Outplay, outwit, outlast ... outdirect?
If the audiences at the Seattle International Film Festival are to be trusted, there's more to Jeff Probst than his flash of dimple and ability to look good in khaki. The "Survivor" host's directing debut, a psychological thriller called "Finder's Fee," has just won the festival's best picture award.
The plot? A guy (Erik Palladino from "ER") finds a wallet and gives it back to the owner (James Earl Jones), but not before exchanging his loser lottery ticket for the owner's winning one.
No, the sneaky story did not come to him while watching Richard Hatch operate in the first season of "Survivor."
"The idea actually came when I was living in New York and I found this guy's wallet," Probst told the Seattle Times last week. "You find a wallet and a million thoughts go through your head. To me, it's a morality tale. If nobody is around, what do you do? If nobody's going to know except you, how far will you go?"
As for how far Probst himself will go, he says he may one day have a major meltdown in the middle of "Survivor," which he admits is "a little corny." It's that "The tribe has spoken" line that may drive him right over the edge.
"Maybe one day," he says, "I'll take that snuffer and just conk somebody with it."
Now that I'd like to see.
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Just like prom night
"I bared my arse in high school so it was more like a nostalgic thing for me."
-- David Duchovny on his "Evolution" booty flash, in the Sydney Daily Telegraph (thus the "arse").
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For Brad's eyes only
Don't expect Jennifer Aniston to pull a David Duchovny and bare her wares on-screen anytime soon. According to Ananova.com, Aniston insists on a no-nudity clause in her film contracts, and -- much to the dismay of Miguel Arteta, her director on "The Good Girl" -- she's not budging on it.
It's "simply a matter of taste," one film source told the U.K. Web site. Aniston, the source says, simply "won't go that far."
Kissing Winona Ryder is one thing ...
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A woman after Aniston's own heart
"In a day and age where sex sells, I can understand why Britney rips her clothes off. It works for her. It wouldn't work for me."
-- Budding pop star Mandy Moore, 17, on how she wants to carve out a nice, clean, sex-free path to success, in the Calgary Sun.
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Juicy bits
Did Joe Namath score with Mrs. Brady? Woody Thompson, creator of Nick at Nite's upcoming "Pop-Up Brady" series, says he did. According to Thompson, when Namath made that 1973 guest appearance on "The Brady Bunch," Florence Henderson was all over him backstage -- and the two had a brief torrid fling. Oh, Mike!
He knows it's only a rock 'n' roller's old pad, but he likes it. Mick Jagger is reportedly deep in negotiations to buy David Bowie's two-bedroom pied-à-terre overlooking New York's Central Park. According to Fashion Wire Daily, Jagger, who has a five-story townhouse on the Upper West Side, is not planning to live in the Bowie digs but, rather, is procuring the apartment for his daughter Elizabeth, a model, and her beau, Damien Van Zyl. Given the current direction housing prices are going in New York, however, Jagger might want to take his own advice and slow the negotiations. Time is on his side.
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