/00
"Earth to LA"

Back in L.A., showbiz is, as usual, lending all its talents to community efforts. Wednesday night "Earth to LA" at UCLA's Royce Hall raised over $1 million for the Natural Resources Defense Council, with appearances from Jewel, Carole King, Larry David, Al Franken, Rob Reiner, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Pierce Brosnan -- and a keynote speech by Robert Kennedy Jr. WB president Alan Horn, a longtime supporter of NRDC, had accompanied Brosnan to Baja Calif.'s gulf where they stopped Mitsubishi's plans for a salt plant in the whales' birthing waters. Horn said Wednesday night's event was to get the L.A. community further involved in issues of global warming -- and destruction. WB's "Green Mile" premiere benefited the NRDC and the studio's "Proof of Life" premiere at Xmas will ditto. Horn said Leonardo DiCaprio's involvement with Earth Day and now with this organization is important for the younger generation's participation. DiCaprio met with Al Gore, and the Horns are hefty supporters of Gore, a "true-blue environmentalist," and they will host an evening for him at their home.
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ABC News.com
6/1/00
A High Thai Moon

Drugs, Techno and 10,000 Dancers at a Thai Moon Party A dozen people slug beers and stare at the TV in an open-air video bar, watching Leonardo DiCaprio live out a dream about finding an unspoiled beach in Thailand with hardly anyone there. Outside the bar, a different kind of beach fantasy is unfolding. A full moon has risen over Haad Rin Bay on Koh Phangan, a rugged tropical island in the Gulf of Thailand. And on the beach to greet it are 10,000 revelers, most of them high on drugs or alcohol, grooving on the sands to a thudding bass beat. The monthly Full Moon Party at Koh Phangan is to beach raves what Mardi Gras in New Orleans or Rio’s Carnivale are to street bashes — the biggest and best. They draw 8,000 to 10,000 people, mostly in their 20s and early 30s, from Europe, the Americas, Australia, Asia, and even Africa. Leo Fever Hits Thailand The parties used to be advertised by word of mouth and flyers at cheap budget hotels in Bangkok. Now, the Internet has sites providing upcoming dates and photos of past bacchanals. In an odd twist, publicity surrounding DiCaprio’s latest film, The Beach, based on the novel by Alex Garland, is pulling in the biggest crowds yet at the moon parties, even though Koh Phangan and the backpacker culture it epitomizes are described in the movie as “cancers, parasites.” “It’s a crappy book and a crappy film, but because of it, there’s a lot of attention on Thailand, and Koh Phangan benefits from that,” says Paddy Douglas, 32, barman at the Outback, an off-beach watering hole. Douglas arrived on Koh Phangan 12 years ago. He remembers a single night club on Haad Rin, some huts that the few thousand islanders would share with visitors, and not much else. Nudists Looking for Sun Most of the party crowd back then were nudists who came to Koh Phangan to soak up sun away from Thailand’s mainstream beaches, where the unclothed are frowned upon. How far has Koh Phangan come? For the Millennium, which overshadowed the moon that month, the party drew more people than possibly any single event in Southeast Asia. Estimates ranged from 20,000 to 30,000 revelers a night for two straight weeks. The three-quarter-mile beach at Haad Rin was packed end to end with dancers. Several were injured by fireworks and one Frenchwoman hit by a rocket had to evacuated. A Dutch veteran of eight parties, Roel, 32, recalls the Millennium as so crowded you couldn’t move, “but it was the best party in the world.” (Most of the party crowd prefer not to give full names, wary of problems with customs and police.) “There’s no law,” says Roel, his vest and shorts revealing tattoos down his arms and legs. “That’s what I like about it. If you want to party, this is the best.” On this April day he was heading by ferry back to Koh Phangan’s tiny port, joined by other party animals, a van of police deployed for the night, and a few Buddhist monks headed for a temple. Roller Coaster Road to the Party Thousands arrive days before the party, hoping to get a bungalow at Haad Rin. More came just hours before sunset. Some pull up right on the beach in hired speedboats after dark. But the majority pack into pickup taxis or hire small motorbikes to drive 20 minutes from the port over a roller-coaster road, narrow and full of blind curves, to Haad Rin. None wear helmets, though few have ever been on a motorcycle before. Hospital officials say at least 231 riders needed treatment from accidents in the first three months of this year — more than half the total for all of 1999. So far this year, two tourists have been killed in physical assaults. Last year saw six fatalities from accidents, assaults, drowning and suicide. James, 20, of England, was riding during the Thai water festival a few days before the party when someone threw a bucket of water at him. Mushrooms, Hash and Internet Cafes “I ran into a post,” Hadley says, holding up a scab-encrusted hand. “I saw the same thing happen to another bloke and he broke his leg.” At Haad Rin, the old fishing huts are gone. The village is full of cheap guest houses and restaurants selling fried rice and burgers. Internet cafes sit next to shops hawking black-light tapestries of psychedelic mushrooms. Body-piercing parlors hang out photos of all the intimate places a stud or ring can be stuck. Tiny nursing clinics post signs offering sutures and pregnancy tests. Local people have given up fishing. They now have motorcycles and TVs and, even if they wish their visitors could be upgraded, they know that prosperity comes from the estimated $350,000 a month they spend. “The local people know that much of the island’s economy depends on outsiders who come to drink and do drugs,” says guidebook author Steven Martin. “Many here would like to see that change, but all-out partying is what Koh Phangan has become known for. Besides, without an airport, it’s difficult to bring in a wealthier, more sedate class of tourist.” Thai Prison is No Party So that local children aren’t corrupted by what they see of Western civilization, local police lecture in the schools on the dangers of drugs and extol the value of traditional Thai culture. As the sun sets over Haad Rin Bay, party goers head to their rooms and abuse whatever substances they brought or picked up from local dealers, who pass out flyers with the names of bars where they can be found. Users run a serious risk. Marijuana and Ecstasy are illegal and sentences to Thailand’s hell-hole prisons are long. Police set up drug-search roadblocks on party night and plainclothes officers patrol the beach. Fifteen people, including a few Thais, were arrested on drug charges at the April 18 party, says Police Col. Suwan Leelaporn, local police superintendent. That doesn’t count those who — foreigners insist — avoid jail by turning over hefty bribes. Suwan denies such allegations. “Drinking alcohol is allowed at the party, no matter how much,” Suwan says. “But all kind of narcotic drugs are prohibited. We see, we arrest.” There are far too many people for police to control. By 10 p.m., thousands are walking up and down the beach, drinking beer, liquor and stay-uppers, mixing Thai whiskey with a potent caffeine drink popular with truck drivers. The clubs crank up the music and over the next couple of hours the beach fills with woozy dancers in shorts, swim trunks, bikinis and sarongs, many decorated with body paint, moving choppily to the constant boom-boom-boom of drum’n’bass, the hypnotic sounds of techno, hip-hop, trance, house, and garage throbbing from a half-dozen sound stages and a dozen bars. Partiers Abuse the Land By midnight the surf has become a toilet for men and women either too desperate or too cheap to line up for the club lavatories or pay 10 baht (27 cents) charged by entrepreneurs running private stalls. By 2 p.m., most are drunk or stoned, dancing, jumping, staggering and collapsing. To anyone sober, the scene looks dangerous, the people demented. Many pass out. Unless they convulse, no one pays attention. At 3:45 a.m., the heavens dump tropical rain on the festivities, driving anyone who can still stand indoors. Many call it a night. By dawn, the skies have cleared and 4,000 people are still jamming. Many would stay until nearly noon, when the party petered out. The sun reveals a wasteland of motionless bodies and empty bottles. The hardier survivors — a few with bandaged feet after stepping on broken glass — take midday ferries out. For many, the party was the only reason to come to Thailand. Some head for Koh Tao, an island the party goers say is the closest they can find to the idyllic seclusion of Leonardo DiCaprio in The Beach. Mimo, a 26-year-old Swede, has seen the film three times. He enthuses about Koh Tao, joining his thumb and forefinger in a big O. “You know what’s great about Koh Tao? Zero police.”