• March 11, 2002
• Vol. 57
• No. 9

Insider

By Tom Cunneff

William Petersen and his girlfriend of seven years, Chicago biology teacher Gina Cirone, are engaged. Pondering how best to pop the question, the CSI investigator decided that a reenactment of their first date might guarantee a favorable result. In December Petersen, who sees Cirone once a month, flew to Chicago, where he spoke to her high school classes. Then the couple took a long drive around the Windy City, followed by dinner at Spiaggia. Petersen, who asked for the same meal he'd eaten seven years before, gave her a 3-carat emerald-cut diamond-and-platinum engagement ring. Although no wedding date has been set, Cirone plans to move to L.A. after the school year ends and continue teaching.

The last time Madonna was seen onstage—in David Mamet's Speed-the-Plow in 1988—Ronald Reagan was President. Now the Maternal Girl is set to give theater another shot—not, as has been printed elsewhere, in a musical but in the comedy Up for Grabs, in which she'll portray an ambitious art dealer. The play will also mark her stage debut in London, where she lives with her two children, Rocco and Lourdes, and husband Guy Ritchie. Madonna decided to do the play, her rep Liz Rosenberg tells me, because it's a different challenge from touring or making films. It also gives the working mom a chance to stay in one place for a while. "But she's not one to take a nap," says Rosenberg. Rehearsals begin in April.

Amy Brenneman's 1-year-old daughter Charlotte just may be Hollywood's youngest diva. First she and her nanny traded trailers with the Judging Amy star because they had outgrown theirs. Then Charlotte, whose dad is director Brad Silberling, wasn't getting her proper afternoon rest because of the noise, so a Solomonic solution was devised. Now when Charlotte naps, a flashing red light, like the kind used when shows are filming, comes on outside her trailer, near a sign that reads, "If the red light's on, baby is sleeping." "It's really smart," says Brenneman, "because the only thing production people will respond to is a flashing red light."

Viggo Mortensen isn't the type of actor to insist on being shot from his best side. But there were days while making The Lord of the Rings when director Peter Jackson had no choice. During production in New Zealand, many of the hobbits, led by Elijah Wood, became surf fanatics who spent their downtime riding waves. Mortensen joined them one weekend, but instead. of hanging 10 he banged his head when his board flipped over and hit him. On Monday Mortensen showed up to shoot the Mines of Moria scenes, but the right side of his face was badly swollen, with his eye shut like a punch-drunk boxer's. When makeup artists couldn't cover the bruising, Jackson was forced to shoot Mortensen only from his left side.

• Contributors:
• Hugh McCarten,
• Marisa Laudadio.

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