Resolved: There will be some changes made in the year 2000
Focus
"I don't make resolutions," says comic Rodney Danger-field. "I'm perfect, so I don't have to change a thing." Maybe so. But many of us—yes, even the famous—view the start of a new year as yet another opportunity to begin buffing our bodies and souls to even more stunning, gemlike brilliance. Some, such as Denzel Washington, extend their wishes for the year 2000 to the entire world. "Peace," he says simply. Others, like actor Eric Stoltz, have less lofty goals: "I'd like to floss more." Herewith, a few other hopes and dreams:
Tom Selleck: "My resolution is to treat New Year's or the millennium as if it was just any other day of the year."
Christina Ricci: "I'd love my dogs to like me more. I want them to like me so much that they bite other people on my behalf."
Daisy Fuentes: The model and television hostess is not a New Year's fanatic. "The calendar is such a man-made thing, it's a state of mind," she says. But Fuentes does resolve to take her acting career more seriously in 2000, promising, "I'll be looking for new challenges."
Jon Voight: "I look at the past, look at the mistakes and develop some resolve to become better. That's how we can get closer to peace."
Tara Lipinski: "My superstitions about skating things, like my guards have to be a certain way and stuff like that—I'm gonna cut down on those."
Michael Badalucco: "I hope to be a better husband and a better person and do everything I can to promote and encourage goodness."
Michael Boatman: "I definitely want to become more spiritual. I've been investigating Buddhism."
Mena Suvari: "Wanting to stay true to myself and still working as hard as I can. Maybe read a little more."
Fran Drescher: "My only resolution is to be true to myself. And I always wish for good health for my loved ones and myself."
Danny DeVito: "Eat more pasta and drink a little bit more. And work less."
Rhea Perlman: "I can't seem to resolve anything."
Celebrity Traffic Court
Got a valid chauffeur's license? There may be some openings. Jason Priestley, for instance, probably will not be doing any of his own driving for a while. The former Beverly Hills, 90210 star is awaiting a Jan. 27 hearing on a felony drunk-driving charge stemming from a Dec. 3 Hollywood Hills crash that totaled his 1999 Porsche and broke the arm of pal Chad Cook. Priestley, who pleaded not guilty to the charges, is out on $50,000 bail and faces a maximum three-year sentence if he is convicted. Other offenders include Jean-Claude Van Damme, who also has a Jan. 27 hearing, charged with DUI and driving without a license in West Hollywood on Sept. 23, and former basketball star and cross-dresser Dennis Rodman, out on $2,500 bail after his arrest on Dec. 22 in Costa Mesa, Calif. Authorities are awaiting the results of a blood-alcohol test before filing charges. Van Damme pleaded not guilty. Rodman's lawyer said after the arrest, "I think it is too early to make a statement."
Also vexing the highway patrol, though for a less serious charge, is Ben Affleck, cited in Massachusetts for driving with a suspended license. A judge reinstated his license at a Dec. 23 hearing, provided he stays out of motor trouble until June.
Of Mice and Movies
Odds are your local multiplex is swarming with mice. Onscreen only, it is to be hoped. Mickey, the most famous of his kind, makes a splashy comeback as the sorcerer's apprentice in Fantasia 2000. Stuart Little, literary rodent extraordinaire, stars in the film named after him, and manages to charm the family cat, Snowbell, in the process. In The Green Mile, Mr. Jingles, another squeaker, shares the screen with Oscar winner Tom Hanks, eking out a life in prison while entertaining and comforting inmates on death row. Wondering how these former pipsqueaks became big cheeses? Read on.
From Many, One
Director Frank Darabont used about two dozen look-alike mice—each with its own talent, from running on cue to perching on a man's shoulder to pushing a spool across the floor—and two mouse trainers to create one acrobatic Mr. Jingles for the prison drama The Green Mile.
Digital Delight
"There's something vulnerable about a mouse," says Stuart Little director Rob Minkoff, whose virtual star is computer-animated. Stuart's movements were based in part on the work of a pantomimist, who acted out the scenes, and on the facial expressions of Michael J. Fox, who supplied Stuart's voice.
In Living Color
Mickey Mouse was made the old-fashioned way—drawn by hand—in the original Fantasia released in 1940. This year's updated version still features the Mick in the classic clip "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," but now he interacts with a live symphony conductor in full color instead of a black silhouette.
Oscar Steps on Allen's Toes
Fame is fleeting—almost as fleeting as Fame—but why hold a grudge? At least that seems to be Debbie Allen's tactic after the dancer-choreographer found out last month that her services would not be required for this year's Oscars ceremony on March 26. The reason given by new producers Richard and Lili Zanuck: The show needs to be streamlined—and all those big production numbers (like last year's Saving Private Ryan segment) just take up so much time. "Well," says Allen, "I wish them luck. But I love dance, and for me, dance is appropriate at any occasion. It is a tradition that goes back to ancient man; we danced for rain, we danced when we lost someone we loved. It's part of life to dance. I understand dance's role at the Oscars and think it's a great part of the celebration, but hey—this is [the Zanucks's] first time taking it on, and maybe they'll come up with something that really works in place of it."
Should the producers have a change of heart, Allen would like to see the new Denzel Washington film Hurricane interpreted by dancers at this year's Academy Awards. It's about power and survival, she says, "so just imagine that in abstract terms."
POP QUIZ
with Ethan Hawke
Fatherhood has been very, very good to Ethan Hawke, 29, since his wife, Uma Thurman, also 29, gave birth to their daughter Maya on July 8, 1998. Hawke, who starred in Reality Bites, Gattaca and, most recently, Snow-Falling on Cedars, spoke with Scoop about being a first-time dad.
So what was your reaction?
The whole thing is so humbling and daily and beautiful. It's totally glorious.
Any strain?
I have it really easy because we have a profession where we can take time off. People who are poor, who don't have the ability to have any help and don't have any space in their house—the stress that must put on a marriage, or on a single parent. I have a whole newfound respect for what over half the world is doing, taking care of children.
How so?
You always see these politicians talk about "our children," and it sounds like such rhetoric, and then as soon as you have a kid, you realize and go, "Oh, this is a really big deal," because you realize how much you're reliant on the rest of your community, how much it starts to matter how violent or frivolous the world is.
As soon as my wife got pregnant, she was totally keyed into wanting the world to be a good place. I remember when those kids in Arkansas killed those other kids [the March 24, 1998, shootings in Jonesboro]. That happened while we were expecting a baby, and my wife cried for days about it.
Any big lessons?
I didn't know how spoiled I was. I was a single child with a single mom, and I don't think I ever really did anything for anybody else. Any of you who have a baby know [about] not getting to do all the little things that you want to do. I didn't realize how I always got everything I wanted.
Does being a celebrity enter into the equation?
None of that stuff even entered my mind. You're so concerned about your little baby. It becomes all about their needs.
ON THE BLOCK
THIS SOLD HOUSE?
The villa Vila—as in Bob Vila, television's home improvement guru—is definitely not your classic fixer-upper. It's in mint condition, his real estate agent assures, and includes several fixtures from older homes Vila had previously renovated. The two-acre estate sits on an island off Cape Cod, Mass., and includes a 5,300-sq.-ft. contemporary-style house with hot tub, greenhouse and swimming pool. It also features a 2,500-sq.-ft. guest house with a private beach. Buy 'em both for $8.5 million. Short on cash? Grab the guest house alone for $3.5 million. No, that's not cheap—but neither place needs renovations.
Elvis at 65: Love Him Tender
Seems like only yesterday, if you believed the tabloids, that you couldn't walk into a Dunkin' Donuts without bumping smack-dab into Elvis Presley. Lately, though, the King has kept a lower profile. Some say this is because he is dead. There is, of course, another, possibly plausible, explanation: Next Saturday, Jan. 8, is Elvis's 65th birthday—perhaps he has just gotten harder to recognize.
Which would make it easier for him to celebrate this birthday and its benefits. What would 65 mean to Elvis if he were around and in Memphis? As a top wage earner, he probably would be eligible for the Social Security maximum, $1,433 a month. If the old pink Cadillac were in the shop for its 350,000-mile tune-up, Elvis could hop a municipal bus for 55 cents, a nice senior savings on the usual $1 fare. Libertyland, one of his favorite theme parks, would now let him in free—an $18 savings. He could skip through the ticket booth at the Memphis Zoo (on Tuesdays) and chow down on fried chicken at the Old Country Buffet for a dollar discount. And in the hunka hunka department: Fred's Pharmacy offers 10 Viagra pills for $87.
If you're visiting Graceland, Elvis's last known address, for one of the birthday celebrations scheduled there this week and spot a vaguely familiar-looking gent in line, remind him that there's a senior discount ($17.55 instead of the usual $19.50). No doubt about what he'll say: Thank you. Thank you very much.
Why Val Won't Take the Stares
So is it okay to make eye contact with Val Kilmer or not? Ever since he filmed The Saint in 1997, a story has been making the rounds that extras on the set must avert their eyes in his presence. With Kilmer filming Red Planet in Australia, the no-eye-contact story is out there again. Well, is it true? Partially—but don't blame Val, says Phillip Noyce, who directed The Saint. "I issued orders that extras were not to make eye contact with the principals, as so many of them were trying to enlarge their parts by pretending they had some sort of fictitious relationships with the principal actors," Noyce told WHO WEEKLY, PEOPLE's Australian sibling. "Next thing I'm reading is that Val Kilmer won't go on the set unless the extras stop looking at him."
Globes Turn Back Time
Back in 1982, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association honored Pia Zadora with a Golden Globe for her work in the not-quite-classic Butterfly. The fact that her husband had treated Globe voters to a free weekend in Las Vegas led some to believe that, just maybe, the election process was tainted, an image the group has been fighting ever since. So when 84 gift watches, worth up to $395 each, were sent to voters on Dec. 13 to promote Sharon Stone in The Muse, Helmut Voss, the Association's president, promptly returned them. "Accepting luxurious gifts," says Voss, "would destroy the Golden Globes." Cheaper gifts, apparently, aren't so potent. Among the freebies: gardening gloves from the producers of American Beauty, and from the Being John Malkovich gang, a cookie with the actor's face on it.
- Contributors:
- Mike Neill,
- Liza Hamm,
- Matt Birkbeck,
- Shelli-Anne Couch,
- Michael Fleeman,
- Eric Francis,
- Susan Gray,
- Barbara Sandler,
- Natasha Stoynoff,
- Debby Seibel,
- Michelle Caruso,
- Susan Christian-Goulding,
- Ed Newton,
- Mark Dagostino.
