Weekend, 7 February 1998

NEWS BY THE NUMBERS
10. More Grisham: Philip Kaufman, best known as an "arty" director (Henry and June/The Unbearable Lightness of Being), hits the John Grisham trail with The Runaway Jury, the runaway project that's seen Joel Schumacher, Sean Connery and Edward Norton come and go. Let's hope Kaufman has, to quote the title of another of his films, The Right Stuff.

9. Nanny S.Q.U.E.A.L.S.: Former nanny to Bruce Willis and Demi Moore, Kim Tannahill, is now suing the couple, claiming she was "shamelessly exploited and abused" during her three-year stint on the job. But will forcing her into repeated screenings of Striptease and Color of Night really hold up in court?

8. Tobacco Row: Al Pacino and director Michael Mann, who teamed up for the undervalued Heat, are back together again, along with Russell Crowe, to tell the story of whistle-blowing tobacco executive Jeffrey Wigand. Heat, now "smoke." What's next, Fire: The Movie?

7. Script-Selling Roundup: So, you want to sell your screenplay to Hollywood? Variety has done a survey of the 146 films released by major studios in 1997 and found that spec scripts are still king, accounting for 43 percent of the films made. In second, screenplays from books made up 20 percent of the market. Writers sharpen your pencils and go!

6. 350 Days: A Shooting Odyssey: Stanley Kubrick has finally had enough. The 15-month shoot for the Tom Cruise/Nicole Kidman starrer, Eyes Wide Shut, is over. Kubrick's long haul probably bugged Hollywood more than Cruise as it kept one of the five stars who guarantee a good opening weekend out of the summer '98 line-up.

5. Dumbest: The Dumb & Dumber sequel has moved to the front burner with "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone taking on the screenwriting chores with a reported $1.5 million deal. The guys won't be writing too far out of their range as the sequel will be a prequel, offering up the Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels characters as 16-year-olds. "No Jim Carrey?! *(&#(** %&**^@#."

4. Monica Comes To Hollywood: Monica Lewinsky hit L.A. with the kind of media crush usually reserved for movie stars or murderers. Her first outing was at L.A. Farm, a hot spot for westside movie types. No deals have been reported, but Republicans are pushing for Shannen Doherty in the biopic, whereas angry Democrats see Rosie O'Donnell as the perfect fit.

3. Nominating Words: The nominees for the Writers Guild Awards are out. The only surprises are nods to Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights and Simon Beaufoy's The Full Monty. Kind of confirms that old saying about nerds and sex, huh?

2. The Mouse Blinks: Disney has changed its own rules and will release the sequel to Toy Story in 1999. Originally slated to go direct to video like the Aladdin and Beauty and The Beast sequels, the change of heart may reflect the relatively soft numbers for recent Disney animation and the new challenges to Disney's most valuable movie monopoly.

1. Goodbye and God Bless: The last of the first-generation moguls, Lew Wasserman, has retired from his position on the board at Universal Studios after 62 years. Not only does he know where all the bodies are buried, he dug most of the holes.

READER OF THE DAY: From Kin: "I need to visit rough cut more often. You miss a week or two and they go and rearrange EVERYTHING. I still can't find the silverware drawer."

ELECTRONIC MAIL CALL: How do you like the redesign, gang?