Titanic finally set sail in Japan with a triumph for Jim
Cameron and an even bigger one for Paramount and 20th Century Fox
publicity. For Cameron, it was the wildly enthusiastic reaction of the
crowd to the film. For the studios, it was their success in getting
a handle on the estimates of overwhelming production costs that have
been bandied about by the media. Back while the film was shooting, estimates
ran up to $300 million. But, Entertainment Weekly serves up a
warm, wet smoochy, Cameron-driven cover story on Titanic with
the $200 million tag and BOOM!, the media falls in line. Remember when
you read this stuff -- those of us who write it tend to be a bunch of
bleating sheep. But in the end, who really cares? No one goes to the
theater to see a budget. They go to see movies that they'll like and,
apparently, Titanic is one of those. Congratulations to all.
Another test of the media's honor is the Roman Polanski story.
He's coming back and is getting away with child molestation. Has he
paid his price by way of exile? Perhaps. But the tendency in the Hollywood
culture is to forgive the "indiscretions" of its own. Indiscretions
are anything that doesn't cost me money. I don't know whether
it's better, or even more disgusting, that the precocious object of
Polanski's lust has sold her story to "Inside Edition." Samantha
Geimer will appear in a two-parter just in time for November sweeps.
Makes you want to take a shower just reading it, huh?
The inalterably pleasant Yasmine Bleeth is set for her first
feature film, It Came From the Sky. She plays a mysterious stranger
who is either a con woman or a real-life angel, Non-Charlie Division.
She starts the film after completing her latest TV movie, The Lake,
a science-fiction thriller about a small town that does a reverse Stepford
as locals turn evil after being sucked into the water. Get it? Shawn
Weatherly turns into Erika Elaniak who turns into Nicole
Eggert who turns into Pam Anderson who turns into Yasmine
Bleeth who turns into Gena Lee Nolin who turns into Donna
D'Errico. They all play the same character, don't they?
Have some of your own indiscretions? Well, I'm not a priest, but I'll
listen to your confessions. Email
me.
