Afternoon Briefing:
The other Bush documentary: William Karel made a movie called "Le Monde Selon Bush" ("The World According to Bush") in time for the Cannes Film Festival but it was withheld because it was felt to be politically incorrect to bash President Bush twice. But the not-for-laughs collection of interviews with everyone from Colin Powell to Norman Mailer -- originally made for public broadcaster France 2 -- is now being shown theatrically in France. Says the filmmaker, "None of my films have made it to the U.S., but I'm hopeful that this one will." (Hollywood Reporter via Yahoo! News)
Ciao, Rocco: No, not the one with the restaurant, the one with the other assets. Porn star Rocco Siffredi, who has made 1,300 films, is quitting the business because his kids (two sons, ages 7 and 4) are starting to get curious about where Dad goes every day. Says Rocco, "When I started 20 years ago, it bothered me to see old guys around 40 filming with much younger girls. Now I'm 40 and it's time to go." (AFP)
Speaking of guys with assets ... It seems Colin Farrell's were a tad too distracting to make the final cut of the film "A Home at the End of the World." After test screenings, it was reported, "All you could hear were gasps when Colin appeared in his full-frontal pose. The women were over-excited and the men looked really uncomfortable." Farrell is demanding that his parts get put back in when the movie goes to DVD. (Ananova)
Kevin says a bad word: At the opening of "De-Lovely" the other night in New York, Kevin Kline, who plays Cole Porter in the film, encountered a scribe from the New York Observer. The actor hasn't been happy with the paper since it published his home address a few years back. When an unsuspecting intern asked Kline a question about the film, he shot back, "What, you're from the Observer? Don't be cunts. Be nice." (N.Y. Observer)
-- Karen Croft
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Turn On:
On Wednesday night, "60 Minutes" (8 p.m. ET; ABC) takes a look into the treatment of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay in light of Abu Ghraib. Street theater meets David Copperfield: "T.H.E.M." (8 p.m. ET; NBC) -- which stands for Totally Hidden Extreme Magic -- is an hour-long special that follows a team of extreme magicians as they perform feats of magic in public places.
-- Scott Lamb
Morning Briefing:
Trouble in twinland: Mary-Kate Olsen, the brunette Olsen twin, has checked herself into "a treatment facility to seek professional help for a health-related issue," her spokesman announced Tuesday. "She is thankful for the encouragement and support of her friends and family, who are with her every step of the way." What sort of health-related issue? According to Us Weekly magazine, Mary-Kate, 18, is struggling with life-threatening anorexia. "It was a preemptive strike. Mary-Kate wanted to take charge of her life," a source close to the actress told the magazine. "She's been very brave. She is trying to get healthy." (N.Y. Daily News)
Why J.Lo didn't show: NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg had hoped to get Jennifer Lopez to perform at the city's Olympic torch ceremony this past weekend, but J.Lo was a no-go. Not because of "work commitments," as she'd claimed; she actually had no "Monster-in-Law" scenes to shoot that weekend. Nope, she didn't show because the city couldn't afford the $59,660 it would have cost to fly her in and back on a private jet ($38,660), to put her and her people up at her preferred New York hotel ($10,500), and to pay for her to get her hair and makeup done ($4,500 and $6,000, respectively). (Rush and Molloy)
When gossips attack, Part I: "Page Six" contributor Ian Spiegelman has been cut loose by the New York Post after sending a stinging e-mail to magazine writer Douglas Dechert. Spiegelman had been covering Dechert's relationship (or rather, former relationship) with teen writer Abigail Vona, who penned "Bad Girl: Confessions of a Teenage Delinquent," but after Dechert alleged that Spiegelman had asked Vona out on a date and been spurned, Spiegelman let his fingers do the talking in an e-mail that would get him fired: "You have nothing I can't take away from you, you non-man. Doug, you little tiny fairy," Spiegelman wrote. "I will break your back over my knee in the press and I will push your face inside-out in private or public." A spokesman for the paper said Spiegelman has now been dismissed from his freelance post because "the language and the tone of his E-mail are completely unacceptable to the New York Post." (Lloyd Grove's Lowdown)
When gossips attack, Part II: Pat O'Brien, who recently left "Access Hollywood" to co-host rival show "The Insider," sent a nasty e-mail to "Access" correspondent Shaun Robinson before he left. "I have never known anybody so disliked in a newsroom and it's well deserved. You push people to the limits and you are so needy and demanding . . . it is scary," O'Brien wrote to Robinson. "This is tough love, Shaun. You have the worst reputation I've ever seen in the business ... it must be sad for you to realize that you are literally hated by most ... People laugh at you." O'Brien says he now regrets sending the e-mail. "Looking back," he says, "it was foolish." (Page Six)
Do you want to see Andy Rooney naked? How about Charlie Gibson, Dan Rather or Geraldo Rivera? Matt Lauer? Sean Hannity? Shepard Smith? Ed Bradley? Playgirl magazine is polling its readers to find out which news anchor they'd most like to see appear in the magazine. "Some of them are so cute ... They've become our special fantasies," write the editors. "We can dream, can't we?" (Playgirl via Wonkette)
Oh, and also ... Demi Moore says she's not pregnant or engaged, and David Bowie is recovering from getting hit in the left eye with a lollipop. (Rush and Molloy) And Matt Drudge is reporting that DNC chairman Terry McAuliffe has been telling people that he thinks John Edwards is the strongest contender to run for Veep alongside John Kerry. (Drudge)
Money Quote:
Bill Clinton on what he would say to Monica Lewinsky if he ran into her today: "[I'd say] 'Hello' to her and 'I hope you're having a good life.'" ("Oprah" via N.Y. Daily News)
-- Amy Reiter
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