Matt Damon and Ben Affleck have quietly sold their interest in the Continental, the L.A. gourmet restaurant the actors launched with Chris Moore, their Good Will Hunting coproducer, and three other partners in 1999. The Oscar-winning pair dropped out, a source says, after both suffered financial fiascos last year at the hands of swindler-to-the-stars investment adviser Dana Giacchetto (Damon reportedly lost $100,000). Neither spent enough time in L.A. to monitor their stake in the eatery, much to the dismay of the waiters, since Affleck, I'm told, routinely left 100 percent tips. No wonder the duo is welcome to drink there for free anytime.
Maybe Affleck and Damon should invest in Parrot Cay, the celebrity-drawing private island in the Turks and Caicos chain in the British West Indies. Just before New Year's, designer Donna Karan and her husband of 17 years, sculptor Stephan Weiss, renewed their wedding vows there. Good pals Barbra Streisand and James Brolin joined them at the beachfront ceremony. Others vacationing there over the holidays: Bruce Willis and George Harrison.
Isabella Cruise, the daughter of Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, celebrated her 8th birthday this month in royal style: Kidman took their oldest child (son Connor is 5) and seven of her friends to a matinee of The Lion King in L.A. They received VIP treatment, with a private room prior to the show and all the comped concession goodies they wanted.
Dennis Franz has been through a lot the last seven years on ABC's hit drama NYPD Blue. His character, Andy Sipowicz, has lost a wife, a partner and a son. So if he looked a lot more relaxed on the show's premiere Jan. 9, here's why. This season, co-creator David Milch is no longer in charge, having left to work at another studio. (Steven Bochco is back at the helm.) Milch, brilliant though he was, often wrote scenes on the spot, creating a highly demanding work pace. And in February Franz gets a new love interest, played by Juliana Donald. But fret not, there are no plans for Franz to bare his butt. Yet.
While the latest group of Survivors baked in the hot Australian sun, the crew lived luxuriously, compared to their sparse accommodations during the first series on the island of Pulau Tiga, near Borneo. This time each member of the 230-person production team had his or her own tent (before, there were two or three to a hut). Trailers on-site included bathroom stalls and showers with hot water, another first. There was also an open-air bar and an Internet café. Best of all: no fish-head soup. The Australian fare closely paralleled American cuisine, and host Jeff Probst, who lost 15 lbs. in Pulau Tiga, maintained his weight.
Dennis Miller ended his first season on Monday Night Football just as he began the eighth season of his HBO talk show on Jan. 12. Critics were mixed on his MNF performance and Miller, who has reportedly been asked to re-up, is lukewarm about returning. Since his erudite references are as lost during the telecast as a reading of Beowulf on the tarmac of LAX, here's my fix: Run subtitles.
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