My Big Fat Greek Wedding has grossed more than $175 million, but its star and writer, Nia Vardalos, hasn't seen "one dime" extra, according to her husband, actor Ian Gomez, who plays John Corbett's best friend in the movie and appears on the Nov. 8 episode of The Drew Carey Show. Vardalos was originally paid $500 for her screenplay and another $150,000 to star in the movie. Wedding, which cost $5 million to make and $20 million to market, is the most profitable independent film of all time. What's unusual, in a town known for its largesse, is that not one production executive has thanked Vardalos with a sizable gratuity. A spokesman for the film says Vardalos will start receiving her big fat Greek paychecks soon. In the end, her cut of the profits (including video sales) could amount to $10 million or more.
To celebrate the last day of shooting his action film The Last Samurai in Japan, Tom Cruise threw a party at a Kyoto restaurant for 20 members of the cast and crew. But Cruise, who brought girlfriend Penélope Cruz, was left cooling his heels for 45 minutes—the vans carrying his guests went to the wrong place. Once they arrived, partygoers were treated to a performance by six geishas and a traditional dinner that included "one amazing course after another," says the film's producer Marshall Herskovitz. "It was a great way to cap off our experience in Japan."
How does a teenager with a hit show and a famous boyfriend celebrate her 19th birthday? Well, That 70's Show star Mila Kunis wanted to do something "very different," she tells us, so her boyfriend Macaulay Culkin took her to the Medieval Times restaurant in Orange County, Calif. (yes, the same place Jim Carrey went to in The Cable Guy), with six of their friends, including her costar Wilmer Valderrama. The actress watched knights joust and ate with her hands but drew the line at the birthday proclamations. Says Kunis: "It was like, 'Happy Birthday to Madeline, who's 4, and Pam, who's 7.' Thank God they didn't announce me."
- Contributors:
- Hugh McCarten.
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!
