Mr. Showbiz:
11/30/00
NBC Favors Titanic Over Bush

Who dares preempt the biggest movie of all time? Not NBC, apparently. The Drudge Report has come across a memo allegedly from NBC that instructed its broadcast affiliates not to interrupt this past Sunday's broadcast of Titanic for a speech from George W. Bush. NBC had shelled out $30 million for the network broadcast rights to the biggest moneymaking movie of all time and apparently didn't want its thunder stolen by any "breaking news." However, the network is now being criticized for breaking into prime-time programming the next night for a speech from Vice President Al Gore. Is it favoritism, or was the network just protecting the bottom line? "We blew it on Sunday night," one source, who's identified only as a senior NBC staffer in Washington, D.C., told Matt Drudge. "We will not make that mistake again — sure, the perception is we favor Gore, we carried his speech, but not Governor Bush's speech. This was not a decision from NBC News. This came from the network president. Titanic cost a pretty penny, [and] the feeling was that carrying Bush would distract from the impact of the movie." NBC did not immediately return calls to Mr. Showbiz. While the NBC broadcast of the big boat epic captured the best 18-49 rating for any movie this season, more people overall tuned in to ABC to see The Santa Clause, starring Tim Allen. Ouch! Guess the spectacle of watching Leonardo DiCaprio sketch a not-quite-nude Kate Winslet in an edited-for-TV format is about as exciting as watching a ballot recount.
###

FOX 411:
11/30/00
Chocolat Gives Us a Strong Oscar Contend

Readers of this column are aware of how much I adored Lasse Hallström’s 1999 film The Cider House Rules. All this past summer the folks at Miramax were telling me that Hallström’s next one, Chocolat, would be even better. I didn’t believe them. I was incredulous. I was wrong. Chocolat, which starts screening tonight for the press, is a masterful twist on a great fable. It’s much more sophisticated than Cider House, and has depth where you don’t expect it...

...Hallström’s career began with My Life as A Dog and took off in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? Both films had children — in the latter he made Leonardo DiCaprio’s mentally handicapped teen into an Oscar nominated role. There’s no question that in Cider House, Hallström’s best moments were with the kids in the orphanage. Here he gets a couple of kids — in particular, Victoire Thivisol, a ten-year-old girl who commands attention while never overstaying her time on screen. (This is unlike a male child actor I’ve seen recently in a few movies who should be stopped now from ever appearing again in a theater except as a ticket taker — name withheld.)

Full story
###

Washington Post:
11/30/00
Fox News May Not Elect to Use VNS

Among other things NBC might want to look at is its decision to instruct its stations that Leonardo DiCaprio took precedence over the Florida election vote certification and George W. Bush's subsequent speech declaring himself the next president. NBC, the same broadcast network that had declined to carry the first presidential debate in favor of baseball coverage, told its stations not to interrupt the Sunday telecast of DiCaprio flick "Titanic" when the Florida results were announced at around 7:20 p.m. or when Bush declared himself in charge now, at about 9:30. NBC's broadcast TV premiere of "Titanic" was the centerpiece of its November sweeps programming; it aired from 7 to nearly 11 EST. Sources say NBC paid a bundle to be the first broadcast network to air the record-breaking movie. "NBC made the decision to telecast Governor Bush live on MSNBC and to video-stream his speech on MSNBC.com," a network spokesman said. In Pacific and Mountain time zones, the speech was carried live, he noted, while elsewhere it was addressed in a news report broadcast in the next "Titanic" ad break. Ironically, even without interruption, "Titanic" posted less than thrilling numbers for NBC, falling short of the prime-time audience on ABC, which did interrupt its programming for both the Florida vote announcement and Bush's speech.

Full story
###

The Guardian Unlimited:
11/29/00
Marty, Leo and me

When he got the chance to appear in Martin Scorsese's new movie, currently shooting in Rome, Rory Carroll jumped at it. It would be 'such fun', he was promised. What he got was a dreary dawn start, a frugal breakfast, hours under a baking sun and a near-riot on set Tacked to a noticeboard in the cinema foyer, jostling with offers of English lessons, second-hand bicycles and a kitten called Alberto, is a small poster. Typed black letters explain that a Hollywood blockbuster is coming to Rome and would anyone interested in participating please phone the number at the bottom. There is no number, or a bottom, just a jagged rip. Gotta move fast in this business. It takes a while to track him down, but the voice at the end of the line is welcoming. "There are still some vacancies. You'll have such fun!" And so a few days later I am on a metro rattling east of Rome. Emerging from the station, a sliver of moon hangs over the darkness. It is a cold 5.45am. Dozens, hundreds of silhouettes tramp down the road in silence. We stop at the gate of a walled complex and wait for a bearded man in denim to finish scratching. "Everything in good time, children." In groups of six we are allowed to enter the fabled Cinecitta studios. The magical world of movie making beckons. Believe the hype (we do) and what awaits is the box-office hit of 2001. The Gangs of New York has a $90m budget, Martin Scorsese (pictured) directing, Leo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz, Daniel Day Lewis and Liam Neeson starring, and us. There isn't really a verb for us. We are extras. We be. During the next few hours we will be part of Team Hollywood, giving our best in exchange for a peek inside the machine. Given the flight of productions from America to places where costs are lower, this could be a glimpse of the future. At this stage of production, secrecy is needed to allow suspense to build before the publicity blitz. Journalists and photographers are not welcome. Lucky for me that the producers want Irish-looking people. Freckles and red hair are gold dust. Dawn seeps over us to unveil the day's first extraordinary sight. Ginger Romans. Perms, waves and buzz cuts are tinged orange. They glint in the sun, each strand painstakingly dyed. A hush of respect envelopes this minority. When returning to the real world they will be ridiculed. They will suffer for their art. After signing away our rights to compensation should an act of God or Scorsese strike us dead, we file into three costume warehouses. The film is about rival immigrant gangs vying for control of 1850s New York. A few well-dressed Yanks are to be sprinkled among 600 soldiers and ragamuffins. We strip down to our underpants - boxer shorts for foreigners, Y-fronts for Romans - while dressers scour racks for coordinated outfits that fit. The female dressers affect a clinical, nurse-type demeanour. Their male colleagues, camp as a row of a tents, flirt. "You are a big boy; let's go to this dark corner and see what we find." Not even the tattooed Lazio fans dare object. Attention to detail is fanatical. Shirt, waistcoat, jacket, trousers, socks and boots are matched. If the buttons don't look right, they are replaced. Archive pictures of Irish villagers during the famine are scattered on tables. My third outfit is deemed acceptable: brown boots, socks, trousers and braces, stripy white shirt, purple waistcoat and fudgey jacket. Everything itches. My hair is judged an asset so a bowler hat is discarded. Make-up teams smear grease on heads and three types of dirt on faces, hands and nails. Staring back from the mirror is what Oliver Twist would look like after being rammed up a chimney. In the trailer toilets a 20-year-old is desperately rinsing his tresses in the sink. "Ruined," he wails. Breakfast is one, and only one, pastry each. Too late a veteran murmurs his wisdom. "Eat before make-up, then they won't recognise you when you go back for another." An extra with a handlebar moustache is caught taking a photo of his friend in leprechaun-green. The film is destroyed, the camera confiscated. Stuffing newspapers and books down trousers to read later, we are herded to the set. Benito Mussolini wasn't totally daft. It was his idea in 1936 to turn 600 hectares of real estate into one of the world's greatest studios. After the second world war, Cinecitta incubated directors such as Fellini and Visconti and enjoyed a golden age with films such as Cleopatra, Spartacus, War and Peace, A Farewell to Arms and La Dolce Vita. Dante Ferretti's set designs were famous. He is still here. Yawning up around us are New York tenement slums, bakeries, warehouses, docklands, ships. Streets are cobbled, laundry hangs from windows, stoves puff smoke. The lemons are real, the fish are not. The sign saying "P. Daily's Fish Market" is exquisitely faded. Green water laps the harbour. A blue screen blocks the horizon. A production assistant on the verge of tears bellows at the milling crowd in Roman dialect. "Please, order, please." People in jeans, runners and sunglasses materialise from trailers, muttering into earpieces. They are the Americans. The director is on his way. Scorsese made Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and Goodfellas, but has never won an Oscar or had a global box-office smash. Gangs, based on the book by Herbert Ashbury, could be the one to change that. He arrives driving a golf cart with two personal assistants who will never leave his side. Wearing jeans, runners and a blazer, he hops out and backslaps the cast. He is very small. Despite being seven days behind schedule, the entire day is devoted to one complicated shot where a single camera will track DiCaprio walking past rows of seated customs officials, follow new arrivals being led away, skim past a battalion marching through a fish market, glide up on a crane to catch soldiers entering a ship and glide down to catch coffins being lowered onto the docks. A lesser director would use five cameras and an editing suite. Scorsese is sprawling in a chair during a lull when my mobile trills. An assistant turns white. "Christ, turn it off, Marty will get his axe and cut your head off." The assistant is trembling, though Marty appears not to have heard. An extra sidles up. "He looks friendly, but that's only with the actors. We don't exist. Last week he was walking through us and we didn't get out of the way in time. He shouted that we should know who he was." A sudden silence announces the arrival of DiCaprio. Beneath a top hat his face is pasty and bloated compared to the way it looked in his last film, The Beach. Too much pasta and nightlife, say the Italian papers. Scorsese has put him on a diet but tolerates his smoking, forbidden to others. DiCaprio leans on a pillar and plays "chicken", the hand-slapping game, with another actor. In the film his father, Liam Neeson, is killed by Daniel Day Lewis. In reality DiCaprio and Day Lewis can't stand each other, goes the gossip. The star of My Left Foot is liked for mixing with the crew in the canteen, though his penchant for maintaining his character's accent off camera is greeted with giggles. So too DiCaprio's query to the linguistic consultant. "To insult him, should I use motherfucker or cocksucker?" (The latter.) By 1pm the sun is melting make-up and patience at yet another lull. Actors disappear into trailers while extras sit outside. Immigrants slump on their luggage, soldiers point rifles at Scorsese and the horse urinates for the fourth time. A group of crones wrapped in shawls, extras since the spaghetti westerns, lecture the youngsters on professionalism. The director is unhappy with a customs official's style of granting citizenship."You're supposed to be bored, it's not a big deal, it's routine, don't lean forward. Sit back." DiCaprio and Day Lewis have no lines today but are praised for their body language. My job is to amble towards one of the ships while soldiers march past. After 19 takes the boots begin to hurt. A female immigrant appears to collapse and is led away. "Water for background people," orders Scorsese. Veteran extras warn neophytes to beware the purges. Chatting too much, squeezing into the shot and smoking can incur banishment. A female extra allegedly caught having sex on set with a supporting actor was fired. Many extras are wannabe actors who dream of catching the producer's eye. Others come out of curiosity, and most come for the £50 a day. A pittance by American standards but irresistible to a shop assistant on £1.50 an hour. The catch is that a day can stretch to 18 hours, by which time they've missed the last metro and must pay for taxis. After one such marathon the only one to say thanks was Cameron Diaz, says one extra. By 3.30pm the scene is still not right. It's late October but the sun is roasting and lunch has yet to appear. We look and smell increasingly authentic. Discipline breaks down. Soldiers are marching out of step, an officer wears his cap back to front, a copy of Gazzetto dello Sport is left on a barrel. Another shout of "cut" sparks mutiny. Moans of protest ripple and swell into curses. Lazio fans start chanting. The Americans are shocked. This is not the Hollywood way. A producer grabs a megaphone and defuses a riot by promising we can leave after lunch. It's a lie. Assistants pounce during dessert and herd us back to the docks where we remain until sunset. The forest of stiff limbs which eventually shambles back to the changing rooms is quiet. We've peeked inside the machine and the mystery is gone.

FOX News:
11/29/00
Madonna Eatery Fire Still a Mystery

New York City Fire Department officials tell me the case is still open on Madonna’s brother’s short-lived restaurant. Madonna's brother's restaurant — once home to the hip and happening — burned down a year ago, and the case is still unsolved. One year ago this week, Oriont, which was designed by Christopher Ciccone, Madonna’s brother, and owned by Michelle Jean, burned down to the ground. The much ballyhooed bar/restaurant had become the overnight hot spot stomping grounds of the rich and vacuous. Velvet ropes were de rigueur at the front door of Oriont. Puff Daddy had his 29th birthday there. Lenny Kravitz was thrown an album release party by Virgin Records. But a three-alarm fire on the morning of November 24, 1999 — two months after Oriont opened — gutted the place. The fire, according to reports, began in an art gallery above the restaurant. In all, the fire spread through several buildings and destroyed a lot of art. In the end, Oriont — whose chef was cookbook writer/Asian cuisine expert Rosa Ross (New Wok Cooking) — lasted all of two months. Among the art galleries it took out was that of Patrick Callery, who had just opened up next door. Even though no art was damaged, Callery says smoke and water destroyed the space. Callery's name may be known to us as the official art dealer for Leonardo DiCaprio. Leo, following in his father George's footsteps, was attracted to cartoon art. Some places rebuild, but Oriont promptly disappeared, never to be heard from again. "It was a wildly tacky place, a real disaster," says one neighbor. "Even though it was packed, it was a total throwback to the '80s." A spokesman for the New York City Fire Department says that the case is still open. "It’s under investigation, that’s all we can say," is the official statement. No insurance has been paid. In the meantime, Lotus — a new club — opened a couple of doors down the street and has turned into the next hot place. So far the heat has extended just to celebrities, however.
###

Variety:
11/29/00
Titanic Raise NBC to Ratings Win

NBC, strengthened on its weakest nights by the likes of the Dixie Chicks and Leonardo DiCaprio, claimed another ratings victory last week in the key demographic of adults 18-49. With Thanksgiving night somewhat limiting the wattage of NBC's high-voltage Thursday schedule, the network picked it up on other nights during the Nov. 20-26 period. NBC prevailed among adults 18-49 for a seventh straight week while also winning in total viewers with its largest in-season weekly audience (14.1 million) since October 1999. ``Titanic'' sailed off with the best 18-49 rating for any movie this season (6.9/15), helping NBC to a first-place standing and its best Sunday average without sports or specials since May 1997.

Full story
###

Detroit Free Press:
11/28/00
'Titanic' sails on

On ABC, CBS and Fox, television cameras followed live Sunday night as Florida's secretary of state signed documents certifying Bush as the winner of the state's 25 presidential electoral votes. At the same time on NBC, Leonardo DiCaprio set sail for the United States aboard the "Titanic." Not willing to cast aside the broadcast premiere of the Academy Award-winning movie to carry the certification live, NBC instead delivered a report about the certification 20 minutes later. But NBC's cable-news sister station, MSNBC, carried the ceremony live. CBS, ABC, NBC, CNN and Fox News Channel all made premature calls on Election Night, first declaring Florida for Al Gore and then for Bush --and then backing off on those calls. On Sunday, network announcers were careful not to cast the vote certification with any finality. Peter Jennings of ABC signed off his report Sunday with a promise: "It's going to be a long and messy week."
###

Excite News:
11/28/00
Playboy 2000: Wildest & Famous Parties

For fifty years, Playboy founder Hugh M. Hefner has hosted the most famous private parties on the planet. Now Hef opens the doors to these mythological gatherings with the airing of Playboy 2000 - The Party Continues. This one-hour entertainment packed special will premiere on Playboy TV Saturday, December 2, at 9:00 PM (ET) 10:00PM (PT). (With additional airings December 8, 14, 22, 26, 29, 31 and January 1, 6, 11, 14 and 26). From Playboy's famed Chicago Mansion during the 50's and 60's, to the hedonism of the 70's and 80's at Playboy Mansion West, to today's star-studded galas, Hef's parties have been a microcosm of what is hot and sexy in American culture. Spanning five decades, Playboy 2000 - The Party Continues, features never-before-seen footage from some of these exclusive gatherings. His legendary Midsummer Night's Dream, Halloween, New Year's Eve and birthday bashes have long been the most sought after invitations in town. And a "Who's Who" of pop culture stars have joined the merriment including Jim Carrey, George Clooney, Ben Affleck, Shaquille O'Neal, Cameron Diaz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Carmen Electra, Gwyneth Paltrow, Antonio Sabato Jr. and Elizabeth Hurley. Many of these stars appear in candid party mode in the special that also features interviews with guests including Tony Curtis, Martin Landau, James Caan, Garry Marshall, and Leroy Neiman. Additionally, historic musical performances by Sammy Davis Jr., Ray Charles, Buddy Rich, Mel Torme, James Brown, BB King, Tony Bennett, The Grateful Dead, Linda Ronstadt, Joe Cocker, The Village People and Tina Turner from the television series Playboy's Penthouse and Playboy After Dark are featured in the special. Playboy 2000 - The Party Continues, as the ultimate fan's behind-the-scenes party special; historical retrospective; or musical compilation, is a great way to spend an evening in the World of Playboy from the comfort of home.

To view a preview of the show, click here: http://www.prnewswire.com/orbis/4382/jump_press.html

Playboy TV is a premium subscription and pay-per-view television network of the Playboy Entertainment Group, Inc., the world's leading producer and marketer of branded adult entertainment. Playboy TV is available in more than 20 million cable households in the U.S. and Canada and to over 9 million home satellite owners via DirecTV and Echostar. In Canada, Playboy TV is available through many CATV systems including Shaw Communications, Rogers, and Videotron cable systems and, ExpressVu and Star Choice satellite systems. Playboy TV International offers over 1,300 hours of high-quality adult programming to 135 territories, with networks in Japan, the United Kingdom, Latin America, Scandinavia, Portugal and Spain.
###

Nando Times:
11/28/00
Networks weigh importance of news

Leonardo DiCaprio apparently has more pull at NBC than "The Crocodile Hunter." A night after declining to interrupt "Titanic" for a speech by Texas Gov. George W. Bush, NBC cut short a nature special to air Vice President Al Gore's full address to the nation on Monday night. The network preceded Gore's speech with portions of Bush's comments from the night before, and said its coverage has been fair to both sides of the bitter political debate. ABC and CBS also interrupted regular programming for Gore's speech Monday, as each did for Bush the previous night. Fox didn't run either speech. Meanwhile, CBS learned from some riled viewers in San Diego and Kansas City the danger of interrupting entertainment fare. During the broadcast premiere of "Titanic" on Sunday, NBC ran a brief special report after Bush's speech in most of the country summarizing his comments. On the West Coast, where Bush spoke before the movie started, NBC ran the full speech. Before Gore's speech Monday, the network ran a one minute, 40 second portion of Bush's speech from Sunday. NBC News spokeswoman Barbara Levin said the Bush clip was used "to add context from an editorial point of view" and would have been on whether or not the network aired all of Bush's speech Sunday. "We don't play the numbers game in terms of the tick-tock," she said. "They've each gotten fair and balanced coverage from this network." The network said on Sunday it was trying to balance the wishes of its entertainment audience with its desire to keep the public informed of the news. It's a delicate task: CBS affiliates in San Diego and Kansas City were flooded with angry phone calls after the network cut away from the final few minutes of the National Football League game between the San Diego Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday for a report on the Florida voter certification. The Chargers won, 17-16, their first victory of the season after 11 straight losses. "The Chargers game is much more newsworthy than something we already knew was going to happen," Richard Williams said at Trophy's sports bar in San Diego.
###

NY Post:
11/27/00
PRIVATE MATTER

‘I THINK it's pretty outrageous. There is a fine line between satisfying the public's interest and selling your private life. At the end of the day you can only say that they needed the money." That's Kate Winslet, expounding to the British press on the increasing profitable practice of celebs selling photos of their newborn babies, their weddings, etc., to the highest bidder. Winslet, who had a baby girl, Mia, last month, adds, "No matter how poor I was, my private life would always be the most important thing in the world." Kate, who cleverly avoided Leonardo DiCaprio's fate post-"Titanic" by keeping a low profile and taking small indie roles, can be seen now opposite Joaquin Phoenix, Michael Caine and Geoffrey Rush in "Quills," the tale of the Marquis de Sade. The young actress prepared by reading some of de Sade's work: "It's embarrassingly vile - I was utterly outraged. I was so taken aback by this despicable writing but kind of amazed as well because the Marquis wasn't just a madman, but a troubled genius." Winslet plans to take six months off to bond with baby Mia, and then she'll star and produce "Therese Raquin," based on Emile Zola's famous novel. Although the material is not nearly as unpalatable as de Sade's jottings, Therese is no nun. There'll be more torrid emotion in low bodices.
###

LA Times:
11/27/00
Trying to Realign the Planet

Movie-themed restaurants promoted by actual stars. How could that lose? Robert Earl kcstands by the recipe as he tinkers with the ingredients. Robert Earl believed in celebrity. And parties. He believed that if you put them together--with red caxrpets and spotlights--people would come. More importantly, they'd buy. Not only food, but T-shirts and sweatshirts and $14 baseball caps. Earl called it "the formula," and he kept believing in it even as good fortune turned to crisis at Planet Hollywood, the restaurant chain he founded with movie producer Keith Barish, but which the public invariably associated with a trio of movie stars who didn't need last names, Arnold, Sly and Bruce...

...This week, Forbes magazine includes none of his founding Big Three on a "star power" top 100 based on earnings, magazine covers, TV mentions, etc. The issue centers on the notion that "celebrity these days isn't just about being famous; it's about converting fame into brand equity." Who's at the top? Michael Jordan, Oprah and a young movie star, Leonardo DiCaprio. Has Earl approached the "Titanic" heartthrob? Of course. But nothing was signed. He throws out hints of other names. Nothing firm. No worry, he says--talking as the salesman. But when others try to sell him. . . . "What do you think of Cameron Diaz in 'Rocky' shorts?" one of the ad guys asks, pitching him on a campaign. "I defy you to get her," he replies. That sort of challenge is only one reason it will take him nearly two years to relaunch.

Full story
###

Jam Showbiz:
11/27/00
Punishing part

In the wild historical drama Quills which opens in Calgary on Dec. 22 at the Globe, Kate Winslet plays a young laundress who is obsessed with the notorious Marquis de Sade. It's Winslet's first major film since her triumph in Titanic. "After Titanic, the temptation was for me to do everything because it was all being offered to me. I just couldn't believe it was happening to me," recalls Winslet, who even turned down the lead opposite Chow Yun-Fat in Anna and the King. "I only did Titanic because I loved the script and wanted to work with Leonardo DiCaprio and Jim Cameron, not because I thought it could do something for my profile. "That's how I intend to choose all my projects." Instead of the big Hollywood movies she was being offered, Winslet chose to star opposite Harvey Keitel in the edgy drama Hideous Kinky. "I'd read the novel and it was filled with incredible imagery. I thought it was so brave that someone wanted to turn it into a film. "I think brave scripts inspire brave performances, which is why I was so determined to do Quills."
###

LA Times:
11/27/00
Students Need an Introduction to Classic

"Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all." --Henry David Thoreau

Though most high school course descriptions still call for a heavy dose of classic literature, teachers--particularly teachers who care a great deal about making school meaningful for their students--seem increasingly reluctant to tackle these works. Assuming contemporary novels will be more accessible and less daunting for reluctant readers, they have abandoned "Great Expectations" and "The Scarlet Letter." Rather than have students read Shakespeare's play, teachers wheel out the VCR and show Leonardo DiCaprio as Romeo. While young adult literature and big-screen adaptation have a place in the reading and viewing lives of today's teenagers, the work of a literature classroom should be the careful reading of challenging texts.

Full story
###

The Guardian/Observer:
11/24/00
Taliban: no subversive gateaux

As Titanic fever grips Kabul, hardline militia proves no match for ... iced cakes

Rory McCarthy in Islamabad Friday November 24, 2000

Afghanistan's Taliban regime is trying to crack down on a craze for the Hollywood blockbuster Titanic which has swept through Kabul in an unlikely display of resistance to the militia's hardline rule. Cinema, television and music have been banned in the capital since the Islamic movement seized power four years ago. But underground video shops run a healthy trade in films, with action movies and Bollywood dance classics particular favourites. Now a people whose lives have been devastated by two decades of war have fallen for a love story and Titanic fever has gripped the city. Under the counter at market stalls traders have been doing brisk business in clothes, perfumes, lipsticks and shoes all carrying pictures of the ill-fated ship. One variety of rice has been named Titanic. Hairdressers have been offering a Leonardo DiCaprio cut, short at the back with a floppy fringe, though all men are also required to have untrimmed beards. "Everyone has access to films but you have to keep a low profile," said one Afghan aid worker. "People used to watch Indian movies because they could understand the language. Now they have American films, and Titanic is everywhere." Taliban leaders have complained about this spread of foreign culture, which has even reached the cake shops of the main shopping street. "It should be emphatically said," the official Shariat Weekly newspaper declared this month, "that the Chicken Street food stores should know that moulding their wedding cakes in the shape of the Titanic ship, the Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal and other designs is something against our national and Islamic culture." Bakers should choose designs from the few traditional Afghan monuments still standing despite all the fighting, the paper suggested. Such cakes would "show the growth of our culture and prevent the sway of alien and infidel culture". Before the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Kabul was fun. Pakistanis would drive up for the weekend to escape their more conservative society and enjoy Hindi movies and dances at the ballroom of the Intercontinental Hotel on a hillside above the city. Now the hotel is empty, its walls pocked with bullet holes, its ballroom locked, its swimming pool dry. Afghans go to Pakistan for their holidays.
###

NY Post:
11/24/00
CINEMATIC STINKERS

HOLLYWOOD has produced enough turkeys this year to feed a small nation - many of them stuffed with some of Hollywood's biggest names. While there are fewer than a handful of Oscar-worthy pictures at this point, there's such been a bountiful crop of cinematic stinkers that it's really hard to pick the 10 worst - even with more than a month to go.

* "The Beach" - Leonardo DiCaprio's long-awaited follow-up to "Titanic" was a titanic dud, at least in this country. He went overboard as a pretty Ugly American who moves into a remote Asian paradise peopled by obnoxious Eurotrash.

Complete Listing
###

Chicago SunTimes:
11/24/00
Leo lore . . .

Actor Leonardo DiCaprio played identical twins in his followup to "Titanic" when he starred in "Man in the Iron Mask." Now he plans to play twins in the real-life story of Robert and Johnny Eckhardt, who were born in the '20s and played freak shows. (One was born without lower limbs.)

* The kicker: Scenes may be shot in Chicago.
###

New York Observer:
11/22/00
Dana's Friends

It’s difficult to imagine Dana Giacchetto has many friends left in this world. Nevertheless, those remaining stalwarts were the targets of a recent letter from the disgraced investment adviser to the stars, whose now-bankrupt Cassandra Group once served such high-profile clients as Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and talent manager Mike Ovitz. Mr. Giacchetto currently resides at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, after pleading guilty in August to one count of investment fraud for misappropriating as much as $10 million from his clients’ accounts and using some of that money to pay for his jet-setting lifestyle. Set to be sentenced on Dec. 6, he faces up to five years in prison and a steep fine. In late October, Mr. Giacchetto’s lawyer, Ronald Fischetti, sent out a letter to his client’s friends and family, asking them to compose letters to the Honorable Robert Patterson—the U.S. District Court judge presiding over the case—to vouch for Mr. Giacchetto’s character and possibly influence the judge come sentencing time. Such a letter-writing campaign is not uncommon for prisoners in Mr. Giacchetto’s straits. But what’s a bit more unusual is the letter from Mr. Giacchetto himself that came attached to Mr. Fischetti’s letter.

Full story
###

Mediaweek:
11/22/00
James Cameron Tests TV Waters

Over the past decade, some of Hollywood's top filmmakers have tried to work their magic in television...and failed - Steven Spielberg, Robert Altman and Joel Silver come to mind. Though such marquee names often draw large initial samplings for series (such as Spielberg's Amazing Stories in the 1980s or Silver's The Strip last season), they can't guarantee viewer loyalty. Box-office clout, it seems, rarely translates to success on the small screen. So when Fox last spring announced a series from Oscar-winning Titanic director James Cameron, skeptics dismissed it as another doomed project. But Cameron just might beat the odds. Dark Angel, the first series on which he has served as an executive producer...

...Alba is one of the few stars to emerge from this season's programming. A relative unknown in the business prior to Dark Angel, the 19-year-old beauty was chosen from more than 1,000 applicants, and has since displayed a rare on-screen combination of innocence and worldliness that the camera loves. Of course, Cameron is an old hand at the star-making process. Titanic's Leonardo DiCaprio became an international heartthrob in the wake of that movie's success.

Full story
###

LA Weekly:
11/22/00
The McCarthy Era

It’s difficult to take the premise of the current Paul McCarthy retrospective at MOCA Geffen — that McCarthy is a virtually unknown artist and that this show is rescuing him from obscurity — too seriously. This might have played in 1990, when McCarthy was still a fringe cult figure of L.A. performance art, but after 1992’s high-profile “Helter Skelter” show, with McCarthy’s shrub-fucking animatronic installation, The Garden, and his subsequent move into sculptural work and collaborative performances with Mike Kelley, he has been essentially an L.A. art star in commercial exile in Europe...

...A case in point is Heidi 2, an ostensible sequel to McCarthy and Mike Kelley’s installation/video of 1992, made by young New York artists Sue de Beer and Laura Parnes, on view at LACE. A two-screen video projection with a sort-of installation of foam chairs, Heidi 2: The Unauthorized Sequel has its moments. There is the splendid puke sequence, the inspired casting of Leonardo DiCaprio as Peter, the amusing postproduction subtitle commentary by a computer-animated frog and bunny, and the powerful climactic self-caesarean Teletubbification that Heidi Jr. blithely undergoes.

Full story
###

Bergen.com:
11/22/00
MEMORIES FOR SALE

Harrison Ford's "Indiana Jones" bullwhip and the caterpillar Leonardo DiCaprio "ate" in "The Beach" are among the items up for sale at Christie's movie-memorabilia auction Dec. 12 in London. The bullwhip could fetch $9,000, while the rubber caterpillar could bring $500, Christie's said. Reportedly, Julia Roberts' satin evening jacket and Hugh Grant's olive corduroy jacket from their movie "Notting Hill" are expected to pull in $1,300 each. Material from "Titanic," "Gladiator," and "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me" will also be sold.
###

NY Post:
11/22/00
NIT-PICKERS' PARADISE

ARNOLD Schwarzenegger's "The 6th Day" hit theaters just last Friday, and already movie fans' blooper meters have gone into overdrive. "The 6th Day" is just the latest big Hollywood flick to be featured on movie-mistakes.com, a Web site which delights in picking up big-screen blunders. Among the mistakes eagle-eyed contributors have spotted in Arnie's cloning thriller: * Arnold's helicopter business has two choppers: a yellow and a gray. The yellow one gets blown up during the course of the movie, but magically reappears at the end. * During a shootout at his partner's house, Arnold dives out of a bullet's path, but a slip in editing makes it appear as if he's jumping into the line of fire. * A doctor's lab coat disappears during a split-second camera pan. A Columbia Pictures spokesperson declined to comment on these points, but "The 6th Day" has a long way to go to match the error-riddled "Titanic," which, with 149 mistakes spotted, has the dubious honor of topping movie-mistakes.com's Top 25. "So many people saw 'Titanic' so there were all those pairs of eyes watching for mistakes," says Jon Sandys, the 21-year-old movie buff who founded the Web site. The mistake in "Titanic" that received the most publicity was the blunder Leonardo DiCaprio's character makes in talking about fishing in a lake near Chippewa Falls, Wis., which is actually a man-made lake filled in 1917, five years after the Titanic sank. Flaws in continuity are the most common boo-boo, says Sandys, but there are also plenty of instances of boom mikes dropping into shots, camera crews being reflected in glass, and technical errors only the most nit-picking observer would spot. Blooper-spotting is obviously a popular pastime. Sandys' site lists nearly 6,500 mistakes in 1,200 films, and registers about 3,000 hits a day. "I think it appeals on loads of different levels," he says. "Some people want to tear Hollywood to shreds by pointing out how little effort is put into even big-budget films like 'Titanic.' "Others have more technical expertise in a certain field than those making the film and things just jump out at them."
###

LA Times:
11/21/00
Floating Deal to Bring 'Titanic' to TV

Speaking of "Titanic," how did a movie 20th Century Fox released end up with NBC, where it will make its broadcast television debut with a four-hour telecast this Sunday? It's a tale with more intrigue than the big ship's voyage. Concerned about the film's spiraling costs, Fox brought in Paramount as a partner to release director James Cameron's epic, and Paramount was responsible not only for overseas distribution, but also selling the television rights. So when the movie made its debut in December 1997 to about $25 million at the box office--a strong opening, but not the sort that would seemingly lead to recouping the enormous $200-million investment--Paramount quickly struck a deal with NBC, whose then-president, Don Ohlmeyer, had seen the film that weekend. NBC paid a reported $30 million for the TV rights, prompting a dispute between Paramount and Fox officials, who later felt the studio undersold the property--given its enormous popularity--by at least $30 million. ABC and CBS were also said to be irate they weren't even given a chance to bid, fueling speculation Fox might sue Paramount for botching the deal. Sources at Paramount defended themselves at the time by pointing out that the Fox network had been given first crack at buying the movie that made Leonardo DiCaprio a teen heartthrob--and bid only $20 million, one reason Paramount jumped at NBC's offer.

Full story
###

USA Today:
11/21/00
He's an ice guy, that David Blaine Magician to be frozen for 58 hours

Even Harry Houdini might think twice about this one. Next Monday, 27-year-old David Blaine, the guy who buried himself in a Plexiglas coffin for seven days last year in front of Trump Place, will freeze himself in a six-ton block of ice for 58 hours in Times Square. This is no illusion, no trick, no escape act, he says. ''What I call it is a challenge, an endurance experience, a feat.'' Blaine isn't the first performer to freeze himself, but no one has attempted it for so many hours. The hottest name in magic right now -- Fiona Apple is his ex-girlfriend, he's making a movie with Robert De Niro and he counts Leonardo DiCaprio among his friends -- Blaine sits in an editing room watching last-minute touches being put on David Blaine: Frozen in Time, an ABC special that will air Wednesday, Nov. 29, at 10 p.m. ET. Along with taped segments of Blaine doing magic on the streets of New York, the show will go live to the scene at approximately 10:49 p.m. ET, when a chilled Blaine will, if all goes according to plan, emerge from his arctic tomb. The Brooklyn-born performer, who has been fascinated by magic since age 4, assures that there will be no trap door, no escaping from the ice only to return for a triumphant exit. He will stand with 2 inches of air space in an 8-foot-by-6-foot-by-6-foot block of glacial ice from Alaska wearing cargo pants and boots. An oxygen tube will provide air for him to breathe. There will be a water tube, a catheter, heart and blood-pressure monitors, and a microphone so he can communicate with his doctor. A camera will broadcast him 24/7 at davidblaine.icast.com, allowing fans to view Blaine on ice, to access to all his vital statistics, chat with doctors and experts, and post questions. While Blaine is mentally ready to be closed up in the claustrophobic cold, he doesn't sound overly confident. ''It's going to be very difficult. It's going to be very dangerous.'' So why exactly is he doing this? ''There's a certain euphoria you get by pushing yourself to a place you normally wouldn't and achieving that,'' he says, ''probably in the same way that marathon runners feel, or when somebody climbs Kilimanjaro. . . . And it's also that line when you're living in a moment between life and death, or you blur those lines and you have to deal with something that can be very dangerous .'' Moving to a quieter room to talk, Blaine, wearing jeans, a baseball cap and tennis shoes, pulls a chair close. He takes a deck of cards out of his jacket pocket and begins flipping one from the top back and forth between his hands with the deftness of a Vegas croupier. ''I have a digital fixation,'' he offers. ''My hands just always feel good doing these things.'' He does a card trick, eliciting the predicted astonished response. ''I like to make people feel enchantment,'' he says. ''I like to see people astonished.'' He credits his mother, whom he describes as being very engaging, with instilling that in him. Patrice White (Blaine is his middle name) died of ovarian cancer in 1994. Blaine never knew his father. Patrice raised her son by herself. When she was at work, Blaine says, he would hang out at the library, where he developed his love of math and problem-solving. He began reading books about magic. He stops to do another card trick. No, ''it's not a trick,'' he says. It's more than that. ''Everything is about creating a moment.'' He pauses, then says: ''This is my whole theory to magic: Right now, if a peanut butter sandwich appeared in your pocket, that'd be a neat trick. But if you said to me, 'I'm hungry, I'd kind of like a peanut butter sandwich,' and then I said, 'Reach into your pocket,' and there's a peanut butter sandwich, that's no longer a trick. That's something much more important. I don't like the word 'trick.' I see myself more as a performer. I like the word Houdini used to use for himself. He called him a mystifier.'' But even if he doesn't like to be called a magician, Blaine has done a lot for magic, says Peter Monticup, who runs magictricks.com and owns a shop called Magic Tricks in Charlottesville, Va. ''As to popularity right now, he has rivaled Copperfield,'' Monticup says. ''Copperfield is more successful as a larger show, but everybody talks about David Blaine. We get orders for David Blaine-related magic every single day.'' Monticup says what sets Blaine apart is that he's a street magician. ''In magic, we say 5% is the trick and 95% is the person. It's not the trick that fools you, it's the one who does it.'' Monticup remembers other stunts similar to Blaine's, citing Howard Thurston, a turn-of-the-century magician who would bury himself. And he says ''The Amazing Randi,'' or James Randi, used to freeze himself in ice. ''I've done it many times over the years,'' says Randi, who consulted with Blaine on Friday about some of the technicalities involved. Randi remembers freezing himself once on the Today show, back when Dave Garroway was host. It was one of five or six times he did it, generally using blocks of ice to form a coffin, he says. To the best of his recollection, he says, his longest stint was two hours and 11 minutes. ''I wanted to show that these things can be done without any supernatural help. It's a survival stunt.'' The world of magic is small, though, and there are those who are not so keen on Blaine. Bob Spencer, who is a friend of Monticup's in Charlottesville and works as Kirkwood the Magician, says: ''Those of us who are of the old school wonder about these young magicians who have sprung up overnight and have become famous overnight. He definitely is, I believe, a good entertainer, and there are some people who have flipped over him.'' Blaine is aware of grousing in his profession of prestidigitation. That's why he's already planning his next TV show to quiet it. ''It's for all the guys in magic who say, 'I can do that.' I'm going to give them a chance. I'm going to take the top 20 underground guys in magic and let them do any two effects they want and film it anywhere they want in America.'' It's that kind of big thinking that appeals to James Nederlander, chairman of the Nederlander Organization, which owns several Broadway theaters. ''I believe in him. He's an amazing human being.'' Nederlander puts his money where his mouth is. He financially backed both the buried-alive stunt and this one. ''I think David is a young person for the millennium. He breaks through any kind of mold that was set for people doing magic. He's got no boundaries.'' Blaine made the leap from mere magician to TV mystifier by doing magic at private parties for rich people. On the Web site, there are photos of him with Jack Nicholson and the Clintons. He had befriended DiCaprio, who was the host of his Street Magic TV special, but then the two reportedly had a falling-out. True? ''He's a buddy,'' Blaine says. ''But I don't want to talk about it.'' He has been seeing a model named Josie Maran (josiecentral.com) for the past year. ''She's wonderful. She's a breath of fresh air, and she's supportive of my doing this, which is nice.'' His name is often found in New York gossip columns. In this new special, Kevin Spacey and Lenny Kravitz talk about him. Says Kravitz: ''I hope he doesn't freeze to death.'' So is Blaine a little scared about all of this? ''I don't know what condition I'm going to come out or anything.'' Is he worried that it could fail? ''It could. Failure is if they bust me out.'' Because it's not healthy to focus on failing, he is already planning his next big event: He'll jump off the Brooklyn Bridge and live to tell about it, he says
###

NY Post:
11/21/00
LIGHTS! CAMERA! AUCTION! H'WOOD ON BLOCK

If you're bugs about Leonardo DiCaprio, here's a chance to own the caterpillar he ate in "The Beach." And if Harrison Ford hits your spot, why not have his "Indiana Jones" bullwhip next to your bed? Those are just two of the items up for grabs at Christie's annual film and entertainment auction to be held Dec. 12 in London. DiCaprio's fans shrieked in horror as their heartthrob appeared to wolf down the creepy-crawly in the R-rated Fox flick. But it was really just a rubber replica - and it's now expected to fetch $500. And the famed bullwhip Ford used to beat off villains in "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" could grab an estimated $9,000, Christie's says. If you need a little glitz and glamour, how about Julia Roberts' satin evening jacket and Hugh Grant's olive-green corduroy jacket from their movie "Notting Hill," both expected to pull in $1,300 each. Material from such blockbusters as "Titanic," "Gladiator," and "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me" will also be sold. Playwright and composer Sir Noel Coward is represented by two paintings he did, valued at $4,000 apiece. And a baby-grand piano on which Coward composed such works as "Mad Dogs and Englishmen" and "Bitter Sweet" is expected to fetch $15,000, the proceeds of which will go to charity. Dance fans will be pirouetting for this one: a pair of red satin ballet shoes worn by Moira Shearer in the Oscar-winning film "The Red Shoes." A bid of $12,000 is hoped for. Audrey Hepburn is represented by a suit designed by Givenchy and worn by her in Alfred Hitchcock's thriller "Charade." Price: $5,000 to $8,000. The actress' poignant letters to her dad and stepmom, dated 1963-1987, will be sold - including one in which she raves about her role in "My Fair Lady" as "the best I've ever been given, a crown on 22 years of hard work." You can also own a piece of Bette Davis in the form of the notes she jotted to her chauffeur during a visit to England in late 1960s. Sci-fi fans won't be disappointed: Rare, original, watercolor production sketches for Stanley Kubrick's classic "2001: A Space Odyssey" are on the block, as is a movie poster for "Star Wars" signed by various cast members.
###

LA Times:
11/20/00
The Houdini of the Hoi Polloi

David Blaine is browsing at a major auction house here, and he's got a problem. All sorts of magicians' memorabilia is going to be auctioned the next day, but he can't make it back. "I have a real problem," he explains apologetically to the woman at the front desk. "I want to bid on some of this stuff, but I'm going to be in a block of ice all day tomorrow, 12 to 18 hours." She's unfazed. Perhaps she recognizes the 27-year-old as the street magician and performance artist who last year earned international fame when he emerged unscathed from a box that had been buried 6 feet beneath the ground for seven days...

...A feast of contradictions, Blaine may be best known for his spectacle of entombment, but his reputation initially stemmed from performing card tricks on the streets before unsuspecting pickup audiences. And while he lives in an unpretentious three-room Greenwich Village apartment, he runs with an A-list crowd--Fiona Apple is a former girlfriend and Leonardo DiCaprio is a good friend...

...At 18, Blaine moved back to New York and started performing magic throughout the city and later at A-list parties. Eventually, he began to get invited to Hollywood affairs, where he would display his magical talents to the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Madonna and Christopher Reeve. DiCaprio became a friend, and the actor hosted Blaine's first television special in May 1997.

Full story
###

The Telegraph:
11/20/00

A Titanic task

Many have dreamed of raising the Titanic but a South African lawyer wants to build a new version. Grant Ringshaw looks at his plans and progress. IT is a tale of romance, passion, grandeur and tragedy. The sinking of the Titanic on April 15 1912 with the loss of 1,523 lives shocked and captivated the world. Since then the tale of the most famous ocean liner in history, which was thought to be unsinkable, has enthralled hundreds of millions of people. The ill-fated Titanic, which sank 88 years ago But the Titanic's time may come again. This week, Sarel Gous, a multi-millionaire South African lawyer, will unveil plans to raise money to build a replica of the famous liner. Gous is planning to raise £10m to further fund the project by floating his holding company, RMS Titanic II Shipping, on the London Stock Exchange. The funds will be used to complete the design of the ship and to secure merchandising and marketing rights for Titanic II. It will be the first stage of financing an ambitious $575m project to build a 100,000-tonne ship capable of carrying 1,500 passengers. Gous is not the first to have pursued the dream of making the Titanic sail again. The power of the legend has meant that, over the years, dozens of entrepreneurs have hatched plans to revive the liner. Harland & Wolff, the Belfast shipyard which built the original ship, has lost count of the times it has been asked to provide the blueprints, but reckons that about 13 rebuilding projects are under development. Many schemes have proved to be pipe dreams and have been dropped. But Gous, who was inspired by the Hollywood blockbuster starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, has shown remarkable tenacity since he launched his ambitious plan in April 1998.

Full story
###

The Telegraph:
11/20/00
Raging belle

Coming from the rock'n'roll family from hell, Bijou Phillips was labelled 'bad girl' from the word go and she duly obliged. Still only 20, she's been a model, actress and singer, and she's done the sex, the drugs and the rehab. Now she says she wants a quiet life. Don't believe a word of it. Interview by Peter Huck...

...It was Leonardo DiCaprio, one of Phillips's cronies from her 'show-off' days as a New York model, who first brought her to the attention of Toback - the 14-year-old Phillips was dancing on the top of a table at the Bowery Bar. Four years later she was cast as one of the leads in Black and White. She had no acting experience, but truckloads of attitude and presence. 'Toback took me for pizza,' says Phillips, who later said she thought the director wanted 'to get into my pants'. Instead, they talked. 'He called my manager. I was like, "OK, great. Whatever." There was no script. And I was, "Oh, please... such bullshit." I didn't believe I was actually going to make a movie until the car was there and then it was, "Oh, shit! I'd better pack." There was never a script. We improvised everything. It was a good first acting experience.

Full story
###

Sacramento Bee:
11/20/00
The 10th annual Golden Turkey Awards

TV -- The 10th annual Golden Turkey Awards: Honoring 2000's most overrated and overstuffed entertainment stars and trends

10. Even more TV journalists. This one goes to the folks at ABC News, who got hopping mad when someone outside their own ranks blurred the line between journalism and entertainment. It was the case of Leonardo DiCaprio interviewing President Clinton for an ABC special, and ABC's news staff -- the people who brought you in-depth coverage of the JonBenet Ramsey murder case; whose morning-news host interviewed a sock puppet, then stood on her head to question a 6-year-old boy; whose highest-priced news "personality," Barbara Walters, co-hosts a morning chitchat fest; who "fixed" one edition of the always piercing "20/20" by adding "Downtown" to the name and putting reporters in leather jackets -- got upset because the network let a "nonjournalist" talk to the president. Then ABC News president David Westin e-mailed the newsroom, saying, "All roles of journalists must be played by journalists (duh!)." By the way, that's his "duh" and, even worse, his exclamation point, so where does he get off criticizing anyone's journalistic abilities?

Full story
###

Salt Lake Tribune:
11/20/00
Showtime in Las Vegas

No longer must you journey to New York, brave the subway and squeeze yourself into a shoebox-sized theater to see Off-Broadway's longest-running shows. Now you can catch them in Las Vegas. "Blue Man Group," an offbeat show starring a trio of bald, blue and mute performers, opened in March at the Luxor after nine years in New York. "De La Guarda," an energetic, mostly aerial event that's been drawing sellout crowds in New York since 1998, debuted last month at the Rio. Both are playful, visually rich and hard to categorize...

..."De La Guarda," which originated in Argentina, is part carnival, part rave, part trapeze act. Its young, athletic performers swing over the audience on cables, occasionally swooping down to snatch someone from the crowd and take them for an airborne ride. Among the celebrities who have "flown" at the show in New York are Cameron Diaz, Harrison Ford and Leonardo DiCaprio.

Full story
###

USA Today:
11/15/00
DiCaprio wants to promote Thai tourism

BANGKOK, Thailand - Hollywood heartthrob Leonardo DiCaprio has asked to meet with Thailand's prime minister to discuss promoting tourism to the Southeast Asian nation. DiCaprio is in Thailand filming the motion picture The Beach, but the film has been dogged by controversy and legal battles. Akaphol Sorasuchart, the government spokesman, said the film's producer had made the request on DiCaprio's behalf through a member of Parliament. ''He apparently feels Thailand has been very welcoming to him and the film crew, and so he is willing to say good things about Thailand,'' Akaphol said. He added that DiCaprio would have to submit a formal request to Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai's office. Tourism is one industry that is booming in Thailand despite an economic crisis that has gripped the country since mid-1997. Environmentalists, however, claim the 20th Century Fox project is irrevocably harming the ecosystem of Maya Beach, a national park conservation area protected by law, on the island of Phi Phi. On Tuesday, a civil court refused to issue an injunction halting production.
###

LA Times:
11/15/00
'Much Ado' to Benefit Arts Programs for At-Risk Students

"Much Ado About City Hearts" on Sunday was like an afternoon in Verona. In the ivy-covered courtyard, high school-age City Hearts drama students, dressed in period costumes, performed scenes from Shakespeare plays. During one fight scene, the action in the audience threatened to upstage the actors. One elderly guest turned white with fear after being charged by a sword-wielding lad. "Before I was in City Hearts, I never had any idea what was going on in Shakespeare's plays. I saw Leo DiCaprio's movie, 'Romeo & Juliet,' and I fell asleep because I didn't know what they were saying," said one of the actors, John Sandoval, who began taking City Hearts drama classes six years ago. He added, "Now I know what they mean when they say 'wilt' and 'thus.' It has life to me now."

Full Story
###

IMDB:
11/14/00
Ewan Mcgregor Buys London Pad With Japan Cash

Hunky Brit Ewan McGregor spent a fortune on a posh new London home - paid for by Japanese commercials. Ewan - a huge star in Japan after his starring role in the arthouse movie Pillow Book, The (1996) - was able to buy the Victorian townhouse in London's trendy St. John's Wood after appearing in just two commercials. He admits, "We filmed an advert for an English language course in London. It paid for my house". Arnold Schwarzenegger (photos), Leonardo DiCaprio, Harrison Ford and Kevin Costner have also graced TV sets in the Far East supporting various products.
###

Yahoo News:
11/13/00
BEEN SO ENTERTAINI

In the U.S., hawking products in commercials and print ads may be left to the Arsenio Halls of the world, but in Japan it's a much different story. In the land that spawned Pokemon and Godzilla, companies often throw big bucks at glamorous stars in exchange for their endorsements for decidedly unglamorous products (and the stars avoid diminishing their glam status at home). The Sold Out Web site -- which, for some strange reason, is actually an offshoot of the Klein-Dytham architecture firm's official site -- reveals celebrities who ''would not be seen dead in their own country pushing products.'' Among those caught in the act are Jodie Foster espousing iced lattes; Leonardo DiCaprio shilling for Suzuki ; Harrison Ford hyping Kirin beer; Meg Ryan promoting oolong tea; and our favorite, the ever-rebellious Dennis Hopper taking a bath with a rubber duck, all for the sake of selling soap.
###

The Telegraph:
11/13/00
Bohemian Rhapsody

Strictly, though note-perfect, was relatively conventional. Romeo & Juliet, which set Shakespeare's romance in a Latino-tinged contemporary American city, with a Ted Kennedy lookalike as Juliet's father, a hint of the bisexual about Mercutio, an Ecstacy pill to stand for Queen Mab and guns to replace rapiers, was fractured, fierce, innovative and as able to connect with boyz in the hood as purists at Stratford. Shekhur Kapur, who directed Elizabeth, made R&J's case precisely: 'Shakespeare in Love I loved, but I could have made it. Romeo & Juliet I loved, and I, I couldn't have made it.' Many of the best directors would agree. Romeo was played by Leonardo DiCaprio or D, as Baz calls him, and 'who I love, and who gets the most ridiculous bagging. I mean D is going through that tragic stuff of being imprisoned by his own charisma and success.' (At one stage Marlon Brando was going to be in the film; on seeing a preliminary workshop video, he suggested he might make an ideal Romeo. Vanity, vanity, wherefore art thou vanity?) The 16-year-old Claire Danes played Juliet and infused the role with the amorous wonder of a woman-child struck down by her first passion: 'Fabulously mature. And first love and kissing Leonardo - oh, explosive stuff.'

Full Story
###

Sydney Morning Herald:
11/13/00
Get ready to jump the shark

Aliens have planted their seedlings in our society, but their tastes give them away They share our homes, but not our attitudes. They're too cool to watch shakies, blinkies and wheelies. They admire supermodels and soap operas. They think anything made in LA is better than anything made in Sydney. They couldn't care less about gardening. In fact, just about anything their parents enjoy is, for them, like garlic to a vampire. But they are the future of Australia. Let us call them The Others - Australians aged between 13 and 24, who are so different from the over 25s and the under 12s that they might as well have been implanted here by space aliens...

...The Others are big cinemagoers as well as TV consumers. Right now the multiplexes are dominated by grown-up material (the ghost story What Lies Beneath and the nostalgiafest The Dish), so there's not much around that fits The Others' taste, which is for sex, jokes, frights and special effects (the last film with that formula, Scary Movie, totalled $11.5 million). They have had to turn to the video rental stores, which are doing great business with The Beach, a hippy trip with Leonardo DiCaprio, The Whole Nine Yards, a crime comedy with Matthew Perry (of Friends) and Romeo Must Die, a chopsocky actioner with lots of leaping.

Full story
###

FlixBurg:
11/10/00
Gangs of New York

Stax here with my reaction to a draft of the screenplay for Martin Scorsese's next directorial effort, GANGS OF NEW YORK! This script is by Scorsese and his regular collaborator Jay Cocks (THE AGE OF INNOCENCE) and will apparently be filmed in the coming months with Leonardo Dicaprio and Robert DeNiro expected to star. This project has long been on Scorsese's wish list for "his next film"; indeed, the draft I read is a Third Draft dated March 31, 1993. The trades have recently reported that in order for a studio co-production to be economically viable the script must be rewritten so as to trim the huge budget. It has been reported that the studios also want the romantic subplot to be further developed (obviously, to give all those gushy-hearted TITANTIC fans their money's worth of Leo the heartthrob). Is this book behind Scorsese's next film? It sure seems to be. Although not mentioned on the script cover, it is my guess that this script was inspired by Herbert Asbury's authorative non-fiction book of the same name.

Complete story
###

UpCommingMovies.com:
11/10/00
Catch Me If You Can

Release Date: Unknown; This was to have been scheduled for December 21st, 2001, but the filming of Gangs of New York is going to be keeping him (Leonardo DiCaprio) busy longer than expected, which means this project won't be able to get started until after the expected mid-2001 strikes. Cast in Talks: (11/6/00) Before this project was postponed, the actors in talks to costar were James Gandolfini, Chloe Sevigny, and Ed Harris. Their involvement in this project in the future will depend upon circumstances at the time. Gandolfini, for example, can only fit in movies around his Sopranos filming schedule.

Source
###

Time Magazine:
11/10/00
E-People

Hollywood's hot properties have a way of sneaking abroad to sell out. Many stars who would never stoop to peddling products at home appear in commercials on Japanese TV. Now, thanks to the Net, we can all watch Meg Ryan plug cleanser and Leonardo DiCaprio endorse an SUV — at www.zeroonedesign.com/gogo/menu.html. But you can no longer see Arnold Schwarzenegger shill for DirecTV in a wig and fake mustache. After a threat of legal action based on copyright infringement, site managers pulled the spot, grumbling, "Damn lawyers."
###

Entertaindom:
11/9/00
ATOMIC DEAL

Sort of Leo related, but not really. Leonardo and AtomFilms are working together on another project.

AtomFilms.com is the official site for ''Star Wars'' spoofs. Plus, a sneak peek at ''Episode II,'' Barbra's contested Gore promo airs, Ah-nuld may do ''Conan'' remake, and more STAR WARS Looking for a place to freely and openly ridicule the furor over ''Star Wars: Episode II''? Try AtomFilms.com. Lucasfilm has struck a deal with the site to give junkies an official home on the Net for their spoofs and documentaries. The Star Wars Fan Film Network will go live at the end of the month, Variety reports; send your submissions now. Besides splitting the ad sales royalties with AtomFilms, George Lucas' production company will allow the hoax filmmakers to use their vault of sound effects -- lightsabers whizzing through the air, Darth Vader's breathing -- in their miniflicks. (Presumably, these directors already own the copyright to the ominous sound of fans' bated breath).... Meanwhile, Lucasfilm is also planning to market a 10 minute ''sneak peek'' of ''Episode II'' on videocassette, beginning Nov. 21. The clip will show how the film fits into the complete ''Star Wars'' epic and will include interviews with Lucas and returning cast and crew members, who have just completed photography for the next installment. Most people would call this a trailer; Lucasfilm calls it a Christmas present.
###

NY Post:
11/9/00
CELEBS VOTE FOR BABES AND BOOZE

NOT everyone was obsessing over politics on Election Night. Young movie actors Lucas Haas and Tobey McGuire seemed to be single-mindedly focused on the opposite sex. The two top lieutenants in Leonardo DiCaprio's babe-browsing entourage showed up at Patrick McMullan's photo show at the Tony Shafrazi Gallery and stayed just long enough to pick up two long-legged brunettes who appeared to be fashion models.

Rest of story
###

E! Online:
11/9/00
Another Tedbit

from Ted Casablanca

Leo DiCaprio, exiting an elevator at his Hollywood office building. With a golden tan and white-blond hair, the fit-looking L.D. was cheery and relaxed, asking guys from the building, "Hey, man, how's it going?" Don't think he learned those manners from his mama, who bulldozes through the building almost as ferociously as she manages his professional affairs. Another blond elevator-rider was...
###

Happy Birthday Leonardo

The Guardian:
11/7/00
Leo may have to play catch-up

Leonardo DiCaprio has pulled out of his next project, Catch Me If You Can, because of continued delays on the set of his current film, Martin Scorsese's The Gangs of New York. DiCaprio's withdrawal, albeit temporary, puts the future of the DreamWorks film in jeopardy. Based on the bestselling 1980 memoir about the youngest fugitive ever to appear on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted List, Catch Me If You Can was being plugged by DreamWorks as a major blockbuster, especially with DiCaprio and Sopranos star James Gandolfini leading the project. However, Gangs of New York, currently filming in Italy, has fallen way behind schedule and there is no finish date in sight. The chances, therefore, of getting the new project into production before the looming actors-and-writers' strike next spring are slim. DiCaprio has also said he needs to take a holiday after the 16-hour days he's been working. DreamWorks are keeping their fingers crossed that the film will still go ahead after the strike. This may mean, however, that many key players will have to drop out. For instance, Gandolfini, who signed on for a reported $5m (about £3.5m), would probably withdraw since he can only film while on hiatus from The Sopranos; also, director Gore Verbinski's availability could be in question. Gangs of New York has been plagued with difficulties since it moved to Rome. There were widely reported claims that DiCaprio and his supermodel girlfriend, Giselle, were enjoying the Roman night life a little too much and that DiCaprio was publicly shouted down by Scorsese after he turned up late on set.
###

Entertaindom"
11/7/00
'CATCH' 22

LEO DreamWorks' plans for a lucrative Leonardo DiCaprio vehicle have been put on hold indefinitely. The actor with a $100 million mug was supposed to move straight from his current project, Martin Scorsese's ''Gangs of New York,'' into ''Catch Me If You Can,'' a DW biopic of the youngest fugitive ever to land on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted List. But with ''Gangs'' running behind schedule and a possible Screen Actors Guild strike looming on the horizon, the studio says it's unlikely that the film can be shot this year, Variety reports. As of Sunday, DreamWorks was in negotiations with the ''Beach'' boy to make ''Catch Me'' his first poststrike project. Meanwhile, sources close to the actor told Variety that he was never comfortable with the idea of trying to shoot ''Catch Me'' quickly before the strikes. ''He just doesn't believe the creative process should be held hostage to a strike deadline,'' a source said.
###

Mr. Showbiz:
11/7/00
DreamWorks Tries to Catch Overbooked Leo

The title of Leonardo DiCaprio's upcoming film, Catch Me if You Can, has become more of a taunt than a box-office promise for DreamWorks, which is now in heated talks to keep the high-priced actor in the starring role. DiCaprio has postponed his involvement in Catch due to the extended production of his current film, Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York. According to Variety, he was to have started shooting Catch, the true story of teenage con man Frank Abagnale Jr., in March in order to avoid looming strikes by the Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild. But so far, Gangs is two weeks over its deadline with no quick end in sight, The Hollywood Reporter notes. Sources told the trade mag that DiCaprio wants to take a break before shooting Catch — something he would likely have to do without if he were to commit to the thriller. Of course, judging by the rumors claiming that Leo's been having tons of fun on location for Gangs in Rome, he wouldn't seem to need much of a holiday. As of late Sunday, Variety reported, DreamWorks execs and DiCaprio's reps were still in negotiations to make Catch the heartthrob's first post-strike film, if it is indeed postponed. "[Leo] just doesn't believe that the creative process should be held hostage to a strike deadline," one DiCaprio source told the paper. Director Gore Verbinski (The Mexican, Mouse Hunt) and cast member James Gandolfini (The Sopranos) may also have to depart the project if it is postponed. DiCaprio is also committed to star in the sideshow drama Johnny Eck, a true-life tale about a half-man and his full-bodied twin brother who were vaudevillian performers in the early 1900s.
###

Excite news:
11/7/00
Covering up the FUCT

Nora Garza, the former features editor at the Monitor in McAllen, TX who was fired last week for running a photograph of the rock group DEFTONES, will be receiving a check to help pay her bills until she finds new employment. Members of Deftones and Erik Brunetti, owner of the Los Angeles-based clothing company FUCT, are sending Garza $5,000. Garza, an employee at the Monitor for more than two years, was told she had "embarrassed" the newspaper when she ran one of the standard publicity photos of Deftones that is distributed by the band's record label, Madonna's Maverick Recording Co. In the photo, which ran on the cover of the October 27 edition of the Monitor's entertainment section as a preview to the band's McAllen Halloween concert, lead singer Chino Moreno is wearing a dark blue sweatshirt with the "fuct" company logo printed across the front. "All of us in the band feel terrible about Mrs. Garza being fired," said Deftones' Moreno, "and wanted to do something to help her out, especially when we were told that the paper didn't give her much of a severance. To be honest, I'm offended that a newspaper has no problem running gruesome photos of dead bodies or horrifically malnourished people, but fires a woman for running a photo that contains a word that RESEMBLES an obscenity." Garza said that she didn't interpret the letters as obscene. "I didn't even think of it. It just looked like a college sweatshirt or something. I don't use that kind of language, so it just didn't occur to me." Garza said she received only one complaint from a reader, and that when she was dismissed, she was told of one other complaint. According to an article in the San Antonio Express-News, the Monitor editors deemed this incident "one of the top 10 worst blunders" in the paper's history. Texas is what is termed an "at will" state, which means that an employer can legally fire any one at any time for any reason. "Talk about a reason not to vote for Bush," commented Moreno. Erik Brunetti, owner and designer of FUCT, a highly-successful "Gen X" clothing company for the past twelve years, said that nothing like this has occurred before. Brunetti cites that a "fuct" shirt was worn by Leonardo DiCaprio in "The Beach," and Kevin Spacey sported one in his Oscar-winning "American Beauty" role. Rock musicians such as Marilyn Manson, and members of Rage Against the Machine, Slayer, and NIN are also patrons of "fuct." "Keanu Reeves wore one of our t-shirts on the MTV Video Music Awards, and was asked to button his jacket, but I think that's the closest thing to censorship we've experienced."
###

E! Online
11/7/00
Leo Running Late for Next Film

Maybe they should call it Catch Leo If You Can. Stuck in Italy for his current film, Leonardo DiCaprio has temporarily dropped out of his next scheduled movie, the DreamWorks action comedy Catch Me If You Can, putting the future of that project in jeopardy. Based on the bestselling 1980 memoir about the youngest fugitive ever to land on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted List, Catch Me was supposed to be a big-time feature for DreamWorks, especially with DiCaprio playing the lead and Sopranos star James Gandolfini in a key costarring role. The studio had planned on getting the picture up and running before the expected actor and writer strike next spring. DiCaprio had committed to star in Catch Me contingent upon his completion of Gangs of New York, Martin Scorsese's 19th century gangster saga that's now shooting in Rome. However, Gangs has fallen way behind schedule with no end date in sight, meaning the chances of getting Catch Me into production before the looming strike are slim. Even if Scorsese manages to wrap Gangs quickly, Leo has said he needs to take a vacation after the film's epic 16-hour work days over the course of what will likely be a six-month shoot. He also has said he doesn't want to rush into a picture just to beat a deadline imposed by his own union. "He just doesn't believe that the creative process should be held hostage to a strike deadline," a source in the DiCaprio tells Daily Variety. DreamWorks is now trying to hash out a deal whereby the 25-year-old thesp will make Catch Me his first film after the strike. But even if DreamWorks manages to corral DiCaprio (who also has Eck, a film about a deformed actor and his normal twin brother, in the works), it is unlikely the project will retain its other key talent. Gandolfini, who signed for a reported $5 million, would probably drop out, since he can only film while on hiatus from The Sopranos and would have a hard time re-juggling his schedule. Another casualty could be director Gore Verbinski (Mouse Hunt). Having just wrapped The Mexican with Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt, Verbinski was eager to helm another movie before the work stoppage and his availability afterward is a question mark. Adapted by Rush Hour scribe Jeff Nathanson, the project is based on Frank Abagnale's Catch Me If You Can: The Amazing True Story of the Most Extraordinary Liar in the History of Fun and Profit. The story follows Abagnale's real-life adventures impersonating a doctor, an airline pilot, a history professor and an assistant attorney general and getting away with writing more than $2.5 million in fraudulent checks in 26 foreign countries. After finally being nabbed by the FBI, Abagnale was recruited as a consultant for the bureau.
###

Hollywood Reporter:
11/6/00
’Catch’ awaits word on status of star DiCaprio

Leonardo DiCaprio has backed out, at least temporarily, from DreamWorks’ “Catch Me if You Can,” derailing the high-profile project. DiCaprio is in Rome before the cameras for Martin Scorsese’s “Gangs of New York,” which is running over schedule. “Catch Me” was scheduled to start shooting in March before the threatened actors strike against producers. It is undecided whether “Catch Me” will be DiCaprio’s next project. It is known that he is mulling over other possibilities, though DreamWorks hopes to make it his next project, sources said. Miramax Films/Initial Entertainment Group’s big-budget “Gangs” is running about two weeks over its original shooting schedule, and a final finish date was not available.
###

Telegraph:
11/6/00
Now for my next trick...

He has removed the head of a chicken and then replaced it, he has turned a cup of coffee into a cup of coins. David Blaine has also buried himself alive because it was the worst thing he could imagine, and later this month he is turning himself into an ice sculpture. Emma Forrest meets him in New York WHEN Patricia White's lover returned from Vietnam so traumatised that he abandoned her and their three-year-old son, it was not the first time Patricia had been left on her own. Her father was a mobster and her mother was negligent (she once told her 10-year-old daughter that she was going away for two weeks and didn't return for two years). Scarred by family dysfunction, Patricia's own parenting could not have been more loving: she was devoted to David, her unusually intelligent little boy, and took on three different jobs so that he could attend a better school. Within a year he was playing chess. Master of illusion: there is a card in the deck that always makes Blaine sad and one that makes him happy Patricia got him into a summer camp for gifted children. Any free time she had, she took him to museums, art exhibitions and libraries. He loved to debate. He was supposed to be a lawyer. But when he was four, David Blaine picked up a deck of cards that was lying around the apartment and taught himself a magic trick. 'And when I was five, I told her that I wanted to do magic for the rest of my life.' He got his way. Now 27, Blaine is America's most revered magician, a destitute Brooklyn kid who took magic out of Las Vegas theatres and on to the streets. The looks on the faces of those he approaches on the street are as much a part of his 'act' as the effects themselves, which do not involve light displays, orchestras and girls in feather leotards, but rather voodoo, illusion and the avant garde. Like the time - to the terror of the viewer - that he appeared to pull the head off a live chicken, only for it to regenerate and come back to life. Or when, chatting with a passer-by whose girlfriend had just been deported to Japan, Blaine revealed, under his shirt, a tattoo of her face on his skin. The man was so shocked, he vomited. 'And just as he did a girl leaned in and asked for my autograph.' You could argue it is context that has made David Blaine a star, for who has ever heard of a sexy magician? Blaine, fresh from a three-hour workout, would reply, Houdini, who like him took great pride in his impeccable physique. He would say that magic, in literature, is synonymous with sex: the poets Shelley, Blake and Coleridge, used the magician as allegory for the lover. Peeling off his motorcycle helmet, Blaine looks like a male Sophia Loren; his face doesn't quite work when you take it apart feature by feature, but the sum of the parts is breathtaking. His mother, Patricia, who died of cancer when Blaine was 19, was Russian-Jewish, his father part Puerto Rican and part Italian. Despite his abundance of wealth derived from television specials, personal appearances and advertising campaigns, cabs often won't stop for him, and Blaine believes it's because his skin is too dark. 'I get treated with complete disdain when I go out to eat, if they don't recognise me and it's somewhere I haven't been before.' I watch him try to persuade the snooty maitre d' of a midtown Manhattan restaurant to let us eat outside so he can keep an eye on his bike. 'No,' he snaps. 'You can drink outside. You cannot eat outside.' 'I've been here before,' says Blaine. 'I'm the magician.' 'You're a magician?' sneers the man. 'You want to do magic tricks here?' 'Um, OK,' falters Blaine, who the night before was doing magic tricks for President Clinton. He is too tired to fight. At the end of this month, for 36 hours he will be frozen in a block of ice outside Trump Plaza, and his weeks of rigorous training include endless showers in freezing water and learning how to sleep standing up. 'Sometimes I'll need to nod off. And when I do it will be like this... ' He stands up, yawns and closes his eyes. And stays like that. For a full minute. Then he mimes coming back to life. 'And then I might have to nod off again and it will be like this... ' Again, he yawns his approximation of standing slumber. And holds it, several beats after his point has been made. He took theatre classes as a teenager and this is pure method acting. One of his heroes is the late comedian and performance artist Andy Kaufman, whose Zen-like non-pursuit of audience reaction was legendary. 'I always say he was my favourite magician. I find baffling behaviour exciting. Because it's not the effect that's magical, it's the reaction, and Kaufman knew that. If that feeling of astonishment doesn't exist, then the magic isn't magic - it's a trick.' Through watching Andy Kaufman's performances and studying Lee Strasberg's 'method', Blaine realised how preposterous the traditional magician's patter can sound. 'And now I will do this! And now for my next trick!' he booms, recalling the stilted banter he used the day he bought his first card trick as a little boy in Brooklyn. But studying method acting helped pull into focus what magic could be. Blaine realised that it didn't matter that he wore jeans and a ripped T-shirt, because his brand of magic would not require the distraction of costumes or female assistants. Like the method actors, his magic is all about detail and provocation. Working as a waiter in Manhattan, he would do card tricks in restaurants. After hours, he would levitate in dark corners of nightclubs. Rumours of his talent spread and because he was also young, amiable and handsome, he found himself invited to New York's hippest parties where he quickly attracted a celebrity following. Madonna flirted with him, Leonardo DiCaprio befriended him, ABC gave him his own television special and Robert De Niro optioned his life story. Ironically, De Niro was a father figure that the fatherless Blaine had settled on years ago after reading several autobiographies. Others included Kaufman, Houdini and Howard Hughes. From his chosen fathers he picked up traits that would remain with him for life: from De Niro he got The Method; from Houdini, the vision (many of Blaine's illusions are stunts which Houdini was working on before he died); from Kaufman, the child-like wonder; and from Hughes, germ phobia. He likes to open a fresh pack of cards each time he performs and he doesn't like anything to touch them. In restaurants he will place them on the plastic menu rather than on the table. Tearing into a fresh box of cards he marvels at the business genius and social perversity of Howard Hughes. 'Here's a guy that, at the age of 18, had lost both his mom and his dad. He proved himself man enough to run the company, and made an empire out of it. He was the second man to fly around the world. He did it in half the time Lindbergh took. But here's my favourite thing: he was watching television one night and kept calling them, asking them to play this movie. They wouldn't play it so he bought the TV station and played it over and over again on a loop!' Stories of similar contrariness swirl around David Blaine. A mutual acquaintance recalls him throwing a deck of cards in the air as he left a crowded restaurant. At drama school he is rumoured to have killed a pigeon with his mind. On another occasion, rebuffed by a girl who was not in the mood to see 'a stupid card trick', Blaine hissed, 'It's not a card trick. It's a psychological force in me controlling you to say and do what I want.' She ran out of the restaurant. One of Blaine's 'collaborators' is the equally perverse avant-garde film director Harmony Korine. Like Blaine, he was part of DiCaprio's posse until they had a falling-out. The turning point in his life came last summer, when, subsisting on just 13 teaspoons of water a day, in a clear glass coffin co-conceived with Korine, he buried himself under the ground for a week. He had just come out of a long relationship with the 23-year-old singer-songwriter, Fiona Apple (she is now dating Boogie Nights director Paul Thomas Anderson). 'That break-up was like getting whacked by Tyson's bare fist. Except you know you'll eventually recover from his punch.' He concedes that he wanted to upset her and it worked. 'Fiona called after I did it all upset, crying, "You could've died!" ' The burial was inspired by something Houdini wanted to do. His granddaughter gave Blaine her blessing. It was Manhattan's most peculiar tourist attraction, and generated a huge buzz for his second television special that aired the day he was 'unburied'. I ask how someone so interested in interaction with the audience could have gained anything from being buried under glass, far from human contact. He insists that there was plenty of human communication. 'I would be laying six feet deep, staring up, and the interaction was amazing,' he recalls. 'Before they saw me, they were expressionless. When they saw me, they would scream and jump back, just as they react to my cards. A lot of people said they came to see me five or six times and that their fears of claustrophobia and death lessened by watching me. Because the idea of burying yourself alive is the worst thing a human could endure.' I wonder how he knew that he would come back from the edge. 'I didn't know,' he says. 'I thought I would. I knew I would come out with a different perspective.' Under the ground, he had time to meditate, and says he got over Fiona. Uncannily Josie Maran, his girlfriend of the past year, is someone he first encountered when she stood in for Fiona in one of her videos (since then, Josie has become a successful model and is the face of Cover Girl cosmetics). Blaine adds that there is a card in the deck that always makes him sad because it was Fiona's favourite, and one that makes him happy because it is also Josie's favourite. He says that a lot of his illusions are inspired by falling in or out of love and that his first ones were demonstrations of love for his mother, Patricia. When she was dying he found himself able to make the radio switch on to her favourite song. 'I just kept trying to think of the craziest, most amazing thing I could do to distract her from the cancer.' Underground, he concocted plans for his next stunt, the human ice sculpture. Again, it will coincide with another US television special, and so he spends his days eating little and training hard. As well as learning to sleep standing up, he has built a giant tank in his gym where he submerges himself in ice-filled water for as many hours as he can. After a day with his trainer, he takes me to a SoHo sushi bar where his photo hangs above the counter. 'So what have you heard about me?' asks Blaine, his voice a Mogadon drawl. That you're a compulsive womaniser. That you used to be best friends with Leonardo DiCaprio, but that you fell out over a girl. That you only date models. 'Well, that's not true. I was with Fiona, after all. The model thing... Perhaps there were a few. But that was really more a reflection of the crowd that I was running with.' He will say that he considered DiCaprio 'a great, great actor. He was a phenomenal talent.' But you think he was sidetracked by the partying? 'That's not for me to say.' Others will say it. They also say that DiCaprio cannot bear not to be the centre of attention, and that he resented Blaine emerging from his shadow just as his own star began to falter. The life of the DiCaprio set was fast and furious, and Blaine does not deny that he himself once had a drug problem: 'I'm a magician. The language of magic and the language of drugs are intertwined. I wanted to test the "doors of perception" as it were. And I did. And I got in too deep. So I stopped.' As we watch our food being prepared, mine vegetarian, his an assortment of tuna and yellow fish, he asks me to pick a card and I ask him if this is what he always does when he meets new people. 'Unfortunately and fortunately. Unfortunately because I've become so used to doing it that I can't start a conversation without it.' And so follows a barrage of orders cloaked as suggestions in those sleeping-pill tones: 'Eliminate those, cut those, take three away, shuffle in any order, pick two cards, put one under your shirt and the other back in the pack. Look under your shirt.' I look under my shirt and the card that was originally there has been replaced by the first one I picked. It is amazing. So amazing that all you can do is accept it. 'My little brother has the best theory on what I do,' says Blaine. 'He never wants to figure out the method. He enjoys being surprised. Einstein said, "There are a handful of people who know everything and still they walk around in complete astonishment." If you can remain astonished then you've succeeded in maintaining what every child does.' His sushi arrives. And he begins to dispense more orders disguised as suggestions: 'Try this tuna.' No thanks. I don't eat fish. 'No, really, try it.' No really, I don't eat fish. 'But it would mean so much to me. I just know that you would love it.' And he forces the sushi into my mouth. Except he didn't force it. I took it. But he made me. If this all sounds like the stuff of court cases, I can't explain it. I just know that people I like a lot more than him have never managed to make me eat raw fish before. And it is delicious. Until I get home, when I remember that I hate it and feel sick. Did I eat it because he insisted? Did I enjoy it because he's so handsome? Because of his voice? Or, as he told the last unfortunate girl to run out in tears, because he was controlling me with his mind? The next day he comes to a book reading of mine on his way to have dinner with Kevin Spacey. He is respectful and interested, offering his appraisal of the reading. He also seems quite subdued. So subdued that a friend asks me if Blaine is back on heroin. Hearing this, he is profoundly hurt. 'If I seemed down it was because I'd had one hour's sleep,' he says. 'I'm not going to appear in public if people are going to say things like that about me.' But how can someone who cares so much what people say about him freeze himself in ice, where he will be peered at 24 hours a day, immobilised for public delectation? He says he is doing it because, like the burial, it is the worst thing he can think of. When he buried himself under the earth last year, Blaine confesses that he got to live the fantasy of seeing people crying at his own funeral, seeing just how much everyone cared about him. Above the earth, friends, ex-lovers, beauteous cover girls all paid respect. Six feet beneath the earth, Blaine thought about his mum, Patricia. Her photo was the only thing he had taken down with him. 'Everyone,' he says, settling back in his chair, 'everyone except my mother thought it was impossible to make a career out of this.' He says he is not afraid of going into the ice. He says he will not be alone. He remembers that on that day last summer when they pulled him out of the earth, it was pouring with rain. He asked his mother to give him a message that she was watching over him. The sun broke clean out of the sky and Patricia said, 'Yes.'

'David Blaine Mystifer' (Telstar) is released on video on November 13
###

Excite News:
11/6/00
DiCaprio & Diaz Implore Voters to Vote

It is incumbent on all Americans to vote their conscience next Tuesday. For me, there is just one choice -- Vice President Al Gore. As an environmentalist and chairman of Earth Day 2000, I met him several times, and after reading his book "Earth in the Balance," I became convinced that he is deeply committed to improving the earth's total environment. Al Gore's encompassing over-view makes him the best candidate to deal with the complex global challenges of the future. The theme of Earth Day 2000 addressed the problem of global warming, which I believe to be the greatest threat to the future of our planet. George W. Bush, as Governor of Texas, has given environmental concerns the lowest priority. Although leading scientists throughout the world agree that global warming is caused by the accumulation of greenhouse gases emitted by automobiles, refineries, and manufacturing plants, Bush maintained during the debates that "the jury is still out" on the causes of global warming. He is relying on the advice of people who are using big industry-funded "junk science" to form his opinions rather than using the worldwide consensus of respected scientific study. If Texas is Bush's example of having an environmental conscience, it is an extremely poor model for the rest of the country. Please, I urge everyone, especially the first time voters, to think about the environment of our future and vote for the Gore/Lieberman team on Tuesday. Thank you.

Full story
###

LA Times:
11/6/00
Over the Top for an Oscar

Exaggerated performances seem to catch the academy's eye, while understated nuance tends to be ignored. Do slobber and facial tics count more than subtlety?...

...In 1966 Sandy Dennis won the Academy Award for best supporting actress for her portrayal of the birdbrained Honey in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" She beat out more restrained, accomplished actresses Wendy Hiller ("A Man for All Seasons") and Vivien Merchant ("Alfie"). I guess that was because people could tell Dennis was acting, even if she practically gobbled an entire soundstage in the process. A bundle of tics, wheezes, giggles and hiccups, Dennis is never at rest. Even then, not everyone was enthralled by her antics. Critic Pauline Kael once suggested that "connoisseurs of egregious acting are sometimes known as the Sandy Dennis Fan Club." More recently, Robert De Niro was nominated for an Oscar for his garish performance in the 1991 remake of "Cape Fear," in which he sported an exaggerated hillbilly accent and laid on the menace with a trowel. When Robert Mitchum played the same part 30 years earlier, he gave a performance of far greater subtlety. The sense of danger he conveyed was understated yet all the more chilling as a result. Of course he got no Oscar recognition for one of the most frightening portrayals in cinema history. I don't mean to say that all flamboyant, hyperactive performances are equally grating. There is a difference between actors who disappear into a manic, brain-damaged character--as Geoffrey Rush did in "Shine" and Leonardo DiCaprio did in "What's Eating Gilbert Grape"--and performers who seem to stand outside the character and cry, "Look, Ma, I'm acting!" Admittedly, that line between honesty and fraudulence is elusive, and evaluations are highly subjective. Even Rush and DiCaprio had their detractors, which only goes to prove that these are the kinds of performances destined to divide people.

Full Story
###

Variety:
11/6/00
DiCaprio's tardy "Gangs" crimps "Catch"

"Catch Me If You Can" is turning out to be a more than apt title for DreamWorks' action comedy about the youngest fugitive ever on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list. The project was to have been Leonardo DiCaprio's next picture before anticipated strikes of both the Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild this spring. Now, a spokeswoman for DreamWorks says, DiCaprio's current picture, Miramax's "Gangs of New York," is running behind schedule in Rome -- thereby likely torpedoing the studio's chances of shooting "Catch Me" before the anticipated strikes. As of late Sunday, studio execs were in negotiations with the DiCaprio camp to make the movie his first post-strike picture. Those talks were set to continue Monday and, if necessary, Tuesday. Insiders say that postponing "Catch Me" may eliminate "Catch's" director, Gore Verbinski ("Mouse Hunt"), who is eager to make a picture before the potential strikes. It might also nix the availability of several other thesps with whom the studio has been in talks, such as James Gandolfini, who can shoot the feature only on hiatus from "The Sopranos" . Moreover, persons familiar with the DiCaprio camp say that while the "Gangs" star might understandably welcome a vacation from the 16-hour days on the Scorsese's massive Roman shoot -- one which, now a third complete, will likely stretch into 22 weeks of lensing -- DiCaprio's also not entirely comfortable with ramming a picture through just to beat his own union's work-stoppage deadline: "He (DiCaprio) just doesn't believe that the creative process should be held hostage to a strike deadline," said one insider in the DiCaprio camp.
###

IFILM.com:
11/3/00
LEONARDO DICAPRIO, A CON ARTIST?

LEONARDO DICAPRIO, A CON ARTIST? No, I'm not talking about the way the Titanic star has managed to get us to call him the biggest actor of our generation. I'm referring to a part Leo has taken in what's shaping up to be a truly exciting (i.e., un-Beach-like) project. It's called Catch Me If You Can, and it's based on the true story of a guy who was able to convince the world he was a pilot, lawyer, doctor and professor (all the while cashing over $6 million in forged checks) before he was old enough to say, rent a car. The Sopranos James Gandolfini is all but committed to play the FBI agent who eventually tracks Leo down. And now I hear from a number of sources that Chloe Sevigny, the non-Swank that starred in Boys Don't Cry, is set to play Leo's (duped) love interest. While Sevigny's part won't be much of a stretch for her (it's fairly similar to the demure secretary shtick she did in American Psycho), Gandolfini won't be the only one making a departure from previous fare. Translation: It looks like Leo's really going to have to act. As written, he'll play one of those characters that is either an utterly charming opportunist or, simply put, insane. How easy can it be to successfully walk that line? Interestingly, the part is pretty similar to the one Matt Damon embodied in The Talented Mr. Ripley. Minus, of course, the murderous rages and latent homosexuality. Who knows? Maybe passing that All the Pretty Horses part on to Damon got Leo thinking about giving up his night job--moomba VIP rooms, Brazilian models, etc.--to concentrate on the day one.
###

Salon.com:
11/3/00
Specials

Salon's TV picks for Weekend, Nov. 3-5, 2000

Return to the heady Bush era with The Growing Pains Movie (7 p.m. Sun., ABC), in which the bland and preachy Seaver clan -- aka the white Huxtables -- rally around mom Maggie's (Joanna Kerns) campaign for Congress. But wait, there's more! Eldest son Mike (Dubya supporter and once-famous virgin Kirk Cameron) and his wife, Kate (his real-life wife Chelsea Noble), have adopted a brood of adorable multiracial children. Carol (Tracey Gold, whose bouts with anorexia during the series' run were the subject of her very own TV movie) is a successful lawyer. Dad Jason (Alan Thicke) still knows best. Precocious Chrissy (Ashley Johnson) is in college. And Ben (Jeremy Miller) is, well, Ben. Unfortunately, Leonardo DiCaprio declined to reprise his role as Luke, the homeless inner-city waif the Seavers took in (ah, they shone like a thousand points of light) during the series' interminable later seasons
###

Orange County Weekly:
11/3/00
Waterworld

Movieland Wax Museum’s soon-to-open Titanic exhibit nearly suffered from too much realism on Oct. 28 when a 20-foot-by-20-foot section of roof gave way, breaking a sprinkler pipe and causing water to fill up offices and the main lobby. "I guess you could say our water delivery for the new Titanic set came in a bit early," guffawed Rodney Fong, a spokesman for the Buena Park tourist trap. The re-creation of the sappy scene in which Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio cling to the doomed ship’s bow is scheduled to open the week of Nov. 20. Fong credited quick action by the Buena Park Fire Department with keeping damage to wax figures at a minimum. Heavy early morning rains were identified as the cause of the cave-in, but we’re not so sure—given the suspicious smirks that couldn’t be wiped off the faces of the Laurel and Hardy likenesses.
###

NY Post:
11/2/00
GISELE: too young to marry

DON'T look for a wedding any time soon for Leonardo DiCaprio and Gisele Bundchen. The Brazilian supermodel told "Entertainment Tonight" she's too young: "I'm not getting married for a long time," she said. "I'm only 20." But the rumors are so strong, Gisele's own mom started to believe them. "She called me and said 'Are you getting married?' And I said, 'Where the hell did you hear that from? You're the first person who's going to know.'"
###

Detroit News:
11/2/00
Short takes

* Leonardo DiCaprio, whining in Teen magazine: "I was in a restaurant the other night and all the girls ignored me. ... It was so annoying."
###

LA Weekly:
11/2/00
The Clone Zone

Florida’s Sun-Sentinel presents The Clone Zone, three Shockwave online cloning games: Classic Clone-O-Matic, where you mix and match sheep and cow “DNA samples”; Celebrity Clone-O-Matic, where you do the same with Bill Clinton, Rosie O’Donnell, Tara Lipinski, Mick Jagger and Sandra Bullock; and new Celebrity Clone-O-Matic 2, where you can make “horrible mutant monsters” out of Tom Cruise, Hillary Clinton, Pamela Anderson, Madonna and Leonardo DiCaprio. Over 3,000 genetic combinations in all.

The Clone Zone
###

E! Online:
11/1/00
Show me that smile again

Show me that smile again. The Growing Pains Movie will reunite all the Seaver family, including stars Alan Thicke, Joanna Kerns, Kirk Cameron, Tracey Gold, Jeremy Miller and Ashley Johnson. But don't hold your breath for Leonardo DiCaprio. Sunday, November 5, 7 p.m., ABC. Speaking of Leo--and holding one's breath--NBC is offering up a telecast of James Cameron's Oscar-winning ill-fated boat flick, Titanic, Sunday, November 26.