Irvine Welsh: You Ask The Questions

(Such as: do you fear becoming middle class? And what do you make of research linking use of the drug Ecstasy to baldness?)

14 August 2003

Irvine Welsh, 45, grew up on the Muirhouse estate in Edinburgh, notorious in the 1980s for its high level of unemployment and drug-related crime. Leaving school at 16, he became a television repairman and played in several punk bands before taking a job in local government. In 1993, his first novel, Trainspotting, was published. It became an international bestseller and was adapted into a zeitgeist movie, starring Ewan McGregor. More novels followed, including Glue, Filth, Ecstasy, Marabou Stork Nightmares and, most recently, Porno. Welsh has visited the Sudan and Afghanistan through his work with Unicef, and has run the London Marathon twice. He lives in San Francisco.

Is there a taboo you would not break?Tim Horden, London

Some taboos exist for good reasons: for example, paedophilia, incest and supporting Hearts. I obviously wouldn't break them.

In your time in Hollywood, what is the most surreal experience you've had?
Robin Quinn, Milton Keynes

Last time I was out there, I inadvertently stole Keanu Reeves's chair and drink in the Château Marmont Hotel when he was in the lavvy. He was very decent about it, though - a true gentleman-like dude.

Keanu in Anthrax video

Keanu Reeves has made a cameo appearance in Anthrax's video for their latest single Safe Home.

The 38-year-old Matrix star is a long-time fan of the New York band and starred in the video for free, reports German MTV.

The single appears on the band's latest album entitled We've Come For You All.

Reeves, who plays bass in his band Dogstar, has so far failed to achieve fame as a rock star himself.

But friends said recently that he has had enough of films and eagerly practices his bass guitar in breaks between filming.

The day the world turns left

The day the world turns left

August 12 2003 at 01:25AM

By Monica Langanparsad

If you find your home or office turned "back to front" on Wednesday, it's probably the work of the Lefties - not the political ones, but your left-handed colleagues and friends.

Wednesday marks the 11th anniversary of International Left-Handers' Day and left-handers will be declaring their homes and offices "lefty zones", where right-hand dominance, for once, will be banned.

The 28�000 members of The Left-Handers' Club will be talking of how frustrating it can be living with right-handers.

Organised by the International Left-Handers' Club, the light-hearted purpose of Left-Handers' Day is to create awareness among the right-handed majority that right-biased design - of everything from scissors to sinks, cheque books to computer mice, musical instruments to microwaves - causes problems for the 13 percent of the population who use their left hands for most tasks.

'Some of world's best soccer players are left-handed' Visitors to the website www.left-handersday.com can win prizes playing a host of games and activities online, including Celebrity Treasure Hunt and Sinister Quiz, that reveal the fascinating background of this once-forbidden trait, and also highlight the strengths and attributes of left-handers.

Mercury editorial assistant Liz Swart, who is proudly left-handed, said: "My mother tried to teach me to use cutlery like right-handed people do, but I always switched hands.

The most difficult task, I find, is teaching a right-handed person to do things. My daughter is right-handed and it's going to be difficult to teach her to sew."

For reporter Thobani Ngqulunga being left-handed is a source of pride because "some of world's best soccer players are left-handed".

"My grandfather and some of my uncles are left-handed, so in my family it's natural," he said.

cartoonist Matt Groening and his creation, Bart Simpson, are both left-handed "My mother tried to make me use my right hand, but it never worked. I'm a slow writer and the teachers at school thought it was because I'm left-handed.

"International Left-Handers' Day is a good idea because it will help to raise awareness and highlight stereotypes," he said.

Famous left-handers include former American presidents Ronald Reagan, George Bush and Bill Clinton.

Other well-known lefties are Joan of Arc, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Napoleon Bonaparte, Prince Charles and his son William, Fidel Castro, former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, cartoonist Matt Groening and his creation, Bart Simpson.

Authors Lewis Carroll and HG Wells were left-handed, as were musicians Kurt Cobain and Jimi Hendrix. Other left-handed musicians include Phil Collins, Paul McCartney, Seal, George Michael, Ringo Starr, Paul Simon and Natalie Cole. Michaelangelo was left-handed, as were artists, Raphael and Leonardo da Vinci.

Lefty actors include Amitabh Bachchan, Matthew Boderick, his wife, Sarah Jessica Parker, Charlie Chaplin, Tom Cruise, his ex-wife Nicole Kidman, Robert de Niro, Whoopie Goldberg, Cary Grant, Betty Davis, Angelina Jolie, Marilyn Monroe, Luke Perry, Robert Redford, Matrix star Keanu Reeves, Julia Roberts, comedian Jerry Seinfeld, Christian Slater, Slyvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, and talk-show host Oprah Winfrey.

Left-handed sporting personalities include Brazilian soccer star Pele, Indian cricket captain Saurav Ganguly, boxer Oscar de la Hoya, Formula One champion Ayrton Senna and tennis stars Goran Ivanesivic, John McEnroe and Martina Navratilova.

Untitled Nancy Meyers Project Finally Gets a Title: ''Something's Gotta Give''

Written 08-10-2003 by ChrisFaile

Had he not died in 1976, renowned lyricist Johnny Mercer would be proud of the title that has been revealed for the film heretofore known as only "The Untitled Nancy Meyers Project." According to FilmJerk.com sources, the Jack Nicholson film has been given the title of "Something's Gotta Give."

It looks likely that the title for the Sony pic is a reference to the 1954 Mercer song of the same name, which was popularized by both Fred Astaire and Sammy Davis, Jr. the following year. The song offered the lyrics, "When an irresistable force / such as you / meets an old immovable object like me / you can bet as sure as you live."

Certainly fits what we know about the film, which focuses on a New York City music executive (played by Nicholson) with a proclivity of dating younger women. But he is dealt a harsh blow when he suffers a heart attack while visiting the Hamptons beach home of his latest trophy girlfriend's mother. When his girlfriend flees back to the city, Harry is left in the care of the mother and his doctor. Realizing that he and the doctor are both falling in love with the divorced playwright, they soon find themselves competing with each other for her hand. FilmJerk.com was the first to report that a sequence in the film will feature a troupe of Nicholson look-alikes partaking in a "Jack Nicholson chorus line scene.”

As of this writing, the film is scheduled to open wide on more than 2,000 screens December 12th. Also starring in the film are Diane Keaton, Frances McDormand, Keanu Reeves, Jon Favreau and Amanda Peet.

JOURNALISM SCANDAL AT E! NETWORK

Gossip columnist busted for plagiarizing and fabricating everything

07/27/2003

HOLLYWOOD - In the wake of the Jayson Blair debacle and subsequent resignation of the top editors at the New York Times, yet another one of America’s leading news organizations has been rocked by scandal. The E! Entertainment Network offices have erupted in anger and finger-pointing after gossip columnist Ted Casablanca was caught fabricating or plagiarizing every single sentence he has ever written. Following the revelations, Casablanca resigned and the executive producers for E! News Daily, Robert Kinsley and Nancy Anderson, were fired today, capping a tumultuous week.

Like Blair, Casablanca’s wrongdoing also comes with intimations that he was promoted beyond his ability because of an affirmative action program. Casablanca was identified by E! diversity promoters as one of the most promising straight men at the network and was consistently promoted until he became the only heterosexual in the news division.

The E! Network has found 182,345 instances where Casablanca was fabricating or plagiarizing a sentence. For example, in his March 12 online column, “The Awful Truth,” Casablanca writes about Keanu Reeves and his band “Becky” opening the show at West Hollywood’s Troubador where Sandra Bullock was a guest. “Afterward, Sand-doll hit the VIP lounge with Keanu, where the two purty partyers were looking very chummy-wummy,” wrote Casablanca.

According to insiders, Casablanca never made it to the Troubador. In fact, Casablanca hasn’t stepped foot outside his apartment in the last five years because of an inflamed case of psoriasis. His TV segments were taped inside his bedroom. Instead, Casablanca sent unpaid interns to cover events for him, exchanging their services for his VIP pass. But a cursory examination revealed their work to often be shoddy.

“It’s true that Sandy and Keanu spent a little time together, but it was a stricly pro discussion,” said a journalist from Entertainment Tonight who attended the Troubador event. “I could maybe buy that it was ‘chummy,’ but no serious reporter would possibly call them ‘chummy-wummy.’”

In another column last year, Casablanca wrote, “Window-shopping along a trendy LA street, piping hot Ashton Kutcher and sexy squeeze Brittany Murphy started chatting with a good-looking young couple ... who invited them back to their place for hot tub fun!”

It reads like an original piece of gossip. However, the previous day on the National Enquirer website, this article appeared: “Window-shopping along a trendy LA street, Ashton Kutcher and sexy squeeze Brittany Murphy started chatting with a good-looking young couple ... who invited them back to their place for hot tub fun.” The only differences are that Casablanca added the words “piping hot” before Ashton’s name and used an exclamation point instead of a period at the end of the sentence.

Gossip columnists around the nation are shocked and ashamed. The New York Post's Liz Smith released this statement, “I don’t know what’s in Teddy Boy’s drinking water. But my spies tell me he’s been plagiarizing since elementary school. Those in the know say the network is now looking at an essay he wrote in second grade titled, 'Jacob was looking up girls' skirts on the jungle gym.'"

Fellow Post gossip columnist Cindy Adams also released a statement, saying: “Poor baby. I don’t what to tell you except that I was at a glitzy charity affair at Chelsea Piers. The honorary chair was Steven Spielberg. The main dish served was a delightful half a chicken.”

Insiders tell Dateline Hollywood that the resignation of Casablanca and departure of the executive producers has actually made the office less chaotic. Kinsley and Anderson were described by many as romantic comedy crusaders who never let serious dramas get equal coverage.

“Remember the two weeks when we constantly led with articles questioning why romantic comedies were never allowed into the Oscars?” said one top E! reporter who asked to remain anonymous. “I think we were moving from responsible journalism into outright advocacy. Meanwhile, an excellent piece I did about how Adrien Brody didn't bathe for a month to perfect his look for ‘The Pianist’ got pushed to the last five minutes of the show.”

Still, while insiders may feel relieved at the turn of events, the chaos at E! has cast new doubt on the veracity of all entertainment news and gossip columns, according to Fred Rubin, a professor of entertainment journalism ethics at UCLA Extension.

“Reliable information about the dating habits of Ashton Kutcher and box office performance of 'T3' are key to keeping our democracy functioning,” he commented. “Only through consistent information they can trust about the lives and finances of prettier and more successful people can most Americans bear to get through another day. Without it, the sharp rise in depression and suicides would likely put our great nation into freefall.”

'Matrix Reloaded' sets box office world record at Roppongi Hills

Monday, August 11, 2003 at 11:00 JST
TOKYO — Virgin Cinemas Roppongi Hills, Tokyo's recently opened destination movie complex, became the world's highest grossing theater for "The Matrix Reloaded," according to company officials.

This is the first time a Tokyo theater has been the top venue for a major Hollywood release, testifying to the appeal of one of the most sophisticated movie theaters ever built.

The lavish, high-tech Virgin Cinemas Roppongi Hills was a major part of the draw for the 82,522 Japanese, who flocked to watch the sci-fi sequel in the futuristic atmosphere of the new Roppongi Hills urban center during its first 39 days to mid-July.

Sales at the theater during this period totaled more than $1.1 million.

"This is an especially impressive achievement given that the movie has been running only eight weeks at Roppongi Hills, while it has been showing for 11 weeks in the United States and 10 weeks in Great Britain," noted Mark Yamamoto, president of the Virgin Cinemas Roppongi Hills. "We were confident that the theater would be a major success, but even with virtually round-the-clock screenings, demand was beyond our capacity. The popularity of the theater proves that despite an increasing amount of competition for entertainment dollars people want to watch quality movies in elegant surroundings and feel like they have had a extraordinary time out."

Keanu Reeves headlined the list of "Matrix Reloaded" actors who piqued Tokyo's interest in May at a red carpet premiere and celebrity press conference held at Roppongi Hills that created a media frenzy in Japan.

Warner Brothers sent a full crew of costars to Tokyo including Laurence Fishburne, Hugo Weaving, Jada Pinkett Smith and producer Joel Silver.

The effort resulted in the Virgin Cinemas Roppongi Hills surpassing such traditional premier theaters as the New York Cinema in Manhattan, Warner West End Theater in London and Mann's Chinese Theater in Hollywood.

Matrix schmatrix: This summer, a fish is at the top of the food chain

By Moira Macdonald
Seattle Times movie critic

"Finding Nemo" officially became the highest-grossing animated film in North American history in late July.

Remember a few months ago, when the ever-unsmiling cast of "The Matrix Reloaded" seemingly graced every magazine cover imaginable? Opening May 15, "Reloaded" would lead the summer box-office sweepstakes to glory, we were told, leaving all other contenders ("X2," "Terminator 3," "The Hulk," "Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life") in its wake.
Welcome to the mysterious world of the box office, where "The Matrix's" $277 million is considered a disappointment, and where a family-friendly fish movie swam away with the summer's biggest money.

"Finding Nemo," from the creative team at Pixar (the geniuses responsible for the "Toy Story" movies, "A Bug's Life" and "Monsters, Inc."), in late July officially became the highest-grossing animated film in North American history, with its box-office total of $320 million passing the $312.9 million take of 1994's "The Lion King." And it easily led this summer's releases in popularity — and staying power.

It's not that "Nemo" was entirely under the radar; we're not talking "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" here. Pixar's movies have always done very well at the box office, and there was no indication that "Nemo" would do otherwise. But its arrival seemed low-key by comparison to the sonic boom of "Reloaded," and those little fish seemed an unfair match against all that "Matrix" weaponry. Premiere magazine's editorial staff, in predicting the summer's big hits, estimated $350 million for "Reloaded" and just $180 million for "Nemo," and it wasn't alone in those expectations.

Word of mouth counts

The two films followed a similar trajectory at first: Both opened big ("Reloaded" had a record $42 million take on its opening day); both were usurped in their second week by newcomers ("Reloaded" by "Bruce Almighty"; "Nemo" by "2 Fast 2 Furious"). But the real difference came in their third week and beyond. "Reloaded" continued to fall, dropping out of the top five by its fifth week and out of the top 10 by its seventh.

WARNER BROS.

Keanu Reeves, center, in one of the many fight scenes in "The Matrix Reloaded." Word of mouth was mixed on the "Matrix" sequel, and the film appears unlikely to reach the $300 million level.

Word of mouth was mixed on the "Matrix" sequel, and Warner Bros., which had hoped to challenge the $400 million-plus take of "Spider-Man" last year, appears unlikely to reach the $300 million level (it's currently at $277 million, and is now out of the top 20). This is a big success by most standards, but the cost of the effects-heavy "Matrix" movies (said to be more than $300 million for "Reloaded" and the upcoming "The Matrix Revolutions" together) and the tens of millions spent for publicity add up to a profitable yet somewhat disappointing bottom line.

Other highly touted blockbuster-wannabes fell victim to bad word of mouth (measured in how the film fares after its opening week, when advertising tends to drop off and moviegoers are likely to be influenced by the recommendations of friends). In what was to become a common summer pattern, "The Hulk" had a huge opening weekend, then dropped nearly 70 percent in its second week.

Likewise "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle," "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines" and "Bad Boys 2" saw huge drops in their second week; while other big-budget offerings like "Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life," "Hollywood Homicide" and "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" never got off their feet at all.

"Nemo," by contrast, had terrific word of mouth: It returned to the No. 1 slot in its third week, and, two and a half months after its initial release, still remains in the top 10. And, with a budget of an estimated $94 million, "Nemo's" profit is undoubtedly making the suits at Disney very happy.

Originality, sophistication

While Pixar films have always been hugely popular, none has achieved quite the blockbuster status of "Nemo," and a number of factors contribute to this.

ILM

The hype for special-effects-heavy "The Hulk" was stronger than its appeal: It had a huge opening weekend, then dropped nearly 70 percent in its second week.

In a summer absurdly stuffed with sequels, "Nemo" was an original. It received the season's most rapturous reviews from critics and audiences tired of stale summer fare (most of the previous Pixar releases came out in the fall, competing with high-quality Oscar bait). And it was a kid-friendly movie that also appealed to adults.

A recent visit to a "Nemo" screening revealed the expected parents with children, but also adults attending without them. Tiffany Rodriguez of Ravenna was seeing the film for a second time, bringing her husband, Joseph. The Rodriguezes had loved the previous Pixar movies, describing them as "movies focused more toward adults." They appreciated "Nemo's" sophisticated animation and humor.

Bryley Hull, of Capitol Hill, attended solo and praised "Nemo" as "fun and clever enough for adults." Upon hearing that it was the summer's biggest hit, she said, "I'm pretty pleased to hear that. I think it's well-deserved."

Audiences are speaking. Are studios listening? Most likely they are; money talks, and $300 million speaks very loudly. Hollywood may have learned a few lessons from this season's sequel glut; the disappointing performance of "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle" and "Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life," among others, may cause studios to be more cautious about automatically greenlighting a sequel.

Even the "Nemo" filmmakers at Pixar, for whom a sequel would seem sure-fire (remember "Toy Story 2"), sound cautious. "We're not going to let the hype influence us into making rash decisions," writer/director Andrew Stanton told USA Today. "If there is a sequel, it will happen when there's a story that's equal or better than the first."

And the studios may be looking even closer at family audiences. Kid-friendly movies haven't been automatic hits this summer. "Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas," "Rugrats Go Wild" and "The Lizzie McGuire Movie," all aimed at young audiences, faltered at the box office. Could "Nemo" mean that other studios will try to emulate Pixar's winning mixture of sweetness and sophistication? We can only hope. It certainly proved that audiences will flock to a G-rated movie, once considered the kiss of death in Hollywood.

Overall, movie grosses are down this summer compared to the sizzling pace of 2002 (a record $9.3 billion for the year). But theater owners and audiences can take heart: Pixar has more on the way. "The Incredibles," an animated comedy about a group of undercover superheroes, is coming November 2004. Perhaps they'll be in time to save next year's box office.

TAIWAN Kaneshiro is Taiwan's top sex symbol

JAPANESE-TAIWANESE actor Takeshi Kaneshiro was recently elected Taiwan's most desirable sex symbol, beating even American heart-throbs such as Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise and Keanu Reeves.

Kaneshiro came out tops among show-business personalities, according to a 9999 PanAsia Job Bank survey of people aged between 18 and 30.

Pitt came in second, followed by Cruise, Japanese actor Takuya Kimura and Reeves. British soccer star David Beckham was No. 9 while Taiwanese-American singer Wang Lee Hom was No. 10.

Kaneshiro was nonchalant about the survey results, saying he no longer felt flattered.

Over the past 10 years, the 29-year-old actor, who was born in Taiwan, has been chosen frequently as the sexiest or most attractive star by his Taiwanese fans. -- Lawrence Chung

Matrix Reloaded crosses Japanese milestone

Mamiko Kawamoto in Tokyo 04 August 2003 04:00

The Matrix Reloaded has crossed the symbolic Y10bn ($83.3m) mark at the Japanese box office following its release on June 7 on 631 screens nationwide.

Warner Bros Pictures Japan is expecting the film to take $91.6 (Y11b) during its first run which ends on August 15.

Only a handful of films have grossed over Y10bn at the Japanese box office in recent years, led by the mammoth take of Spirited Away with $250m (Y30bn).

The other Y10bn plus films are Harry Potter And The Philosopher痴 Stone ($169m/Yen 20.3bn), Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets ($150m/Y18bn) and Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace ($105m/Y12.7bn). The original Matrix took $65m (Y7.8b).

Meanwhile, Warner Bros Pictures Japan is also hoping for further summer success with the upcoming release of Zhang Yimou痴 Hero, which will be released on 350 screens on August 16.

Ex-Cop Takes Actors to Police Academy

Ex-Cop Takes Actors to Police Academy
ANTHONY BREZNICAN
Associated Press

LOS ANGELES - Randy Walker may not be a cop anymore, but in the movie business he's still The Man.

He's the man who taught Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt how to question a serial killer. The man who helped Colin Farrell look like he could shoot straight. The man who orchestrated a raid on the Terminator and demoted Keanu Reeves from captain to officer.

The latest job for Walker, one of Hollywood's top technical advisers: teaching Farrell, Samuel L. Jackson and LL Cool J about the methods of a Special Weapons and Tactics division for the new action-thriller "S.W.A.T."

"It's my job to bring believability and reality. The mission is always the same: make the actors look like law enforcement is their career," Walker said. "Colin Farrell may not be an expert marksman, but I help make him look like an expert marksman."

Walker, 55, is a two-time Medal of Valor recipient who retired in 1999 after 27 years with the Los Angeles Police Department. The stars of "S.W.A.T." speak about him and his crew with something approaching awe.

"They were - invaluable," Jackson said at a party after the movie's premiere. "Everything you saw us do, they were responsible for. There was the weapons training, they gave us the history, they taught us all those entrances: how we went into the building, how we held the weapons."

Their instincts became so intense, he said, that the actors began to balk if director Clark Johnson (who played Det. Meldrick Lewis on the "Homicide" TV show) suggested something that conflicted with the training.

"We'd say, 'That's not how we were taught, so we can't do it that way,'" Jackson said, laughing.

For "S.W.A.T.," Walker used his training to arrange police responses to outrageous fictional incidents, like a private jet landing on a city bridge and a machine-gun attack on a prisoner transport bus.

"At the end of the day, it's a larger-than life Hollywood film, so there are going to be scenarios that aren't plausible in real life. But the way we approached it was realistic even if the scenario we were dealing with wasn't," said LL Cool J, who called Walker "an amazing teacher."

Walker spent 16 years with the real SWAT, seven years as a patrol officer and four years on horseback. He tries to focus on the positive side of law enforcement, turning down scripts he considers unfair to the police.

He's rankled by depictions of corruption, "but usually the good guy wins in the end."

Walker got involved in movies when a friend who was working off-duty directing traffic for a low-budget movie shoot asked him to show the actors some SWAT procedures.

Realizing there was money in such advice, he founded Call the Cops in 1988 with police partner Sgt. Ed Arneson, who is still an active Los Angeles SWAT member. Walker also employs several other police-expert friends as associate partners.

Their first big-budget experience was on 1991's "Terminator 2: Judgment Day." Director James Cameron hired them to stage the massive police raid on an office building while Arnold Schwarzenegger's good-guy killer-robot fought them off.

The downside? Walker had to lose to the Terminator.

On the 1995 serial-killer thriller "Seven," Walker showed Freeman and Pitt how to question a suspect in a shady hallway: "You don't stand face-to-face. You don't want to be caught flat-footed. You never stand in front of the door, and constantly read eyes and body language."

In the 1994 out-of-control bus thriller "Speed," Walker told the filmmakers to make Reeves an officer instead of a captain. "I said, 'He's only 30 years old. There are no 30-year-old captains," Walker recounts, still sounding annoyed 10 years later. "Captains are administrators, not the guys going through the door."

Other times, his work is limited to the page. For 1997's "L.A. Confidential," about corrupt Los Angeles lawmen in the 1950s, Walker said he tweaked the script to make the dialogue sound more like cop-talk.

Walker certainly has the credentials for that. He speaks in fast, clipped sentences. When asked about one of his proudest days as a SWAT officer, he recounted the experience as if reading from a police report:

1983. Walker's SWAT team gathered at a hospital. A man who had already killed one person held two women hostage at gunpoint for over 14 hours. He finally tried to flee in a car.

"Six of us approached the vehicle and neutralized him and pulled the girls out of the car to safety."

Neutralized?

"Completely neutralized."

ON THE NET

Girl's £20k Keanu spree

BANK boss Jennifer John has borrowed £20,000 — to buy souvenirs of heartthrob Keanu Reeves.

Among her hundreds of mementos are the trousers, shirt and T-shirt he wore in the film Speed.

They cost her £1,500 — the same price she paid for the shirt the actor wore in his new movie A Walk in the Clouds.

Jennifer, 32, a Halifax assistant manager, of Walthamstow, East London, said: “I’m hoping the items I have bought will be a good investment.”

Buena Vista, Universal top

Buena Vista, Universal top
summer box office battle

By Martin A. Grove

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter)–With the season’s biggest movie guns having already been fired, it’s pretty clear how Hollywood’s summer box-office scoreboard will look come Labor Day.

July’s mid-summer weeks saw the arrival of such new hits as Buena Vista’s Pirates of the Caribbean, Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow’s Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Sony’s Bad Boys 2, Miramax and Dimension Films’ Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over, MGM’s Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde and Universal DreamWorks and Spyglass Entertainment’s Seabiscuit.

Of course, mid-summer also brought its disappointments, including Paramount’s Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, 20th Century Fox’s The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, DreamWorks’ Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas and New Line’s How to Deal.

Since the July Fourth weekend, there have been changes in the ranking of top distributors, but not big dramatic ones. In the course of last month’s box office sweepstakes, Buena Vista edged past Universal by a nose. BV, which had been third, placed first with $532.2 million through last weekend for its three summer releases. Universal, which was first, wound up a close second after BV with $531.1 million for five summer titles.

However, with Universal launching its youth comedy sequel American Wedding on Friday at 3,100-plus theaters and with insiders speculating that it could walk down theater aisles to the tune of $25 to 30 million this weekend, Universal should quickly return to No. 1.

Of course, BV is opening its Disney comedy Freaky Friday on Wednesday, and with the strong buzz that’s generating (especially since its successful sneak previews), the first-place sea-saw could be tipping again.

Wedding, directed by Jesse Dylan and starring Jason Biggs, Alyson Hannigan and Eugene Levy, is the third film in Universal’s American Pie franchise. Friday, directed by Mark Waters and starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan, is a remake of Disney’s 1976 hit comedy starring Barbara Harris and a teenage Jodie Foster.

While American Wedding is Universal’s last film of the summer, the studio has in Seabiscuit a movie that should have very good legs and play well into the fall.

BV has one more summer opening ahead in Touchstone Pictures’ western drama “Open Range,” arriving in theaters August 15. Directed by Kevin Costner, it stars Robert Duvall, Costner and Annette Bening.

The early buzz on Range is that if you liked Clint Eastwood’s 1992 western Unforgiven, which won the best picture Oscar and for which Eastwood won best director, you’ll also like Range. In a close race for first place, it could tip the scales.

In any event, here’s a quick update on how the summer movies have performed for each of the major distributors through Sunday, July 25:

1. BUENA VISTA: It’s been an outstanding summer for Buena Vista, which opened only three titles in the May-July period.

BV’s $532.2 million in grosses puts it in first place through July 25. That total reflects the teen girl comedy The Lizzie McGuire Movie ($42.3 million), the animated blockbuster Finding Nemo ($313.1 million) and the action adventure Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl ($176.8 million).

With Pirates, Disney and producer Jerry Bruckheimer breathed new life into the pirates adventure genre that Hollywood had all but written off in recent years.

Nemo, the summer’s biggest grossing film, is also likely to be the year’s top grosser. Moreover, BV can look forward to enormous success with Nemo and Pirates when they arrive in DVD and video release this fall via Buena Vista Home Entertainment. Meanwhile, BV still has the upcoming theatrical release of Friday and Range to add to its summer success.

2. UNIVERSAL: With $531.1 million in summer grosses thus far, Universal is a very close No. 2 with a tremendous success story. Its total reflects five titles: the Jim Carrey comedy Bruce Almighty ($237.5 million), the action sequel 2 Fast 2 Furious ($124.8 million), the comic book fantasy adventure The Hulk ($129.5 million), the British comedy Johnny English ($18.4 million) and the critically acclaimed awards worthy drama Seabiscuit ($20.9 million).

With Bruce, Universal put Jim Carrey back in a comedy doing exactly what moviegoers enjoy seeing him do. He won’t get a best actor Oscar for it, but he wasn’t getting any respect from the Academy anyway for his well done dramatic roles. Actually, his work in Bruce could put Carrey in the Golden Globes’ best actor comedy or musical race.

With 2 Fast, Universal proved it could make a hit sequel without bringing everyone back from the original and meeting their salary demands.

While Hulk may not have delivered the phenomenal grosses that are now expected of movies based on Marvel comic books, the Ang Lee film was at least a noble disappointment. If anything, it was too cerebral for audiences wanting nothing more than conventional summer popcorn movies. As a low-budget British film, English is doing just fine.

With Seabiscuit, Universal DreamWorks and Spyglass Entertainment have what looks like that to-die-for combination of commercial and awards success. At the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s installation of officers luncheon earlier this week, many of those who market films for awards consideration were on hand and Seabiscuit was a picture they all seemed to be talking about as being on their early lists of who the likely nominees will be for best picture in the Globes’ drama category and in this year’s truncated Oscar race.

3. WARNER BROS.: Warner Bros. slipped slightly from second to third place from the late June summer scoreboard. With $448.2 million in grosses, it certainly hasn’t been a bad summer for Warner. That total reflects four titles: the cyberspace thriller sequel The Matrix Reloaded ($276.2 million), the Franchise Pictures comedy The In-Laws ($20.4 million), Franchise’s comedy Alex & Emma ($14.1 million) and the studio’s domestic pick-up from Intermedia and C2 Pictures of the sci-fi thriller sequel Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines ($137.5 million).

While Reloaded’s success is enviable, it seems somewhat diminished because early this year it was the film many Hollywood handicappers thought would be the summer’s biggest hit. With speculation then that it would top $300 million and, perhaps, even approach or reach $400 million, anything less became a disappointment in Hollywood.

With insiders having been less excited about the prospects for T3, its success somehow seems better than it is. While the Franchise comedies were non-starters, Reloaded and T3 performed well and have huge potential down the road in DVD and VHS via Warner Home Video.

In the case of Reloaded, its home entertainment arrival is set for October 14, with a marketing campaign that will point to Warners’ November 5 theatrical release of the next episode in the franchise, The Matrix Revolutions.

I was a teen Keanu capitalist

Young Chicagoan cashed in on crush

A lucrative lesson in eBay economics

SCOTT SIMMIE
FEATURE WRITER

Keanu Reeves actual signed 8X10 Photo. Buy it now — $39.99

Given that more than 800 Keanu Reeves-related items are selling on eBay at any given time, it's unlikely the actor would remember what she had done.

Who could blame him for forgetting? There were so many girls, early in 1995, hanging around the stage entrance to the Manitoba Theatre Centre. Some, shivering in skirts and light jackets, had come all the way from Japan.

It was in winter, alas, that the film actor was playing the lead role in the stage production of Hamlet. And it was to Winnipeg that a lass, Julie Piotrowski, was determined to travel to see him.

So she journeyed from Chicago, an innocent figure skater just 16 years old.

The wide-eyed teen was just one of hundreds of young fans (women, mostly,) who had come looking for a handshake, an autograph, a memory, a moment.

But Julie Piotrowski would leave with much more. In fact, what transpired would bring her many thousands of dollars.

"I'd say at least $8,000 (U.S.) over eight years," says Piotrowski, who's now 25 and a healthcare journalist based in New York City. She's currently completing a fellowship in public-health journalism in Atlanta.

Today, for the first time publicly, she reveals her dark secret.

What Piotrowski admits was a "teenage obsession" began years earlier. She and a group of other young girls were absolutely smitten with the Lebanese-born, Toronto-raised actor.

They haunted Chicago video stores for used copies of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure or My Own Private Idaho. They held secret get-togethers where they'd flip through magazines and coo and gurgle about what a hunk their hero was. They plastered their bedrooms with posters of the young Mr. Reeves.

"I did. I'm ashamed to say I did," she confesses.

In July, 1994, an article in Vogue briefly mentioned that Keanu's next gig, following the imminent release of the movie Speed, would be as Hamlet in Winnipeg. It did not say where in Winnipeg or when.

The resourceful Piotrowski went online, on that fledgling thing called the Internet, to see if she could hook up with other Keanu fans.

"It turned out there was this whole community of hundreds of women who saw the same Vogue article who knew far more about Keanu's quality-of-life habits than I ever could have assumed a person might know — from the kind of cereal he ate, through to the shoes he wore, to the make of his motorcycle."

Piotrowski started stashing babysitting money to pay for her trip. She even convinced her father, a doctor, to take time away from the hospital. He did. They went. It was freezing.

"We'd line up outside of the theatre door in the hope of catching him. It was bitterly cold, and at some point you'd have to either go inside or be prepared to go to the hospital," she laughs.

There were fans — but especially female fans, it seemed — from everywhere: Japan, Korea, Germany, Australia, the U.K. They showered Reeves with gifts, ranging from flowers and stuffed animals to live ones (someone sent two goldfish in a bowl). A couple of eager fans even trailed him to a greasy spoon in search of a souvenir.

"Some of the kids who were following him, they snapped up his fork," laughs Joan Stephens, director of marketing at the Manitoba Theatre Centre. "I guess it's better than tattooing his name on your ass."

Piotrowski did neither (unless there's another secret she's yet to reveal). But when the curtain fell on The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, then Julie, Teen of Chicago, saw a golden opportunity. Scattered on a few seats in the theatre, on the floor, in the lobby, were programs. Programs bearing Keanu's name and a small photo.

She scooped as many as she could — about 50. She also bought at least a dozen T-shirts and posters and took everything back to Chicago. It was a side of Julie her dad had never seen.

"At times, I felt that we did not go as father and teenage daughter," he says. "I was her agent and she was the buyer, and we were on some kind of safari."

At first, Julie dutifully mailed some programs off to her heart-broken online pals who'd been unable to travel to see their sweetheart perform. But then an upstart called eBay came along. And the young Ms. Piotrowski was no fool. "I realized those are pretty valuable."

She put the first program online. Then she waited. And waited. For days, it sat at five bucks.

"All of a sudden, in the final five minutes, it would go up to $250 or $300! I was also selling the posters and T-shirts I bought for about $250 or $300 apiece."

Knowing the market for programs would collapse if she dumped everything, she has been wise, selling them sparingly over the years. She has also kept her eye out for other Keanu collectibles, and has, on one other occasion, shown remarkable resourcefulness.

At a concert by Keanu's band Dogstar, Julie noticed some young women tossing their bras onstage. That didn't interest her. What did was when Keanu finished a beer during a set.

"I took his beer bottle off the stage — and sold it on eBay for $260." (It was a Heineken, by the way.)

In all, she calculates that she has made at least $8,000 — nearly everything the result of that one night she spent with Keanu in Winnipeg. As for her father, he jokes that he has yet to receive any compensation for his efforts.

Keanu, Julie often says, "Paid for my U-Haul to New York City ... and has sort of carried my bank account when it was at the bottom of things."

Despite the fact Piotrowski eventually left Keanu behind (to go to college, where she "got a life"), she's still in possession of a few choice nuggets waiting for the right moment to sell, including — wait for it — a 1989 box of Bill and Ted's Excellent Cereal. The unopened, and likely inedible, collectible will go, some day, to the highest bidder.

Divs lost in the Matrix

Divs lost in the Matrix
By MATTHEW HORAN
03aug03

THE Matrix Reloaded has failed to save Village Roadshow from the wrath of angry institutions after the film-maker rolled over to payout demands last week.

Village offered a $300 million buyback of its preference shares to stave off costly legal action.

The company had announced it would not pay dividends on its preference shares – the ones normally first in line for profits – and would keep that $25 million in the kitty to help finish The Matrix Reloaded.

The film – starring Keanu Reeves as the confused but uber-cool Neo – got a critical kung-fu-ing but still managed to pour about $460 million into Village.

A second sequel, Matrix Revolutions, is expected to contribute a similar amount in December as filmgoers troop back into cinemas in the hope of making sense of Reloaded's plot.

These profits weren't enough for the institutions that own most of the preference shares – especially when they realised the Matrix profits would be churned back into the $1.4 billion revolving credit facility Village has to finance its next 40 joint-venture films with Warner Bros.

"We, along with BT and Hunter Hall, threatened legal action, and we were going to carry out that threat," Investors' Mutual investment director Anton Tagliaferro says.

"We wanted the dividends."

Village last week made an offer to buy out preference shareholders for $1.25 a share, up from 73c.

The payout will be 25c up front, with a $1 unsecured note paying 10 per cent interest, which will be repaid over three years. It will cost the company about $300 million to buy the shares back.

"We'd issued the preference shares about 10 years ago when we were primarily an exhibition company with a fairly predictable, steady cash flow," Village managing director Graham Burke says.

"We've now sold out of a lot of that, and the company has shifted to become much more a production company.

"You get many more swings in cash flow than an exhibition company, and we found ourselves at odds with the wishes of the preference shareholders.

"We've tried to arrive at an elegant solution."

Tagliaferro says the solution is "a sort of compromise".

"We get $1.25 over three years, plus a 10 per cent yield, which is better than a preference share of 80c not paying any dividend.

"The downside is that we lose all our equity exposure to Village, so if its shares go up, we won't get the capital growth.

"But it all depends on how you feel about Village's new direction of producing blockbusters.

"We don't agree with it, so we'll be happy to exit."

Burke says there is less risk in producing blockbusters, but Village will have to "pull its horns in" on growth forecasts because of the cost of the buyback.

Fat Prophets analyst Angus Geddes says Village is probably under-valued.

"They're buying back preference shares, so they've obviously got a favourable view of the company's worth," Geddes says.

"It's the Kirby family (Village's major shareholder) being opportunistic and buying shares back when they're depressed.

"They (the Kirbys) certainly had a run of bad luck, but their strategy on film production has some merit.

"They've decided to back blockbusters, and even though these cost more, they have a lower financial risk."

Teen Choice Awards in Los Angeles

Actor Keanu Reeves (news) poses with his surf board award, for best drama film for his role in 'The Matrix Reloaded', at the 2003 Teen Choice Awards in Los Angeles, August 2, 2003. The awards show will be telecast on the Fox television network August 6.

Anthrax with Lamb of God and E Town Concrete

By Michelle J. Mills
Staff writer

Five years in between albums can be an eternity in the music industry, but the hiatus hasn't scared hard-core rockers An thrax. The group has kept themselves busy, touring Eu rope three times, along with stints in Japan and working on their recent release, "We've Come For You All'' (Sanctuary Records). Now they're coming home.

"I really want to work hard in America and really make the album work here. We're re-establishing our name and re-establishing the band after five years of having no record out and it's certainly not an easy hill when you don't have a lot of radio play. We're just going to do it our way on the street,'' bassist and vocalist Frank Bello said.

The lineup of John Bush, vo cals, Rob Caggiano, lead guitar, Scott Ian, rhythm guitar/vocals, Charlie Benante, drums/guitar, and Bello graced the album with performances by the Who's Roger Daltrey, Pantera's Dimebag Darrell and E Town Concrete's Anthony Martini. The video for their single, "Safe Home,'' features a cameo ap pearance by longtime Anthrax fan Keanu Reeves and is receiv ing a lot of airplay.

This smattering of stars merely supplements the strength of Anthrax's effort. Their music and their approach to creating it has also evolved.

"I think we've come a long way because we've been together so long and we do what we want. And if something's not good, we automatically look at each oth er and we just nod our head, 'Nah, that ain't gonna work,''' Bello said.

"So we get in a room, lock it, start arguing and fighting, which is always fun, which I think helps build the agression of the work and then we come up with riffs and put them to gether as songs, put melodies lines together and then lyrics come after that. If one person in the group is not happy with it, then we have to change it.''

Bello joined Anthrax after their first album, "Fistful of Metal.'' He grew up in Bronx, New York and was drawn to the limelight early.

"I've always liked to perform and music was a great way to do it. I always had to do some thing with it and I feel very fortunate that I'm able to,'' Bel lo said.

He played trombone in sixth grade and picked up rhythm guitar in high school.

"I was playing all the bass parts on rhythm guitar so when I got older I just started to play bass and it worked out easier for me,'' Bello said.

His family was supportive of his interests, "My mom and my grandmother, all my family pretty much, loved that I was musical, so it worked out to do it. It wasn't like, 'Don't do that, go to school,' it was, 'Go to school and do that.'''

At age 17, Bello graduated from high school early with honors in science and went straight out on the road with Anthrax, leaving his college dreams be hind.

"It was fun, but I always think maybe one day I'll go back. Right now I want the whole music thing to keep going. I've studied acting for nine years now, so I want to do a little more theater stuff and just have fun with it,'' Bello said.

He has performed in some "off- off-off-Broadway'' productions, trying his hand in a variety of roles.

"I've been told I'm better at drama, that I have a knack for drama, so that's good, but my personality says I want to do more comedy,'' Bello laughs. "But it's always fun, there's any way you can go with it. Os car Wilde, you can go anywhere with the stuff; Checkov, you can go anywhere. It's all fun for me.''

You can see Bello's big screen break, along with band mates Bush and Ian, in the upcoming film, "Calendar Girls,'' starring Helen Miren.

In addition to acting, Bello is writing music of his own, but without an album date in mind.

"A lot of people see me sing on stage and they like my voice and they compliment and they say, 'When are you going to do a solo thing?' When it's time, when it's the right time,'' Bello said.

His home life is busy too, as Bello and his wife, Teresa, have a dog named Zoey, two cocka tiels, Homer and Rocky, Picolo, a Pacific parolet, and three iguanas.

"My wife loves animals to death. 'Pet Detective,' when you come to my house, that's what it's like. Everybody says it's like a safari,'' Bello said. "She's online all the time finding out more, learning more. She's good, my wife, she adopts these things. She adopted one of the iguanas and she adopted one of the birds.

"Zoey, that's my baby. I love all the animals, but Zoey's definite ly tighter with me. She still loves my wife more, but I call her mine,'' Bello laughs.

Anthrax gained attention for their original sound, which took the anger found in hard- core punk and blended it with the front row guitars and vocals of heavy metal. Their musical direction helped to create the subgenres of thrash and speed metal. Bello encourages musi cians and fans to also find something different.

"Little kids getting into metal, they should check out bands; they should definitely check out originality. Don't just take what's given to you. There's a lot of great bands out there that have a lot of originality and they should give them a shot. And not only Anthrax, I think there's a lot of great bands that people don't know about,'' said Bello.

Michelle J. Mills can be reached at (626) 962-8811, Ext. 2128, or by e-mail at michelle.mills@sgvn.com .

Concrete 8 p.m. Saturday House of Blues Ana heim, 1530 S. Disneyland Drive, Anaheim $20 (213) 480-3232 or www.ticketmaster.com Anthrax returns with infectious release

District gets $8,000 to let filmmakers use school

07/28/03

JOHN SNELL

TUALATIN The Tigard-Tualatin School District made $8,000 for letting Tualatin High School be used as a movie set this month in an independent film.

The school, at 22300 S.W. Boones Ferry Road, was used during filming for the movie "Thumbsucker."

Filming at the school began July 19 and was scheduled to end Saturday.

In addition to $8,000 rent, the district required that the filmmakers leave a $5,000 refundable security deposit to cover any cleanup costs and repair any damage to the school building or grounds.

The movie is based on Walter Kirn's 1999 novel about a Minnesota high school student who sucks his thumb.

The movie stars Keanu Reeves, Vince Vaughn, Lou Taylor Pucci, Vincent D'Onofrio and Tilda Swinton.

Beaverton native Chase Offerle, 12, also appears in the movie.

The filmmakers originally planned to use Beaverton schools in the movie but decided to film in Tualatin instead.

The contract between the district and the film company, Scared Little Animals, specifies that no one in the cast or crew be allowed to drink or smoke while on district property, in keeping with Tualatin's no-smoking and no-drinking policies.

Similarly, no one was allowed to have soft drinks other than Coca-Cola products, in keeping with the district's exclusive contract with Coke.

The movie company could use the building from July 19 through 26. The movie was to shoot at locations in Washington County and around Mount Hood for about seven weeks beginning July 9. John Snell: 503-294-5949; johnsnell@news.oregonian.com

HAMPTONS DIARY

Southampton Hospital's 45th Annual Gala, most likely the toniest party on the East End, will be A-list Central this weekend.

Billionaire David Koch co-hosts this year's event, the "Sapphire Ball," with wife Julia on Saturday night.

The fete should be loaded with celebs and socialites, including hospital supporters like Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw, Rick and Kathy Hilton, George Soros, Charlotte Ford, Lally Weymouth, Christie Brinkley, Keanu Reeves, Vera Wang, Alan Alda and Henry Kravis.

After the cocktail and buffet dinner, '70s disco queen Thelma Houston, whose hits included "Don't Leave Me This Way," will perform her high-energy fare, following the Alex Donner Orchestra.

Bratt Gives Thumbs Up to Bull's Eye Movie

Reuters
Thursday, July 31, 2003; 11:41 PM

By Borys Kit

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Benjamin Bratt has joined the cast of Bull's Eye Entertainment's "Thumbsucker." The movie is in production in Beaverton, Ore., and is being financed by Bob Yari Prods.

"Thumbsucker" is an original comedic coming-of-age story about a confused teen named Justin Cobb, who is growing up in an extremely dysfunctional family. In trying to conquer his thumb-sucking habit, he is forced to turn to the only semi-sane people in his life -- a New Age orthodontist and a high school debate coach.

The cast includes Lou Taylor Pucci as the thumb sucker, Tilda Swinton and Vincent D'Onofrio as the parents, Keanu Reeves as the orthodontist and Vince Vaughn as the debate coach.

Bratt plays Matt Schraam, a television star with whom Justin thinks his mother is falling in love.

The movie was adapted by Mike Mills from the Walter Kirn novel. Mills is making his directorial debut on the film.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter