The Hot Button by David Poland

Weekend, 16-17 January 1999

NEWS BY THE NUMBERS

10. BACK FROM THE DEAD: Scoffing about John Travolta making the film version of L. Ron Hubbard's Battleship Earth has been silenced. Director Roger Christian has hopped aboard for the $70 million-budgeted flick, which will be distributed by Warner Bros. Travolta will play a 10-ft. tall alien bad guy. No good guy has been cast yet. The film also marks a step up for über-hack producer Elie Samaha, whose greatest accomplishment in Hollywood so far has been getting Tia Carrere to marry him. Things could get ugly, as a number of studios figured the film could not be made for less than $100 million. Where's Ed Wood when you need him? And, in case you are wondering, Roger Christian is not a hack. He was George Lucas' second unit director on Star Wars: Episode 1 -- The Phantom Menace and has been considered an up 'n' comer. On the other hand, he directed Masterminds. Ouch.
9. OH, WE'RE MOVIN' ON OUT: Mel Gibson and partner Bruce Davey finally made the official move of their shingle to Paramount from their original Icon Productions home at Warner Bros. The slow move started back when Warner Bros. passed on Braveheart and Paramount scooped it -- and a bunch of Oscars -- up, specifically with hopes of getting Gibson as a studio regular. The first-look deal is a coup, but not an exclusive one. Watch, as soon as Paramount passes on a project, the next home of Icon will scoop it up. Of course, Mel's move, combined with their deal with Tom Cruise, who has done a total of one movie for the studio, with the sequel, Mission: Impossible 2 coming, gives them a lot of testosterone on the lot.
8. BUSTING THE BOOM IN BUSTS: Just as Esquire magazine is talking about the Era of the Breast, Jennifer Love Hewitt appears on the cover of US in a T-shirt that actually fits. The horror. Is this the start of a new trend or just a wardrobe person who is soon to be fired? Stay tuned. The breast is yet to come.
7. WHEN LAST SEEN: At First Sight opened yesterday, but someone made a little mistake introducing the real-life couple the movie is based on to the media. Shockingly (remember that I banned the Casablanca phrase "shocked, shocked" from American usage for a year in yesterday's column), the duo doesn't look like Val Kilmer and Mira Sorvino. In fact, the idea of seeing this real-life couple make love on the big screen could start riots in small towns across the United States. It's a wonderful love story, made even more wonderful by the fact that the selfishness of personal beauty wasn't an issue. But on the other hand, I expect Hollywood to make those kinds of changes, so I'm not really surprised in the least. But Variety was.
6. MORE JUNK PLEASE!: In the beginning, Miramax begat Dimension Films. Thus, Sony gave new life to Screen Gems to give a proper home to all of their "girl in tight T-shirt" horror films. And now, unto Hollywood, Warner Bros. has wrought Dark Castle Films, headed up by Joel Silver and Robert Zemeckis. The company, whose films will be distributed by Warner Bros. though most of the financing will be private, is specifically looking to make mid-budget horror fare. Their first film will be House on Haunted Hill, which is no relation to The Haunting of Hill House (DreamWorks) or The Miseducaton of Lauren Hill (Sony Records). This trend follows the "art division" trend, also started by Miramax upon their entry into the Disney family. Who loses the most here? New Line, who had a strong year and now has three new competitors (and more coming) for their genre fare.
5. WHAT A DRAG!: Dustin Hoffman was in court Tuesday, fighting to stay out of a dress. Well, really to keep his image from Tootsie out of a dress advertisement that stuck his Tootsie character in a Richard Tyler dress and Ralph Lauren spikes. It was a computer-generated change of wardrobe in a Los Angeles magazine editorial fashion spread, but designers were credited and prices were attached, thus it was an advertisement. [Editor's note: Pretty common among the fashion rag trade and not generally considered an ad.] Also in the spread were Saturday Night Fever stars John Travolta and Karen Lynn Gorney. Travolta hasn't been heard from, but Gorney, who is a religious woman, is suing also. But her beef is that she was put in a see-through blouse. I'm waiting to see the suit from Ellen DeGeneres on grounds that she was not electronically re-dressed because she is gay.
4. MARCHING TO SUNDANCE: Tori Spelling just wasn't meant to be taken seriously. She is camp incarnate. So, maybe she has finally found her perfect role in Trick, the new film from Jim Fall. Tori plays the muse to a gay musical-comedy composer. She, herself, is prepping for an all-female production of Salome, set in a women's prison. And their lives are changed by Miss Coco Peru, an evil drag queen. I don't know who wears the glass slippers in this family, but the battle for the mirror on Saturday night must be intense! Think of it as Out of the Closet: 90210. (Next weekend in this slot, live commentary from the Sundance Festival. Sunday, too. Make sure to come by every day.)
3. OSCAR UPDATE: So, Whoopi replaces Billy, who replaced Whoopi, who replaced Dave, who introduced Uma to Oprah. (Well, guess we won't have to worry about that this year.) On more pressing matters, the Academy has decided that in 1999, the documentary race will devolve from a two-tier award (Best Documentary Short and Best Documentary) into just one, in which both types of documentaries qualify to be nominated. This follows years of bad decisions by the mysterious nominating committee, which has dumped every single popular documentary in the last five years and whose chairperson ended up taking home Academy gold her very self one year. Also being dumped are separate Oscars for dramatic and comedy/musical scores. They talked about merging sound and sound-effects editing awards, but cooler heads prevailed. They also passed on adding awards for best casting, stunt coordination and title design. In other words, anything that isn't high profile is in danger. Yet these are the people who we look to as the most honorable awards givers in all the land. Tough room.
2. THE DANCE OF BROTHERLY LOVE: Barry Diller is like a stepdad to Universal. The Bronfmans are still the parents, but with his stake in and control of Universal TV, known in-house as DillerVision, he's like the new boyfriend of Mom who one of the kids likes more than his Dad. Well, stepdad wants a piece of the movie action, too. Universal has two art divisions, October and Gramercy, and that's one too many. Barry wants to buy one, but the Bronfmans have already been embarrassed to find that they couldn't get what they expected in their PolyGram fire sale, so they're busting his chops a bit. Diller has officially passed on October, now setting his sights on Gramercy, but that still may change. Come on everyone. It's Sundance time. Time to let these art-house moguls do a little skiing and have a good time. Waiting for a pink slip is no way to have fun. (Break your legs now, guys and gals. You're still on the company health plan.)
1. THE THIN BOTTOM LINE: Sean Penn is pissed and not just at paparazzi anymore. When Terrence Malick had a private screening of his new epic, Penn wanted to attend. So he asked Fox to rent a private jet for him and his family to make the trek to Houston. "No," came back the answer. So, Penn wrote a nasty, nasty letter to Rupert Murdoch, including this doozy of a metaphor: "The final cost (of the airplane) to Mr. Murdoch's pool heating expenses: A WHOPPING $6,000 which, against the price cut I offered in my deal to act in this movie, seemed equivalent to the fair market price of one hair on Mr. Rupert Murdoch's formidable ass." Fox says it would have cost them $40,000, but by Mr. Penn's standard, that's just three-and-a-third hairs off of Old Rupert's posterior.
READER OF THE DAY: Rachel sends in yet another spoiler-heavy Best Scene list: "Seven Favorite Scenes: 1) Elizabeth: The Queen rehearsing her approach to the council of bishops/church leaders. ('I am your Sovereign Queen...') 2) Living Out Loud: When Holly Hunter comes into the elevator high on (probably) Ecstasy, and then the dance sequence at the club. 3) The Spanish Prisoner: When Campbell Scott is caught by the guys in the park, and his notebook gets switched right under our noses! This lights the fuse for the rest of the film. Mamet rocks. 4) Smoke Signals: On the bus, when Victor teaches Thomas how to act like a native (sic) ('Get stoic'). Also, the first conversation with their two friends whose car only drives backwards. 5) The Mighty: The first time Max lifts Kevin onto his shoulders in the park -- you can immediately see the strength each boy finds in that bond. 6) Touch of Evil: The opening shot. (It counts! It was re-released in '98!) 7) Leonard Bernstein, Reaching for the Note: This documentary had some of the best sound editing I've ever heard. The director's use of Beethoven's 7th at the beginning and end was brilliant. (Not really a scene, but still a high point in my year of film-going.)
"One more issue: I saw a great film at the '97 Hamptons Film Fest, Il Ciclone, which was touted as being Italy's highest-grossing film ever. It won the Audience Award, and got a huge standing ovation. So, why can't I find it anywhere? Why no U.S. distribution? It's production company (Cecchi Gori Group) also released Il Postino and Life is Beautiful, so they've obviously got some semblance of credibility. I have called all over the U.S. trying to find a subtitled copy, but have had no luck."

E ME: Any ideas for Rachel? Is Sean Penn right or wrong? How do you feel about Whoopi? And are you ready to say goodbye to tight tops as a national staple? Let me hear it!