Weekend, 17 January 1998

The Sundance Film Festival opened with a whimper and not a bang afterNick Broomfield's (Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam) documentary, Kurt and Courtney, was dumped after legalthreats from EMI records, claiming unauthorized use of Cobain's songs (See our Sundance Daily Report).Broomfield is reportedly not as upset asyou might think. "This is agonizing, but it will become part of the filmand will make a better ending. And I'll be doing a bit more skiing thanI'd anticipated." On the Courtney watch, it looks like she's chosen hernext film: the ensemble drama, 200 Cigarettes, which seems to be yetanother classic in the Fine Whine school of filmmaking.

Morgan Freeman is getting younger. He'll once again star as Alex Crossin Along Came A Spider, the prequel to his hit thriller, Kiss TheGirls. In other bloody news, the Academy (yes, that Academy) is givinga special science technology award to Pete Clark, a longtime effectsexpert who co-developed, with 3M (the people who brought you Post-Its),really cool simulated blood. Sadly, the Academy passed up other suchinventors, like the guy who developed the fake urine for Ransom, the fakevomit for Barfly and the fake flatulence for Blazing Saddles.

S.W.A.T.: The Movie is getting closer every day and there's not a damnedthing you can do about it. It looks like the cop movie to end all copmovies will combine the massive talents of Tomorrow Never Dies directorRoger Spottiswoode and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Besides the opportunityto break new records for amounts of space taken up on the poster by adirector/actor team, Arnold must be jumping at the opportunity to workwith a director whose incredible track record with major movie starsincludes Tom Hanks in Turner and Hooch, Robin Williams in The Best ofTimes, Mel Gibson in Air America and Sylvester Stallone in Stop! Or My MomWill Shoot.

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