Top Story
Director Martin Scorsese will be heading to France next month to join the Cannes Film Festival’s short film and Cinefoundation jury, where he’ll be awarding the Palme d’Or for short film and three Cinefoundation awards. He’ll also be there to support his upcoming film Gangs of New York, where roughly 17 minutes of the film will be screened. Scorsese isn’t a stranger to the famed seaside film festival, having won the Palme d’Or in 1976 for Taxi Driver and the director award for After Hours in 1986.
Celebs
On the injury-plagued set of the new James Bond movie, Die Another Day, Oscar-winning actress and confirmed “Bond” girl Halle Berry was the latest casualty. After she performed a stunt, debris from a smoke grenade lodged in Berry‘s eye, and she was taken to the hospital for minor treatment–however, returning to the set soon after. Star Pierce Brosnan was also put out of action for a couple weeks in February when he injured his knee. Sometimes it’s difficult being a super agent.
Casting Call
Kevin Costner is not afraid to get back in the saddle again. The actor/producer/director will be directing his first feature in five years and guess what? It’s another western. The film, Open Range, centers on the day-to-day lives of four men living in the West and will star Costner and Robert Duvall. Costner probably figures if he can win an Oscar with one western (Dances with Wolves), then why not two? Why not, indeed.
Who’s your daddy? Eddie Murphy is set to star in Revolution Studios’ Daddy Day Care, about a father who loses his job and decides to set up a day care center with his friends. The comedian will team again with producer John Davis, who produced the Dr. Dolittle franchise. Shooting will start in August.
Tube News
Feature film director Richard Donner (Lethal Weapon) will be trying his hand at game show television. He has teamed with production company Stone Stanley Entertainment (ABC’s The Mole) to create a comedic quiz show called The Real Deal, in which contestants compete for cash by correctly determining the origin of popular words, urban legends and superstitions, Variety reports. The Game Show Network is in discussions with the company to develop the series.
NBC’s The West Wing characters will pay tribute to their real-life counterparts in a special episode April 24. The special will combine dramatic scenes with the series regulars with commentary from former White House staff, including former President Bill Clinton, his press secretary Dee Dee Myers (who acts as a consultant for the show) and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.
Music News
Spidey is certainly “Livin’ on the Edge.” The Spider-Man theme song will be getting a decidedly harder edge when rock band Aerosmith records its own rendition for the upcoming blockbuster release. Other artists who contributed to the soundtrack include Sum 41, Nickelback and Macy Gray. Well-known film composer Danny Elfman created the score.
Eminem settled a civil lawsuit with a man, John Guerra, who claimed the rapper pulled a gun on him outside a bar June 2000, after Guerra allegedly kissed Eminem‘s then wife, Kim Mathers. The singer pleaded guilty to charges of carrying a concealed weapon and is serving a two-year probation. Now, Guerra will receive $100,000 minus lawyer fees.
The Lollapalooza tour will have to wait another year. Organizer and Jane’s Addiction frontman Perry Farrell thought to bring back the tour, which features several alternative bands, this summer but has decided to shoot for the summer of 2003.
Honored
Star Wars guru George Lucas will be receiving a British Academy of Film and Television Arts/Los Angeles award for excellence in film. The Stanley Kubrick Britannia award will be presented to him by his good friends Harrison Ford and last year’s recipient, Steven Spielberg, April 12 in Los Angeles.
In Memoriam
Talent manager Helen Noga, best known for discovering singer Johnny Mathis and crusading for black entertainers to get the same privileges as whites in Las Vegas, has died of heart failure in Los Angeles. She was 88. Noga is survived by her daughter, a granddaughter and two great-grandchildren.
