Positively Pierce! In the Headlines 2003

D'oh! - Beckham fails international Simpsons test

DAVID Beckham may have a Buddhist temple dedicated to him in Thailand, but he wasn't deemed internationally famous enough to appear in an episode of The Simpsons.

A celebrity guest spot on the satirical cartoon show is now the recognised badge of global fame, with rock stars, Hollywood actors and even politicians jostling for the chance to appear on the show.

This weekend, JK Rowling makes an appearance, alongside Tony Blair and the actor Sir Ian McKellen.

The episode, The Regina Monologues, will first be seen on Fox in the United States this Sunday and will air on British television sometime in the new year.

For the Prime Minister, the guest spot on the popular television series will enhance his image with the satire-loving British public, and possibly even with his own children.

As the actor Pierce Brosnan commented after his own guest slot: "My kids don't give a damn about me being 007. But they'll think I'm really hip if I appear on The Simpsons."

Almost 300 guest stars have previously lent their voices to the series, including the cream of Hollywood stars and rock royalty. The veteran crooner, Tony Bennett, was the first star to appear on the show, which was originally screened as a short section of the Tracey Ullman Show.

Other guest stars have included Paul McCartney, Britney Spears, Mel Gibson, Bette Midler and Dame Elizabeth Taylor, who featured as the voice of baby Maggie.

Three years ago, the voice actors from The Simpsons staged a one-off live reading of an episode in what became the hottest ticket of the Edinburgh 2000 Fringe. An all-star audience, which included a Who's Who of British stand-ups, awarded the voices of the cartoon family a thundering ovation.

Rowling, who has sold 250 million copies of the Harry Potter books worldwide and is now richer than the Queen, is a huge Simpsons fan and jumped at the chance to appear on the show.

She said: "I love The Simpsons because of the detail - there are so many layers and it works for kids and for adults. "When I lived in Portugal, a group of us used to sprint to a cafe after work so we could watch The Simpsons.

"It was the highlight of our TV week - if only I had known one day that they'd be spoofing me"

The episode due to be screened this Sunday is set in London. In it, Lisa Simpson is revealed to be a huge Harry Potter fan and enjoys a tremulous starstruck meeting with the famous author.

In the course of their UK visit, the family is invited to tea at Downing Street with Mr Blair and cause a huge problem for McKellen by uttering the name of "the Scottish play" out loud.

Every time Bart calls out "Macbeth", McKellen is met by an accident, including being hit by falling scaffolding and struck by lightning.

Matt Groening, the creator of the show, was delighted when Rowling agreed to take part in the show herself rather than allowing an actor to imitate her voice.

He said: "I was really honoured when I found out JK was a big fan of the show - my kids have devoured all of the books."

However, Mr Blair's decision to appear in the show is unlikely to be followed by his US counterpart, George Bush, whose father, George senior, famously sighed: "Why can't America be less like the Simpsons - and more like the Waltons?"

PRESS RELEASE: VOICES AND POETRY OF IRELAND: A UNIQUE BOOK AND 3 CD PACKAGE IN AID OF FOCUS IRELAND.

A collection of over 100 best loved Irish poems featuring recordings by many of Ireland's famous names.

Voices and Poetry of Ireland is a 3 CD and beautiful hardback book anthology of classic and contemporary Irish poems from poets such as Yeats, Kavanagh, Wilde, Kennelly and Heaney read by over 100 of the best-known voices in Irish life such as Bono, Colin Farrell, Pierce Brosnan, Bertie Ahern, Maeve Binchy, Bob Geldof and Terry Wogan. The objective of this rich and colourful celebration of Irish poetic heritage is to raise much-needed funds for Focus Ireland, one of Ireland's largest voluntary agencies solely dedicated to combating homelessness. Founded by Sr. Stanislaus Kennedy in 1985 it helps over 4,000 people each year throughout the country.

The original concept was by Lunar Record's Brian Molloy and the project was produced by the company with the full support of Poetry Ireland. Voices and Poetry of Ireland is scheduled for world-wide release in November 2003 with Harper Collins. The CDs feature over 100 readers from such diverse backgrounds as the arts, broadcasting, politics and all aspects of public life and together with the Book comprises a living anthology of the best of Irish writing while capturing the wide range of registers that make up the Irish speaking voice.

The poems, drawn up in consultation with Poetry Ireland, reflect something of the diversity and variety of poetry from Ireland and includes both famous and historical poems alongside new and even unpublished work from among our finest living writers. The Book contains photos and biographical details on the well-known readers and the text of the poems which they bring to life on the accompanying CDs.

Retail Price Euro 40

VOICES & POETRY OF IRELAND

Contributor - Poem - Author
Bertie Ahern - The Mother - Padraic Pearse
Robert Ballagh - A Glass of Beer - James Stephens
Patrick Bergin - The Mystery - Amergin
Maeve Binchy - Pangur Ban - Anonymous
Charlie Bird - Danny - J.M. Synge
Tara Blaze - Nuala - Brendan Kennelly
Luka Bloom - Mirror in February - Thomas Kinsella
Bono - God's Laughter - Brendan Kennelly
John Bowman - A Little Boy in the Morning - Francis Ledwidge
Paul Brady - 4 Voices without an Instrument - Medbh McGuckian
Pierce Brosnan - Father and Son - F.R. Higgins
Vincent Browne - A Christmas Childhood - Patrick Kavanagh
Gabriel Byrne - To L.L. - Oscar Wilde
Gay Byrne - Mid Term Break - Seamus Heaney
Liam Clancy - The Second Coming - W. B. Yeats
Paddy Cole - The Friction of Feet in Time - Michael Coady
Andrea Corr - Never Give all the Heart - W.B. Yeats
Sharon Corr - First Annual Report - Gerry Corr
Phil Coulter - The Man from God knows Where - Florence Wilson
John Creedon - The Bells of Shandon - Francis Mahony Anthony Cronin - The Fisherman - W.B. Yeats
Jeananne Crowley - An Old Woman of the Roads - Padraic Colum
Bill Cullen - Shades of Ranelagh - Macdara Woods
Dana - The Christmas Rose - Cecil Day Lewis
Ian Dempsey - Duffy's Circus - Paul Muldoon
Dermot Desmond - My Land - Thomas Davis
Moya Doherty - Winter Birds - Moya Cannon
Theo Dorgan - Death of an Irishwoman - Michael Hartnett
Anne Doyle - Nude - Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill
Danny Doyle - Pity the Islanders - David Quin
Ronnie Drew - Ode - Arthur O'Shaughnessy
Joe Duffy - Someone - Dennis O'Driscoll
Myles Dungan - To My Daughter Betty, the Gift of God - Thomas Kettle
Eamonn Dunphy - excerpt from The Paddiad - Patrick Kavanagh
Paul Durcan - The Lovers - Anthony Cronin
Dave Fanning - July in Bettystown - Gerard Fanning
Colin Farrell - Dublin Made Me - Donagh MacDonagh
Marian Finucane - Night Feed - Eavan Boland
Brenda Fricker - The Pride of the Coombe - Seamus Kavanagh
Gavin Friday - The Ballad of Reading Gaol - Oscar Wilde
James Galway - The Rainstick - Seamus Heaney
Bob Geldof - Bagpipe Music - Louis MacNeice
Des Geraghty - Speaking to my Father - Theo Dorgan
Brendan Gleeson - Emotions - Rory Gleeson
Larry Gogan - She Moved Through the Fair - Padraic Colum
Adrian Hardiman - Seals at High Island - Richard Murphy
Mary Harney - Sunday's Well - Vona Groarke
Richard Harris - Ode to Christy Brown - Richard Harris
Shay Healy - How to be my Heart - Pat Boran
Seamus Heaney - What Then? - W.B. Yeats
Michael D. Higgins - Dark Rosaleen - J.C. Mangan
John Hume - Claudy - James Simmons
Neil Jordan - I Grabbed an Education - Patrick Kavanagh
Fergal Keane - All of these People - Michael Longley
Frank Kelly - Stony Grey Soil - Patrick Kavanagh
Gerry Kelly - Ulster Names - John Hewitt
John Kelly - The Singers House - Seamus Heaney
Brian Kennedy - The Tree Speaks - Cathal O Searcaigh
Sen Ed. Kennedy - Fiddler of Dooney - W.B. Yeats
Sr. Stan Kennedy - To A Child - Patrick Kavanagh
Brendan Kennelly - My Father - John B. Keane
Pat Kenny - Antarctica - Derek Mahon
Marian Keyes - Thems Your Mammy's Pills - Leland Bardwell
Mick Lally - Omos do John Millington Synge - Mairtin O Direain
Des Lynam - There Are Days - John Montague
John Lynch - The Sunlight on the Garden - Louis MacNiece
Ciaran MacMathuna - To a May Baby - Winifred Letts
Jimmy Magee - I Will go with My Father - Joseph Campbell
Tommy Makem - Requiem for the Croppies - Seamus Heaney
Paddy Maloney - The Country Fiddler - John Montague
Eamonn McCann - Christ Goodbye - Padraic Fiacc
Charlie McCreevy - Literary History - Rita Kelly
Paul McGrath - The Game of your Life - Gabriel Fitzmaurice
Paul McGuinness - Shapes and Shadows - Derek Mahon
Pauline McLynn - The People I Grew up With - Michael Gorman
Van Morrison - Solstice for my Daughter - Gerry Dawe
Mike Murphy - The Village Schoolmaster - Oliver Goldsmith
Kevin Myers - Fontenoy - Emily Lawless
Christina Noble - The View from under the Table - Paula Meehan
Michael Noonan - A Kind of Trust - Brendan Kennelly
David Norris - The Jackeens Lament - Brendan Behan
Miriam O'Callaghan - A Woman Untouched - Frank McGuinness
Sinead O'Connor - Pride - Paul Williams
Daniel O'Donnell - Poem from a 3 Year Old - Brendan Kennelly
Ardal O'Hanlon - Plaisir D'Amour - Patrick Galvin
Deirdre O'Kane - School Friends - Susan Connolly
Olivia O'Leary - Ship of Death - Kerry Hardie
Micheal O Muircheartaigh - The Boys of Barr na Sraide - Sigerson Clifford
Milo O'Shea - Peter Gilligan - W.B. Yeats
Morgan O'Sullivan - Canticle - John F. Deane
Fintan O'Toole - Ceasefire - Michael Longley
Maureen Potter - The Fairies - William Allingham
Deirdre Purcell - Bewleys CafÈ - Paul Durcan
Niall Quinn - Swineherd - Eilean ni Chuilleanan
Ruairi Quinn - A Disused Shed in Co. Wexford - Derek Mahon
Gerry Ryan - The Did-You-Come-Yets - Rita Ann Higgins
Jim Sheridan - Peter Street - Peter Sirr
Dick Spring - A Drover - Padraic Colum
Niall Toibin - Everything is going to be Alright - Derek Mahon
Sile de Valera - I See His Blood Upon the Rose - Joseph Mary Plunkett
Ted Walsh - The Aluminium Box - Frank Ormsby
Kathleen Watkins - Beannacht for Josie - John O'Donoghue
Bill Whelan - Anseo - Paul Muldoon
Terry Wogan - The Planters Daughter - Austin Clarke

Ireland as the Caribbean? Get me a rewrite By Claudia Puig, USA TODAY

After keeping costs down by using Irish locations to double as New York in In America, producer Arthur Lappin was offered another challenge.

Pierce Brosnan gets to return to his native Ireland for producer Arthur Lappin's Laws of Attraction.

"I was in L.A. in February and met a friend who gave me a script and asked 'Can you do any of this in Ireland?' " says Lappin, a film and theater producer based in Ireland. Ireland offers tax incentives to filmmakers.

"The story was set in L.A. and the Caribbean Islands," says Lappin. "So, I said 'I'm sorry, but I'm going to disappoint you if I say O.K.' "

He offered his pal a compromise: Move the locale from Los Angeles to New York and change the Caribbean estate to an Irish castle. Three weeks later, he received a revised script.

The film shot in Ireland, and the result, now in post-production, is a romantic comedy called Laws of Attraction, starring the Irish-born Pierce Brosnan, Julianne Moore and Parker Posey. Moore and Brosnan play opposing divorce lawyers for a rock couple (Posey and Michael Sheen) who are splitting up.

Peter Howitt, who directed Sliding Doors, helms Laws of Attraction, opening in theaters this spring

Walking a mile in each other's bodies

By LOUIS B. HOBSON -- Calgary Sun

Aug 3, 2003
HOLLYWOOD -- By her own admission, Jamie Lee Curtis is busting out all over.

As she sits down, Curtis adjusts her bra and then her blouse.

"They're either getting bigger or they're getting a mind of their own. I can't seem to find a blouse that fits properly anymore.

"I had to wait this long to get busty. It happened four years ago when I turned 40," says Curtis, conceding this is rather perky conversion considering she's promoting a Disney flick.

Curtis stars as psychiatrist Tess Coleman in Disney's latest remake of the body-switching comedy Freaky Friday, which opens Wednesday.

The first incarnation of this story of a mother and daughter who are forced to walk in each other's bodies for a day hit screens in 1976.

Barbara Harris played mother to a then 14-year-old Jodie Foster.

Foster declined an offer to play the mother or even have a cameo in this Freaky Friday.

Disney revisited the concept again in 1995 for a TV movie that starred Shelley Long and Gaby Hoffmann.

For her Freaky Friday, Curtis is teamed with Lindsay Lohan, the star of Disney's 1998 The Parent Trap, another remake of one of its family classics.

Curtis was a last-minute replacement for Annette Bening, who'd been attached to the project for almost a year.

"I'm not looking for films anymore. This one fell from the sky into my lap and it was great fun. If another one comes along the same way, I'll consider it but I'm certainly not sitting by the phone waiting for offers to come in. "That part of my life is over."

Curtis, who is the daughter of '50s screen icons Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, began acting in such TV series as Columbo and Operation Petticoat just a few months after graduating from high school.

She made her screen debut in 1978 in Halloween, the film that defined her status as a Hollywood scream queen for three decades.

Curtis has begun watching some of her old movies with the teenage friends of her 16-year-old daughter Annie.

"Weirdly enough, I watched Perfect a couple of weeks ago. That is not a good movie. That is really, really, really not a good movie, but I was hot.

"I can say that now that I am 44 and married and a mother.

"I couldn't see or say that when I was 26.

"I thought I looked fine but I didn't think I had nice breasts and I was really intimidated after that movie bombed because I was never hired to be sexy in that way again.

"I thought that was Hollywood's way of telling me something.

"It's really not until you hit your 40s that you feel comfortable enough in your skin to really get to know who you are.

"Before that, you're always attempting to be somebody but now I realize all the pretenses didn't work."

The art of pretense is at the core of Freaky Friday.

Both mother and daughter are so wrapped up in their own self-images, they aren't truly aware of each other.

They need to look at the world through each other's eyes.

Curtis insists she had no problems playing a teenager when the body-switching happens.

"The big question for everyone associated with this movie was whether I could play a convincing adult. I'm so not your typical adult."

Curtis knows the first thing she'd do if she switched bodies with her own daughter.

"I'd wear the shortest shorts and shortest mini-skirts I could find. I would go to the market in them. She has the most spectacular legs.

"I never had great legs.

"My daughter is also incredibly bright, which is this wonderful wacko combination most girls just dream of."

Curtis did make her daughter just a little jealous when Annie visited her mother's trailer on the set of Freaky Friday.

There on the wall was a signed copy of Justin Timberlake's latest album. "I think Justin is unbelievably hot and I'm rather vocal about it. One day this package arrived. Lindsay knows Justin's bodyguard and said she arranged for the autograph.

"His album came out last September when we started filming Freaky Friday and that's all I listened to."

Curtis is having a tough time getting her seven-year-old son Thomas to watch Freaky Friday.

"He's frightened away by the word 'freaky.' He thinks that means scary. I'm trying to convince him, in this case, it means funny, but he's still a bit leery."

Curtis has been married to comedian, writer and director Christopher Guest for 19 years.

Their children are adopted.

She laughs at the suggestion she might be offended at being asked to play mothers instead of girlfriends.

"I am a mother in real life, so why should I be averse to playing mothers on screen?

"I pride myself in being the screen mother of both Frodo Baggins and Harry Potter.

"The first time I played a screen mother was in 1992 in Forever Young. Elijah Wood was my son and now he's Frodo Baggins in Lord of the Rings," Curtis said.

In 2001, Curtis starred opposite Pierce Brosnan in the spy drama The Tailor of Panama. Her son was played by a young British child named Daniel Radcliffe.

"One day I was looking at Daniel, who was standing beside the swimming pool. I turned to his mother and said: 'He could be Harry Potter.'

"She vowed she'd never do that to her son because it would be such a burden for him. She obviously had a change of heart."

Chief of Hollywood style police

by Clarissa Satchell

04/08/2003
FROM high street suit salesman to stylist to the stars - George Blodwell counts Halle Berry and Catherine Zeta Jones among his clients.

As a school-leaver, Stalybridge-born George joined the Burton's menswear chain as a suit salesman.

Now he is one of the hottest celebrity stylists in Hollywood and his list of clients reads like an A-list of the world's best-known mega stars.

George has dressed Halle Berry for the Golden Globes and clothed Catherine Zeta Jones in Versace for the London premier of Zorro - the film that shot her to Hollywood super-stardom.

Drew Barrymore, Sharon Stone, Diana Ross, Kelly Brook, Rachel Hunter, Mila Jovevic, Heather Locklear, Christie Turlington and Pamela Anderson have all called on his expert aid to help them look their stunning best for photo shoots and award ceremonies.

And Hollywood leading men Pierce Brosnan and Billy Bob Thornton as well as the late George Harrison and the notoriously style-conscious Elton John have all chosen him to pick their threads.

George Blodwell drew attention when he managed to have the million-dollar shoes that Stuart Weitzman created for last year's Oscars worn by one of his clients Laura Haring, who starred in Mullholland Drive.

Electrician's son George, 52, returned to Greater Manchester to visit his brothers and sisters in Ashton.

He was a pupil at West Hill boys' school in Ashton before getting a job at Burton's.

He went to Los Angeles to try his luck in the 1970s and got a job working in an exclusive designer store where he met celebrities like Elton John, Rod Stewart and Leonard Cohen.

After a stint working at stores in Rodeo Drive and as editor at large for Harper's Bazaar in Italy, he set up on his own as a celebrity stylist in 1990 when his first client was Michael J Fox.

George said: "My favourite client is probably Annie Lennox. I met Catherine Zeta Jones when she was starting in Hollywood - she is still very nice now."

He said he would be interested to hear from Manchester designers interested in having their clothing exposed to Hollywood.

Movie buffs turn `virtual' producers

Monday, 04 August , 2003, 07:57
WANT to know the value of your favourite international film stars like Pierce Brosnan, Arnold Schwarzenegger or Julia Roberts and movies like Spy Kids, Die Another Day, etc, and bet on their popularity?

You can do so on the Hollywood Stock Exchange (HSX). This virtual stock exchange (www.hsx.com) functions on the line of a stock exchange where buyers and sellers (fans) decide on the value of the movies and films stars through a special currency called the Hollywood Dollar.

What is more interesting is that you do not have to pay any money to trade in your favourite entertainment securities. Just register with the exchange and it gives you Hollywood dollars (H$) for trading in securities. However, investing and building your portfolio on this virtual stock exchange is not so simple as the exchange has several securities ranging from Movie Stocks, Star Bonds, Movie Options, Movie Funds and Blockbuster Warrants. A Movie Stock represents a movie whose price changes based on its expected box office revenues. Star Bond represents actors and directors that are traded on the movie market. The price of a Star Bond reflects overall star power as determined by HSX traders, as well as how much money their films make at the box office.

Movie Options are short-term investment opportunities based around a specific event.

Typically, `call' and `put' options are issued for the opening weekend of a particular Movie Stock. Other special options are released around events, such as the Oscars.

Movie Fund is a specially managed group of securities in which traders may invest.

Funds are subject to price shifts just like other securities, but a fund manager manages them. The value of the fund is set to H$1 for every H$1,000,000 net value of the portfolio the manager maintains. If you have a movie portfolio worth over H$50 million and would like to become a fund manager you apply with the exchange.

Blockbuster Warrants give HSX traders an opportunity to invest in the long-term financial success of the biggest films. The strike price for each Blockbuster Warrant is equal to the estimated to tal domestic (US) box office.

The success of HSX and the growth in popularity of virtual exchanges recently has resulted in the development of `IMX', an interactive music game where participants invest their `IMX Dollars' to buy and sell artists and their music. Values of these music commodities are influenced by US radio airplay and Billboard Chart positions.

This online trading site (operational since December 1997 with over one million registered traders), while giving fun to the movie and music fans also has a structured business model. The exchange takes the trading pattern of the several entertainment securities and develops series of research products derived from the activities on the virtual market. HSX now supplies a number of Hollywood studios with weekly reports on specific movies prior to their release. Information supplied to the studios includes projections of a film's box office performance, audience profile and intent tracking, and awareness measurement services.

Starstruck by Swarovski

Her family is famous for its crystal creatures, but, as Nadja Swarovski tells Valerie Darroch, itıs fashion that really brings out the animal in her WHEN you step into the glittering world of Nadja Swarovski, the glamorous scion of the Swarovski Crystal empire, it seems hard to believe that for decades the companyıs dazzling products remained largely a secret shared by the elite of the haute couture world.

A Swarovski crystal cross dangling from her neck, she picks her way across her Mayfair showroom, walking past a black couch upholstered in thousands of tiny crystals; an intricate corset wrought from wire and crystal; and a candelabra created for her own wedding at which she wore a dress encrusted with 15,000 crystals.

She stops at display cabinets which swing open to reveal trays of crystals in every colour of the rainbow and every size and shape imaginable.

Growing up in Wattens in the Austrian Tyrol, the town where her great-great-grandfather Daniel Swarovski founded the company in 1895, Nadja's father Helmut (the present chief executive) used to come home from the factory, his pockets rattling with crystals.

"He used to give them to me and Iıd make little necklaces-there's something about crystal, you have to touch it to appreciate it," she says.

Rolling the crystals in your hand, it is easy to understand why Swarovski's idea to open creative centres in the world's fashion capitals with " Crystal Play Rooms" for designers to sample their products, was a winner.

Thanks to her efforts at courting fashion designers, Swarovski's name is now linked with the kings of catwalk cool such as Alexander McQueen, Julien Macdonald and Zac Posen. Swarovski sponsors major fashion events and art exhibitions and presents Oscar nominees with glittering handbags and shoes delivered in style on a crystal-studded BMW motor bike. Hilary Swank is just one Oscar winner who sashayed down the red carpet clutching the companyıs products.

Swarovski's charm offensive has been rewarded with sales to fashion divas such as Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Aniston and Kylie Minogue as well as seeing its products appear in movies including Moulin Rouge, and Die Another Day, in which Pierce Brosnan frolicked on a bed of the crystals (masquerading as diamonds) with Halle Berry.

Upcoming movies Tomb Raider II and Phantom Of The Opera will also feature Swarovski creations.

" Now designers are approaching us and wanting to work for us; itıs very nice but it has only happened because of very hard work," she says.

Swarovski is one of seven family members to work in the company, which employs more than 13,000 people worldwide, and which posted turnover of ¤1.67 billion in 2002.

It has 13 manufacturing and assembly plants and 280 stores worldwide and plans to open several more including one in New Bond Street.

The company's extraordinary Crystal Worlds theme park in Wattens, which opened in 1995 and has art installations by Brian Eno and Keith Haring, is the second most popular tourist attraction in Austria.

Nadja Swarovski, who studied art history and gemology, joined the family firm in 1995 after working in fashion PR in New York for Valentino, Missoni and Bulgari.

" I realised that these were family-owned European fashion brands and I thought ³Thatıs us'. I saw so much potential for Swarovski," she says.

In eight years working in Hong Kong, New York and London, Swarovski has revitalised the brand's image, drawing on its rich legacy and updating it by forging links with modern trendsetters such as Isabella Blow, fashion director of Tatler, and Isle Crawford of Elle Decoration, who has consulted on a new range of interior design products.

Queen Victoria's dress designers were Swarovski's first customers, buying bags of crystals to adorn her royal robes, and in the first half of the 20th century Coco Chanel and Christian Dior used the company's crystals in their signature collections.

Hollywood costumiers were also in on the secret, creating ruby slippers for Judy Garland in The Wizard Of Oz as well as costumes for style icons Marlene Dietrich, Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn.

And the Swarovski touch lent an extra sparkle to Marilyn Monroe when she wore a dress studded with 10,000 crystals to serenade President John F Kennedy in 1962.

The problem, from Nadja Swarovskivs viewpoint as international vice president of communications, was that everyone knew the Monroe dress but no-one knew of Swarovski's involvement.

Until recently, if you mentioned Swarovski Crystal, most people, if they had heard of the company at all, associated it with the collection of tiny rather kitsch crystal animals it makes.

Although the company's products range from crystals for the fashion and jewellery trade to catıs eyes for roads, precision cutting tools, binoculars and even fibre-optic lighting, it was the glass menagerie that caught the public's eye.

Still popular with collectors across the world, the animal collection was created almost by accident.

"My grandfather was playing around with a chandelier ball and he stuck tear-shaped bits on top and made a mouse," Swarovski said.

"I tried to work with the animal line but it didn't turn me on; I went back to what turned me on as a kid – the beads," Swarovski says.

She has formed an artistic circle with Swarovski at the heart and has come up with innovative ways of using crystals, including " wall tattoos" .

She also persuaded the likes of Habitat design guru Tom Dixon to create one-off pieces for a chandelier exhibition, which is touring the world, often in incongruous venues such as London's Borough fruit market.

When the exhibition was in Paris, Swarovski spied a surprising number of rich visitors surreptitiously sweep chandelier components off tables and into their handbags.

" It shows they liked them," she laughs.

Crystals are made from melted quartz sand mixed with other ingredients such as potash, fired, then precision cut. Swarovski has kept its process a secret for more than a century and prides itself on quality.

"Not a single crystal with a scratch leaves the factory; and the guy who melts the sand is not allowed in the cutting room and vice versa," says Swarovski. " No other company has been able to imitate what we do; the smoother the surface the higher the brilliance," she smiles.

Future plans include extending the range of interior design products to include a range of smaller chandeliers and positioning Swarovski as a luxury goods brand, while also maintaining its presence in the industrial sector.

Swarovski is convinced that the company can flourish in any economic climate and says this year will be a record one for sales.

"In a good economic climate there is lots of crystal adornment on clothes and people wear diamonds. In a downturn there is less adornment but they wear crystals," Swarovski says.

She is one of just two female family members working for the company and remarks: " It's an irony that we create products for women yet the company has always been run by men."

At 62, her father Helmut is not ready to retire, but Swarovski admits: ³I'd love to be the first female CEO.²

Only a fool would place bets against this being the next step in her glittering career.

Woody Harrelson a Nemesis After the Sunset

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

Sunday, July 27, 2003
Woody Harrelson will join Pierce Brosnan and Salma Hayek in New Line Cinema's caper drama After the Sunset.

Harrelson is in talks to play an FBI agent in the project, which begins where most heist movies end -- with a master thief (Brosnan) sailing off to an island paradise after his last big score. However, when his lifelong nemesis (Harrelson) shows up to make sure the thief is really retired, a new cat-and-mouse game of friendship, suspicion and thievery begins.

John Stockwell had been attached to direct the project, but that deal recently fell through, and a replacement has yet to be determined. The film is based on a Paul Zbyszewski spec script which Craig Rosenberg was recently hired to rewrite. Production is scheduled to begin in October.

Inside Movies: Duo attracted to 'Laws' pic Financers move in as 'impasse' is overcome with coin

By DANA HARRIS

July 23, 2003
Construction magnate Ron Tudor and Los Angeles entrepreneur David Bergstein, who hold a 45% stake in Elie Samaha's Franchise Pictures, have expanded their reach in Hollywood by acquiring the $32 million Intermedia production "Laws of Attraction," which stars Julianne Moore and Pierce Brosnan.

The film was originally to be co-financed by Intermedia and Bob Yari's Stratus Film Co.

"The financing was at an impasse," Bergstein told Daily Variety. "They had different points of view over how it was going to get financed. I paid Intermedia off and they got their investment plus a producing fee and I worked it out with Stratus."

For Stratus, that will include some back-end participation. However, neither Intermedia nor Stratus hold equity in the pic and the copyright will revert back to Tudor and Bergstein.

Bergstein told Daily Variety that he expected the "Laws of Attraction" deal to be first of several with Intermedia.

"I've been looking at doing other things with Intermedia," he said. "This helped facilitate that. (Tudor and Bergstein) have a heavy interest and focus in getting into the entertainment business."

New Line Cinema will release "Laws of Attraction" domestically, with Initial handling foreign sales.

Kahnawake powwow pays tribute to the past, points to the future
Web site promotes reserve's more than 300 businesses

PHILLIP TODD

Sunday, July 13, 2003
Amid the dozens of boutiques surrounding the dancing grounds at the 13th annual Echoes of a Proud Nation Powwow yesterday, one stall bearing the logo shopkahnawake.com stood apart.

The Web site is part of a campaign being waged by business-people on the Kahnawake reserve, south of Montreal, to destroy the stereotype that the only Indian commerce worth making the trip for is cheap cigarettes.

It's an uphill battle, given that the thousands of powwow goers making the trip to Tekakwitha Island yesterday passed at least half a dozen cigarette outlets.

"If the outside wants to focus on the negative stereotype, the way for us to combat that is to focus on the positive - showing that we have 309 businesses on the reserve that people don't know about," said Frosty Deere, who runs a computer and accessories store.

Along with business cards and flyers for local stores, Deere handed out maps of the reserve that served as a visual guide to the area's businesses and attractions. The Web site advertises local businesses and acts as an online directory for them.

The map and Web site are the result of initiatives by an informal forum of about 30 Kahnawake business leaders that began meeting every month two years ago.

"This is our biggest event of the year and the only one that lets the public into the community," said Lenore Angus, a member of the Kahnawake powwow committee who organized the event that ends tonight.

Between 20,000 to 30,000 people, most of them Montrealers, visit the powwow, so the event is a great way to promote the Web site and, in turn, business on the reserve, Angus said.

"We're trying to push that this is a friendly place to come and shop, and that there are advantages to come and buy here," said another local businessperson, George Hill, who runs the Mohawk Hills Golf and Country Club.

But it's not necessarily Deere's computer store that will attract Montrealers to the reserve. It's a company like Tammy Beauvais Designs, that blends contemporary clothing fashions with Indian art and traditions to offer unique merchandise.

"It's different - the quality, the artwork, you just can't get it anywhere else," said Tammy Beauvais, whose boutique at the powwow was swarmed with curious shoppers. About 90 per cent of her clothing is made on the reserve, she said.

Beauvais started her clothing company 41/2 years ago with support from the Native Aboriginal Achievements Foundation and the Kahnawake Economic Development Commission.

She's even sold a popular item - a cashmere and wool cape bearing symbols from the Iroquois creation myth - to Aline Chrétien and Laura Bush, she said.

"If Laura Bush owns one, why wouldn't you want one? (editor's note: bad example. personally, I can think of dozens of reasons...j) "Ladies of Westmount, come on down - I'm open to it," she said.

For more information about businesses based in Kahnawake, visit the Web site at www.shopkahnawake.com

Blue Crush Helmer Goes Back Into the Blue

Source: Variety

Friday, July 25, 2003
Blue Crush helmer John Stockwell is in talks to direct Into the Blue, an MGM and Mandalay Pictures underwater action adventure set in South Florida. Meanwhile, Stockwell has left After the Sunset, starring Pierce Brosnan and Salma Hayek, citing creative differences.

Into the Blue is based on an original script by Matt Johnson (Torque) and follows conflict between young vacationers and treasure hunters when they discover a deadly wreck at sea.

MGM and Mandalay are trying to pull the project together in time for a fall shoot in Florida and the Caribbean. The studio had hoped to get Paul Walker into the wetsuit for the project, but his participation is now seen as unlikely.

Bond loses his suit to Bachchan

Reeba Zacharia in Mumbai

July 16, 2003 08:31 IST
You would have expected the Reid & Taylor brand ambassador to jump out of the TV screen and say, "The name is Bond, James Bond."

But hang on, the line could now be, "The name is Bachchan, Amitabh Bachchan."

The Big B is taking over from Pierce Brosnan as the new brand ambassador for the Scottish apparel brand, owned by the S Kumars group.

The Bollywood icon has been signed on for an undisclosed sum. Company officials refused to comment on the issue.

The move was part of a facelift for S Kumars Nationwide, the flagship company of the S Kumars group, sources close to the development said.

Reid & Taylor is priced competitively but has been positioned as a premium brand. The company holds a 20 per cent stake in Reid & Taylor (United Kingdom).

The former "angry young man" of Hindi films also lends his dash to ICICI Bank, Pepsi, Parker pens, besides having launched a perfume in his name.

A formal announcement on Bachchan being the new brand ambassador will be made by S Kumars on Wednesday.

However, Brosnan will continue to be associated with the brand, though to a lesser extent, till the next Bond movie is launched.

With consumption patterns changing rapidly - from buying fabrics and getting them tailored to buying readymade garments - the company is also looking at launching a complete wardrobe in formal, casual and fusion wear, using the Reid & Taylor brand.

The brand has managed to remain in the public eye, thanks to a high-profile campaign starring the world's classiest spy with the keyline, "Bond with the Best."

S Kumars has three brands in the textiles and apparels sector - S Kumars, Reid & Taylor and Tamariind. S Kumars had roped in Bollywood star Hrithik Roshan as brand ambassador for Tamariind, but it failed to take off.

Ace cricketer Kapil Dev was earlier associated with the S Kumars brand. According to the company, all the brands have been doing well in their respective categories.

By Adam McAllister
Contributing sources: The Hollywood Reporter

3.26.03
You gotta love Pierce Brosnan. If he's not playing a British spy in a bevy of different films, he's playing a British thief. Where's a Grey Owl 2 when you need one?

To add another to his 'thief' tally, the current Bond has come aboard New Line's After the Sunset.

Sunset will find Brosnan playing a master snatcher... obviously following in Sean Connery's (Entrapment) footsteps. This time, however, we'll see our thief riding off into the sunset from the get go after his final score. Trouble starts to brew on his island paradise, though, when his FBI nemesis shows up to ensure the thief's retirement.

A new cat-and-mouse game of friendship, suspicion and thievery begins.

Sort of gives you chills, doesn't it? Well, give it a while to sink in.

The film is still in the process of getting a crew and supporting stars, but we do know it was written by Paul Zbyszewski. A quick IMDb search of the surname shows that indeed Zbyszewski has written another, widely seen project... TV game show The Weakest Link. We are not sure, however, if its the day time half our show, or the prime time hour long version.

Stay tuned for details.

By Brian Koukol

Contributing sources: The Hollywood Reporter

5/6/03
With the reports of Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, who has made a miraculous transition from a greasy yuck to an AYSO fave thanks to ³Bend It Like Beckham,² meeting with Barbara Broccoli for a 007 screen test, Pierce Brosnan has decided to bond with a few other projects just in case.

Brosnan has agreed to star in "The Matador," which seems to be similar enough to "The Tailor Of Panama" so as not to force Remington Steele into expanding his horizons. The ³international thriller² will follow Brosnan as a hitman on assignment in Mexico City who strikes up an unlikely friendship with an ordinary, married Denverite (if such a thing there be) in an effort to get the job done.

Brosnan will next be seen in the romantic lawyer comedy "Laws Of Attraction" with Barbara Waltersı lust object, Julianne Moore.

Editor's note: Later updated to delete inccorrect references to use of honorific "Sir"

Brosnan bowled over to become 'Sir James Bond'

Irish actor Pierce Brosnan said he was bowled over to be honoured by Britain's Queen Elizabeth for portraying her most famous and unflappable spy, James Bond.

"I'm sure I'm very humbled by an honour like this," 50-year-old Brosnan said as he was made an honorary officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) - honorary because he is not a British subject.

On screen Brosnan has saved the world from annihilation several times over, but he said receiving the honour in his native Ireland, with his mother, stepfather, three children and granddaughter by his side, had touched him deeply.

"I'm completely bowled over by it, really," he said after the medal, entitling him to use the honorific "Sir", was presented by Britain's ambassador to Ireland, Stewart Eldon.

Brosnan has made his fortune portraying the debonair and indestructible 007 in the most recent four of the 20 Bond films.

He declined to be drawn on who he saw succeeding him in a role that virtually guarantees an actor will become one of the 10 sexiest men alive.

"I have no idea who's going to play the next Bond but I'm sure he's waiting in the wings there, unknown but ready," he said.

As for how many more Bond films he would do, he ruled out going for the lucky record of seven set by Roger Moore.

"Just one more for now," he said, delivering the line coolly but authoritatively, just like Bond, James Bond.

Diamonds are forever but pearls go in an instant

Alan O'Keeffe

July 14, 2003
JEWELLERY worth almost 100,000 has been stolen from the set of a Pierce Brosnan movie at Ardmore Studios. 

And the theft has damaged the country's reputation in the film industry, the studios' chief executive said last night. 

The makers of a $30m (¤26.5m) romantic comedy, The Laws of Attraction, decided not to use fake jewellery in scenes being shot at the studios in Bray, Co Wicklow. They used authentic pearls loaned by a New York jeweller. But criminals broke into a safe at the studio and stole the pearls, along with other items. 

Kevin Moriarty, chief executive of Ardmore Studios, said the theft was bad news for the film industry here. "Never in the 30 years I've been at Ardmore Studios has anything so serious ever happened," he said.

  Filming of The Laws of Attraction will continue as usual until completion in early August. 

The movie is about two divorce lawyers who fall in love. Its main stars are Pierce Brosnan and Julianne Moore. 

Mr Moriarty said that items used on film sets were not normally of large monetary value. He said: "We're in the business of make-believe. What you see on the screen may not normally be items of real value." 

However, it was decided that fake pearls would not have looked real enough to cinema-goers and they decided on use the real things. 

He said Bray gardai were in charge of the investigation into the theft, which happened sometime over the weekend of June 28. 

The Laws of Attraction - which represents a break from James Bond for the hard-working Brosnan - is expected to go on general release sometime in 2004. 

Alan O'Keeffe

July 21 2003
Environmental causes have an image problem - they just aren't cool enough. A rebranding campaign to make them seem sexier might be the answer, writes Emma Young.

The environment has been diagnosed as a long-term sufferer of insufficient sex appeal. It seems CFCs, CO2 and green trees just don't cut it in the competitive market of personal and political ideologies.

Now the green movement is seeking to woo a public that continually spends and votes against the down-to-earth, depressing realities of environmental degradation. Planet Ark used from-the-bust-up pleas from Mimi Macpherson and Dannii Minogue to spread their recycling doctrine. The Forest Stewardship Council employed the media-friendly faces and bodies of Pierce Brosnan and J.Lo in poster campaigns to promote the preservation of the world's forests. Earth Day even pushed Leonardo DiCaprio forward to make things pretty.

These initiatives are part of a new type of environmental campaign that has realised that oil slicks and guilt just aren't sexy.

Earlier this year, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) launched an initiative aimed at funking up the image of green living. As UNEP's executive director, Klaus Toepfer, explained: "We need to tap into what really drives consumer choice - and that is price, quality and image. Consumers, especially the young, are often confronted with the seemingly contradictory choice of wanting to help the planet and the hedonistic desire to buy the latest 'must-have' brands.

But, what can be more modern, more fashionable, than caring about our planet?"

UNEP's "Shopping For A Better World" campaign, devised to forge associations between the $US7 trillion global retail industry and green ideals, is exactly the type of partnership intended by this new agenda.

In Australia to attend the University of NSW's Eco-Innovative conference last week, Toepfer went global with the news: environmentally friendly behaviour and products are not just morally advisable, but cool. While he also hopes to see the Australian Government remedy its shameful resistance to the Kyoto Protocol, Toepfer politely avoided this issue in his meeting with the federal Environment Minister, David Kemp, in favour of the campaign for the consumer-conscious rebranding of an eco-friendly ethic.

In some parts of the world, the association between cool and environmental awareness is already being cultivated. The activist group NYPD, or New York Pranks Division, made a valid point on Manhattan streets by ticketing sports utility vehicles (four-wheel drives). Finding offence with the oversized suburban vehicle, the group gave tickets for "Polluting twice as much as regular cars", "Holing self up in two-tonne fortress", and the ever-relevant "Increasing US reliance on foreign oil". Perhaps someone should stick one on President George Bush's behind.

In times of global disarray, many are willing to follow the lead of the greens in a cluster of protest movements, ranging from war and oil spills to local motorways. But the mood of T-shirt wearing and slogan shouting that characterises fad causes is rarely longlasting. Very little progressive action is sustained after the initial mobilisation of concern.

Sure, in poll after poll, green issues rank high in the concerns of the general public, but this is akin to singles ranking "sense of humour" as the most favoured characteristic in a potential sexual partner. It's what people like to say, rather than do. This failure, acknowledged by Toepfer, is one he hopes to combat with the new easy-to-use approach for the concerned consumer. As he explains: "It must be in line with [people's] way of life, so what we must do is harness their purchasing power." In other words, it may not be the perfect solution, but it's the right approach for now.

This is why the UNEP campaign makes sense. While it is depressing to suggest environmental protection requires "cool" to make it digestible, it seems to be true. Of course, governments could make this unnecessary with sensible preservationist policies, but this seems unlikely - certainly in Australia. Marketing a product or lifestyle as sexy is the tried and true method to sell anything, ethical or otherwise, and it seems that UNEP is ready to spread the word.

Emma Young is an arts student at Sydney University

A medal and memories
Swimmer wins bronze at Special Olympics in Emerald Isle

By GEORGE MORRIS
Advocate staff writer

Advocate staff photo by Mark Saltz

Chris Hindmarch, a local swimmer who participated in the Special Olympics World Games in Irleand, shows off his bronze medal.

When Chris Hindmarch returned from the Special Olympics World Games in Ireland earlier this month, he brought more than a bronze medal in swimming with him. He brought memories.

"I was asking, 'What was the best thing?'" said his mother, Ann Hindmarch. "He said, '007.' Pierce Brosnan came and presented some medals -- not to Christopher, but he came to the festival."

Chris was among about 7,000 athletes from 150 countries who participated in the international games, which were held outside the United States for the first time. The Irish responded with incredible enthusiasm, his mother said.

"The whole of the country got really involved," Ann Hindmarch said. "It was just tremendous. Just the outpouring of the whole country, it was a complete involvement. It was quite outstanding.

"They had a spectacular opening ceremony. Muhammad Ali was there. He was in a wheelchair, but he did lead in one of the delegations. The U.S. had about 1,200 athletes. They kept coming and coming and coming."

Among them was Chris, 28, who has been involved in Special Olympics since he was 9 years old, although not always as a swimmer. He has powerlifted and participated in track and field events. Having received swimming lessons in special education classes at Mohican Elementary School at age 5, Chris began swimming well enough to compete in Special Olympics when he was about 12, his mother said.

"He's very comfortable in the water," she said. "Everybody says he swims beautifully."

He has trained at Crawfish Aquatics since October. He is the first Special Olympian that Crawfish Aquatics coach Joe Alton has worked with.

"What I tried to do was improve his technique," Alton said. "We start off with basics -- getting the technique, getting your endurance down, then worrying about the speed the closer we came to an event. He worked hard. I had him do things I asked the regular swimmers to do, and he did just fine.

"In an hour time frame, he would do anywhere from 1,500 meters to 2,000 meters, which is roughly a mile to a mile and a quarter. Most people don't do that. The high school group swims about the same, so he's on par with those guys. I would have him compete in relays with my high school group.

"I don't think it's a function of the coaching as much as his effort, his commitment to it. He comes in four days a week, on time every day ready to work hard. That's all a coach can ask for."

Chris swam in the 50-meter freestyle, 50-meter backstroke and 100-meter freestyle relay, earning his medal in the relay. He finished fifth in the backstroke. He was pleased with his performance, his mother said.

"He was, with the medal particularly," she said. "They all seemed to know the difference between a medal and a ribbon, and he was so pleased with that, with standing on the podium."

As an athlete with the U.S. delegation, Chris' trip to the games was underwritten. His mother paid her way to watch him compete, staying with a host family. Ann Hindmarch grew up in England, and her sister and brother-in-law came over for a visit.

Because of the number of athletes and activities planned for them, Ann didn't get to see much of her son except at the games. She left impressed with the spirit of the competitors.

"Everybody is so happy with whatever they get, be it a ribbon, be it a medal, they're still happy," she said. "They're always very congratulatory to the other people."

007 fan Kyle greets his hero

By Fiona McIlwaine Bigginsemail

A YOUNG Co Antrim James Bond fan thought he had gone to '007-heaven' when he bumped into the man himself, while on a family holiday in Co Mayo.

Irish-born actor Pierce Brosnan, who currently plays the world famous British superspy, took time out to chat to six-year-old Kyle Pritchard last weekend; after the film star rolled into town for the Galway Film Festival - where he was taking a day-long acting master class.

The Ballyclare lad was enjoying a family break at Ashford Castle, Cong when his dad Russell, a freelance photographer, heard a rumour that the unshakeable 'Mr Bond' might be coming to town.

He explained: "I had heard a rumour that someone famous was coming to visit.

"We were expecting a soap star from 'Fair City', but were not planning on Brosnan showing up." And he went on to describe how the superstar arrived in a black BMW with tight security.

"Photographers were asked to leave, but we persisted and Kyle eventually got to meet him."

And young Kyle was delighted to have chatted with his hero and even brought home a signed poster from his special day. Mr Pritchard added: "We had been in Cong to take in the scenery and enjoy the brilliant weather - visiting the sites where the John Wayne classic 'The Quiet Man' was filmed - and it was a fantastic break."

The 007 star is currently preparing to film 'The Laws of Attraction' in Ireland with Julianne Moore and recently received an honorary OBE in recognition for his services to the British film industry

Bond star Brosnan made honorary OBE

Brosnan has said he will star in one more Bond movie James Bond star Pierce Brosnan is to be made an honorary OBE for bringing "style and glamour" to Britain's image.

The Irish-born actor said he was "touched" and "privileged" to be recognised by the Queen.

The star of four 007 movies, he will receive the award from the British ambassador in Dublin on Saturday.

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw praised Brosnan, 50, for boosting the UK's image around the world as well as his charity work.

Mr Straw said: "In his portrayal of 007 in the last four Bond films, he has added style and glamour to the image of Britain overseas.

"But he has also worked very hard behind the scenes in supporting an array of charitable causes."

The award celebrated a "truly remarkable achievement" he said, and Brosnan had "captivated audiences at home in Ireland, here in the UK and across the world".

Brosnan said he was lucky to have been surrounded by "passionate and courageous individuals" whose tireless efforts inspired him.

"I hope I will continue to fulfil their expectations for many years to come."

The actor was born in County Meath but moved to England at an early age and studied at the Drama Centre of London.

His big break came when he was given the title role in 1980s TV drama Remington Steele. He went on to star in films including The Fourth Protocol, The Lawnmower Man and Dante's Peak.

He first appeared as Britain's most stylish spy in GoldenEye in 1995, and has said he will make one more 007 film before handing on the title.

He is also a Special Patron of Unicef Ireland and Ambassador for Women's Health Issues for Permanent Charities of the Entertainment Industry.

Only UK citizens can receive full honours.

OBE honour for Bond star Brosnan

James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan is to be awarded an honorary OBE in recognition of his contribution to drama and the British film industry.

The 50-year-old Irish star - most famous for his role as British spy 007 - will receive the accolade at a ceremony later this week.

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, commenting on the award, said: "From his first steps as an actor at the Drama Centre of London, through numerous starring roles on stage and screen, Pierce Brosnan has captivated audiences at home in Ireland, here in the UK and across the world.

"In his portrayal of 007 in the last four Bond films, he has added style and glamour to the image of Britain overseas.

"But he has also worked very hard behind the scenes in supporting an array of charitable causes. This award celebrates a truly remarkable achievement".

Mr Brosnan also serves as Ambassador for Women's Health Issues for Permanent Charities of the Entertainment Industry and in December 2001 he was made a Special Patron of Unicef Ireland.

The award will be presented by the British Ambassador in Dublin, Stewart Eldon, on Saturday.

Rude shocks for a master of the frame

July 8 2003
Sarah Wynter and Vincent Perez star in the ill-fated Bride of the Wind.

A Bruce Beresford film so panned it won't see cinemas? Yes, he was surprised too, writes Scott Bevan.

In the fickle world of film, the gap between the premiere and the final curtain may be narrowing, but usually a season is not all over in one night.

In Noosa last week about 350 people were the first in Australia to attend a screening of Bride of the Wind. And, according to the film's director, Bruce Beresford, they were the last.

The acclaimed Australian director was the special guest at the screening, held at the Noosa Longweekend festival. He floored the sell-out crowd by saying they were about to watch an "unmitigated disaster".

Not that Bride of the Wind was meant to be a "disaster" film. It is a lavish-looking biographical picture of Alma Schindler (played by Australian Sarah Wynter), who tries to hold together her dream of being a composer in early 20th century Vienna while negotiating the demands and desires of a string of husbands and lovers, including Gustav Mahler, the architect Walter Gropius and artist Oskar Kokoschka.

But, as Beresford told the audience, the themes of ambition struck down and passions crashing were not restricted to the screen.

After Bride of the Wind was shot on the Viennese streets in 2001 for $US9 million ("It looks like it cost 50 million; it looks really big"), the director was happy. "I thought it was a very interesting story about a very interesting group of characters at a very interesting period of history," he says. "I thought it could find a wide audience, but, boy, was I wrong about that."

Initially the signs were good. Test audiences liked the film. Then the American critics saw it.

"They were the worst reviews I've ever had for a film."

These days critical wounds can be not only deep, but the incision has no end, because of the internet. Everyone can read about it. The rottentomatoes.com website indicates that of 58 reviews, 53 were negative, tossing around words that terrify studios and scare away audiences: leaden, wooden, dull, expressionless, flat.

"It surprised me because I thought the film was so good," Beresford told the Herald. "Some other films I've done I've thought, 'Well, it wasn't really that good', and I haven't been surprised when the reviews were pretty indifferent. I was more surprised than I've ever been about any other film."

Beresford says Bride of the Wind's prospects were not helped when the production company went broke, there was little money for marketing, and at the opening, the post-screening cuisine was water and dry biscuits. But he believes the hostile reviews "sank the movie".

"It's not a film like Terminator 3, where it doesn't matter about bad reviews; everyone will go and see it anyway. This is a critic-dependent film. We needed an educated audience, and they would only go if it got good reviews."

With little hope of an audience, distributors shunned Bride of the Wind. Even in the country where Beresford mastered his craft on movies such as Don's Party and Breaker Morant, there have been no takers: "Everyone here who could have distributed it have turned it down.

"This is part of the defining characteristic of filmmaking," he says. "You never really know. So many strange things have happened to me, nothing surprises me any more."

Fate has not always left Beresford's efforts in the dark. After he made Driving Miss Daisy in 1989, it sat on the shelf for months, nowhere near a cinema, let alone within grasp of the four Academy Awards it would eventually win, including for best picture. "When we did Driving Miss Daisy they were going to release it in one art house in San Francisco, and then [Warner Brothers] realised they didn't have a Christmas release, and they started looking at all the movies they had a bit of money invested in," he recalls.

Beresford held a screening for studio executives, but only one turned up. After 15 minutes, the solitary suit walked out. The director asked if he didn't like the film. "Oh, no, I like it," the executive replied. "We can sell this film."

"If they hadn't have done that, nobody would have heard of Driving Miss Daisy."

Beresford is not expecting such a happy ending for Bride of the Wind. It has already been consigned to DVD.

"I don't ever let it get me down, because if I did, I would never have had any kind of career, I think."

Beresford's focus is the future. A film he shot with Pierce Brosnan last year, Evelyn, opens in Europe this week and will be released in Australia. He has just finished a project with Antonio Banderas and is planning a film titled Miss Potter. ("It's got nothing to do with Harry Potter. It's about [writer] Beatrix Potter.")

While the Noosa crowd praised Bride of the Wind, they howled with laughter at Beresford's dry wit and candour about the perils of making movies.

If he ever tires of directing - or the critics - there is always stand-up comedy. "I think I may have to take that up if I make any more films like this one."

Casting coups that never were
Some role/actor pairings weren't always sure things

BY STEPHEN WHITTY
Star-Ledger Staff

Sunday, July 06, 2003
In the new "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines," Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a cyborg sent into the past to help create an alternative future.

Presumably it won't be an alternative future in which the Terminator is now played by O.J. Simpson.

That was the plan, however, when James Cameron was originally casting the 1984 movie. Simpson hadn't crossed the line from fame to infamy yet, and the director thought he might provide the necessary bland power.

Even after that idea was discarded, it took a while for Cameron to get it right. His next choice -- still not quite on the money -- was Arnold Schwarzenegger as the human hero, and the skeletal Lance Henriksen as the humanoid villain.

Finally, though, Schwarzenegger was cast as the robot. Henriksen was demoted to a supporting part (although he got a chance to play an automaton later, in the director's "Aliens"). And moviegoers got a movie so perfectly cast it was hard to think anyone else had ever even been considered.

It's what we feel every time we see a classic movie. Could anybody but Bette Davis have played Margo Channing in "All About Eve"? Could anybody but Humphrey Bogart have been Sam Spade in "The Maltese Falcon"? Wasn't Indy Jones' battered fedora simply custom-made for Harrison Ford?

Well, yes, indeed it was -- after actors as diverse as Peter Coyote and Tom Selleck had been considered for "Raiders of the Lost Ark." And -- fasten your seatbelts -- Davis was, at best, the fourth choice for Margo (after Marlene Dietrich, Claudette Colbert and Gertrude Lawrence).

As for Bogart and Sam Spade, he assumed his career-defining role only when the studio's choice, George Raft -- who'd also passed on Bogie's "High Sierra" -- refused to work for first-time director John Huston. (The old story that Ronald Reagan and Ann Sheridan were the original choices for "Casablanca," however, is apparently just that -- a story, planted long ago by someone's publicist.)

Although casting is often nine-tenths of a movie's success, 90 percent of the time it seems it's a decision driven by a star's ego or some producer's blind spot. And pondering the miscasting that almost was -- or the great casting that never came to be -- leads us to an entire alternative universe of strangely changed movies.

Casting was less of an issue back in the '30s and '40s, when turning down a part meant risking a suspension. Bette Davis might have begged, successfully, to do "Of Human Bondage," and Clark Gable might have pleaded, unsuccessfully, not to do "It Happened One Night." Most actors, however, did what they were told, and most studios chose from small pools of A-list stars.

There are some famous tales of missed chances, most due to illness. Buddy Ebsen lost out on "The Wizard of Oz" because he was allergic to an early version of the Tin Man's makeup. Frank Morgan died, and Judy Garland was fired, before they could complete the jinxed "Annie Get Your Gun" (they were ultimately replaced by Louis Calhern and Betty Hutton). But these were exceptions, and most films went into production with their original casts intact.

As studio controls lessened after World War II, however -- and freelance artists like Cary Grant and James Stewart gained even more clout -- casting became a more creative game, with big stars holding most of the cards. Yet not every actor played them to his or her advantage.

Grant, for example, never seemed to want the same parts that studios wanted for him. He was keen on the co-starring role in "The Bridge on the River Kwai"; they were keen for Bill Holden. They wanted Grant for Henry Higgins in "My Fair Lady"; he wanted nothing to do with it, and Jack Warner had to settle for the play's original Broadway star, Rex Harrison.

At least Grant knew he'd have been miscast in the role; often stars don't have a clue. Or how else to explain Laurence Olivier angling for the part of the murderous Southern preacher in "Night of the Hunter" (later played, brilliantly, by Robert Mitchum)? Or Frank Sinatra going after the Marlon Brando part in "On the Waterfront," as an honest kid from Hoboken who finally takes a stand against the mob?

Sinatra's presence would have made "On the Waterfront" a different movie, and probably a lesser one, but it's amazing how close some other great American movies once came to utter, miscast catastrophes. Producer Joseph E. Levine, for example, hated Mike Nichols' choice of the unknown Dustin Hoffman for "The Graduate." ("Dustin Farnum," Levine kept calling him.) Besides, Levine had the perfect choice for the part: Robert Redford.

Luckily for everyone, Nichols refused, knowing the golden-boy leading-man was absolutely wrong for the part of a nervous naif (as, to his credit, realized Redford, once he saw the script). For years, though, Redford remained everybody's first choice for a big movie, no matter how wrong he might have been for the part.

When the first "Godfather" movie was being planned, for example, he was one of the first actors mentioned, alongside such hardly authentic-looking paisans as Ryan O'Neal. ("Maybe they can be Northern Italians," one studio genius suggested.) Only with Francis Ford Coppola's insistent support were Al Pacino, James Caan and John Cazale locked in as the Corleone boys.

It's hard to imagine Redford as Michael Corleone. Yet another part he was once up for -- Guy, the duplicitous husband in "Rosemary's Baby" -- raises tantalizing possibilities. If Roman Polanski's movie has a weakness, it's that John Cassavetes' Guy seems creepy right from the start. But having the devil work through the apple-cheeked Sundance Kid? That's brilliant.

That's the fun thing about after-the-fact casting, though -- not only can you imagine films as they might have been, but as they should have been.

Having first choice Frank Sinatra play "Dirty Harry" probably wouldn't have made it a better movie (and if you still cling to that delusion, try watching "Tony Rome" again). But when Michael Winner was making "Death Wish," he knew his story would be stronger if he had a real, recognizable liberal wielding that gun -- and honestly, if Henry Fonda had said yes when asked, wouldn't that have given the picture an extra dimension?

You can also ponder what effects an offer might have had on a star's career. Dennis Quaid was all set to play Bud, the "Urban Cowboy" of Debra Winger's dreams back in 1980. Then the studio heard John Travolta was interested. Suddenly Quaid was un-cast, and had to watch the film become a hit while he auditioned for a part in "Jaws 3-D." Would Quaid have to be making a comeback now if he had achieved his success then?

Kurt Russell had a similar bad break. He was up for the lead in "Bull Durham" -- a part made for the former AA baseball player. Then the studio insisted Kevin Costner get the role. And the dull-as-ditchwater Costner went on to become a major star and Oscar-winning director while Russell was reduced to "Captain Ron." (Then again, Costner went on to "The Postman" and a messy divorce while Russell went on to "Tequila Sunrise" and a happy life with Goldie Hawn, so maybe things evened out.)

Sometimes the decisions are cruelly beyond an actor's control. Pierce Brosnan thought he was free to do Bond -- but his producers, aware of the offer, decided to crank out more "Remington Steele," and the part went -- temporarily, at least -- to Timothy Dalton. Dougray Scott's commitment to the long-in-progress "Mission: Impossible" kept him from strapping on Wolverine's claws for "X-Men" -- and now the wolfish Hugh Jackman is a star.

Other stars have only themselves to blame. Hot from TV's "Charlie's Angels," Kate Jackson was offered the not-terribly-sympathetic movie role of a rich woman who abandons her family. Not interested, she said. So the producers of "Kramer Vs. Kramer" turned to a young actress named Meryl Streep -- and within a short time she had an Oscar, a Golden Globe and an A-list career, while Kate Jackson was back on TV, doing "The Scarecrow and Mrs. King."

Although he's best known for crashing cars on screen, Burt Reynolds sometimes seems just as skilled at wrecking opportunities. He turned down the chance to star in "Diamonds Are Forever," and become the new James Bond. He turned down Jack Nicholson's part in "Terms of Endearment" (and the chance to win an Oscar). And although "Boogie Nights" ended up winning him awards in 1997, as soon as the film wrapped Reynolds pronounced it a flop, fired the agent who'd gotten him the part, and refused to work with the director again.

The weird world of movies-that-almost-were continues to this day. George Clooney, for example, was first set to do "The Life of David Gale"; John Travolta was supposed to star in "The Shipping News"; and Will Smith was all but signed for "K-Pax." Not only did every one of those actors eventually bow out, but Kevin Spacey -- who must be the second name on every producer's speed-dial -- settled for the lukewarm leftovers each time.

Judging by the meager results that resulted, Spacey's skill as an actor isn't matched by his taste as a script analyst. But that's the problem with most performers. They're easily suggestible and naturally empathetic. They're ready to immediately identify with any character, to see themselves as the hero of any story. That's what they do.

What they don't do -- not well anyway -- is plot the course of their own careers.

That sort of work requires a different, colder set of talents. That kind of planning requires not just an agent -- whose first concern is always your next paycheck, and his nice cut of it -- but a manager. Or, at least a friend -- the sort of long-time, no-nonsense friend who can look them in the eye and say, "You're turning down a Martin Scorsese movie for a guest shot in 'Lethal Weapon V'? Are you nuts?"

Friends don't let friends drive drunk. But real friends don't let you make "Battlefield Earth," either -- or not make a Tarantino film. And real friends aren't something that big stars always have, or listen to.

You can contact film critic Stephen Whitty at (212) 286-4298 or at swhitty@starledger.com.

Striking not stirred: BOND'S CAR MEN IN STRIKE THREAT

By Clinton Manning

IT'S news to shake 007 to the core - the firm that makes his favourite car faces the first strike in its 90-year history over the introduction of "Martini shifts".

Staff at Aston Martin's two factories are furious that bosses want to bring in "any time, any place, anywhere" working when they launch a new and less expensive model later this year.

They're also annoyed that their £17,000-a-year wages are £1,500 less than colleagues earn at Jaguar and Land Rover - also part of Ford's luxury car division - and that their working week is two hours longer.

TGWU members will start a strike ballot this week over the firm's pay offer, worth seven per cent over two years.

Regional officer John Street said last night: "Aston make luxury cars with top-of-the-range price tags but pay bottom-of-the-range wages. It would take workers 10 years to earn enough to buy one of the cars they make."

The firm's two plants at Newport Pagnell, Bucks and Bloxham, Oxon, make the £104,000 DB7, used by Pierce Brosnan in Die Another Day and the £158,000 Vanquish, Prince Charles's motor of choice. The new car will be built at a new factory at Gaydon, Warwickshire.

Chief executive Dr Ulrich Bez has written to the workforce urging them not to strike saying a dispute could damage the company as it enters the most "exciting era" in its history.

Movie company eyeing Putnam

By DOUGLAS P. GUARINO
Norwich Bulletin;dguarino@norwichbulletin.com

PUTNAM -- A great white shark coming up the Quinebaug River isn't likely, but Mayor Daniel Rovero said the possibility of a made-for-television movie being filmed in town could do for the Quiet Corner what "Jaws" did for Martha's Vineyard.

Town officials and business owners recently met with representatives from the state of Connecticut's Film, Video and Media office to discuss the possibility of the Putnam being used as an HBO movie set. If chosen, Rovero said the movie could help increase tourism in town.

"People will talk about Putnam for a long time," Rovero said. "That alone is not going to make the town, but it will bring in people."

Michelle Bourgeois, director of the Northeast Connecticut Visitors District, organized the meeting and said Putnam is one of two New England mill towns -- and the only one in Connecticut -- being considered as the setting for the film. The other is Skowhegan, Maine, where the novel the movie is based on is set.

Bourgeois said the novel and screenplay were written by Richard Russo. Titled "Empire Falls," it is a story of a turn-of-the-century mill family.

Although Putnam is competing with the town where the book is set, Bourgeois said the HBO producers were impressed with what Putnam had to offer visually, but also with the enthusiasm of town officials and business leaders from the town's antique district.

Bourgeois said the producers were particularly impressed with the views at Cargill Falls. She said some of Putnam's downtown store fronts were ideal, and said the town is closer to HBO's New York studios.

Bourgeois said she expects to hear from the state film office by next week whether Putnam is chosen.

"We'll keep our fingers crossed," she said.

She said the office has successfully attracted other film productions to Connecticut such as "Mr. Deeds," starring Adam Sandler, "The Thomas Crowne Affair," starring Pierce Brosnan, and "Mystic Pizza," starring Julia Roberts.

"We'll keep our fingers crossed," she said.

Ex-Bond girl Shannon is no Vicar of Dibley

By Ian Leonard Daily Post Correspondent

Jul 4 2003
AS a model and former Bond girl Shannon Ledbetter enjoyed all the trappings of a jet-set lifestyle.

But the 39-year-old has given up travelling the world for glossy magazine shoots and taken up a new role as a curate in Merseyside.

Shannon, who moved from Boston to Liverpool seven years ago, hopes that her background may inspire those who believe religion is dull or old-fashioned.

During her modelling career she met dozens of celebrities, partied at the trendiest clubs and dined in the finest restaurants. She even appeared alongside Pierce Brosnan in the film Tomorrow Never Dies.

By then, however, Shannon had decided to leave the showbiz world behind to train for her new role as a vicar.

This week her hard paid off as she was ordained at Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral.

Shannon, who also lectures in theology and religious studies at Liverpool Hope University College, will take up her post as curate of St Mark's Church, in Knowsley.

She said: "I really don't see myself as some stuffy vicar type or as a Vicar of Dibley kind of character stuck in a quiet, rural village.

"It's important that the church has representatives from all different backgrounds so it can appeal to as wide an audience as possible.

"I sincerely believe it takes all kinds of people to minister to all kinds of people."

Shannon is looking forward to the challenges of priesthood. "I really enjoyed modelling and it was a fun lifestyle but religion remained my foundation.

"I know it seems like a strange change of career but I knew I wanted to do something either within a church or within a community from a faith perspective. It just took me a while to decide what role I should play."

Shannon was born in Germany but spent her childhood years moving around with her American military family

She started modelling as a 21-year-old living in London and her big-break came when she was spotted by an agent from the Select Modelling Agency.

She said: "I was waiting for a bus when a woman stopped her car and asked me if I'd ever considered modelling.

"At first I didn't know what to think but I'd heard of the agency that she was working for so I decided to give it a go.

"I was too short for catwalk modelling so I started doing work for glamour magazines instead."

Her work took her all over the world to places like Tokyo and New York, but she eventually became disillusioned with the modelling culture.

She said: "We would go out to clubs and drugs were a real problem. They knew I didn't approve and that I had religious beliefs because on Sundays I didn't work and went to church."

Shannon did a variety of jobs in New York before deciding to study at the Anglican Theological College, in Virginia.

She then spent two years in Boston ministering to Aids patients before coming to England to study for a PhD in Theology at Liverpool Hope University College.

However, in 1997, she was offered one more glamour role, when she was asked to appear alongside Pierce Brosnan, Teri Hatcher and Michelle Yeoh in the film Tomorrow Never Dies.

She said: "One of my friends was a costume designer on the film. She knew I was a former model and I could fit into a tight dress they had for a party scene.

"We filmed it in the IBM building outside Heathrow and I had to stand in the background while Michelle Yeoh met one of the baddies."

Shannon says she is settled in her new life in Merseyside and loves working in the city she now calls home.

She said: "Liverpool has a strong ecumenical tradition which touches many aspects of everyday life. Although I am looking forward to representing the church from a faith perspective, I also want to reach people in the community and help them deal with issues affecting them.

Bond girl becomes anglican vicar

4/7/03
A former model who appeared with Pierce Brosnan in Tomorrow Never Dies has been ordained an Anglican vicar in Liverpool.

Shannon Ledbetter, 39, has been appointed curate of St Mark's Church in Knowsley village, Merseyside, reports the Daily Express.

Whilst she insisted that her faith remained her foundation she also said that modelling had been enjoyable and had given her a fun lifestyle.

In the 1997 bond film, she wore a tight black PVC outfit.

Ledbetter says she got the part because "a friend who was a costume designer knew I could fit into a tight dress they had for a party scene."

She said: "I know it seems like a strange change of career but I wanted to do something within the church."

"A bit of sex appeal might encourage people who see religion as boring and stuffy to think again."

The Church of England also appeared enthusiastic about the appointment.

A spokesman said: "It's important that we can recruit more women and younger ministers."

By Rex Robinson, Staff writer

Nicole Composono found gold, silver and bronze during a recent trip to Dublin, Ireland.

Friday, July 4, 2003>
The 26-year-old Crestwood gymnast medaled four times during the Special Olympics World Summer Games in Dublin June 21-29, the first time the games have been held outside the United States.

Composono, one of 23 Illinois athletes who competed in the World Games, captured a gold medal in the vault, two bronze medals for balance beam and uneven bars, and a silver in the all-around level 2 competition.

"The competition was tough," Composono said. "I was so excited when I won."

Shawn Brezler, 36, of Joliet, Daniel DeLeeuw, 20, of Hazel Crest, and Scott Wells, 33, of Lockport, also brought home medals from the competition. All three received gold medals as members of the men's volleyball team.

"Out of the four (World Games) I've been too, this was the best," said Nancy Hoekstra of Homewood, sports manager of tennis for Special Olympics Illinois. "It will be hard to surpass it."

A highlight of the trip was the opening ceremony, she said. Among those on stage for the ceremony were Nelson Mandela, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who founded the Special Olympics, and the rock group U2. "It was just electrifying," Hoekstra said.

Other celebrities on hand for the event included actor Pierce Brosnan, Muhammad Ali, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jon Bon Jovi.

The first Special Olympics were held in July 1968 at Soldier Field with 1,000 athletes from the United States and Canada. The games have grown to include more than 150 countries and more than 1 million athletes.

Competitors in the Special Olympics World Summer Games are chosen a year in advance and had to win a gold medal at the state level.

There is no national competition, so if they qualify and are nominated by their area director, they can go right to the World Games competition, said Barbara DeGuido, spokeswoman for Special Olympics Illinois.

They compete against others in the same skill level.

"That way they all have an opportunity to win," DeGuido said.

The next Special Olympics World Olympics World Games will be held in 2007 in China.

For now, DeGuido and others involved with Special Olympics are looking forward to honoring the Illinois athletes who competed in Ireland. A special celebration is scheduled for July 20 from noon until 6 p.m. at Grant Park in Chicago.

For Judy Composono, seeing her daughter win all the medals was a treat.

"It was an experience that we'll never forget," she said.

Bonded to Sydney

06jul03
IT probably would be the perfect Sydney pad for 007 agent James Bond, but has actor Pierce Brosnan really bought at Sydney glamour wharf, Walsh Bay?

According to several Sydney agents who have been keeping a keen eye out for the star, the answer is yes.

Evidently, Brosnan enjoyed Sydney so much on his last trip here that he decided to invest.

During a trip on the Harbour, Brosnan was taken with the old wharf site on Hickson Rd.

Because he was unfamiliar with buying off the plan, he waited until completion of the development to show his hand.

Problem is, pickings at Walsh Bay are a bit slim. Two current owners say they were approached by agents on behalf of a Hollywood star ­ though they weren't told who the star was ­ but weren't interested in selling.

"We heard that Brosnan has quietly bought on the first floor in The Pier," one resident said. "He bought it sight unseen, and the excitement was too much for the selling agent, who has told half the building 'in confidence' that Brosnan has bought in."

Where eagles fly

IT is not only Sydney Harbour's wharves that are attracting the celebrities. The northern, eastern and southern beaches are also attracting some big names.

The new "it" building in the east appears to be The Eyrie at Coogee Beach.

An agent unconnected with the development told Private Property he lost a celebrity sale in Tamarama because his buyer purchased in The Eyrie ­ which is not yet built and isn't expected to be completed until mid 2004.

His buyers, actors Naomi Watts and Heath Ledger, chose the new development over the apartment in nearby Tamarama.

After just one week of marketing, four of the apartments ­ priced from $1.45 million ­ have already sold through agents Tony Laing of Raine & Horne Coogee and Peter Goulding of Coogee First National.

Hip hip, hooray

AFTER a couple of false starts, The Mews at Burradoo in the Southern Highlands has finally sold for more than $4 million.

After selling under the hammer in March last year for $3.25 million, the sale fell through.

Owners Lord and Lady Merritt of Caynham ­ who not only bought in nearby Werrington St on the back of that sale, but also purchased their title for a hefty sum ­ were left a little high and dry when the buyers failed to complete on the sale.

The couple, who are better known around the highlands as Brian and Helen, are frequently seen driving around in a Rolls-Royce.

By Ernio Hernandez

05 Jul 2003
The American Repertory Theatre begins Hershey Felder's "imagination in music" series with a return engagement of George Gershwin Alone, July 5-26.

Hershey Felder's one-man show, George Gershwin Alone, about the legendary composer, ended its limited run on Broadway July 22, 2001. Felder played a previous engagement for A.R.T. last summer.

The play with music directed by Joel Zwick features the playwright-performer Felder as Gershwin sitting at a piano playing several songs, including parts of "Rhapsody in Blue," "An American in Paris" and "Porgy and Bess." Between numbers, he speaks about his childhood, parents and siblings Ira, Arthur and Frances. He also discusses where and when songs were composed and offers a peek into how a composer and lyricist work together.

Following George Gershwin Alone the A.R.T. presents the world premiere of Felder's new work Romantique, Aug. 1-17.

Romantique introduces audiences to the world of another composer, Frédéric Chopin. The story follows his relationship with his love ‹ authoress George Sand ‹ and friend ‹ painter Eugène Delacroix ‹ while highlighting their art, tales and music. The work is set one summer evening in 1846 when the composer and painter make what would be their final visit to the scribe's retreat.

Joining Felder (who plays Chopin) in the cast are Tony Award winner Anthony Crivello as Delacroix and television star Stephanie Zimbalist as George Sand.

Crivello won a Tony for his portrayal of Valentin in Kiss of the Spiderwoman. Other Broadway credits include Marie Christine, Les Misérables, The News and Evita.

Zimbalist is remembered for her role on the TV series, "Remington Steele" opposite Pierce Brosnan. The actress has played in The Tempest with Anthony Hopkins at the Mark Taper Forum, The Cherry Orchard at the Long Wharf Theater, Summer and Smoke and Barbarians at the Williamstown Theatre Festival as well as the national tour of My One And Only.

Felder appeared on Broadway in George Gershwin Alone, which he has performed over 1200 times in several major venues across the country as well as Back on Broadway with James Barbour. Other credits include Stempenyu in Stempenyu, Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night, Waiting for Godot, Gigi, Fiddler on the Roof and Ellis Island.

Zwick directed of the film "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" as well as the Broadway production of Dance With Me. He also helmed the national tours of Shenandoah and Oklahoma!

Ticket to George Gershwin Alone and Romantique at A.R.T.'s Loeb Drama Center in Harvard Square at 64 Brattle Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts can be purchased by calling (617) 547-8300 or online at www.amrep.org.

'Best Dad' Beckham scores over Brosnan, Blair

SUNDAY, JULY 06, 2003 09:24:41 PM
LONDON: David Beckham won the best celebrity dad poll conducted by Hellomagazine.com, winning more than one third of the total votes.

According to a report in the Hello magazine, the England skipper scored twice as many votes as his runner-up, the 007 star Pierce Brosnan.

Other big vote-winners were actor Will Smith, future king Prince Charles and Hollywood hardman Bruce Willis. The surprise loser was Prime Minister Tony Blair, who garnered just 61 votes, despite being able to raise four children while also running the country.

MOVIES Setting Sunset: Salma Hayek is in final negotiations to star opposite Pierce Brosnan in the caper drama "After the Sunset" for New Line Cinema. John Stockwell is directing the project, which begins where most heist movies end -- with a master thief (Brosnan) sailing off to an island paradise after his last big score. However, when his lifelong nemesis, an FBI agent, shows up to make sure the thief is really retired, a new cat-and-mouse game of friendship, suspicion and thievery begins. She's expected to follow "After the Sunset" with the lead in the Robert Altman thriller "Ultraviolet." She recently completed work on Robert Rodriguez's "Once Upon a Time in Mexico." -- The Hollywood Reporter

GSOH is no laughing matter

By Suzanne Stevenson, Metro

9 July 2003
He describes himself as Mr Good-Looking, an unattached, solvent businessman with GSOH and own car.

But, for two-thirds of women, that ideal blind date turns out to be anything but, according to new research.

By the end of the first date, most women have discovered their ideal man has exaggerated his looks, job and even lied about his single status.

Half end up ditching their would be lover at the first meeting and twothirds of those who persevere do not last a month. For one in 20 women, first impressions are so dire they make their escape without even introducing themselves.

Nearly half of female blind-daters said men were likely to overestimate their good looks, a quarter suspected their dates gave themselves a promotion and one in eight discovered men would happily forget their wife or girlfriend.

However, women were not so squeaky clean when it came to landing a man. A quarter lost a few pounds when describing their weight and 17 per cent lied about their age, the survey of1,200 women for car maker Hyundai found.

'Most women know exactly what they are after and some are even willing to lie to land a date,' said Hyundai's Penny Szczepaniak.

But, when you look at what women want in an ideal date, it is not surprising men lie. The poll found the perfect man would have the looks of Brad Pitt, the charm of Pierce Brosnan - and David Beckham's style.

Galway Set to Open 15th Film Fleadh Tonight in Ireland

by Eugene Hernandez

The Galway Film Fleadh in Ireland kicks off its 15th edition today with a screening of the controversial new film, "Conspiracy of Silence."

The U.K. first feature, its Irish premiere, is a new film from John Deery. In the words of the festival, it "challenges the notion of celibacy within the Catholic Church."

Closing the festival on Sunday the 13th will be Ian Fitzgibbon's "Spin the Bottle." The film, which is also having its Irish premiere, stars the late Pat Leavy as well as Michael McElhatton.

Among the films to be showcased in the world cinema section are Baltasar Kormakur's "The Sea" from Iceland, Liz Garbus' "Girlhood" and David Gordon Green's "All The Real Girls" from the U.S., Nir Bergman's "Broken Wings" from Israel, Gyorgy Palfi's "Hukkle" from Hungary, Jens Lien's "Jonny Vang" from Norway, Lucas Moodysson's "Lilja 4 Ever" from Sweden, Lone Sherfig's "Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself" and Susanne Bier's "Open Hearts" from Denmark, and Michael Winterbottom's Berlinale winner, "In This World."

A number of industry reps will be in Galway this weekend for the Galway Film Fair, which will match filmmakers with invited financiers, producers and distributors. Among those headed for Ireland are Brigette Suarez from Bavaria Film International, Sofia Sondervan from Content Film, Ashley Luke from Fortissimo Film Sales, Penny Wolf from HBO Film London, Madeline Elles-Hill from Miramax, Norman Brock from the UK Film Council and Jack Turner from United Artists.

Also on tap for the festival this year are showcases of new work from Germany and South Korea. Included will be Wolfgang Becker's "Good Bye Lenin" and Hans Christian Schmid's "Distant Lights" from Germany, while Im Kwon-Taek's "Chiwaseon" and Kim Di Duk's "The Isle" will screen from South Korea. "The Isle" will be shown in a special "Extreme Cinema" section highlighting work that is only for an adult audience.

This Friday, Agnieszka Holland ("Europa, Europa") will present a special masterclass in directing, while Pierce Brosnan ("Evelyn," "Die Another Day") will host an acting masterclass on Sunday morning.

[For more information, please visit: http://www.galwayfilmfleadh.com.]

Sunset' on Hayek's Horizon

By Josh Spector

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Salma Hayek is in final negotiations to star opposite Pierce Brosnan in the caper drama "After the Sunset."

John Stockwell ("Blue Crush") is directing the New Line project, which begins where most heist movies end -- with a master thief (Brosnan) sailing off to an island paradise after his last big score. However, when his lifelong nemesis, an FBI agent, shows up to make sure the thief is really retired, a new cat-and-mouse game of friendship, suspicion and thievery begins.

Production is scheduled to begin in October.

Hayek earned an Oscar nomination this year for her title role in the Frida Kahlo biopic "Frida." She's expected to follow "After the Sunset" with the lead in the Robert Altman thriller "Ultraviolet." She recently completed work on Robert Rodriguez 's "Once Upon a Time in Mexico."

Hayek's directorial debut, the TV movie "The Maldonado Miracle," starring Peter Fonda and Mare Winningham, is set to premiere on Showtime in September.

Salma Hayek Sits in Sunset with Pierce Brosnan

Thursday, July 3, 2003
Salma Hayek is in talks to topline After the Sunset at New Line Cinema, opposite Pierce Brosnan.

The film's story begins where most heist movies end, with the master thief (Brosnan) sailing off to the tropics after his last big haul.

Soon, though, island life is boring him witless, and when his careerlong pursuer, an FBI agent, shows up to make sure the thief is really retired, an unlikely friendship and more thievery begins.

The script by Paul Zbyszewski has been rewritten by Chris Rosenberg. John Stockwell (Blue Crush) is set to direct.

Brosnan Voices Support for Irish Films

July 06, 2003
Pierce Brosnan speaks out against controversial plans by the Irish government to cut state funding for the country's film industry, reports Steven Woodbridge.

According to the respected British film industry journal 'Screen International' (4 July), regular listeners to Radio RTE in Ireland received a pleasant surprise one morning recently. Waking up to hear the daily breakfast show, they were treated to 007 star Pierce Brosnan speaking live from his latest film set. The Bond star spoke out critically on the popular radio station about the Irish government's recently announced and highly sensitive plans to end its generous film tax incentives, which have led to a number of films shooting in the Emerald Isle in recent years.

The tax incentives have seen a mini-renaissance in film-making in Ireland in recent years, with the capital Dublin proving to be especially popular. Pierce has said on a number of occasions he would even like to see a future Bond film taking advantage of Irish scenery.

Speaking from the set of 'Laws of Attraction', the third film financed by his own company Irish Dreamtime, and which is currently benefitting from the tax incentives, Pierce voiced his strong concern about what he sees as the potentially disastrous consequences that could occur if the Irish government brings the tax incentives to an end, which it apparently plans to do at the end of 2004.

He pointed out that the incentives have helped to create valuable employment and investment in Ireland, boosting the local economy and tourism, and he cited his company's highly successful film 'The Nephew' as a good example of this. 'The Nephew' made extensive use of Irish locations and personnel.

Brosnan has been keeping very busy during his time off from duty as 007. 'Laws of Attraction' is a contemporary tale about two divorce lawyers and made use of Irish locations during June. This is to be followed by 'After the Sunset' in October this year, in which Brosnan will play a thief, and 'The Matador' in February, 2004.

According to industry insiders, 'The Matador' will have a budget in the region of $20-$25 million and will involve both Irish Dreamtime and Furst Films. New York-based film-maker Richard Shephard wrote the screenplay and is set to direct what promises to be an unusual thriller.

Brosnan will play Julian Noble, a hit man who experiences a nervous breakdown while carrying out a job in Mexico City. While in the city, he comes across an ordinary businessman from Denver, and the film's scriptline follows the ensuing friendship betweeen the two very different men.

Another long-term project in outline script development for possible filming in the future is 'Legend of Lochenbar', a mid-to-big budget epic based on a Sir Walter Scott poem and set in the Holy Wars of the early Medieval period. Brosnan has been impressed with the recent success of 'sword-and-sandal' epics such as 'Gladiator'. He has also said that, if the project eventually gets off the ground, he hopes to shoot the film in Scotland.

Brosnan and Jordan honoured by DIT

By Seán McCárthaigh THE worlds of 007 and chequered flags were put aside yesterday as two of Irelandıs best known personalities were conferred with honorary degrees by the Dublin Institute of Technology.

Pierce Brosnan and Eddie Jordan abandoned their usual respective attire of tuxedos and canary-yellow shirts to don cap and gown at a ceremony at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham.

The James Bond star and the Grand Prix team boss were among a number of distinguished figures including the president of the National College, Prof Joyce O'Connor, and the educationalist Noel Lindsay to have their achievements ecognised by DIT.

Presenting the awards, president Dr Brendan Goldsmith said the institute was honouring Brosnan for his outstanding contributions to the arts.

Dr Goldsmith said the Meath-born star had enjoyed great distinction as an Irishman with world renown as an actor, businessman and humanitarian.

Addressing the founder of the Jordan Grand Prix team, Dr Goldsmith described Jordan as one of the most successful Irish entrepreneurs today.

"The doctorate acknowledges Eddie's uniquely innovative personality, business acumen and unflinching self-belief that has seen him propel his team to considerable success within the cut-throat world of Formula One," said Dr Goldsmith.

He also presented awards to Prof Joyce and Mr Lindsay, a former secretary general of the Department of Education and the Higher Education Authority.

Previous recipients of honorary degrees from DIT include the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern; soccer star Niall Quinn; broadcaster Marian Finucane; athlete Sonia O'Sullivan; and former president and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson

Posey edges closer to mainstream fame: 'Indie Queen' cast with Brosnan in a new comedy

By Bob Baker
Special To The Sun

Originally published July 3, 2003
HOLLYWOOD - Parker Posey hears two voices. One tells her she's an established film presence. The other tells her she's still swimming upstream.

The voice of optimism reminds her that in her 10-year career she's played all manner of provocatively unhinged women in more than three dozen films, most notably a seductive Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis fanatic (The House of Yes), a sadistic cheerleader (Dazed and Confused), a manic show-dog owner (Best in Show), an aimless Dairy Queen attendant (Waiting for Guffman), an unfaithful Manhattan book editor (Personal Velocity) and a fish-out-of-water librarian (Party Girl).

The voice of reproach reminds her that most of these parts were in movies most people never saw - some classy indie flicks, certainly, but small change by Hollywood standards.

The voice of optimism reminds her that a cult of hip directors, critics and fans routinely swoons over her range, her comedic timing and the way her characters seem to lack a censoring device so that earnest, often delightfully inappropriate language erupts from them like hard beads of lava.

"The wonderful thing about Parker is, she is able to play two or even sometimes three contradictory emotions at the same time," says Personal Velocity writer-director Rebecca Miller, who needed Posey to be torn between elation and anxiety.

The voice of reproach reminds Posey that if all that were true, Something Big - a meaty mainstream role - should have happened to her by now.

It's not that she loses a lot of sleep over this. She's confident of her skills. "I get myself more than I ever have," she says. It's that, in her journey from acting school to a TV soap to low-budget-film icon, she has almost always chosen art over fame. And she's at an age, 34, where you involuntarily evaluate your choices.

On a recent visit from Manhattan to perform with fellow cast members of the folk-music satire A Mighty Wind, Posey was waiting to order lunch. She'd just gotten that ever-elusive meaty part in a mainstream movie. "Thank God, praise the Lord!" She has been cast in Laws of Attraction, a comedy starring Julianne Moore and Pierce Brosnan as rival divorce lawyers. She'll play a high-strung fashion designer divorcing a rock-star husband, a part she views as rich with histrionic potential. ("I'll be approaching it like a drama. Hopefully you'll laugh.")

Posey has lost out on Hollywood parts before, her vaunted edginess working against her, and she had to lobby for this one, arguing that she could play a character significantly younger than the 41-year-old Moore.

Perhaps at last her talent for playing larger-than-life characters with no trace of irony will be "discovered" by millions of less adventurous moviegoers more partial to Brosnan's James Bond fare.

It is what one film critic called Posey's ability to appear slightly but intriguingly disassociated from her character that seems to make her an awkward fit for big Hollywood productions, which often demand more simplicity. Great things were predicted when Posey won a special jury award at the Sundance Film Festival in 1997 for The House of Yes and two of her other films were screened there that same year.

But after appearing in about 30 films from 1993 to 1998, her appearances dwindled. As more studios tried to appropriate "indie" sensibilities, there were fewer quality low-budget films to choose from - and no rush by the studios to grab Posey, or at least the most interesting part of her. Instead she got small parts in such flicks as You've Got Mail, Scream 3 and Josie and the Pussycats.

Her lack of mainstream success (even the fact that she still lives in the same Chelsea apartment she occupied near the beginning of her career) has stoked her following as "Indie Queen."

A stranger expecting the stream-of-consciousness patter he has seen on screen would be disappointed. Posey's sentences can come at you hesitantly, separated by long pauses, taking their sweet time to gel into complete thoughts - until the subject changes from fame to craft.

Ask her, for example, about her uncharacteristically controlled role as a grim prosecutor in The Event, Canadian director Thom Fitzgerald's ensemble drama about AIDS and assisted suicide, due for release in September. Now the words rush out as she explains the emotional architecture of her character, Nicole, who is determined to file charges against a group of people who threw a party to facilitate and celebrate the death of an AIDS patient.

"She still lives at home. She was never loved. She's still waiting for her mom to be a mother. And she has no regard for other people's emotional lives or situations. ... There are, like, layers of cloud between her and other people, so much pain. That kind of person who's asleep. The prospect of playing someone who really doesn't love herself and doesn't know how to communicate was interesting to me."

Posey plans to move out of her Chelsea apartment into more fashionable digs this year. She has her own projects she'd like to produce and act in. Her confidence was boosted by three nominations last year - an Independent Spirit (best actress for Personal Velocity), a Golden Globe (best supporting actress for TV's Hell on Heels: The Battle of Mary Kay) and a Lortel Award for off-Broadway (best lead actress in Lanford Wilson's Fifth of July, a play about a reunion of '60s radicals).

"I'm struggling, but I'm not drowning," she says. She tries to tell herself, "'Parker, look behind you, look what's happened to you, look how far you've come.' I'm still working, I'm still searching, I'm still finding that edge."

Bob Baker writes for the Los Angeles Times, a Tribune Publishing newspaper.

Independent spirit
Parker Posey, who has made a specialty of playing women on the edge, remains on the outside looking in at mainstream success.

By Bob Baker, Times Staff Writer

Parker Posey hears two voices. One tells her she's an established film presence. The other tells her she's still swimming upstream.

The voice of optimism reminds her that in her 10-year career she's played all manner of provocatively unhinged women in more than three dozen films, most notably a seductive Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis fanatic ("The House of Yes"), a sadistic cheerleader ("Dazed and Confused"), a manic show-dog owner ("Best in Show"), an aimless Dairy Queen attendant ("Waiting for Guffman"), an unfaithful Manhattan book editor ("Personal Velocity") and a fish-out-of-water librarian ("Party Girl").

The voice of reproach reminds her that most of these parts were in movies most people never saw ‹ some classy indie flicks, certainly, but small change by Hollywood standards.

The voice of optimism reminds her that a cult of hip directors, critics and fans routinely swoons over her range, her comedic timing, and the way her characters seem to lack a censoring device so that earnest, often delightfully inappropriate language erupts from them like hard beads of lava. "The wonderful thing about Parker is, she is able to play two or even sometimes three contradictory emotions at the same time," says "Personal Velocity" writer-director Rebecca Miller, who needed Posey to be torn between elation and anxiety. "She has an exquisite 'engine' as an actor. If she were a car, she would be a Jaguar."

The voice of reproach reminds Posey that if all that were true, Something Big ‹ a meaty mainstream role ‹ should have happened to her by now.

It's not that she loses a lot of sleep over this. She's confident of her skills. "I get myself more than I ever have," she says. It's that, in her journey from acting school to a TV soap to low-budget-film icon, she has almost always chosen art over fame. And she's at an age, 34, where you involuntarily evaluate your choices.

Dipping into Hollywood

On a recent visit from Manhattan to perform with fellow cast members of the folk-music satire "A Mighty Wind," Posey was waiting to order lunch at an outdoor table at the Chateau Marmont when a woman a couple of tables away walked over and handed her a paperback book she hoped to turn into a movie. "It's my fantasy that you'd be in this," the woman said. "I saw you and thought, 'She's my dream person.' " She apologized for interrupting, and Posey, a Southern-bred, mannerly woman, thanked her sweetly. Yet a nerve had been pricked.

"When I think somebody comes over here and gives me a book they want me to play," she said a couple of minutes later, "I think, there's no way I could get approval to play the part. I might come close, they might talk about me, but it's so slippery who gets cast."

What she should have volunteered was the good news: She'd just gotten that ever-elusive meaty part in a mainstream movie. Yet only when a reporter asked half an hour later what roles were in her future did she sigh, "Thank God, praise the Lord!" and disclose that she had been cast in "Laws of Attraction," a comedy starring Julianne Moore and Pierce Brosnan as rival divorce lawyers. She'll play a high-strung fashion designer divorcing a rock-star husband, a part she views as rich with histrionic potential. ("I'll be approaching it like a drama. Hopefully you'll laugh.")

Posey has lost out on Hollywood parts before, her vaunted edginess working against her, and she had to lobby for this one, arguing that she could play a character significantly younger than the 41-year-old Moore. ("I shouldn't have to fight but there's a way to stand up for yourself without being combative.") She'll head for Dublin next week to start filming.

Perhaps at last her talent for playing larger-than-life characters with no trace of irony will be "discovered" by millions of less adventurous moviegoers more partial to Brosnan's James Bond fare. These are people whose films do not usually include moments like the one in the black comedy "The House of Yes," when Posey's mentally ill, manipulative, witty character explains mile-a-minute to her twin brother's new fiancée, "I spend most of my days with my head in the toilet bowl throwing up pills. I can't really think when I take the pills and a person needs to think."

Director Mark Waters said he cast Posey in the 1997 adaptation of a play "because she was the only one who seemed to be able to deliver stylized dialogue without putting quotation marks on it." Posey makes her character, Jackie O ‹ who seduces her brother and torments everyone in the household with deadly results ‹ implausibly sympathetic.

"She was able to be this ferocious force of nature that sucked everything into her whirlwind but had this fragility, this emotional quality that made you root for her," Waters said.

Yet it is that very complexity ‹ what one film critic called Posey's ability to appear slightly but intriguingly disassociated from her character ‹ that seems to make her an awkward fit for big Hollywood productions, which often demand more simplicity. Great things were predicted when Posey won a special jury award at the Sundance Film Festival in 1997 for "The House of Yes" and two of her other films were screened there that same year. Comparisons to Katharine Hepburn ‹ that aptitude for unpredictable, urbane dialogue, spitting irreverence ‹ began to follow her.

What didn't follow her was work, let alone stardom. After appearing in about 30 films from 1993 to 1998, her appearances dwindled. As more studios tried to appropriate "indie" sensibilities, there were fewer quality low-budget films to choose from ‹ and no rush by the studios to grab Posey, or at least the most interesting part of her. Instead she got small parts in such flicks as "You've Got Mail," "Scream 3" and "Josie and the Pussycats."

What happened, writer Alissa Quart suggested last fall in Film Comment magazine, was that Posey stayed true to her independent roots and her style of "exhibitionist realism" while "the indie brand became thoroughly diluted by its conspicuous commercial ties." Posey is "still the Indie Queen," Quart wrote. "The great sadness is there's no longer a sovereign empire for her to rule."

Posey would prefer to mock these analyses because they "almost negate what I've done, the extreme luck that I've had, 'cause it has really been a very lucky career, kind of an anomaly. Actors come up to me all the time and say, 'I'm so glad you're doing well, you know ‹ if you can do it, I can, too.' "

Confident and cool

Her lack of mainstream success (even the fact that she still lives in the same Chelsea apartment she occupied near the beginning of her career) has stoked her following. Last fall, a British journalist trying to personalize the mystique of shopping in thrift stores declared, "There is something inherently thrift-chic" about Posey. The editor of a new, similarly minded American magazine, Budget Living, Sarah Grey Miller, gushes that Posey is the one celebrity who personifies "what we're about." Posey, says Miller, symbolizes people who are "confident enough to find a cool backpack at Kmart."

Male Poseyphiles are drawn to a woman who is "beautiful, mischievous, saucy playful, cynical, a bit of a smirk that implies there's something going on upstairs," says Toronto newspaper columnist Christopher Hutsul, who last month devoted a passing sentence to Posey in a column imagining a different sort of men's magazine: one with fewer pictures of Christina Aguilera and "a monthly photo spread of Parker Posey in various pastel cardigans." The attraction, Hutsul explained in an interview, is that Posey seems to be the kind of woman you could hang out with, take out to breakfast, bring to a family barbecue.

On this day at lunch Posey is plainly dressed ‹ sleeveless patterned blouse, jeans, no makeup ‹ but still striking. She's brought a New York Times to read after the interview. A stranger expecting the stream-of-consciousness patter he has seen onstage would be disappointed. Posey's sentences can come at you hesitantly, separated by long pauses, taking their sweet time to gel into complete thoughts ‹ until the subject changes from fame to craft.

Ask her, for example, about her uncharacteristically controlled role as a grim prosecutor in "The Event," Canadian director Thom Fitzgerald's ensemble drama about AIDS and assisted suicide, due for release in September. Now the words rush out as she explains the emotional architecture of her character, Nicole, who is determined to file charges against a group of people who threw a party to facilitate and celebrate the death of an AIDS patient. "She still lives at home. She was never loved. She's still waiting for her mom to be a mother. And she has no regard for other people's emotional lives or situations. I think she's imitating a powerful man. Oh, my God, she's so ‹ there are, like, layers of cloud between her and other people, so much pain. That kind of person who's asleep. The prospect of playing someone who really doesn't love herself and doesn't know how to communicate was interesting to me."

The work, she says, is "an excuse for transformation I like to think I escape into someone else. It's a compulsion. It's a real desire." She talks the same way about her hobby, pottery. "You start with this object outside of yourself, you move it to the center of the wheel, you develop a sensitivity between your hands and your heart."

Her father, a gregarious car dealer in Laurel, Miss., named her after '50s supermodel Suzy Parker. She grew up wanting to dance and act. "I made myself a promise when I was little," Posey says with a tremor of a laugh. "I would live in an imaginary world; I wanted to, half the time."

After unsuccessfully applying for the dance program at the North Carolina School of the Arts, she turned to acting at the State University of New York in Purchase. In 1991, in her senior year, "As the World Turns" was having trouble filling the bad-girl role of Tess Shelby and asked the school to send candidates. Posey got the job.

Posey says her stage training makes her relish parts with emotional complexity. She offers Greta in "Personal Velocity," a low-level book editor with the sole talent of trimming unnecessary words, who by a fluke winds up editing a best-selling author and simultaneously decides to junk her dull husband. The part required an exploration of someone "you will never know It's like being in love with someone you'll never understand."

Director Miller remembers Posey "feeling sorry for Greta, laughing at her and becoming her all at the same time" on the day of her costume fitting. "She had this walk, this funny flat-footed walk, and I felt her lack of self-esteem and her determination in that walk. I knew she had the character just hearing her walk up to me."

Posey plans to move out of her Chelsea apartment into more fashionable digs this year. She has her own projects she'd like to produce and act in, stories about an actress who stages her own kidnapping and a woman who's never had an orgasm. Her confidence was boosted by three nominations last year ‹ an Independent Spirit (best actress for "Personal Velocity"), a Golden Globe (best supporting actress for TV's "Hell on Heels: The Battle of Mary Kay") and a Lortel Award for off-Broadway (best lead actress in Lanford Wilson's "Fifth of July," a play about a reunion of '60s radicals).

"I'm struggling, but I'm not drowning," she says. She tries to tell herself, " 'Parker, look behind you, look what's happened to you, look how far you've come' I'm still working, I'm still searching, I'm still finding that edge."

Caption: UNIVERSAL PICTURES Michelle Rodriguez, Kate Bosworth and Sanoe Lake strike a pose in a publicity photo for "Blue Crush." The film was one of five last year that contributed to record production revenues.

Isle film revenues hit new heights
The $146 million earned in 2002 tops the previous record set three years ago

By Tim Ryan

Hawaii's film and television production revenues for 2002 were an unexpected blockbuster, hitting $146 million, 7.4 percent more than the previous record of $136 million in 2000.

Remarkably, the $146 million record came in a year when Hawaii had no television series. In 2000, the series "Baywatch Hawaii" filmed its final season here, spending more than $22 million.

Estimates earlier this year of 2002's production revenues were $133 million, but that didn't account for about $10 million spending for Hawaii sporting events like the Pro Bowl, Hula Bowl and Ironman Triathlon, Hawaii Film Office officials said.

The $146 million figure is a 76 percent increase over 2001's $83 million in production revenues, which was the lowest total since 1997's $71 million.

Hawaii's production revenues since 1996 have more than doubled despite Hawaii's higher business costs, the need to ship equipment thousands of miles, and other logistical problems of filming in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

"Hollywood has always appreciated Hawaii's versatility in being able to double for other exotic locations and being just five hours away," said Donne Dawson, Hawaii Film Office manager. "But there's also much more awareness of global events, which highlights Hawaii as a very safe haven."

More recently, Hawaii has stepped up competition in attracting productions with new or improved financial incentives, including Act 221. A major value of the act has been to draw producers' attention. Since Act 221 was enacted two years ago, two feature films -- "Blue Crush" and "The Big Bounce" -- have qualified for its investment credits.

Producer Arnold Rifkin said he chose Hawaii to represent the African setting of "Hostile Rescue" because it is a safe, U.S. locale and he had been told that the crew was "first rate."

"The local crew was extraordinary," Rifkin said. "There was not one thing they couldn't do. And hiring local saves productions hundreds of thousands of dollars from having to bring workers in from Los Angeles," he said.

Still, he said, filming on Windward Oahu was the most difficult of any picture he's produced because of the heavy rains and mud.

Director John Stockwell said he hopes to have his next film, "After the Sunset," starring Pierce Brosnan, rewritten from a Virgin Islands location to Hawaii.

"Some Hollywood people view Hawaii as this vacation location where serious work isn't done," Stockwell said. "I've never had harder working crews who spent hours lugging equipment through sand or out into a very unforgiving ocean."

Dawson, of the Hawaii Film Office, noted, "The state has taken a significant step forward from being a $100 million a year industry to $150 million a year, and even that's probably only half of what Hawaii could bring in given the right combination of factors.

"We're very pleased, but we can't sit back and relax. Hawaii's production industry needs sustainability and constant growth."

Last year's record production revenues largely came from five major feature films that spent a total of $76.6 million.

"Hostile Rescue" spent five months filming on Oahu and about $40 million, Rifkin said. The other films were "The Big Bounce," which was shot over three months on Oahu; "Blue Crush"; "Helldorado," starring former Hawaii resident Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson; and "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle," which filmed portions in Hawaii.

Episodic TV shows or specials' revenues last year doubled from $7.75 million to $15.2 million. These shows included "The Bachelor," "Janet Jackson -- HBO Live," "ER," "One Life to Live," "High School Reunion," "My Wife and Kids," Disney's "The Stevens Get Even," "The Travel Show," "Baywatch Hawaiian Wedding," "Celebrity Mole Hawaii," "The Last Resort" and WB's "Boarding House: North Shore."

The first six months of 2003 ending June 30 has seen production revenues of about $50.2 million, well below 2002's $91.7 million for the same time period. But last year's figures include major spending by "Hostile Rescue" and "Blue Crush."

The second half of 2003 looks slow with only one production, NBC's episodic series "Average Joe," committing to film in Hawaii. The hour-long reality series will shoot nine episodes in five weeks next month on the Big Island, spending at least $5 million.

But Dawson said state and county film offices are getting many inquiries from studios about filming here. "They're talking with us, but no one has stepped up to the plate yet," she said.

Sea of colour launches Special Olympics

Sunday, 22 June 2003The eleventh Special Olympics World Games were spectacularly launched in Dublin last night with a stunning opening ceremony that created a carnival atmosphere to launch the 2003 renewal of the games.

Noise, colour and celebration
The home of Gaelic football, Croke Park, was transformed from a football stadium into an amphitheatre of noise, colour and celebration as delegations from 166 countries packed the North Dublin venue. The evening marked the end of a 15,000 mile journey across Europe for the Special Olympic 'Flame Of Hope', which was eventually ignited to launch the official opening of the week-long event.

Sea of colour
Amid a sea of colour, the athletes paraded around the stadium, with the late entrants to the competition, Afghanistan, leading the way. All five continents were represented, with teams and countries of various shapes and sizes accompanied in their lap of honour by representatives of the towns that had hosted them for the previous five days.

Warm reception
A vibrant array of flags welcomed each country's athletes to the stadium, with a warm reception for each delegation from the massive American squad right down to smaller teams such as Barbados and their four Olympians. The diversity of countries on show was demonstrated by the variety of dress, from the traditional garb of Iran, Qatar and Pakistan to the bright costumes and allure of Mauritius, Lesotho and Tajikistan.

Evening of entertainment
The introduction of the athletes was followed by an evening of entertainment that celebrated both the very best of Irish culture, and the powerful emotions of pride and joy inspired by the games themselves.

A number of national and international celebrities such as Pierce Brosnan, Blackburn Rovers FC and Republic of Ireland international Damien Duff, Ireland manager Brian Kerr, Ronan Keating, Jon Bon Jovi and actor Colin Farrell and Arnold Schwarzenegger played a role in proceedings. Yet, on this occasion, their role was minor as the Olympians deservedly took the limelight and enjoyed their moment of glory.

'Never forget'
Irish president Mary McAleese spoke about the magnitude of the occasion. "Ireland is famous for its warm welcomes, but never in the history of this country has there been a bigger and better welcome than the one prepared for the world's best special athletes. We are at the start of a week that none of us will ever forget," she said.

'If you seek courage'
Founder of the Special Olympics movement, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, asked the audience to remember the 170 million people with intellectual disabilities around the world that were unable to attend on the evening, and encouraged people worldwide to marvel at the wonder of the games. "If you seek joy, come and see the Special Olympics," she said. "If you seek courage, come and see the athletes of the Special Olympics".

'Potential for greatness'
International rock group U2 brought the crowd to their feet and climaxed their performance by introducing Nelson Mandela to a rousing reception. Addressing the athletes, Mandela stated: "You remind us of the potential for greatness that is alive in every one of us".

Olympics oath
An epic rendition of the official anthem of the 2003 Special Olympics, "May We Never Say Goodbye", concluded the evening after the lighting of the 'Flame Of Hope' and Mandela officially declaring the games to be open. After an enthralling, awe- inspiring evening of celebration, filled with light, spirit and fanfare, the enduring memory remains the sentiment expressed in the oath taken by all the athletes which defines the meaning of these games. "Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt".

Icon tops style poll

23jun03FEW would argue that Audrey Hepburn is one of the great style icons of all time. But should Jennifer Aniston, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Kate Moss really be mentioned in the same hallowed breath?

The latest style survey by fashion bible Vogue, conducted among 2500 readers who were allowed to vote for more than one famous face, says they should.

Hepburn, star of film classics such as Breakfast At Tiffany's and My Fair Lady, is still regarded as the ultimate style queen more than 40 years after her heyday.

The actress, who came top in the annual survey to find the most stylish woman, died of cancer in 1993 aged 63.

Last night a spokesman for Vogue, which has conducted the poll for five years, said: "It's fascinating Hepburn is still so highly regarded when it comes to style.

"People look at her as elegant and stylish - she has an enduring beauty. They often remember her in those classic black-and-white pictures."

Hepburn won 29 per cent of the vote, two per cent ahead of Friends star Aniston. Victoria Beckham was third, with Catherine Zeta-Jones fourth. Isabella Rossellini was joint fifth, along with Kate Moss. Rossellini was voted the world's most stylish woman two years ago.

David Beckham was voted the most stylish man with 51 per cent of votes, ahead of Pierce Brosnan and Jude Law. Brad Pitt was fourth and Hugh Grant fifth.

But do you agree with the rest of the top ten?

1 Audrey Hepburn, 2 Jennifer Aniston, 3 Victoria Beckham, 4 Catherine Zeta-Jones, 5 Kate Moss, 6 Isabella Rossellini, 7 Nicole Kidman, 8 Madonna, 9 Princess of Wales, 10 Kylie Minogue.

Hollywood's Star Power Failure

by Dan Ackman,

06.19.03, 6:30 PM ET NEW YORK - Celebrities may sell magazines, but they don't sell movie tickets. A year ago, we postulated that movie stars are vastly overrated in terms of their box office clout. Now, we've got statistical proof: Our study of more than 200 recent films revealed that fewer than half of the highest-grossing hits featured a star.

That's nothing new: Since 1975, when Jaws inaugurated the blockbuster era with an animatronic fish in the title role, half of Hollywood's most popular movies have lacked a flesh-and-blood star (see "The Myth Of Stars").

While movie stars are synonymous with box office, it has long been the case that the biggest movies of all, whether E.T., Star Wars or Jurassic Park, don't necessarily need them. In recent years, Spider-Man and the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings films fit this pattern as well: plenty of action and special effects, but no stars.

More surprising was My Big Fat Greek Wedding, which has grossed $241 million to date without stars and without special effects. (For purposes of this story, we define a star as an actor who has already had top billing in at least one movie that grossed at least $60 million. Tobey Maguire, for instance, wasn't a star before he played Spider-Man, though he is one now.)

In Hollywood, of course, stars are needed not so much because they pull people in, but because they push movies out. Without a recognizable name, it is vastly more difficult to get a green light from a studio or financing based on the presales of international territories. Remaking Ocean's Eleven, a mediocre movie that did modest business, may sound like a lousy idea; but remaking it with George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts--as AOL Time Warner (nyse: AOL - news - people ) did--that's a no-brainer. When it winds up grossing $183 million in the U.S. alone, that's genius!

Indeed, inside Hollywood, stars are defined largely in terms of their bankability--that is, their ability to attract money to a project. The studios know that stars cannot guarantee box office success, but they can safeguard against the downside risk. A star is a form of insurance.

For that reason, most movies do have stars, and these big-name actors do seem to provide some form of protection. The protection is highly imperfect, however, and stars grace even the worst flops. Sometimes, to borrow a phrase from Sam Goldwyn, the people stay away in droves, star or no star.

Since the start of 2001, 252 movies (not counting animated features) have earned at least $10 million at the U.S. box office, according to data provided by Daniel Garis of Boxofficereport.com. One hundred and fifty six, or 62%, feature at least one star. But stars are less prominent at the top of the heap. Of the 36 top hits that grossed $125 million or more, just 16, or 44.4%, had stars.

In the middle of the pack, stars were more present, giving credence to the insurance theory. Twenty-nine films grossed between $75 million and $125 million, and 72.4% of these featured a star.

But a star--or even two--is no guarantee. A studio can hire Pierce Brosnan and Geoffrey Rush, and buy a book by John Le Carré, and still bomb, as Sony's Columbia Pictures did with The Tailor of Panama.

All told, 56.8% of the worst flops--films that grossed less than $20 million--had a star and failed nonetheless.

Webmeister note: Tailor or Panama box office figures

DIVINE INTERVENTION

By MURRAY WEISS, ADAM MILLER and ANDY GELLER

INSIDE JOB:
Deputy warden Mitchell Hockhauser, guard Timothy Pina and two others were foiled in their alleged heist of a Salvador Dali at Rikers after a colleague who prayed at the painting noticed it had been replaced by a fake.
- NYP: Bolivar Arellano

June 18, 2003 -- A prayer was the undoing of the Salvador Dali caper. A guard who regularly prayed in front of a painting Dali gave to Rikers Island in 1965 noticed a fake was hanging in its place, law-enforcement sources said yesterday.

That threw a monkey wrench into the thieves' plans to sell the work for $1 million before anyone realized it had been stolen, the sources said.

The dim-witted yeggs - two wardens and two guards - thought the ink and pencil sketch of Christ's crucifixion had been around so long, no one would notice the fake, the sources said.

They weren't aware that guards regularly stopped in front of the sketch - valued at $250,000 - to cross themselves or say a prayer.

At 8 a.m. on March 1 - about 71/2 hours after the 3-by-5-foot work was stolen - the caper-cracking guard showed up for the day shift and noticed that:

* The painting no longer had a frame. Instead, the edges of the replica had been painted in gold and brown to resemble a frame.

* The fake had been stapled repeatedly to the wooden display case. "There were plenty of staples, and they could be clearly seen," said one amazed source.

The guard sounded the alarm, and yesterday, two Rikers assistant deputy wardens - Benny Nuzzo, 49, and Mitchell Hockhauser, 40 - and two guards - Timothy Pina, 44, and Greg Sokol, 38 - were busted on second-degree grand-larceny charges.

They could go to jail for 15 years if convicted.

Although Sokol is cooperating with authorities, the painting, which hung in the lobby of the men's jail at Rikers, has not been recovered.

Department of Investigation Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn compared the theft to the hit Pierce Brosnan movie "The Thomas Crown Affair."

In the film, however, billionaire Thomas Crown actually succeeded in swiping a Monet from the Met - although he gave it back.

Assistant Bronx District Attorney Wanda Perez-Maldonado described Nuzzo, who was having financial woes, as "the brains" of the failed heist.

At 12:30 a.m. on March 1, she said, he and Hockhauser called a fire drill.

With the coast clear, Pina and Sokol removed the painting from the locked display case and Nuzzo took it to his car, the assistant DA said.

Pina then stapled the fake to the case, she said.

Nuzzo's lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, said his client was "adamant about his innocence" and willing to take a lie-detector test.

Nuzzo, of Brooklyn, has worked for the Department of Correction since 1979; Hockhauser, of Queens, since 1984; Pina, of Staten Island, since 1988, and Sokol, also of Staten Island, since 1989.

Romantic comedy Laws of Attraction is living up to its name, attracting a couple of A-list stars. Joining Pierce Brosnan and Julianne Moore are Parker Posey and lesser-known actor Michael Sheen (The Four Feathers).

The plot focuses on two divorce attorneys (Brosnan and Moore) who get married, only to discover that avoiding the problems of a relationship isn't any easier when you've had plenty of firsthand experience with the pitfalls. Sheen will play a famous musician divorcing his wife (Posey) who comes to Moore's character for legal assistance.

Peter Howitt will direct, and Aline Brosh McKenna and Robert Harling wrote the script.

Sheen rocking 'Attraction' for NL, Intermedia

May 28, 2003 Michael Sheen, last seen in the epic "The Four Feathers," has joined the cast of New Line Cinema and Intermedia Films' "The Laws of Attraction." Also starring Pierce Brosnan, Julianne Moore and Parker Posey, "Laws" is a romantic comedy about two New York divorce lawyers who fall in love. Sheen will portray a rock star who hires Moore's character to oversee his very public divorce from his wife (Posey). "Laws" is being directed by Peter Howitt and begins production next month in Dublin. David Friendly, Marc Turteltaub and Julie Derk of Deep River Prods. are producing along with Beau St. Clair of Pierce Brosnan's Irish Dreamtime. Moritz Borman and Basil Iwanyk are executive producing for Intermedia with Mark Gill, Bob Yari and Mark Gordon of Stratus Film Co. Sheen can next be seen starring opposite Kate Beckinsale in Sony/Screen Gems' dark actioner "Underworld," the Paramount adventure "Timeline" and director Stephen Fry's "Bright Young Things." Sheen appears as Caligula at the Donmar Warehouse Theatre in London and is simultaneously shooting the starring role of Tony Blair in Stephen Frears' "The Deal" for Granada Films. He is repped by ICM and Tammy Rosen of Personal Management Co. (Josh Spector)

Cage gets lifetime award at Chicago Film Festival

by Jeremy Kay in Los Angeles

Nicolas Cage is to receive the Career Achievement Award at the 39th Chicago International Film Festival's Summer Gala on Jul 19.

Cage won the best actor Oscar for Leaving Las Vegas in 1996 for which he also won the Golden Globe, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the New York Film Critics Circle and the Chicago Film Critics.

\More recently he received several nominations for his dual role as Charlie and Donald Kaufman in the 2002 comedy-drama Adaptation.

Previous recipients include last year's honouree Clint Eastwood, Pierce Brosnan, Sigourney Weaver, Lauren Bacall and Jodie Foster.

WEBRANT :HIGH ON HILLARY

by RUTH OGLES

As a 2002 GOP candidate for the state legislature, I am not supposed to admit this, but I donıt hate the Clintons. Never have, probably never will. I tend to reserve animosity strong enough to be called hatred for really nasty people. Armed robbers who take lives. Robber barons like Kenneth Lay and Bernie Ebbers who ruin lives.

But the Clintons? Nah, I just canıt get exercised over Billıs libido and Hillaryıs ambition. Just garden-variety excesses that have far more impact on the Clintons than on the body politic, despite Ken Starrıs claims to the contrary.

With the release of Hillaryıs book last week, I have had to hear the expected criticism from my conservative friends about her real motives in writing the book. Real motives? How about a $2.5 million advance against an $8 million book contract? I consider myself a private person, but if Simon & Schuster offered me that kind of dough to reveal my deepest secrets, Iıd be faxing my psychiatristıs report by the end of the day.

Except for diehard Clinton fans, I suspect the only real interest most of us have in reading Hillaryıs tome is to find out how much she made Bill pay for the Monica thing. And who can blame her? If my spouse were caught fooling around and his transgressions splashed across the front pages of the domestic press, Iıd want his paramour to look more like Catherine Zeta-Jones and less like the very ordinary Ms. Lewinsky. Finding out your mate is frolicking in the favors of another would be hard enough to take, but at least one could understand falling for the physical charms of the extraordinary Zeta-Jones. Given a similar situation with Pierce Brosnan as the object of my temptation, Iım not sure I could have resisted, either.

But Monica? Think about it: Mick Jagger cavorts with supermodels, but the Leader of the Free World, more handsome and intelligent and by all accounts more charming than Jagger, squanders his political legacy with a young woman that can charitably be called "attractive." Donıt get it, probably never will.

But to the point of Senator Clintonıs book and the juicy parts--is Hillaryıs account of being awakened by her husband trotting out his tearful truths believable? Could she really not have known? Is their marriage merely an arrangement between two politically ambitious people who need each other?

Clinton-haters of course, suggest that every word of her autobiography is carefully chosen to defend herself and her husband, and to redeem their marriage in the eyes of the public with an eye to future elective office. And that the Clintons have no marriage in any but the politically expedient sense. Perhaps so. But I was struck by something as I saw Hillary interviewed with the footage rolling of the Clintons walking to the helicopter in August, 1998.

A wife who has made a bargain with her devil of a spouse does not behave as a wounded woman. Her feelings do not compel her to put their child between them so as not to have to touch him. Think Sigourney Weaver and Kevin Kline in Dave, when she enters the White House beaming and holding her husbandıs hand for the benefit of the press, then immediately drops it once out of camera range. Now thatıs an arrangement.

Would the public have been happier if Hillary had behaved as peevishly as Princess Diana when she discovered that her Prince was charming Camilla? Would Americans have preferred watching a betrayed wife weep on camera while discussing her periods of bulimic self-loathing? When I think of "arrangements" I can think of no connubial contract that meets the criteria better than the one between Lady Diana Spencer and Prince Charles. It was politics, not love that made her selection as Cinderella possible. Without her bloodline, fecundity and lack of a past, Lady Diana would have been just another minor royal on the roster of Burkeıs Peerage.

But we excused Dianaıs behavior and the self-pitying interviews that ensued because she was prettier and more feminine and less intelligent than Hillary. And that, ultimately is Hillaryıs real crime. That she chose catering to her career over catering dinner parties. That she preferred perusing policy papers over paging through Vogue. That she would rather sit at a Cabinettable than stand at the kitchen cabinet.

And yet when she stands by her man, she is accused of being calculating.

Virginia Slims had a slogan in the seventies: "Youıve Come a Long Way, Baby." But progress apparently accrues to some women but not to others. Martha Stewart, for example, personifies ambition but couldnıt hold a marriage together yet she is lionized because she can whip up a batch of pastry cream. Hillary, on the other hand, no more or less ambitious than the doyenne of domesticity, decided for better or worse to honor her vows but is villified because she is more familiar with a balance sheet than a cookie sheet. Enjoy the eight million, Hillary and to hell with your critics‹let Œem eat torte.

WASHINGTON, June 19 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Some of Hollywood's brightest stars will join major international figures such as former South African President Nelson Mandela, boxing legend Muhammad Ali and royalty from seven countries on 21 June at Dublin's famous Croke Park to ring in the start of the 2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games. The World Games will be the largest international sporting event this year. Additional celebrities from the worlds of entertainment and sport who will be attending include: supermodel Naomi Campbell, members of the band Westlife, recording producer Quincy Jones, actor Dylan McDermott, Rev. Joseph Simmons ("Reverend Run" of the rap group, Run-DMC), former Irish football star Packie Bonner, professional golfer Seve Ballesteros, Olympic Gold Medal-winning Irish boxer Michael Carruth, and Olympic Gold Medal winning-gymnast Nadia Comaneci.

In addition to these celebrity heavyweights, the Opening Ceremonies will include the largest Riverdance Troupe ever assembled, a choir of 500 and more. Joining them will be 7,000 athletes from 150 countries, as well as tens of thousands of families, volunteers and supporters from all over the world. Total attendance at this spectacular event is expected to be more than 65,000. The climax of the Ceremony will be the arrival of the Special Olympics Flame of Hope following its 17-day journey through 15 European countries and every corner of Ireland by 150 Law Enforcement Officers from around the world. The Torch will be handed to Special Olympics athletes who will light the cauldron to herald the start of the 2003 World Games.

About Special Olympics:

Special Olympics Inc. is an international organization dedicated to empowering children and adults with intellectual disabilities to become physically fit, productive and respected members of society through sports training and competition. Founded in 1968 by Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Special Olympics offers individuals with intellectual disabilities free year-round training and competition in 26 Olympic-type summer and winter sports. More than 1 million athletes in 150 countries around the world currently participate in Special Olympics (there is no charge to participate in Special Olympics). The movement has launched a quality growth campaign to reach 2 million athletes worldwide by 2005. For more information, contact Richard Porter, Special Olympics, 202-628-3630, or Arlene Whittick, Special Olympics, (plus) 353 87-677-0424.

Contact: Richard Porter, 202-628-3630
Arlene Whittick, (plus) 353-87-677-0424
Both of Special Olympics

Screen cars that caught the imagination and the baddies find a new life after stardom

Jun 21 2003

by Catrin Pascoe, The Western Mail

Sex symbols Sean Connery and Pierce Brosnan have both driven the silver Aston Martin DB5.

Seven Reliant Robins were used for the Only Fools and Horses series.

Inspector Morse's Mark II Jaguar fetched £53,000 at auction last year.

Six cars were used during the filming of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang but the original is owned by Pierre Picton, who maintained the car during filming in 1967 and 1968.

Sixteen red, white and blue Minis were made and wrecked during the filming of 1969's The Italian Job.

KITT stands for Knight Industries Two Thousand.

Herbie has doors that open automatically and gears and pedals in the rear. The Batmobile weighs three tonnes.

Boots of Ford Anglias have been customised into sofas, with working lights, costing £2,000-plus each.

Constituents jeer Pelosi over acquiescence on Iraq

By Valerie Richardson
Watch for an angry protest over what some San Franciscans describe as Mrs. Pelosi's cave-in over the war with Iraq. Once an outspoken opponent of the war, the California Democrat muted her views after the conflict began, saying she had no intention "of second-guessing the strategy of the commander in chief and those who are waging the war."

Her fellow Democrats say she's merely bowing to the demands of leadership by supporting the troops instead of stirring up trouble at home. But her efforts to put a moderate face on the national Democratic Party are rapidly alienating voters in her liberal San Francisco district, which is the most vehemently antiwar in the nation.

"She's doing the absolute wrong thing," said Medea Benjamin, co-founder of Code Pink, a women's antiwar group based in San Francisco. "She's in that office because she was elected by us and she's supposed to represent us. I say, if we wanted to elect hawks, we'd vote for Republicans."

The last straw for some came when Mrs. Pelosi threw her support behind a March congressional resolution, sponsored by House Republicans, praising not only the troops in the field, but also the commander in chief.

"Not only did she not do her job to represent us, but she helped write the resolution supporting President Bush," Miss Benjamin said. "Hello? This is not what the people in her district believe. If the war was a bad idea before it started, it's a worse idea after."

Antiwar activists responded last week by holding a protest outside her Capitol Hill office, and plan another demonstration when actor Pierce Brosnan presents Mrs. Pelosi with the Cranston award today at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco.

The Global Security Institute, the San Francisco-based anti-nuclear-weapons group that gives the annual award for contributions to peace, declined to return several phone calls.

Mrs. Pelosi has asked her constituents to understand that "I have a different role, and that is right now to make sure that our troops have what they need, to end this conflict as quickly as possible, and come home to their families safely and soon." But she also stressed that she's no hawk. "I say to my constituents: You can expect me to be against the use of force unless it is the last resort, absolute last resort," she told reporters at a Capitol Hill briefing.

"That is how the military regards it, so I am no different from the military in that respect," Mrs. Pelosi said. "But you can't expect me not to support our men and women in uniform."

At her weekly Capitol Hill briefing Thursday, Mrs. Pelosi said it was still right to oppose the resolution passed in October granting the president the authority to use force against Iraq.

"I have absolutely no regret about my vote on this war," she told reporters, saying the same questions still remain: "The cost in human lives. The cost to our budget, probably $100 billion. We could have probably brought down that statue [of ousted Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein] for a lot less. The cost to our economy. But the most important question at this time, now that we're toward the end of it, is what is the cost to the war on terrorism."

Her fellow Bay Area Democrats have rushed to Mrs. Pelosi's defense, arguing that her role as Democratic leader means she has to take into account the interests of all Democrats, not just those in her district.

They include antiwar liberal Democrats such as California Reps. George Miller, Ellen O. Tauscher, Sam Farr and Zoe Lofgren. "They understand that when you're the leader, you have a different role," Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly said.

Jane Morrison, chairwoman of the San Francisco Democratic Party, said the local party also continues to support Mrs. Pelosi. "We support Nancy wholeheartedly," Miss Morrison said. "I'm sure she's doing her best. We've not been critical of her."

Even so, her decision to tone down her criticism of the war has some voters asking where Mrs. Pelosi's loyalties lie. "Last time I checked, Pelosi was elected to Congress by the people in San Francisco and Marin [County], not by the Democratic Party," said Cynthia Rubin of San Francisco in a letter to the San Francisco Chronicle. Whether Mrs. Pelosi's stance comes back to haunt her in the next election remains the subject of debate. "She has a strong power base ‹ she's a tremendous fund-raiser, which is one reason she's where she is," Miss Benjamin said.

"But I think this is going to hurt her. It's already made her unpopular with a very vocal segment of her constituency," Miss Benjamin said. "She's in a leadership position to do the right thing. It's precisely because she's a leader that she should stand up."

Stars over Dublin

By Kitty Bean Yancey, USA TODAY

There, in front of the fireplace in the VIP room at ruby-walled Lillies Bordello, Julia Roberts cuddled with future husband Danny Moder. Over by the piano, in the warm glow of red-tasseled lamps, Rolling Stone Ron Wood occasionally treats night owls to a jam session.

No cameras or gawkers are allowed in the library-like sanctum on the top floor of one of Dublin's hottest nightclubs. Jean, the room's cheery but no-nonsense hostess, sees to that.

In Dublin, stars can party away from prying eyes. That's one reason so many are eager to come here. Add to that the easygoing hospitality and twinkling-eyed charm locals are known for, the music and merriment spilling onto the streets in the vibrant club scene, the tax breaks Ireland gives native and foreign residents who're actors, musicians or artists, and it's easy to understand why the city glitters with glitterati.

Roberts, for example, bolted to Dublin when she called off her 1991 wedding to Kiefer Sutherland. And she keeps returning.

Mel Gibson is among the global icons spotted in Ireland. So, too, is privacy-loving Robert De Niro, who flew in this month to visit with Bono, the U2 lead singer who lives in a star-studded Dublin suburb dubbed "Bel Eire" and co-owns one of the city's hippest hotels, The Clarence. Similarly low-key Daniel Day-Lewis cruises around town on a motorbike, undisturbed.

"It's the biggest secret how many celebrities we get," says Ray Senior, founder of the 3-year-old Web site ShowbizIreland.com, which tracks the comings and goings of headliners. "When people are jaded, they come over here to chill out and be with normal people. We have some of the biggest celebrities on the planet on a weekly basis. It's a happening place to be."

Musicians who play here and actors who film here often buy Irish property (Day-Lewis and Ron Wood, to name two). Or they return to let their hair down in Dublin's boisterous pubs and clubs.

Take the young stars of the recent movie Jackass. They came to the city for a premiere and stayed on to pub-crawl.

Celebs, who jet in and out with the frequency of Irish rain showers, adore the fun-loving locals and dearth of stalker paparazzi. This is a city whose most globally famous resident ‹ Bono ‹ can walk the streets unmolested.

"Everybody lets (stars) live their lives," says local cabdriver John Doran, who ‹ like many here ‹ isn't particularly impressed by celebrity. "We all pull the (toilet) chain the same way."

The famous also flock to the Emerald Isle for the diamond life found in New York, London and L.A.: stylish hotels, bars that pour killer Cosmopolitans as well as foamy pints of Guinness, boutiques with all the Prada and Gucci a platinum credit card commands and restaurants that dish up far more sophisticated cuisine than the meat-potatoes-cabbage that Ireland is famed for.

"People have this vision of Ireland," says Senior. "They think of cottages and sheep and (expletive). That is completely outdated."

And while some Irish folk happily admit to stretching the truth (it makes life more interesting, they explain), that's no blarney.

Dublin's Georgian townhouses, cobblestone streets in the trendy Temple Bar club and restaurant area and pubs with scarred wooden bars may look much as they did years ago, but the city pulsates with post-millennial energy.

Senior, a shaggy-haired 28-year-old in a fitted beige leather jacket who describes himself as "Jon Bon Jovi on a bad day," is making his pronouncements in the candle-lit lobby bar of the 4-year-old Morrison Hotel, where a pack of People Who Wear Black is posing picturesquely on lush leather chairs and hassocks in shades of brown, cream and ebony. The soothing, Zen-like rooms and suites upstairs are favored by fashion-following stars, including Victoria Beckham, aka Posh Spice, and soccer-hunk husband David Beckham.

A table away, a twentysomething blonde toting a $600 Louis Vuitton handbag is yelping into her cell phone: "TEXT ME! I can't hear you &ellipsis; it's mad in here!"

It's crazy everywhere ‹ and it's only Monday night. By 10 p.m., the streets of this compact and walkable city are alive with celebrators, some of whom break into impromptu song.

At Cocoon, a bar with white leather sofas and minimalist décor, the vibe is mellow, but later on, models may dance on tabletops, as they have been known to do.

Nearby, the upscale club Renard's, favored by rambunctious Dublin homeboy Colin Farrell, is quiet. Like many of its ilk, it won't get going until 12:30 a.m. Bar closing time is officially 3, but it often takes an hour or so to get happy patrons back on the street.

Those who like more low-key leisure line up for a greasy packet of just-made fish and chips at Leo Burdock's storefront carryout near Dublin Castle (Tom Cruise and Sandra Bullock have done that). Or they slip into La Cave, an intimate basement wine bar and French restaurant where the likes of Day-Lewis and Gibson have hidden away.

Pub lovers belly up to the scarred bar at 200-year-old Kehoe's, where famous Irish writers once tippled and modern-day luminaries, including The Crying Game's Steven Rea, stop in for a hot whiskey, hold the sugar.

As in most of Dublin, it's hard to feel like a stranger here.

"How's yourself?" the bartender asks a first-time patron. And a lively conversation is off and running.

Under a wall display of vintage home-brew casks, two young barmen from other nightspots are downing a couple of pints of ale before going back to work, albeit a little unsteadily. They explain why the Irish are so ebullient. "No point in putting on an unhappy face, is there?"

Irish folk "want to see people have a good time and be comfortable," echoes Senior.

Roberts felt so comfortable with the Irish driver assigned to her that she reportedly visited his family's modest home and years later invited the man to her wedding to Moder.

The gent who drove Matthew McConaughey around brought him home for a late-night sandwich whipped up by his daughter, who was so flustered she forgot to add the lettuce and tomatoes (and her mother has never let her hear the end of it).

At The Clarence, the classy riverside boutique hotel co-owned by Bono, even no-names are treated like somebodies. On a recent night, when the sound of a homeless man screaming for Bono on the street below made repose impossible, the night manager patiently showed an American visitor in search of silence three other rooms, showing genuine concern about lost sleep.

Such egalitarian hospitality is like a hot toddy to tourists and VIPs alike. As is the haunting, indefinable poetry that infuses every corner of Ireland.

How else to explain why so many people who could brighten any corner of the earth keep coming back?

Bono lives in the sleepy seaside village of Killiney, a half-hour train ride from Dublin's center. Other residents of the Killiney/Dalkey area of gated hillside homes known as Bel Eire include music stars Enya, Van Morrison and Lisa Stansfield, director Neil Jordan and Formula One race-car driver Eddie Irvine.

Other Irish towns and counties lure celebrities, too. Oscar-winning actor Jeremy Irons, who was born in Britain and is one-eighth Irish, muses on why he chooses to make his home in County Cork.

"What draws us to any particular place? It is a mystery," he says. "Perhaps the light, the smells, or looking into the eyes of the people who live there, the sound of their music, the weather suddenly changing from one mood to another, or maybe a combination of these things with many others &ellipsis;

"All I can say is when I reached West Cork, I knew I was home. It lies in my heart even when I'm away from it. And it waits for me to return like a faithful lover."

A Tale of Two Nancys
House minority leader Nancy Pelosi can't decide whether she's Dick Gephardt or Howard Dean.

by Katherine Mangu-Ward, reporter

04/07/2003 7:00:00 AM
"THERE ARE OTHER WAYS to go about [this war] than to have thousands of people killed on both sides." So proclaimed House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi last Tuesday on CNBC's "Capital Report."

In the same segment of the show, however, she said, "I would not second guess the military on a war plan and its effectiveness." She added, "Once the president makes the call I think we just have to wait and see and give the plan time to work itself out."

Nancy Pelosi seems to be suffering from episodic attacks of foot-in-mouth disease, followed by period of total propriety. Pelosi lurches unaccountably back and forth between comments appropriate to the leadership of the national Democratic party, and what she might be expected to say among friends at home in her ultra-liberal San Francisco district.

The day the war started, Pelosi was quoted in the Washington Times defending Tom Daschle's very public opposition to the war. She called his antiwar venom "patriotic" and compared him unfavorably to Republican leaders who were "being partisan."

Just days later, however, she was the model of wartime political propriety: "I'm not going to make any judgments about the conduct of the war except to pray for the families with loved ones who are serving in the Persian Gulf and especially for those who have lost a loved one."

The following day, as news was breaking that Saddam International Airport had been secured by coalition forces and renamed Baghdad International Airport, Pelosi was at it again, holding a special press event to issue a statement accusing Bush and House Republicans of trying to "shortchange our men and women on the front lines protecting the homeland . . . in this time of war, with our nation on high alert" and calling them "downright reckless." No doubt she considers such statements "patriotic."

The same day, AP referred to Pelosi as "a prewar opponent of Bush's policies," citing her comment that House Democrats "will certainly be voting to support the supplemental that the president has requested to support our troops in this very, very dangerous and difficult time." Comments such as the above suggest that her change of heart may not be as complete as AP imagines.

A press release issued Thursday announced that Pelosi will receive the 2003 Alan Cranston Peace Award next Saturday "for her critical role in promoting nuclear disarmament, international peace, human rights, environmental sustainability and gender equity." It will presented to her by Pierce Brosnan, a Stardummy in the making. "Nancy Pelosi," says Brosnan, "has consistently promoted values the world needs now more than ever--environmental responsibility and human security based on respect and cooperation amongst nations. I am proud to be able to honor her work." Apparently James Bond is a pacifist, a feminist, and an environmentalist these days.

Keep an eye on this dynamic duo for some classic one-liners, and on Pelosi for more Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde antics as she opines on the rest of the war, "peace prize" in hand.

Katherine Mangu-Ward is a reporter at The Weekly Standard.

Cork actor tries out for Bond role

Irish actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers has been screen tested by the producers of the James Bond films in their search for a replacement for Pierce Brosnan.

The Cork actor, who has been seen 2002's 'Bend it Like Beckham' and in 'Velvet Goldmine' with Ewan McGregor in 1998, met with 007 representatives in London last week according to reports.

Other actors believed to be in the running for the role include Clive Owen ('The Bourne Identity', 'Croupier'), Gerard Butler ('Reign of Fire') and Nick Moran ('Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrells').

50-year-old Navan-man Pierce Brosnan is contracted to play the role for one more film.

Bollywood battles for the next Bond girl

SUNDAY, APRIL 13, 2003 12:44:58 PM
LONDON:Though former Miss World Aishwarya Rai is the front runner to be chosen as the first Indian Bond girl, three other beauties vying for the honour include former Miss world Priyanka Chopra, former Miss Universe Lara Dutta and young star Preity Zinta.

Twenty nine-year old Rai, daughter of a chief marine engineer in India's merchant navy, may well become the first Indian actress to star as a Bond girl.

Recognising the Bollywood boom all over the world, Bond producer Barbara Broccoli, a shrewd exploiter of vogues and trends, has reportedly decided to cast the most famous Bollywood star in her next film that will ensure a massive cinema audience not just throughout Asia, but across all cultural divides, The Observer reported.

Rai's agent, Hari Singh, said last night "Everything has to be kept confidential at the moment, but of course it's exciting for her. Agents have been flying out to see her about Bond. They wanted to find out if she is available and willing. She is".

The Mail on Sunday described Aishwarya Rai as a combination of Nicole Kidman, Cameron Diaz and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Even Hollywood screen goddesses who have seen Rai, who recently starred in the most expensive Indian movie Devdas, testify to her beauty. Julia Roberts declared, "She is the most beautiful woman in the world".

Casting agents working on the new film for the Pinewood-based Bond film company, Eon Productions, have been travelling around India to meet and watch rival talents at work.

Casting directors will be looking at the work of other leading Bollywood stars, including Priyanka Chopra, who recently starred in the film Andaaz with yet another contender and model-turned actress Lara Dutta, making the competition intense.

The young star of the film The Hero, Preity Zinta, is also thought to have caught the eye of the western producers.

Other contenders for the role of Bond girl 21 include the British singer Sophie Ellis Bextor who was hotly tipped for a part last time around.

Aishwarya's visit to Britain for discussions has been delayed due a freak accident on the set of her latest film Rajkumar Santoshi's Khaki.

Bond 21 is due to start filming this summer, in prompt succession to Bond 20 Die Another Day, which was released last November and earned more than 400 million pounds at the international box office. The film has beaten 'The World Is Not Enough' by more than 40 million pounds.

Keen to capitalise on the moment, Eon Productions have secured the services of their 49-year old Irish leading man Pierce Brosnan from August and booked the sound stages at Pinewood Studios from the end of the year.

Being a dad is suddenly so cool

By Beverley Jones

Apr 8 2003
HE might be the incarnation of the world's most famous and glamorous spy but father-of-five Pierce Brosnan is also a trendy dad - and he's happy to show off about it.

Cutting a stylish figure on the front of a new magazine specifically for fathers, called Dad, Brosnan is just one of a plethora of celebrities who are suddenly happy to talk about their sleepless nights and experiences with dirty nappies.

Yes, being a dad is suddenly cool.

And if Brosnan's Bond has his hi-tech gadgets to get him out of mischief then Trendy New Dad also has his state-of-the-art boys' toys for the nursery.

Man and Boy author Tony Parsons reflects on the influence of his own father. He finds it particularly disturbing that he is telling his own son the same things his father told him - usually messages concerning drink and drugs. Parsons' thoughts on parenthood made their way from print to small screen when Ioan Gruffudd starred in the mini drama.v Jack O'Sullivan, Dad editor and founder of the website Fathers Direct, said media images of high-profile dads like Brosnan and David Beckham are becoming more and more influential.

"Figures like this play such a positive role," he said.

"They give dads real options and they give status to fatherhood. They are saying it's good to be an involved dad.

"They have certainly made it cool and that's great news.

"And if there is a young father whose mates are still going out every evening, it can make it easier if they can relate to a fashionable icon who has been there too."

Dr Lance Workman, psycho-logist at University of Glam-organ, said it is natural for today's young dads to aspire to the attractive "package" of career and fatherhood promoted by trendy celebrity fathers.

"The idea of dad with pipe and slippers is long gone," he said. "These are glamorous men who say it is trendy to be a dad, though that might present a slightly unattainable image for ordinary men."

But while parents of the1970s and '80s might remember battling with a baby buggy as the wheels wobbled, and precious toys were strewn behind on the pavement Dad features the latest must have strollers. The space age three-wheeled Jane Powertrack all-terrain buggy is at the top of the pricey but oh so chic list at £429.

Close behind at £399 is the Mountain Buggy Urban 3 Wheeler with front swivel wheel for top of the range steering.

Or for a casual stroll how about the ultimate Bill Amberg baby sling in brown or black leather with sheepskin and fur trim so you can carry baby for £285.

Then for home safety there's the TV Camera Alarm £155 for the baby's cot by Vision technology as seen on TV's Footballers' Wives.

"We have discovered that men do buy most of the baby gadgets and technical stuff to do with childcare," said Mr O'Sullivan.

"And why shouldn't there be a fun aspect to it?

"We deliberately had the shots of the buggies done in the style of car adverts that tend to attract men.

"Of course it's just a bit of fun. When you look at the prices you realise there's no way most people will buy it but there's no harm in having an ogle."

And Dad is certainly not just a glossy look at the more glamorous, consumer friendly aspects of fatherhood but to giving them the lowdown on what to expect before, during and after the birth of their children.

"What we found is that men don't talk to their own fathers about being a dad and they don't talk much to their friends so if they only talk to their partners how do they know about different ways of being a father?" said Dr Workman.

On Sunday new legislation came into force to encourage family-friendly workplaces and more time off entitlement for parents - with dads entitled to two weeks paid leave.

Mr O'Sullivan, who founded Fathers Direct after realising there was a woeful lack of information for would-be fathers, hopes Dad will help them to be aware of their rights and to exercise them.

He said, "This is a start. The paternity leave is the first time that the caring side of fatherhood has been recognised and that inevitably has an effect on work culture."

Jockstrip: The world as we know it By Ellen Beck

THINGS WE DON'T UNDERSTAND

It's difficult to imagine super spy James Bond singing lullabies to his unborn baby, but a new magazine -- paid for by the British government -- has 007 actor Pierce Brosnan giving such advice on being a dad.

The London Telegraph says ministers in Parliament are being criticized for spending $78,000 on the magazine "Dad," which also carries such headlines as "What will happen to your sex life before and after the birth?"

Brosnan tells "Dad," which will be given out new fathers free of charge, "You have to nurture that life in the womb. They're gifts from God. You should sing to it, talk to it. I am in awe of my children's lives."

About 20,000 copies have been published. Critics say it was yet another example of Britain as the "nanny state." 

All the low-down on babes for lads who become dads

By Alexandra Frean, Social Affairs Correspondent

A MAN should not be panicked by the sight of his heavily pregnant partner up a ladder painting the ceiling because this is a typical female response to the burst of energy that comes before childbirth, according to an innovative government-funded magazine aimed at new fathers.

The glossy magazine, Dad, which will be given free to all new fathers from this week, suggests that men should persuade their partners to hand over the paintbrush and allow them to take over strenuous chores. It also advises men that, just after their childıs birth, they should expect to put in ten hours of cuddling and helping to get ten minutes of sex. It urges unmarried fathers to apply for parental responsibility for their children, and includes a number of tips for getting newborn babies to sleep, such as draping a towel over a shoulder for the baby to nestle against.

The magazine, which aims to counter the ³only mums matter² culture and to encourage more men to feel confident about taking paternity leave, contains an interview with the James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan, who is a father of five, and an article on why David Beckham considers fatherhood to be more important than football.

It also aims to make men better informed of their rights and responsibilities as fathers and to fill the vacuum in their knowledge of child-rearing. It road-tests five baby buggies and provides a guide to the 30 coolest gadgets and gizmos for fathers to buy. These include a CD with lullaby versions of punk rock classics and a multimedia messaging mobile phone that can be used to send photos of newborn babies around the world.

Published by Peter Howarth, a former editor of the menıs magazines Esquire and Arena, Dad is full of advertisements for designer labels and also contains a humorous quiz entitled Are You Ready to be a Father? Its launch coincides this week with new legislation giving working fathers two weeksı paternity leave, paid at £100 a week, plus extended maternity leave for mothers and a new right for flexible working for parents of children aged up to six.

The magazine is edited by Jack OıSullivan of Fathers Direct, a national information centre on fatherhood. He said that the publication of Dad reflected a social revolution in Britain, where fathers now did one third of parental childcare.

³Dads want to be fully informed so that they can care confidently for their children and for their partners. Dad is a bold attempt to tackle the real lives of real men in a world where fathers play a crucial role in babiesı lives,² he said.

Mr OıSullivan added that the magazine would also run an e-mail service for new fathers. ³If a father gives us his childıs date of birth, we will e-mail him at key stages in his childıs development telling him what to expect,² he said.

Mr Howarth said there was a huge gap in the market for a magazine like Dad. ³There are 22 million men of fathering age in the UK, but to read menıs magazines you would think that none is thinking about having children.²

The magazine will be distributed free to fathers, or their partners, at the ante-natal scan three months into the pregnancy when typically they see an image of their baby on a screen. Nine out of ten fathers attend this appointment with their partners.

Experts in child health welcomed the magazine. Miriam Stoppard, a writer on pregnancy and parenting, said: ³Kids need dads. The involvement of fathers in childcare has a huge impact on the well-being of children and should start right at the beginning. Currently there is no easily accessible information catering for new fathers and they must have it. A guide for fathers is a very important new development.²

Anna Daley, of the Community Practitionersı and Health Visitorsı Association, said she hoped that the magazine would help health professionals as well as new fathers. ³It should raise awareness among professionals about the contribution that dads can make to improving the quality of life for mums and children,² she said.

The Department of Trade and Industry met half of the magazineıs £100,000 development costs. The rest came from advertisers, including Marks and Spencer. The publishers hope that subsequent editions will be self- financing.

Testing time
Some questions from the Are You Ready to be a Father? quiz:

1. To get ready for fatherhood, you
a) get some beers in
b) read books on baby care
c) immerse yourself in work
d) talk to other fathers about it

2. At the birth, you hope to be able to
a) be there and cut the cord
b) slip out unnoticed
c) stay conscious
d) be there for your partner

3 . What do you consider your most important role after the birth will be?
a) Looking after your partner
b) Learning how to care for baby
c) Making sure the bills are paid
d) Lighting the cigars

4. Youıre shopping with your pregnant partner. Target number 1 is
a) one of those three-wheeler buggies
b) a Cuban cigar
c) a safe car seat
d) nappies, clothes and bedding

'Hybrid' cars were Oscars' politically correct ride

By Kelly Carter, USA TODAY

3/30/2003
LOS ANGELES ‹ Sure, lots of black stretch limos pulled up to the Academy Awards last week. But the real hot wheels at the Oscars were fuel-efficient hybrid and electric vehicles.

Harrison Ford, Calista Flockhart were among the celebrities who arrived at the Oscars ceremony in a Toyota Prius.

Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson drove themselves in their electric Toyota RAV4.

Arriving in complimentary chauffeur-driven Toyota Priuses ‹ a hybrid that runs on a combination of gas and battery-powered electricity ‹ were Cameron Diaz, Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins, and Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart.

Maggie Gyllenhaal took a Prius to Vanity Fair's post-Oscar bash. The previous day she and Juliette Lewis were driven to the Independent Spirit Awards in one.

Toyota teamed with Global Green USA to offer celebs a Prius to Oscar-related events.

Tooling around in a Toyota or Honda may not seem very glamorous. But the hybrid and electric cars are environmentally correct, which scores points with stars.

Last month, Mick Jagger, Christina Aguilera, Christine Lahti, Lisa Kudrow, Mira Sorvino, Johnny Depp and Luke Wilson arrived at a free Rolling Stones concert in L.A. in Honda Civic hybrids, courtesy of Honda. Toyota provided chauffeur-driven Priuses to Diaz, Leonardo DiCaprio and Pierce Brosnan.

Robbins loved his loaner Prius so much he's considering buying one. His concern? Finding room for his brood in the $21,000 car, which seats four.

"I was driving it (last) weekend, and I'm sold," the actor said. "The kids will just have to be a little uncomfortable."

Diaz, who owns a Prius, says she drives hers every day. She's not the only star owner. DiCaprio owns two and Larry David three. Don Cheadle, Meryl Streep, David Duchovny, David Hyde Pierce, Patricia Arquette, Jackson Browne, Ted Danson, Jeff Goldblum, Donna Mills and Rob Reiner all have one. James Taylor, Richard Dreyfuss and Bonnie Raitt have the $20,000 Honda hybrid. Like Hanks, Ed Begley Jr. and Tony Shalhoub own the electric RAV4.

"I can get up to 75 miles per hour in mine," Hanks boasts.

THE GOOD, BAD AND UGLY

TV presenter Graham Norton has been named the UK's worst-dressed man by a poll of writers and celebrities.

The Irish comedian, noted for his outlandish outfits, was branded 'a clothing catastrophe' by GQ magazine.

He finished just ahead of Tony Blair, who The Mirror editor Piers Morgan branded "no Paul Smith, no matter how hard he tries".

Interestingly, Mr Blair is also at number 21 in the best-dressed list.

Last year's worst-dressed winner, Jonathan Ross, is at number three, Pop Idol judge Simon Cowell is at seven, while London Mayor Ken Livingstone is Britain's 10th worst-dressed man, according to the survey.

Best-dressed Becks

Football star David Beckham has again been voted 'most stylish', a position he held last year.

Actor Jude Law retains his number two post.

Music legend David Bowie is also an important style guru it seems, up 30 places to third.

Top 10 worst dressed

1. Graham Norton, 2.Tony Blair, 3. Jonathan Ross, 4. Lawrence Llewelyn-Bowen, 5. Chris Evans, 6. Jeremy Clarkson, 7. Simon Cowell, 8. Jamie Oliver, 9. Guy Ritchie, 10. Ken Livingstone.

Top 10 best dressed

1. David Beckham, 2. Jude Law, 3. David Bowie, 4. Pierce Brosnan, 5. Tom Ford, 6. Robbie Williams, 7. David Furnish, 8. AA Gill, 9. Bryan Ferry, 10. Ioan Gruffudd.

Pierce Brosnan Joins Theavin' 'After The Sunset'

Wed March 26, 2003
James Bonds' Pierce Brosnan is to star as a thief in New Line Cinema's After the Sunset, according to Hollywood Reporter.

The project, which was penned by Paul Zbyszewski, begins where most heist movies end, with a master thief (Brosnan) sailing off to an island paradise after his last big score. However, when his lifelong nemesis, an FBI agent, shows up to make sure the thief is really retired, a new cat-and-mouse game of friendship, suspicion and thievery begins.

Brosnan also has previously appeared in such films as 'Evelyn', 'The Tailor of Panama' and 'The Thomas Crown Affair'. He is also attached to star in the upcoming indie feature Laws of Attraction.

NL catches Brosnan for 'Sunset' sail

March 26, 2003
Pierce Brosnan, used to catching criminals in his role as James Bond, will try his luck as a thief in New Line Cinema's "After the Sunset." Brosnan is attached to star in the film, which was penned by Paul Zbyszewski and is being produced by Firm Films.

"Sunset" begins where most heist movies end, with a master thief (Brosnan) sailing off to an island paradise after his last big score. However, when his lifelong nemesis, an FBI agent, shows up to make sure the thief is really retired, a new cat-and-mouse game of friendship, suspicion and thievery begins. Firm Films' Beau Flynn is producing "Sunset," and Tripp Vinson is executive producing. Chris Pollack is associate producing.

New Line execs Kent Alterman and Keith Goldberg are overseeing for the studio. Best known for his portrayal of Bond in the past four installments of the secret agent franchise, Brosnan also has appeared in such films as "Evelyn," "The Tailor of Panama" and "The Thomas Crown Affair." He is attached to star in the upcoming indie feature "Laws of Attraction." Brosnan is repped by CAA. (Josh Spector) "

WE HAND IN YOUR PETITION
Mirror's message is clear to Blair with anti-war petition

By Rosa Prince, Wayne Francis And Kanchan Dutt

Mar 19 2003
THE Daily Mirror added to Tony Blair's headaches yesterday by handing in your No To War petition at his front door.

As the Prime Minister continued to defy world opinion by following President Bush into conflict, we made our readers' views clear.

An extraordinary 229,000 of you signed our petition against war without UN backing. And you were joined by international movie stars, sporting heroes, celebrities and senior politicians.

Joining Mirror readers the length and breadth of the country were legendary film director Martin Scorsese, acting superstar Dustin Hoffman and former US president Jimmy Carter.

Dad's Army legend Clive Dunn, 83, signed the petition from his home in Portugal, where he spends most of the year with wife Priscilla.

Clive served in a tank regiment in Greece during the Second World War. He was taken prisoner by the Nazis in 1941 and held as a POW in Austria for five years. He said: "I know what it is like to be bombed - I'm not sure Bush or Blair do.

"This is not how I imagined a Labour government would react.

"Blair is playing into the hands of the arms manufacturers who are all making loads of money."

Other stars joining our campaign included George Michael, Pierce Brosnan, Jade Jagger, Elton John, Heather Mills and Ewan McGregor.

Warring couple Zoe Ball and Norman Cook even put their differences aside to sign up, along with Arsenal star Ashley Cole, Denise Van Outen, Jimmy Hill and singer Jay Kay.

But more important than all the celebrities were the masses of Daily Mirror readers. Your petitions filled a massive 80 postal sacks.

And yet more of you texted and emailed our Canary Wharf HQ so we could give Tony Blair your views. So, yesterday morning, our reporters Rosa Prince, Wayne Francis and Kanchan Dutt - along with photographer John Ferguson - took the 80 sacks to Mr Blair's front door .

And to make sure he was fully aware of the opposition to this war, we brought along a list of each and every person who had signed.

It was so long it filled two large boxes. And we topped each box with a letter. It read: "For the attention of Prime Minister Tony Blair. You will find enclosed a list of more than 229,000 people who have signed the Daily Mirror's No To War petition... we demand you listen to the public who elected you and halt this illegal and immoral war."

Meanwhile, scores of anti-war protesters besieged No.10. Some waved placards reading Not In My Name, No To War and No Return To Empire. Others shouted: "Don't attack, don't attack, don't attack Iraq."

Protester Asa Winstanley, 23, a youth worker from Wembley, North London, said: "Maybe this won't stop the war, but we're going to try - this is just the beginning. We no longer live in a democracy."

ZETA IN NEW GUSHING SPEECH HORROR

From Richard Wallace, US Editor In New York

Mar 11 2003
CATHERINE Zeta-Jones gave yet another toe-curling speech after she was voted best supporting actress by fellow Hollywood stars.

The star gushed with gratitude to the "wonderful array of people" who worked on hit musical Chicago with her.

But she reserved special thanks for husband Michael Douglas.

The 33-year-old Welsh actress closed her speech: "I'd just like to thank my husband who is my biggest, biggest support mechanism and probably my best, favourite actor in the world. I love you."

Naturally after such a tribute Michael, 58, was first to leap to his feet and start a standing ovation at the Screen Actors' Guild awards in Los Angeles.

The actor, who with his wife is fighting a court battle with Hello! magazine over privacy, is now planning to spend £12,500 on a full page ad in showbiz newspaper Variety to carry personal congratulations to Catherine from him and their son Dylan.

It will read: "Dear Catherine/Mom, we know how hard you worked and we know what a joy it turned out to be. We love you, Michael and Dylan."

Catherine, who is expecting their second child next month, left guests rolling their eyes at her tributes to Chicago co-stars.

She thanked "my wonderful actors that I had the pleasure of just hanging out with for six months and getting bruised and iced frequently with".

She added: "If I wasn't pregnant I would do it all over again, I promise you."

Renee Zellweger, named best female for Chicago ahead of hot favourite Nicole Kidman, shrieked and forgot Pierce Brosnan's name as she accepted the statuette from him.

She cooed: "Oh my God - a kiss from Mr Bond."

Chicago also won best cast - the SAG equivalent of best film - and the award was collected by Richard Gere, who was beaten in the best male category by Daniel Day Lewis for his role in Gangs of New York.

Best supporting male was Christopher Walken for Catch Me If You Can. An award for lifetime achievement went to Clint Eastwood, 73 in May.

Opposite 'Attraction' Spurs Director's Exit

By Michael Fleming

Wed March 12, 2003 02:10 AM ET
NEW YORK (Variety) - Director Michael Caton-Jones has dropped out of "Laws of Attraction," the romantic comedy that is to star Pierce Brosnan and Julianne Moore.

Co-financiers Intermedia and Stratus Films are looking to attract a new director quickly to keep the film on track for a June 16 start. They're expected to land a new shooter by week's end.

Creative differences were cited as the reason for Caton-Jones' departure.

Scripted by Aline Brosh McKenna and Karey Kirkpatrick, the comedy concerns a couple of divorce lawyers who marry and find themselves in the same boat as their clients, as they ponder divorce.

Howitt Near Deal to Direct Brosnan-Moore Romance

By Michael Fleming

Tue March 18, 2003
NEW YORK (Variety) - Peter Howitt is near a deal to direct "Laws of Attraction," a romantic comedy to star Pierce Brosnan and Julianne Moore.

Howitt, best known for "Sliding Doors," replaces Michael Caton-Jones, who dropped out of the project last week.

Co-financiers Intermedia and Stratus Films were eager to hire a director quickly to keep the film on track for its June 16 start date. While his representatives made his deal, Howitt was booking passage to Ireland to get started.

Scripted by Aline Brosh McKenna and Karey Kirkpatrick, the comedy concerns a couple of divorce lawyers who marry and find themselves in the same boat as their clients as they ponder divorce.