With Oscar looming, Best Actress remains up for grabs
Focus
Like guys at a college frat Party, movie buffs anticipating the 74th annual Academy Awards are sounding one baffled refrain: Hey, where are all the women? Eleven months into the year, the crop of Best Actress contenders is far from bumper. Though Nicole Kidman will likely get a nomination for either Moulin Rouge or The Others, she's hardly a shoo-in. And neither is anyone else.
"It's not a Hilary Swank kind of year, where it's very clear who's going to win," says casting director Lisa Beach. Rather, it's more like a Marcia Gay Harden kind of year (Quick! Name the film for which she won Best Supporting Actress last March!), where nominees may come from relatively obscure films. The problem, says Phoenix Pictures head Mike Medavoy, is the paucity of substantial leading roles for women. Adds Paul Dergarbedian of Exhibitor Relations, an L.A.-based box office tracking firm: "The summer films were more about the concepts than the actors. [Angelina Jolie in] Tomb Raider? I don't think so."
Still, a handful of forthcoming films show promise for leading lady gold: Halle Berry in Monster's Ball, Michelle Pfeiffer in I Am Sam, Sissy Spacek in In the Bedroom, Cate Blanchett in Charlotte Gray and Julianne Moore in The Shipping News are fueling buzz (nominations will be announced Feb. 12). Predictions? Dergarbedian puts his money on Renée Zellweger in Bridget Jones's Diary, even though comedies rarely get nods. "She had an accent," he says. "That always helps."
Adding a Sheen to D.C.
"Be our guest," says Washington, D.C., Mayor Anthony Williams in a series of TV plugs aimed at boosting tourism in the nation's capital. Never mind that the ads, set to air in mid-December, feature non-D.C. residents Martin Sheen, Bradley Whitford and Richard Schiff of The West Wing. (Series creator Aaron Sorkin wrote the spots.) Or that, as The Washington Post noted, Sheen was filmed on the show's L.A. set. With visitors spooked by Sept. 11, tourism-dependent D.C. needs help. Besides, said Stephanie Antosca, whose company helped shoot the ads, "they felt a strong connection to the city."
From Hemingway to Happy Campers
And you thought Ocean's Eleven had all the big guns. On Nov. 19 a tier-one cast that included Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep, Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Morgan Freeman, Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman took the stage at New York City's Avery Fisher Hall to perform The World of Nick Adams, a play based on some of Ernest Hemingway's short stories. The one-night-only production, which charged up to $2,500 a head, benefited the Hole in the Wall Gang, a coalition of summer camps for seriously ill children founded by Newman in 1988. What the show lacked in polish—with only a day and a half to rehearse, stars read from scripts—it made up for in spontaneity. When Roberts flubbed a line, she burst into laughter and embraced Streep before continuing the scene. (They both played prostitutes.) "I felt like an actor scrambling," says Damon. However rough the show, the players were pleased with the result—and thrilled to be onstage with Woodward and Newman. Says Kevin Kline: "Tonight I was working with the best."
For Collins, It's Over and Out
Sometimes the show must not go on—and Joan Collins is all right with that. "I'm really quite pleased that it's ending early," says the actress regarding last week's announcement that Over the Moon, her play in London's West End, will close in early December, six weeks before schedule. "It was incredibly exhausting, and I'm not sorry that it's over." The farce was panned by critics and played before half-empty houses, prompting salary cuts for the actors and a 2-for-l ticket sale that flopped. There were also reports of tension between Collins, 68, and her costar Frank Langella, 63, who left about three weeks ago for another job. Langella was not available for comment. Says Collins's spokeswoman: "I don't think he was seen as the easiest of people to work with, and it certainly wasn't all Joan's fault that he left."
A First Niece Makes Track
The Pirelli tires' calendar has often adorned both garage walls and corporate offices with its tasteful collection of seminude models. This year the limited edition paean to beauty and rubber takes the high road—everyone is fully clothed. That includes the President's 17-year-old niece Lauren Bush, who graces the calendar cover wrapped in a coat. (The other 12 models are all budding Hollywood actresses.) The company thought featuring Bush would be "a nice tribute to America." Fine, but what about the naked women? "The calendar is art. Being tied to nudes is a limit," says Pirelli spokesman Fabio Magrino. Bush posed for photographer Peter Lindbergh at the Paramount Studios in Los Angeles last March. "Overall," says Bush, "it was an awesome honor and experience for me."
Dudley Done Right
Dudley Moore, 66, accepted a Commander of the British Empire medal from Prince Charles—for achievements in television, film and theater—at Buckingham Palace on Nov. 16. Since about 1994 the comic actor, who uses a wheelchair and lives with two musicians in New Jersey, has suffered from a degenerative brain disease called progressive supranuclear palsy, which makes speaking difficult. "It's frustrating," says a housemate, concert pianist Rena Fruchter, 54. "But Dudley's thrilled to come back to England and say hello to his British public."
Stunt Double Trouble
Joseph Manuella won't be getting by on Robert De Niro's looks anymore. A former New York City firefighter who doubled for De Niro in 1996's The Fan, Manuella, 51, was arrested on Nov. 14 for criminal impersonation and faces up to two years in jail. According to De Niro's attorney, Manuella has been posing as the actor since 1999 to finagle star treatment—and discounts—at hotels and restaurants. Police were tipped off when he received a $150 room at an Upstate New York Howard Johnson for a reduced rate of $25. Not that the impostor regrets it, says one investigator: "He was De Niro right up to when he was cuffed."
POP QUIZ
with Katie Couric
Today show host Katie Couric joined Michael J. Fox, Mary Tyler Moore and other television luminaries at New York City's Marriott Marquis hotel recently to celebrate their induction into the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame. During the cocktail hour, Couric, 44, looked after her parents ("Can we get my dad a drink?" she called out. "My father is over there and he's thirsty!"), then spent a few moments talking with Scoop about her new honor.
What does this award mean to you?
When I got into television, into journalism, my only true goal was to be respected by my colleagues. I think this is a validation that they think my work has been good enough to allow me to join a list of very impressive people, so I'm extremely honored.
Got a spot picked out at home where you'll display your award?
I don't know what it looks like. I'm going to have to see it first, and then I'll make an executive decision.
Do you qualify for any other Halls of Fame?
I definitely think that the tapes they're going to show tonight will qualify me for the Hairstyles We Have Known and Hated Hall of Fame.
Sam Donaldson is the host tonight. Any fond memories?
I've come full circle with Sam. Over 20 years ago, when I was a desk assistant [at ABC News in Washington], I remember Sam jumping on the desk and singing, "K-K-K-Katieeeeee." Then he started dating my roommate!
What qualities make a good Hall of Famer?
My parents taught me strength, devotion, intelligence and humor. They prepared me to overcome professional and personal setbacks. If there were a Hall of Fame for parents, they would be in it.
One last thing. We hear that your beau, TV producer Tom Werner, may buy the Boston Red Sox. What's up?
Luckily, I don't know anything about sports!
ON THE BALCK
A HENDRIX HAVEN
The owners of a Seattle dwelling where rock legend Jimi Hendrix grew up in the 1950s were in a jam. They wanted to build condominiums on the site, but did not want to destroy the two-bedroom, 900-sq.-ft. house. As a last-ditch effort to save it, they offered the building to anyone who would simply pay to relocate the structure. Six hours before the demolition, Craig Dieffenbach, another local developer, agreed to move the house, at a cost of $30,000, to a temporary spot provided by the city. He hopes to turn his new purchase into a museum and cultural center.
- Contributors:
- Ting Yu,
- Greg Adkins,
- Liza Hamm,
- Jen Chaney,
- Molly Fahner,
- Rachel Felder,
- Mike Fleeman,
- Alli Joseph,
- Neil Michael,
- Natasha Stoynoff,
- Jospeh V. Tirella,
- Praxcillia Trabattoi,
- Charles Winecoff.
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
