11 February 2000

THE UGLY: I've gotten my first e-mails asking about it, so I guess it's time to confess. There is a movie on Cinemax this month called Suckers and I am in it. I have not a line, for I play the silent salesman Ali, though in a scene or two you may see my character portrayed by a stand-in. It's a complicated story. In any case, the movie was directed by a friend, Roger Nygard, who also directed Trekkies and produced/shot Six Days in Roswell. I haven't seen a final cut and I won't be watching on Cinemax. Too horrified to see myself. I will also risk personal injury by pointing you back to three Whole Picture chapters chronicling the event (Chapter 26, Chapter 27 and Chapter 28.) The danger there is that Louis Mandylor is apparently out to cut my Achilles tendons after reading said chapters. So, if you hear that a mad Greek has attacked me on the streets, you'll know who to send the cops after.

RADIO RADIO: This weekend, George Pennacchio and I will be in the same studio, by ourselves, for the first time since New Year's Day. (Actually, I think we had a guest in that day...but we will be face to face for a change.) It should be fun. KABC-790 on your AM dial in the Los Angeles area and at kabc.com on the web.

JUST WONDERING: Could word that Kevin Costner is considering being in Michael Bay's Pearl Harbor bring anything to entertainment writers other than a big, wide smile? Let's hope Kevin has a really big role. And then, let's watch the bombs fly! (Do you think that I'm jeopardizing my invitation down to Bay and Knowles' Rosarito Beach set with all this bashing?)

P.R. PITCH DU JOUR: Welcome to a brand new Hot Button feature. Sometimes, it seems like a P.R. pitch is worth spinning your way, but who wants to spin when I can give it to you straight up?

For Immediate Release - February 9, 2000 - TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX LAUNCHES WWW.AFTEREARTH.COM A Battle to Save the Universe

Los Angeles...Twentieth Century Fox has created a cutting-edge online game entitled Operation: After Earth, to promote the upcoming movie, TITAN A.E. This game is the first of its kind to appear on the Internet.

Operation: After Earth introduces the concept of the movie, TITAN A.E., through community building efforts on the Internet. The Web users slowly learn about the film over a period of months by participating in a fully realized, scripted game that incorporates key concepts of the film and its symbology into the action. Operation: After Earth involves players in a battle to save the universe. The structure gives the participants a better chance of winning prizes if they recruit large numbers of players. Some examples of the prizes are trips to the premiere or the animation studios, as well as digital asset rewards such as exclusive screen savers and photos from the film.

The site, which features a 100% Flash interface and cutting-edge graphics, was created by Twentieth Century Fox along with DNA Studio, an online marketing agency. In only its first week of release, the game has over 5,000 individual spaceships with one ship containing 770 crew members ready to attack the enemy.

Fox's animated sci-fi adventure, Titan AE, will be released June 16th. This film introduces the next generation of filmed animation, blending exciting new technologies and cutting-edge computer imagery to create spectacular new worlds and vivid characters.

Twentieth Century Fox is a unit of Fox Filmed Entertainment, a unit of Fox Entertainment Group.

BAD AD WATCH: What could be sillier than the ad for Any Given Sunday which has a big picture of Cameron Diaz front and center and the rest of the cast above as little tiny heads? I guess it's easier to see a Cameron Diaz movie than a movie that is 99 percent about men who play football, especially after a Super Bowl that was more exciting than 20 viewings of A.G.S. combined.

READER OF THE DAY: R(No E)M writes in on a subject that many wrote in about: "I'm a little angry about the Derrick Thomas tragedy. He gave so much of himself, truly one of the great positive contributors in the NFL. I'd like to see his legacy include a huge, coordinated SEATBELT AWARENESS campaign. Notice that both men NOT wearing their seatbelts are dead while the man who wore his walked away? How many times do we hear this? This tragedy could have possibly been avoided. What a waste. How about his family members and the NFL get together for some awareness campaigns. People have not made enough mention of this issue and I think DT would approve. How hard is it for people to do up their seatbelts? It's not that complicated....maybe some good can come of it. He was a great man and we are all worse off by his death."

Sam's rage is a little less beneficent: "1) I was thinking along the same lines as Donner on Wed., only I was going to say that if you were in Chicago, Ebert would call you take you out for a brewski.

2) Is there a bad pattern now for the documentary awards? Do they tend to veer towards either sentimental subjects, Shoah (I can't spell holucaust!) [Editor's note: Holocaust,] or starfu**ing (i.e. When We Were Kings and this year's Buena Vista Social Club?) In other words, have they gone the way of the foreign film award, which seems to have leaned towards movies that have been described as studio pictures made in other languages? I have questions and I would like answers.

3) I am over my Affleck affliction where I used to rant about his lack of talent. I can see him on the magazine covers now, the Reindeer Games ads, etc. w/o going into a rage. And I did it w/o the help of drugs! And I'll stay that way as long as I don't have to think that he gets paid to roll around practically naked with Charlize!!!! My beautiful, Charlize!!!

Uh, oh. Now I'm going into my Tobey Maguire rage because he got to do the same thing with Charlize! Maybe that's it - I'm in love with Charlize! Damn! If I only I was Michael Douglas, I could meet her and get her to fall in love with me, bear my child and marry me. But since I'm just some nobody, I fall into the category of stalker.

E ME: I want to know what you think of The Beach, The WGA Awards & anything else that pushes your...well, you know what.