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Brad and Jennifer: So Happy Together

The Mexican star Brad Pitt is confident he's found the perfect mate in his new bride, Jennifer Aniston. "What surprised me was this kind of sense of pride I have in our relationship," the actor tells TV Guide Online. "I look at my wife and realize that we're embarking on this thing together. We are a team, no matter what happens. It's very, very exciting and I'm very content." Summing up their marital bliss in his own wacky way, Pitt adds: "Every relationship you've been into, until the one you're in right now, technically is a failure because they've all ended in a split up. I'm not so hung up on happily ever after but, in the meantime, I'm doing naked cartwheels." Speaking of getting naked, Pitt says he won't be in The Mexican, which co-stars Julia Roberts as his kidnapped lady love. "After all, I'm a married man now," he deadpans. "But Julia and I had a great time together making this little low-budget run-and-gun movie. She's such a la

Fri, Mar 2, 2001

The Truth About Julia and Brad's Bed Scene

In The Mexican, which hits theatres Friday, Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt face enough romantic woes to confound even Oprah Winfrey's fave relationship guru, Dr. Phil McGraw. Amusingly enough, Roberts is actually a diehard Dr. Phil aficionado. "I watch Oprah and I enjoy Dr. Phil," confesses the actress, who also includes the daytime soaps among her TV viewing guilty pleasures. In fact, one particular sudser indirectly inspired Roberts to appear sans makeup in The Mexican's opening scene, which finds her lying beside Pitt in bed. "I'm a notorious Days of Our Lives watcher," she reveals. "So I see all these beautiful people waking up with lipstick and eye shadow on, [and] that bothers me. I only like to look glamorous when it's called for. So when I shot my scene with Brad, I just did it au naturel." To hear Roberts tell it, setside camaraderie came naturally to her and Pitt as well. "I guess I was surprised that every day

Wed, Feb 28, 2001

Gandolfini Married to the Mob

Sopranos godfather James Gandolfini says that the third season of his hit HBO mob drama  kicking off Sunday at 9 pm/ET  will focus more on family matters than mob intrigue. "It's about parenting, a lot about parenting," he teases. "That's what you're going to get." And two days before The Sopranos' highly anticipated return, what moviegoers will get is a glimpse of Gandolfini in his new film, The Mexican. The comedic caper  in which he kidnaps Julia Roberts from the loving arms of Brad Pitt  has the Emmy winner again playing the role of a thug. However, he explains that Leroy is much more in touch with his sensitive side (read: gay) than Tony Soprano. "I wanted to do something a little different," he says. "I needed a change. I thought I was going to start thinking I was Tony Soprano." As for the controversy surrounding The Sopranos' portrayal of Italian-Americans, Gandolfini shrugs, "I k

Tue, Feb 27, 2001

Freddie Prinze Jr.'s Most Embarrassing Moment

Freddie Prinze Jr. wants to clear something up for those moviegoers who saw his latest film, Head Over Heels, over the weekend. The sound effects in the scene where his character is going to the bathroom were not  he repeats not  supplied by him. "Man, I was ambushed," Prinze tells TV Guide Online of the noisy potty humor. "I had no idea they were going to add all of those sound effects. I imagined it being a bit less noisy, shall we say. I had no reservations whatsoever when I did the scene, but when I saw the movie it got to me." The 24-year-old She's All That hottie, however, isn't mad, just a little embarrassed. "Listen, I did a little business on the pot and it was what it was," he laughs. "I have to say it's a very funny scene... Can't wait for my mother to see that." In Head Over Heels, Prinze plays a fashion entrepreneur who is being spied on by five flawless gals sharing an apartment across the way. "It was a real

Mon, Feb 5, 2001

Linda Hamilton: Queen of the World!

Linda Hamilton had some serious doubts about playing a mother of two devastated by her husband's recent death in the ABC movie-of-the-week, Bailey's Mistake (airing March 18). However, she then learned that the telepic was, strangely enough, a whimsical comedy. "The woman in grief, the woman recovering from loss  I've done all that in real life," the Terminator 2 heroine admits to TV Guide Online. "I was after something funny. I loved the fascinating collection of eccentrics who live on a magical island owned by my character's late husband." Facing life as a single mom with two kids is something Hamilton knows something about. The actress  who endured a tumultuous and very public break-up with Titanic director James Cameron  is raising her two children, 11-year-old Dylan (son with actor-ex Bruce Abbott) and eight-year old Josephine (daughter with Cameron) alone. "The hardest part was having my heartbr

Wed, Jan 31, 2001

Camryn Manheim: Mums the Word

The Practice's Camryn Manheim  who is three months away from delivering her first child, a boy  has no immediate plans to reveal who the father is. As it is, the Emmy winner is perplexed that anyone really cares. "People are very fascinated about who the dad is," Manheim tells TV Guide Online. "But it's really not up to me to make the decision to talk about that. I've got nothing to be ashamed of. But until I get the blessing of my son that I can talk about him and about what's going on, I'm keeping it confidential. It's not about just me anymore." Manheim  whose pregnancy was incorporated into her Practice character's storyline  also can't share her son's moniker because, well, she hasn't settled on one yet. "I have some names floating around," she says. "I hated my name, Debi, so much that at 22 I changed it. I am the artist-formerly-known-as-Debi. So it's important to me that I p

Fri, Jan 26, 2001

Midler Addresses Bette Crisis

Despite rumors that her TV hubby was fired, Bette Midler insists that Kevin Dunn  who played her better half on CBS's Bette  requested to be let out of his contract. "Kevin wanted to be let go," the Divine One tells TV Guide Online. "He wasn't happy with the material. I thought he was a terrific husband, but he didn't like what he was doing. Rather than make him suffer through the rest of his contract, it seemed better to release him and let him find peace and happiness somewhere else." Dunn made his final appearance on Jan. 3, and Midler admits she's in no hurry to recast. "I'm not looking for someone," she says, "but I do gather that the audience likes a male presence working with me. I understand that. "I'm just very nervous about getting involved with an actor I'm not sure of," Midler continues. "I'd like to have a different Roy on every episode: One week it could be Martin Short

Thu, Jan 25, 2001

Malcolm Mom's Emmy Nightmare

Malcolm in the Middle's scene-stealing mom, Jane Kaczmarek, confesses to TV Guide Online that she was wearing a girdle at last September's Emmy Awards and felt somewhat disappointed that her husband, Bradley Whitford of NBC's The West Wing, hadn't been nominated. But those were just a couple of things that made the event "one of the most unpleasant evenings" of her entire life. "First of all, I didn't have a ticket," says Kaczmarek, whose Malcolm kudos have included an Emmy nomination as well as a recent Golden Globe nod. "I had hired a publicist, who never got my tickets. So we literally went running up there. We were late because we were talking to everyone on the red carpet. We went from door to door trying to get in, and finally someone with a headset said, 'Yeah, I have a lady here. She says she's a nominee. She doesn't have a ticket.' So, we

Fri, Jan 19, 2001

Judging Amy's Big Cover-Up

Amy Brenneman will be spending a lot more time in the courtroom on CBS's Judging Amy in coming months. The show's decision not to incorporate the actress's real-life pregnancy into the show means her loose-fitting judge's robe will be called on more frequently to cover up that expanding tummy. Still, executive producer Barbara Hall believes all the smoke and mirrors are necessary to preserve the integrity of the series  which features Brenneman as a single mom. "It's a show about a newly liberated woman starting the next phase of her life," she says. "I think putting a newborn baby into the mix would completely change that direction. "But I knew that Amy and her husband Brad wanted to have a kid, so I was sort of expecting it," she adds. "I just kept telling myself that we had the robe and the judge's desk to bail us out." Of course, there are some things a robe can't cover up. Amy's character i

Tue, Jan 16, 2001

Dharma and... Hercules?

Kevin Sorbo is coming between Dharma and Greg. The actor  who flaunted his buffed bod as the mythical hero on Hercules: The Legendary Journey and currently battles evil on Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda  will guest-star in two February sweeps episodes of ABC's Dharma &amp; Greg playing a hunky college professor who catches Dharma's (Jenna Elfman) wandering eye. "It was interesting getting fluttery for another man," says Elfman, whose alter ego decides to take a college course taught by Sorbo. Are audiences ready to watch her consider cheating on Greg (Thomas Gibson)? "I know she's been sort of heroic and a lot of people admire her," she admits. "But we start having problems in our relationship because Greg is working very hard on a case, so Dharma thinks it's justified. "She's basically a good person, so she's conflicted about her sudden attraction for her teacher," Elfm

Tue, Jan 16, 2001

Dyan Cannon: Goin' Back to Ally

Dyan Cannon reports that her new NBC sitcom, Three Sisters (premiering tonight at 9:30 pm/ET), won't interfere with her recurring role as Judge Jennifer "Whipper" Cone on Fox's Ally McBeal. "I know I'll be back  but I don't know what to expect," Cannon tells TV Guide Online. "You never do with [creator] David [E. Kelley]. He's full of surprises. But they asked me to get five outs on Three Sisters, so I'll wait and see what he's going to surprise me with." Cannon's Three Sisters alter ego, Honey Bernstein-Flynn  the sexy mother of three adult sisters played by Katherine LaNasa (French Stewart's wife), Vicki Lewis (NewsRadio), and A.J. Langer (My So-Called Life)  was inspired by her real-life persona. Still, the actress, who tried  unsuccessfully  to get producer

Tue, Jan 9, 2001

Sting, Disney Kiss and Make Up

Why was Disney nervous about telling Sting that seven of the songs he'd written for The Emperor's New Groove weren't going to make it in the movie? "It was tough for them because they know I'm a bastard," Sting tells TV Guide Online, adding, "I was bitterly disappointed and deeply offended... I'd been working [on them] for over two years." Dropping Sting's tunes had nothing to do with quality control, however. The animated characters for which the songs were written were cut out of the script when the studio changed the film from Kingdom of the Sun, a serious drama about the Incas, to The Emperor's New Groove, a schticky gag-fest featuring David Spade and John Goodman. Ever the trouper, Sting eventually came back to write some new material. "I was kind of flattered that Disney wanted to keep us, but I was doing a new album and starting to tour and I told them I didn't think I'd have the time," he recalls. "[But] we compromised on ne

Wed, Dec 27, 2000

Ryan's Hope: More Movies!

Jeri Ryan  who got TV Guide's vote as one of the "Sexiest Stars in the Universe" for her provocative performance as Borg Seven of Nine on Star Trek: Voyager  recently had a chance to slither out of her form-fitting alien costume to play a TV reporter in Wes Craven Presents: Dracula 2000. As the actress explains, the role couldn't have come at a better time. "It was a chance for me to get my feet wet in the feature world now that we're in the last season of [Voyager]," Ryan tells TV Guide Online, adding that she's in denial about the series ending in May. "We still have a few months to go, so it hasn't really sunk in yet. I'm sure I'll be very sad, because I'm going to miss the people I've been working with for the last four years." As far as what's ahead for Seven of Nine in Voyager's closing episodes, Ryan reveals, "She's been experimenting with her sexuality and experienc

Thu, Dec 21, 2000

NYPD's Newest Recruit

Jamie Foxx Show star Garcelle Beauvais  who joins NYPD Blue this season as Assistant D.A. Valerie Haywood  admits that jumping from the WB comedy to the Emmy-winning drama has been a gut-wrenching experience. "My first day was just nerve-wracking," Beauvais tells TV Guide Online. "The show is critically acclaimed, all the actors are amazing, and my first scene was with Dennis Franz. I thought he was going to eat me alive. But he gave me a hug and was really sweet. Then, when he gets on-camera, he totally changes into [his character, Andy] Sipowicz, and you're going, 'Holy Cow!' I just sort of had to pinch myself to believe that it was happening. "It's a challenge to prove to people that you can do something gritty like NYPD Blue in spite of how you look," the former model continues. "But now, doors are opening

Wed, Dec 20, 2000

Practice Star's New Role

On The Practice, Steve Harris is an intense advocate for his clients in the courtroom. And in real life, he's equally committed to speaking out for a good cause  particularly one that has touched him personally. "My grandmother had diabetes," the Emmy-nominated actor tells TV Guide Online, "but it was watching my uncle battle the disease, seeing what he had to go through while I was still a kid, that brought it home to me. Facing diabetes is something my uncle has to do for the rest of his life. It's an everyday thing." That realization propelled Harris into an unfamiliar role as a spokesperson for Thera Sense  an innovative painless diabetes glucose monitor. "I never thought I'd be a spokesperson for anything," he admits. "I'm just an actor. But I realized that my visibility on TV would help me to get the message out. "Thera Sense is a breakthrough," he continues, "because it makes it easy

Tue, Dec 19, 2000

Mel Gibson: Hair and Now

Mel Gibson's tired of hearing women complain about their waxing woes. The Oscar winner, who had his legs waxed for a scene in his new film What Women Want, says that the procedure is not the nightmare it's cracked up to be. "It doesn't hurt that bad," Gibson admits to TV Guide Online. "But when I say that, women all come up and say, 'Yeah, well try waxing the bikini line.' I'm not going there." In the romantic comedy (opening Friday), Gibson plays Nick Marshall, a Casanova who is suddenly given the power to read women's innermost thoughts. Determined to find the answer to that question himself, the star of the last summer's hit film The Patriot approached an expert in the field. "I asked my dad one night on the phone what he thought women wanted," he recalls. "He answered, 'Everything!'" Gibson apparently has an easier time getting inside the heads of his children, specifically daughter Hannah. "When she was 14 and 15, I would think, 'Boy, i

Mon, Dec 11, 2000

District Makes Smart Move

Viewers of CBS's hit drama The District have heard Craig T. Nelson's character, Jack Mannion, tell tales of his ex-wife, Sherry. Well, on Saturday's episode, they will be able to put a familiar face with the name: Former Designing Women star Jean Smart makes her first appearance as the fiery redhead, and as she explains, sparks will fly. "Jack was a high maintenance husband, but unfortunately, incredibly bright and charming and brave and handsome and all that stuff," Smart laughs. "So she has a hard time staying unmarried to him. But she's trying real hard. When she sees him, it's really hard to keep him at arm's length. "It's fun because they set up my character really well," she continues. "He's still madly in love with her, he knows he's going to get her back and all of this stuff. And he refuses to believe that she actually has another life of her own." Smart  who won an Emmy in Septe

Fri, Dec 8, 2000

Bassett Sounds Off!

Angela Bassett admits she didn't always look forward to being on the set of Boesman and Lena, the wrenching drama about a South African couple torn apart by apartheid. "Every day I'd be like, 'Wooo, I have to go there again? It's going to be a tough day emotionally,'" Bassett tells TV Guide Online of the film, currently in limited release. "The thing that saved me is that I really love [co-star] Danny Glover, so I felt safe during those hurtful scenes in which we really go at each other." Bassett  who is being touted as a major Oscar contender for her Boesman and Lena role  not only had to face up to constant verbal and even physical confrontations with Glover, she also had to contend with the harsh locations. "There was only one way to cope: On weekends you just go and get pampered physically and have them suck the dirt out of you," she explains. "I'd go for a nice massage or a facial, but I'd know that the next day I was going to ha

Wed, Nov 29, 2000

A Knight to Remember

Just call him Sir Michael. After a distinguished career that has netted him two Academy Awards (including one for his performance in last year's The Cider House Rules), Michael Caine recently was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. And don't think for a second that he's taking the accolade lightly. "It's one of the highest honors you can get in my country," Caine tells TV Guide Online. "It's like getting an Oscar for your life because that's what they consider  the way you've conducted yourself over a lifetime. "It takes a while for it to sink in," adds the actor, who received the knighthood under his given name, Maurice Micklewhite. "You never believe you're going to get anything like that. Now, I guess I've got to live up to what I've become." While Caine may be on his best behavior in real life, he goes to the other extreme in his latest film, Quills, in which he makes life miserable for the Marquis

Tue, Nov 28, 2000

Practice Star's Legal Beef

The Practice's decision to incorporate Kelli Williams and Camryn Manheim's real-life pregnancies into the show is threatening to turn ABC's hit legal drama into the thinking person's Romper Room. Well, had executive producer David E. Kelley listened to the complaints of co-star Steve Harris, he might not be facing such labor pains. "I couldn't understand why they decided to give my character [Eugene] a son," Harris tells TV Guide Online. "I was wondering why not Bobby (Dylan McDermott) or Jimmy (Michael Badalucco), especially since I play a guy who's not married. I wanted to make sure that I wasn't some kind of deadbeat dad, and I didn't want to continue adding to that particular black stereotype. I wasn't all that thrilled. So, I voiced my opinion. But I guess I was overruled." Harris  who reports that several behind-the-scenes Practice staffers are ex

Fri, Nov 17, 2000

Carrey Goes Extra Green Mile

Jim Carrey knew that Ron Howard was trying to empathize with his suffering on the set of The Grinch the day the director showed up wearing the same claustrophobic, confining latex-and-fur costume. But as the actor explains, Howard's well-intentioned effort fell a tad short. "It was a cool move of solidarity, but he didn't [wear] the green contact lenses which are really what pushes you over the edge," Carrey tells TV Guide Online. "Once a little artificial snow gets in them, it's all over. Actually, I wanted to make Ron dance around for a while so he'd really understand what I was going through. It was like being buried alive on a daily basis." Such trauma eventually took its toll on Carrey. In fact, after being encased in the Rick Baker-created Grinch outfit for hours, the Ace Ventura star would lose it. "I'd start to punch myself in the leg," he recalls. "It's like if you give yourself a little extra pain, it takes your focus off

Wed, Nov 15, 2000

Schwarzenegger/Cameron Bond Not Terminated

Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to make something perfectly clear: He harbors absolutely no ill will toward James Cameron for opting not to direct Terminator 3. "Jim told me he's just too busy, and I totally understand his point of view," says Schwarzenegger, whose latest actioner, The 6th Day, opens Friday. "We are such good friends that we have total respect for each other." Schwarzenegger initially was dead-set against doing T3 unless the Oscar-winning filmmaker returned to the helm. (Fight Club's David Fincher is now on board.) "I changed my mind," he admits. "The script was really good, and I thought that it ought to be made." Another film Schwarzenegger is feeling passionate about is the sequel to his 1990 blockbuster Total Recall. Unfortunately, unlike his 6th Day alter ego (who clones himself), Schwarzenegger is only one person. "Unless I clone myself for real, I can't do all these sequels to the Term

Mon, Nov 13, 2000