Issue Date: December 23, 2007
Former Everwood star Emily VanCamp, 21, is now shaking things up on ABC's "Brothers & Sisters." We indulged in some family talk:
Q: In real life, you have three sisters. How do you get along?
We had our arguments. ... But if anyone tried to pick on us in the schoolyard, we had each other's backs.
Q: Patricia Wettig and Sally Field are your TV "moms." Have you asked for advice?
They are such spectacular women. ... And they're both great moms. I have endless amounts to learn from them.
Q: You have managed to avoid becoming tabloid fodder. How?
We shot [Everwood] in Utah, so I was able to work in the business and not live in L.A. I got to maintain a low-key, easy, small-town lifestyle in Utah and in Montreal [she is Canadian].
Q: Your show has touched on the war in Iraq. Should TV be topical? Utilizing a TV show as a vehicle to inspire a conversation or debate?
I don't see why not, as long as it's not biased.
Q: When I see headlines touting the latest exploits of Paris Hilton or Britney Spears, I wonder who cares enough to make them worth the attention they get. Are the media reaching for stories?
Judith Kite, Marysville, Calif.
"A good story is a good story," says Harvey Levin, the man behind the website TMZ.com and now its companion, TMZ TV. A lawyer and former investigative reporter, Levin says, "People who are interested in the war in Iraq aren't necessarily disinterested in celebrity news." He swears that TMZ won't publish anything ill-gotten; he claims he turned down "explosive documents" regarding Michael Jackson that clearly were stolen from his lawyer's office.
Josh Brolin, now appearing in "No Country for Old Men" and "American Gangster," enjoys defying expectations. "You perceive my character in 'No Country' as a bit dim, but he prevails," says Brolin, 39, "although he has no control over fate. My 'Gangster' guy walks around with this feeling of invincibility, and then he does something incredibly cowardly. Those kinds of roles keep me interested." To keep himself busy when the roles weren't coming, Brolin wrote and directed a play, and he wrote and shot a short film, "X," starring his teen daughter, Eden. "She was very effective," he says. "I saw part of her that I didn't know existed."
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Jennifer Flavin Stallone, 39, worries about money. Yes, the wife of movie millionaire Sylvester Stallone, the former model and now mother of three, wants to be self-supporting. She quotes her own mother's good advice: "Never get used to a lifestyle you can't support on your own." That's why she started a skin-care line sold on HSN. Now she has a second business, Seriesse (seriesse.com), also a skin-care line, but this one sold direct. We wondered what advice she gives her own three daughters (11, 9 and 5). She tells them to stay away from acting and modeling: "It's a difficult world. Realistically, there's only one Hannah Montana."
Q: I thought "7th Heaven" was to return.
Patricia Fetters, Indianola, Iowa
"7th Heaven" will begin reruns on the Hallmark Channel in January. You can read how happy the WB was to get the show and star Stephen Collins in the new book "Season Finale: The Unexpected Rise and Fall of the WB and UPN." The book, by Susanne Daniels, an ex-president of the WB, and "Variety"'s Cynthia Littleton, has good insider bits, such as how angry executives were when "Felicity"'s Keri Russell cut her hair short and how Amy Sherman-Palladino came up with a setting for "Gilmore Girls." (Hint: She vacationed in New England.)
Q: Ali Larter is my favorite cast member from NBC's "Heroes." Is she married?
Wade Carmen, Cleveland, Tenn.
She has neither a husband nor children, but Larter, 31, is no commitment-phobe. She reportedly told her longtime boyfriend, fellow actor Hayes MacArthur, she'd marry
him "tomorrow" after only three weeks of dating. And the actress has said that she looks forward to a time in her life when she's home with her babies.
Got an adventuresome girl on your holiday list? Miriam Peskowitz has the book for you. She wants to encourage girls "to live really full lives." She co-wrote T"he Daring Book for Girls" to override the mixed messages she sees aimed at them repeatedly. So we couldn't help asking ...
Q: What are those messages?
As girls turn 6, 7, 8, they are told to "be careful; the world is a dangerous place." ... They get the message to be more restrained.
Q: Do TV shows and movies contribute to that?
They don't do a good job, [because] they show that to be a tween girl is to be a "mean girl."
Q: What advice would you give moms of girls?
Stand back and let your daughters develop on their own. We put our girls under so much pressure. They are now pushed to do better at school, and be thinner and more beautiful than ever before.
Contributing: Gayle Jo Carter, Reyhaneh Fathieh, Nancy Mills
BIRTHDAYS
December 23
Estella Warren 29
Susan Lucci 61
December 24
Ryan Seacrest 33
Ricky Martin 36
December 25
Sissy Spacek 58
Jimmy Buffett 61
December 26
Jared Leto 36
December 27
Cokie Roberts 64
December 28
Sienna Miller 26
Denzel Washington 53
December 29
Jude Law 35
Ted Danson 60
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