Issue date: Jan 9, 2000
Q: Is it just
me, or does Jodie Foster not make as many movies as she used to? It's
good to see her in Anna and the King, but it's been a long time.
Bill Carr Goldsboro, N.C.
You're right. She took nearly two years off to be with her baby,
Charles, born in July 1998 (she's never named the dad). Now she
has at least three films in the works -- first, Flora's Plum, in
which she'll direct her friend Claire Danes. Still, work isn't what
it used to be. "I've always found it hard to focus on anything else,"
says the 37-year-old double Oscar winner. "Now I want to spend all
my time with Charlie." But she has no plans to give up acting. Why
not? "It's not my personality to be extroverted emotionally, so
acting has been helpful to me."
Q: Garth
Brooks tried a couple of new careers last year: playing ball with
the San Diego Padres and transforming himself into a Prince-like
rock star, "Chris Gaines." Now he's saying he'll retire. To do what?
Rachel Brandoff, Brigantine, N.J.
To focus on family. He says he wants to be home more for his three
daughters, and wife Sandy surely wants him to see more of her and
less of singer Trisha Yearwood. Some Nashville insiders scoff at
the notion of Brooks' retiring. The real question, says one, is
"Is Chris Gaines retiring?" In fact, Brooks, 37, has a Chris Gaines
movie, The Lamb, in the works with Paramount. We'd take bets that
he'll play the lead.
Q: I'm a huge fan of Lisa Nicole Carson, the most fascinating
of the actresses on Ally McBeal. I'd like to know more about what
she's like in real life.
Kevin Blanchard, Chicago
Carson, 30, left her close-knit Brooklyn family for L.A.'s sprawl
about three years ago when Ally and a recurring role on ER heated
up her career. She landed in the city of freeways without knowing
how to drive, but she fixed that fast. Though she's the down-to-earth
one on Ally, her real life is more fanciful. She says if she didn't
write chore lists to keep herself attached to reality, she'd probably
sing and dance all day.
Q: What
did Tom Bergeron do before becoming host of the new Hollywood Squares?
He's such a natural.
Jennie Castello, Minotola, N.J.
Bergeron jokes that Squares "is my virgin game show, so they're
being gentle." Yet it seems he was born to the job; working with
Whoopi Goldberg, "our demented den mother," only helps the spontaneity.
Bergeron, 44, has dabbled in broadcasting since he was a teen radio
D.J. in his hometown, Haverhill, Mass. Local TV talk shows in Boston
and New York, plus stints on Fox After Breakfast and Good Morning
America, all prepared him. Ten shows are shot every other weekend
in L.A., allowing him to commute from Connecticut, where he lives
with his wife and two young daughters. There he gets up at 5 a.m.
to work on a novel. Then he takes the girls to school. "I love being
a dad," he says. "That's a big part of my life."
Q: What
kind of guy is Michael Eisner, Disney's CEO? He certainly didn't
come off too well when testifying against his former studio head,
Jeffrey Katzenberg, when Katzenberg sued Disney.
Peter Soto, Detroit
Eisner, a married dad of three who takes family values seriously,
never has been known for charm. Disney's top dog since '84, he's
called complicated and paranoid -- and that's from pals. Whatever
the cost of Katzenberg's settlement (he wanted $580 million; terms
weren't disclosed), it served Eisner and Disney best to put it to
rest. The more Eisner said on the stand (one highlight: calling
Katzenberg a "midget"), the worse he looked -- especially to stockholders,
who watched earnings drop again in 1999.
Q: Why are
some movie titles so lame and non-descriptive?
Cheryl Murphy, Denver
Titles are something "studios don't take lightly," says Entertainment
Tonight's Leonard Maltin. "It amazes me that some titles get by."
Hollywood sometimes pays big bucks for market research and testing
of titles, and many movies go through several title changes. The
bland East Great Falls High became last summer's American Pie. My
Posse Don't Do Homework became the more poetic Dangerous Minds.
And Pretty Woman was first called Three Thousand, the amount Richard
Gere's character offers Julia Roberts' prostitute.
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THIS WEEK'S
BIRTHDAYS
Jan 9: Muggsy Bogues, 35; Joan Baez, 59; Bob Denver, 65.
Jan 10: Pat Benatar, 47; George Foreman, 51; Rod Stewart,
55.
Jan 11: Mary J. Blige, 29; Naomi Judd, 54.
Jan 12: Dominique Wilkins, 40; Kirstie Alley, 49; Rush Limbaugh,
49.
Jan 13: Julia Louis- Dreyfus, 39.
Jan 14: LL Cool J, 31; Emily Watson, 33; Steven Soderbergh,
37.
Jan 15: Mario Van Peebles, 42; Charo, 49.
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