jeanne.wolf

Lord of the Rings: The Countdown Begins...

Based on J.R.R. Tolkien's classic novel, The Lord of the Rings, director Peter Jackson's big-budget epic, The Fellowship of the Ring  which hits theaters in December  has a legion of impatient bookworms squirming to see their fave fantasy brought to life. Have their high expectations worried leading lad Elijah Wood, who plays mythic Hobbit Frodo Baggins? "I definitely felt the pressure," Wood concedes. "I wanted to live up to all of the expectations. But when I got into costume and worked with the others, I just didn't think about it anymore." The blue-eyed actor nods in agreement with Sean Astin, who joined him on the film's 15-month location shoot in far-flung New Zealand. Deadpans Astin: "We just became Hobbits. We felt it." And Jackson swears he dared cast none other than Liv Tyler to play the immortal Elf Arwen. "She

Thu, May 31, 2001

Cuba Gooding Jr.'s Big Breakdown

In one gut-wrenching battle scene in Pearl Harbor (opening today), Cuba Gooding Jr. is seen with tears streaming down his cheeks. "I wasn't acting, and now I can smile about it," the Oscar winner tells TV Guide Online. "I couldn't stop crying because I was hanging on to the world's biggest machine gun, firing away at the enemy, and the noise and concussion were horrible. I thought, 'I'm going to die up here in the middle of this fake battle.' "But being there while that page of history was filmed was one of those defining moments that you never forget," he adds. "I'm glad I was up to the physical challenge. I'm still in shape, but one day when I'm in a wheelchair I can put on the tape of Pearl Harbor and watch myself in my glory." Gooding Jr.  who starred as a naval hero opposite Robert De Niro in last year's Men of Honor  has a markedly smaller role in Pearl

Mon, May 28, 2001

Cuba Gooding Jr.'s Big Breakdown

Fri, May 25, 2001

Kidman: "I'm Still Overwhelmed"

Nicole Kidman's new film, Moulin Rouge, may have come up empty-handed at the Cannes Film Festival last weekend, but it scored a major victory at the box office: On just two screens, the musical drama grossed a spectacular $167,540, for a per-screen average of $83,770. (By comparison, the No. 1 film, Shrek, pulled in $11,806 at each theater.) While it's too early to herald the pic a smash  the true test comes June 1 when it opens wide  it's safe to say that Kidman's decision to aggressively promote the movie has paid off so far. Still, given her recent split from Tom Cruise (and her subsequent miscarriage), the actress admits to TV Guide Online that, "Obviously I would not do interviews during this particular time in my life if I didn't have such a wonderful film to talk about. I want people to know about it." In an effort to protect her two children, Kidman won't disc

Wed, May 23, 2001

The Shrek Who Shagged Me

Mike Myers just couldn't resist making Shrek something of a Fat Bastard. The funnyman  who supplies the not-so-jolly green giant's voice in the animated send-up of classic fairy-tales  admits he borrowed heavily from the gluttonous Scotsman he created for Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. Why, you ask? "At first, I was making Shrek sound Canadian," he says, "and I wasn't totally happy. Then I remembered that my mom, who's from Liverpool, used to read me children's stories with a British accent. And even though we had [already] recorded a lot of stuff, I said to the producers, 'I want to try something new.' So I made Shrek sort of British and Scottish. I guess that did include a bit of Fat Bastard." Myers  who replaced Chris Farley after the comic's sudden passing  clearly doesn't take the role too seriously. "I was worried about typecasting," he deadpans. "I think I've played too many green ogres." More thoughtfully,

Fri, May 18, 2001

Kingsley Applauds ABC's Dear Diary

Oscar winner Ben Kingsley  who starred as Oskar Schindler's Jewish accountant in Schindler's List and who headlines ABC's wrenching holocaust miniseries, Anne Frank (airing Sunday and Monday at 9 pm/ET)  has no patience for critics who say there are just too many death camp dramas coming out of Hollywood. "How dare they!" scowls the actor in an interview with TV Guide Online. "Poor souls who want to anesthetize themselves against the realities of life. This dark period of our history happened, and people who don't want to face it are in bad shape." In Anne Frank  based on Austrian journalist Melissa Muller's 1998 book Anne Frank: The Biography  Kingsley portrays Otto Frank, the young heroine's father and the only survivor in his family. "There is an element of Otto that allowed him to survive the camps, and [gave him] the will  every day of his life after Anne's death  to say

Wed, May 16, 2001

Malcolm's Driven Young Star

Los Angelenos are used to seeing just about anything on the freeway, but when Malcolm in the Middle's Frankie Muniz gets behind the wheel, he draws some strange looks. "People look at me like, 'He's too young to be driving,'" says the 15-year-old, who just got his learner's permit. "They think I'm that kid I play on the TV show, who's only 12." Even if he doesn't quite look his age, Muniz heads into L.A.'s notoriously rough traffic undaunted. "I never feel scared," he insists. "Sometimes, when I get a little nervous because someone is tailgating or driving too fast, I just try to relax and act cool because I really love driving a car  I bought a couple of them!" And since his learner's permit requires that Muniz be accompanied by a licensed driver, his mother's usually in the passenger seat  though she doesn't backseat-drive too much. "My mom is very cool about it," he says. "She never has to tell me which way to

Wed, May 9, 2001

Meet Mummy's Invisible Men

WWF superstar The Rock learned to loathe co-star Brendan Fraser while making The Mummy Returns. In the highly anticipated sequel to the 1999 blockbuster (opening tomorrow), the two performers play enemies whose rivalry comes to a head in a climactic battle sequence. Yet despite the violent tug-of-war, the duo never actually came face-to-face during filming. "I was kicking at thin air," explains Rock, who shot his role as the evil Scorpion King on a separate soundstage. "The director, Stephen Sommers, was yelling things like, 'Remember you hate Brendan Fraser. You didn't even like his last movie.'" Adds Fraser: "Everything was done with special effects and our imaginations." Incidentally, Fraser points out that not only did he and the 6'5" giant never interact on the set, "I had never even met The Rock until the premiere of The Mummy Returns [last month]. But I knew he'd be a very nice guy because my friends at Saturday Nig

Thu, May 3, 2001

Laura Bush's Evil Twin

First Lady Laura Bush nearly met her TV doppelganger at a White House press corps dinner on Sunday. Carrie Quinn Dolin  who spoofs Dubya's wife on Comedy Central's That's My Bush!  was slated to attend until a last-minute change in the series's production schedule kept her from flying to Washington, D.C. Though disappointed, Dolin's a little relieved at having been spared the awkwardness of such an encounter. "I don't know what I would say to her if I was introduced," she admits. "I watched the interview with Mrs. Bush on Larry King Live, and she said she'd heard about our show but never watched it. I don't know how close they would ever let me get to her, but I think my chances of shaking hands with her are pretty slim." Like the sitcom's irreverent creators  South Park's Trey Parker and Matt Stone  Dolin makes no apologies for the outrageous humor on That's My Bush! "I don't think we're making

Mon, Apr 30, 2001

Neve Campbell's Panic Button

Neve Campbell experienced major d&eacute;j&agrave; vu while filming her latest flick, Panic (currently in limited release). When Campbell bussed another woman in a love scene, memories of her poolside kiss with Denise Richards in 1998's Wild Things came flooding back. "It just seems to be a trend these days," says Campbell, who plays a bisexual beautician. "After Wild Things, everyone sort of jumped on the bandwagon. But I think it's good showing males and females being open about their sexuality. You shouldn't have to hide anything." As for locking lips with her colleagues on camera, Campbell confesses: "It's always awkward, whether it's a guy or a girl. The first thing I do is reach for the Altoids. Then, I just try to be sensitive to the other person and make them comfortable. The hardest part is not thinking about the very large group of crew members that are standing around watching." Aside from the same-sex smooch, Pan

Wed, Apr 25, 2001

Billy Ray Plays Doctor

Country crooner Billy Ray Cyrus initially felt like belting out another chorus of his hit "Achy Breaky Heart" when he took a break from singing to star in his own TV series, Doc (airing Sundays at 8 pm/ET on PAX). "The first thing they did is fire the acting coach I'd hired," Cyrus laughs. "They just wanted me to be myself. Then I discovered that playing a character is like making music: Every scene has a rhythm that you have to find, just like a song." Cyrus feels a certain kinship with his Clint Cassidy character, an earnest country doctor struggling to begin anew at a Big Apple hospital. "The doc lives the way I've always tried to live my life," he suggests. "You abide by the laws of what's right and wrong; you base your life on the Ten Commandments. I'm also naive and trusting just like he is." He's also proud of the fact that Doc has found ratings success without any hype. "I have not been on Leno, Letterman, Rosie, Oprah

Thu, Apr 19, 2001

Spy Kids Star's Racy New Role

Parents beware! Even if your children loved Carla Gugino in Spy Kids, you may not want them to catch her eye-popping role in Center of the World (which opens in select cities Friday before bowing nationwide on May 4). Directed by Wayne Wang, the film offers a shockingly realistic exploration of human sexuality. In fact, World turns heads so well that it's being released unrated to avoid the dreaded NC-17 label. (What's more, the film's racy poster was rejected by several of the nation's top daily newspapers.) And Ms. Gugino  so wholesome as Spy Kids's comic secret-agent mom  adds spice to the racy mix by playing a hooker. "Playing a prostitute was a departure for me," Gugino tells TV Guide Online. "I did some research  strictly theoretical, of course  to get ready for the part. I find it really interesting to stretch the limits... doing something you've never done before, not knowing if you can really pull it off

Wed, Apr 18, 2001

Cruz Duped by Depp

Pen&#233lope Cruz was literally blown away by her Blow co-star Johnny Depp. The so-called 'Spanish enchantress'  who plays Depp's wife in the biopic of drug dealer George Jung  knew Depp had a wicked sense of humor, but she wasn't prepared for his battery-operated whoopee cushion. "We were doing a close-up in this very emotional scene on one of our first days of shooting," Cruz recalls to TV Guide Online. "Suddenly, I hear this, 'Phhhhwwwww.' I tried to ignore it and keep acting. Then, I hear a second one and I looked at the sound man thinking, 'Maybe it's him.' Then, there was a third one and the whole crew broke up. They were dying because they could see I didn't want to embarrass anybody by stopping the scene. "I found out that Johnny has this fart machine, which is remote-controlled, and he had the control in his pocket and he was pressing it," she continues. "I felt so foolish that I was just looking for somewhere to run and

Tue, Apr 17, 2001

Josie's Top Cat a Real Doll

Rachael Leigh Cook got a kick out of being a member of an all-girl rock band in Josie and the Pussycats. However, the 21-year-old actress had mixed feelings about becoming a modern-day Barbie. "They made dolls of us that are so real they're scary," she says of the very anatomically correct figures modeled after Cook and fellow Pussycats Tara Reid and Rosario Dawson. "They actually scanned us with a computer to get the shapes right. You sit with this thing spinning around you that's like a cross between a make-up mirror and a microwave. I just kept thinking, 'Try not to look weird.'" Well, that experience was not nearly as grueling as the one that transformed her from being a brunette to a redhead  another Josie requirement. "To get my natural brown to flaming red took a lot of hair dye," sighs Cook, whose big break came opposite Freddie Prinze Jr. in the 1999 romantic comedy She's All That. "After a while I real

Mon, Apr 16, 2001

Liv Tyler: Daddy's Little Girl No More

Her father may be the legendary lead singer for Aerosmith, but actress Liv Tyler hardly behaves like some ass-kissing rock groupie around pa Steven Tyler. "I love my dad, but I'm definitely critical of him sometimes when his pants are too tight or [when] he says silly things," she tells TV Guide Online. "I try to be supportive, though." In fact, Liv couldn't help but gush when she first heard her dad's new album, Just Push Play. "I couldn't believe how brilliant [it was]," she marvels, adding that she also complimented her old man on his performance at the American Music Awards earlier this year. "I thought he looked beautiful, and he had a great suit on. I left him a big congratulatory message on his cell phone. He told me that hearing it made him cry." Liv isn't revealing how her father reacted to her sexy turn in the offbeat black comedy One Night at McCool's, which opens April 27. In one scene, the Armageddon star scrubs

Fri, Apr 13, 2001

Jada Gears Up for Matrix

Jada Pinkett-Smith, 29, faced a fitness challenge not shared by Keanu Reeves and company while prepping for her strenuous role in the upcoming Matrix sequels: The actress recently gave birth to her second child  daughter Willow Camille Reign Smith  with hubby Will Smith. "I'm still breast-feeding, which made it a little harder to get in shape," she tells TV Guide Online with a chuckle. "But I was ready to lose some weight, so it was great to get physical. I'm getting pretty good at kung fu." Considering the level of secrecy surrounding the two new Matrix pics  which are being filmed back-to-back  Pinkett-Smith has been forbidden from revealing much about the plot. "I play a kick-ass chick and I'm really digging her," she previews. "She's very tight with Laurence Fishburne, but that's all I can tell you." Pinkett-Smith  who recently completed a small role opposite her better half in the Muh

Tue, Apr 10, 2001

Kelly Bundy Gets a Makeover

It's Christina Applegate like you've never seen her before. The former Married... with Children sexpot is trading tight T-shirts for period garb in her new film, Just Visiting  an English-language remake of the 1993 French pic Les Visiteurs  in which she plays an 11th century princess. "It was the age of chivalry, when men treated women like ladies," Applegate, 29, tells TV Guide Online. "Now, that sense of chivalry in men has died, and I think we're partly responsible for messing it up. We kept telling the guys, 'We're equal.' Now, they're like, 'Fine. You open the damn door.'" Applegate says her decade-long stint as Married's IQ-challenged Kelly Bundy gave her the confidence she needed to hold her own in the time-tripping romantic comedy, which opens today. "I wasn't always funny," confesses the actress, who last year headlined the short-lived NBC comedy, Jesse. "I learned how to get laughs from [c

Fri, Apr 6, 2001

Tara Reid: Suddenly Single?

Tara Reid  the upcoming star of Josie and the Pussycats (opening April 11)  wants to set the record straight about why her summer wedding to MTV hottie Carson Daly has been called off: A scheduling conflict is to blame, not a falling out. "I'm doing this movie called The Guest," the American Pie actress tells TV Guide Online, referring to the David Zucker-directed comedy. "So the good news is I got another movie. The bad news is that the wedding is not happening." As Reid explains, she was already knee-deep in preparations for the big day when word came that she was joining That '70s Show's Ashton Kutcher and former Saturday Night Live regular Molly Shannon on The Guest list. "I had picked out the bridesmaids' dresses and the invitations," she groans, "but we just cancelled everything." No new date has been set for the nuptials, which was to co-star Reid's fellow Pussyca

Wed, Apr 4, 2001

Gossip Queen Sounds Off!

Whatever happened to Rona Barrett, the queen of Hollywood gossip who frequently was first with the most shocking tales about celebs' private lives? Well, believe it or not, she's busy raising lavender on her spacious Santa Barbara ranch for use in a line of anti-aging creams and food products. Proceeds from the venture  appropriately called "Taste of Lavender"  go to support Barrett's fave cause, Seniors in Need. Although the sharp-tongued observer admits that, "It's hard to get back into the thick of celebrities when I'm in the thick of my lavender," she manages to still keep a close eye on Tinseltown's latest scandals du jour. So, TV Guide Online lobbed a few hot topics Barrett's way to see if she could talk spice as well as grow it. Robert Downey Jr.: "He certainly isn't the greatest actor that came down the pike, but he's become a celebrity because he fell off the wagon. Is that something to glorify? That's my problem with Downey, but Holl

Thu, Mar 29, 2001

Joe Isuzu Returns

Joe Isuzu lives! David Leisure  who gained fame playing the smarmy car salesman in late '80s TV ads  just resumed hawking Isuzu sport utility vehicles in February. During his first go around, the actor finessed his way into a cushy seven-season stint as Richard Mulligan's Joe Isuzu-esque neighbor on The Golden Girls spin-off, Empty Nest. Now, he's actually managed to milk himself a comeback. "Andy Warhol was wrong," Leisure gleefully tells TV Guide Online. "You get more than 15 minutes of fame. I'm getting an extra 15, and I feel like the luckiest guy in Hollywood." It's been 11 years since coach potatoes last saw Leisure doing his comic snake-oil routine in a series of award-winning ads, which featured the words "He's lying" flashing below him on-screen. "I was a little scared at the thought of bringing him back," Leisure admits. "I thought, 'Everybody who knew him is either dead or doesn't care anymore.' But I guess I was

Thu, Mar 29, 2001

Jason Lee: A Real Heartbreaker

Jason Lee, last seen as a hip rocker in Almost Famous, admits that the role was a breeze compared to what he faced in his new film, Heartbreakers (opening Friday). "I had to play a really middle-of-the-road person, and I wasn't sure if I was going to pull it off," confides the onetime skateboard champ. "I surprised myself by discovering how sweet, forgiving and understanding I could be. I sort of became the guy-next-door." Lee  whose resume also includes roles in Chasing Amy and Dogma  says that he drew on memories of his youth to get into the mind of his Heartbreakers alter ego. "In junior high, I was this scrawny nerd," he confesses. "I remember my girlfriend dumping me for the football jock. I didn't protest because he would have pounded me into the ground." Ironically, in Heartbreakers, Lee gets taken in by the quintessential girl-next-door, Jennifer Love Hewitt, who is playing an image-shattering role

Mon, Mar 19, 2001

Seagal Heals Box-Office Wounds

Steven Seagal, the comedian? The action star  who has seen his box-office fortunes fade in recent years (Fire Down Below anyone?)  mixes kicking and punchlines in his latest film, Exit Wounds (opening Friday). "I always knew I could do humor," says Seagal, who sheds his trademark ponytail in the film. "I did a cameo as myself in Billy Crystal's My Giant, and some of the critics said I was funnier than Billy. Not that I was." In Exit Wounds, Seagal spoofs his superhero persona by playing a tough cop who suddenly finds he can't do anything right. "My favorite thing is poking fun at my own image," confesses the actor, whose character is demoted to directing traffic and has to take an anger management class. "It lets people know that you're human and you're not living this delusion of ego about something that isn't real anyway." Seagal's Exit Wounds co-star, rapper DMX, learned the hard way that he's no ma

Thu, Mar 15, 2001