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Burt Reynolds: No More Mr. Ladies Man

One-time Playgirl centerfold Burt Reynolds admits his sex appeal just isn't what it used to be. The 64-year-old actor tells TV Guide Online that he was on location in Florida shooting his latest pic, The Crew (opening today), when he and his co-stars ? Richard Dreyfuss, Seymour Cassel and Dan Hedaya ? got the blow-off from the bathing beauties of South Beach. "We were all gawking and none of these ladies knew or cared who these old guys staring at them were," he says. "And we were all thinking, 'When did that happen? Just yesterday, somebody would have cared. But nobody cares now.'&nbsp;" No doubt, Reynolds still maintains a sense of humor about himself. The actor chuckles at the irony of making fun of his own bad boy past as The Crew's "Bats," an out-of-work mobster who's known to throw a punch or two. "I never thought I'd ever play a guy that screwy, as screwy as I was in that moment," he says. "People used to get in li

Fri, Aug 25, 2000

Dunst Cheers Up

Kirsten Dunst is fed up with cheerleaders being portrayed as brainless eye candy. But the Golden Globe-nominated actress (Interview With the Vampire) hopes that her new film, Bring It On, in which she dons pom poms, will shatter that stereotype. "This movie actually portrays cheerleaders as intelligent and not ditsy blondes," she tells TV Guide Online. "I'm so sick of seeing that clich&eacute;. Usually when you see cheerleaders they're getting killed in horror movies or something like that." In Bring It On (opening Friday), Dunst plays the captain of a cheerleading team that makes it to the national ESPN competition. As a result, the former spirit leader had to brush up on her high kicks and back flips. "All the other girls got, like, three weeks of rehearsal, but I came late and only had one week," she notes. "I had to jam in all the stunts, all the dancing, everything into seven days. It was stressful, but it was so much fun. I love to danc

Wed, Aug 23, 2000

Snipes Makes War, Not Love

Wesley Snipes warns moviegoers that his new film, The Art of War (opening Friday), is not your typical action flick. For one thing, there is no obligatory sex scene between him and leading lady Marie Matiko. "The guy I play has no time to get it on with a woman," Snipes tells TV Guide Online of his covert agent character. "It's like, 'Yo, the man is on the run.' He's too busy saving himself to end up in the sack at some hotel." Snipes more than makes up for War's lack of hanky panky in his upcoming HBO movie, Disappearing Acts. "It's a romance, it's drama, it's interaction, it's black love," he explains. "These are things that we want to see, and I haven't done a project like that in a long time. I felt it was time for me to do a love story." In fact, if Snipes had his druthers, the star of Blade and U.S. Marshals would take Shakespeare over Star Wars any day. "I didn't get into the business to do action," he insis

Tue, Aug 22, 2000

Rimes Lives and Learns

LeAnn Rimes admits that her legal dispute with her father over the handling of her money has taken a heavy toll. The 17-year-old singer/actress, who has a cameo in the hit flick Coyote Ugly (and also sings four of the film's songs), is suing her father and her manager, claiming they withheld more than $7 million of her earnings. "It's been a very stressful time," she tells TV Guide Online. "I have to take criticism from people who really don't know what they're talking about. And they think they do because they read The Enquirer and the big magazines. I love my family very much. It's been a lesson to learn not to mix family with business. And my father and my mother, I love them as my father and mother. And I want to keep it that way. And then I get along with them fine." Rimes is not letting her legal woes hold her back creatively, however. In fact, she happily shed her wholesome image in Coyote Ugly, in which she's seen dancing on a bar in cowb

Mon, Aug 14, 2000

Shue Likes to Watch

Elisabeth Shue didn't have to rent Wild Things to get a look at Kevin Bacon's not-so-private parts. As his co-star in the just-released Hollow Man, she caught an in-person glimpse of the actor's bare necessities. "When Kevin starts to become an invisible man, he has to be naked," she tells TV Guide Online. "Some of the time he wore a little g-string, but in one scene he didn't. [And] all I'll say is we got to check it out during many takes. Finally, we just got hysterical ? but that's no reflection on Kevin. He was so comfortable that it made everyone feel comfortable. He was a gem. That man is an extreme professional." In Hollow Man, Shue plays a research scientist who watches as Bacon tests a serum on himself that induces invisibility. For her part, the Oscar-nominated actress sees the appeal of living life out of sight. "The one thing I'd love to do... I would really want to watch people interact without them knowing that I was there,"

Mon, Aug 7, 2000

Sweeney Finally Speaks!

In the WB's new animated series Baby Blues, premiering Friday at 8 pm/ET, former Saturday Night Live regular Julia Sweeney reveals to viewers a shocking new side of herself: her voice. "It's the first time I've ever used my real voice on TV," Sweeney tells TV Guide Online, adding that if only her alter ego wasn't so dowdy, they'd be the spitting image of each other. "I think Wanda should be a little sexier looking, then she'd be more like me. But I'm adjusting." Sweeney ? best known as androgynous Pat, the SNL character she created and later took to a feature-length film ? was no stranger to the popular comic strip on which the show is based. "All my girlfriends who are married and have babies kept telling me about it," she says. "They got me to read it and I thought it was very sharp and funny. Actually, the TV version is going to be darker and edgier and a little less about moms and kids." As Wanda, Sweeney faces the ups and downs of life i

Thu, Jul 27, 2000

Lily Tomlin's Worst Gig

Although it's been many years since Lily Tomlin worked as an executive assistant, the comedienne's still haunted by memories of her first job in a big New York City office. "I was sort of the office flunky and the other three women in the office just tortured me," recalls Tomlin, who currently stars as a sassy executive assistant opposite Bruce Willis in Disney's The Kid. "I was a hippie in burlap skirts and T-shirts and the women in the office were all the opposite of me with long fingernails and bubble hairdos. "They would send me out during lunch hour to do everything from exchange a bra at Lord & Taylor to get some ice cream for their dessert," she tells TV Guide Online. "I would say, 'Could I have cab fare?' And they'd say, 'Take a bus.'&nbsp; "Finally, one day, I was walking to the front of the office with this pile of oversized ledgers and one of the women, Florence, had her feet stretched out and I couldn't get by. I was paralyzed. F

Thu, Jul 13, 2000

Jason's Secret Dessert Desires

Jason Biggs loves apple pie but he's had a tough time admitting it ever since he shared an intimate moment with the dessert in the raunchy 1999 teen comedy American Pie. "People think that if I order a piece of apple pie and it's in front of me I'm not going to be able to resist the temptation to jump on top of the table and start humping it," he tells TV Guide Online. "I mean, obviously, that's not true." The actor says he was recently up in Toronto shooting the soon-to-be-released Loser when he made the mistake of ordering apple pie &agrave; la mode from the hotel room service. "The guy came up to the door and he was kind of looking down and he looks up from the pie as I opened the door, and he just had this look like, 'Oh, my God!'&nbsp;" "He was trying so hard to be professional and not smile, and he came in and delivered it, and he put it down," says Biggs. "And I know he went down to the kitchen and was totally joking about it. But wha

Thu, Jul 13, 2000

Carrey Caught Red-Faced

Jim Carrey might seem willing to do anything for a laugh but the funnyman confesses that he was downright embarrassed performing one particularly raunchy sight gag in the over-the-top comedy Me, Myself & Irene. The same man who pushed himself naked through the rear end of a rhinoceros sculpture in Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls says he actually felt humiliated pretending to be breast-fed by buxom actress Shannon Whirry on the set of Irene. "It's very rare when I get in to a place where I actually am like kind of humiliated," he tells TV Guide Online. "It was so embarrassing to me." "I was embarrassed for the girl and she was fine with it," he says of Whirry, whose curvy body has graced many a low-budget flick. Carrey was so red-faced, in fact, that he found himself apologizing to the actress between each take. "She was like, 'Yeah, whatever.'&nbsp;" Although the scene takes place on a park bench, don't expect to see many e

Wed, Jun 21, 2000

Samuel L. Jackson Stands Tall

Just like the no-nonsense detective he plays in the hit movie Shaft, actor Samuel L. Jackson doesn't back down under pressure. Asked about rumors of his being a demanding actor on the set, the star tells TV Guide Online in no uncertain terms that there's good reason for standing his ground with directors. "The one thing that I have to realize these days when I show up on a movie set is I'm generally going to work with somebody who's done somewhere between five and seven movies," he says. "I've done somewhere between 65 and 70. So sometimes when they do something or they have a bright idea, I don't think it's such a bright idea. And I express my opinion about that." "There's always conflicts on a movie set no matter what," he says. "Things always happen." The veteran actor has learned to be wary of directors who try to settle arguments with the "let's shoot it your way and then we'll try it my way" approach. Inevitably, the director's shot always wins

Tue, Jun 20, 2000

Marc Anthony's Blockbuster Marriage

The taping of tonight's 6th Annual Blockbuster Entertainment Awards should have included a special category for singer Marc Anthony ? Best Post-Award Secret Plans. Last May, the pop star showed up at the ceremony at L.A.'s Shrine Auditorium hand-in-hand with girlfriend Dayanara Torres but kept secret his plans to marry the former Miss Universe later that same night. Right after performing his hit song You Sang to Me for the cameras, he popped the question and zipped Torres off to Las Vegas for a quickie ceremony. Dressed in their awards duds, the groom sported a long black coat and the bride wore a skimpy ensemble that included a champagne colored embroidered top and a long black skirt with matching trim at the waist. Meanwhile, back at the Blockbuster Awards, L.L. Cool J seemed genuinely touched by his award for Favorite Supporting Actor in an Action Film. "What I have here is my first award ever as an actor. So it's a very special day fo

Tue, Jun 20, 2000

Renee Zellweger, Rough and Tumble

Doing physical comedy isn't as easy as it looks, according to Me, Myself & Irene star Renee Zellweger. The actress tells TV Guide Online she had no idea what she was in for when she agreed to spend two days shooting a scene that had her floating down a choppy Vermont river. "You don't really notice the scrapes and bumps and bruises until you're getting dressed in your costume and you go, 'Oh, my gosh, what happened yesterday?'&nbsp;" she says. Zellweger confesses she did get a kick out of giving co-star Jim Carrey the boot ? literally. In one scene, she gives the funnyman a kick that sends him flying down a hill. "It was hysterical, actually, because he kept insisting that he be the one to fall over the back of the railing and roll down the hill and nearly hit the tree each time," she says. "Everyone else kept insisting, 'No, no, no, it's OK, just tell them what y

Fri, Jun 16, 2000

Success Hasn't Spoiled Heather Donahue

Blair Witch Project babe Heather Donahue's solid upbringing helped her cope with the rush of success she experienced last summer when the indie horror flick made her the flavor du jour. "I think if I were not me, and didn't grow up with my parents and my background, I would probably be nodding off on a stoop in the East Village right now," she tells TV Guide Online. The key to dealing with what happened last summer... it feels like talking about something so horrible, like when Aunt Maggie died," Donahue tries to explain. "It was about keeping it at a distance and never acknowledging that something was happening to me, because it wasn't about me; it was about something else. I'm not, still not, quite sure what it was, but it was certainly not my baby anymore. It was when I worked on it, and then it goes into other hands. Do you know what I mean?" Sorta... but surely Donahue, soon to be seen with Jason Big

Thu, Jun 15, 2000

Nic Cage's Need for Speed

Sexy Nicolas Cage, now starring in Gone in Sixty Seconds, a remake of the 1974 cult film, is no stranger to fast cars; he has 10 of them, actually! "When I was 4 years old I would plant my Hot Wheels collection in the hopes that they would grow into big cars," Cage tells TV Guide Online. "So I've always been obsessed with cars." Cage adds that he did a lot of his own stunts in the action film. "I did 80 percent of it, which, you know, was tricky. It was scary and it's not something that I enjoy doing. I'm not the guy who goes out to the Safeway parking lot and spins donuts, you know, but that's essentially what they needed me to do ? 360s and 180s." Sounds like risky business to us. "The only people that didn't want me to do [the stunts] were at the studio, because they saw how fast I was going and they knew it was me. They said, 'You have

Mon, Jun 12, 2000

Angelina Jolie on Love and Marriage

Oscar-winning oddity Angelina Jolie, currently seen in Gone in Sixty Seconds, tells TV Guide Online that her shotgun marriage to Billy Bob Thornton will probably be around a lot longer than a New York minute. "There wasn't much thought behind it," she confesses. "That's why it was so intimate, why we were so casually dressed. It was just about us, in our clothes, looking at each other and saying, 'This is it for life.'&nbsp;" The actress also lashes out at tabloid reports that tried to paint her relationship with her brother as incestuous. "You know, you didn't hurt my brother [James Haven]. My parents loved that moment [at the Oscars], and that's what will always matter. [But] reading things about me and Billy is always going to hurt just because it's strange to me that people don't think that the beautiful things in my life are worth mentioning. Maybe it's not int

Fri, Jun 9, 2000

Big Momma Star Speaks Out

What's the secret to making People's 50 Most Beautiful People list? Nia Long, star of Big Momma's House, knows the answer. "I think beauty has a lot to do with confidence and accomplishment and just sort of being in a place where you're comfortable with who you are," the actress tells TV Guide Online. "It's an honor [to be on the list] because when you look through the magazine there are so many different types of men and women that have accomplished so many different things, and are beautiful in so many different ways." Long, fast approaching 30, says measuring up to Hollywood's beauty standards is no easy feat. "I think that Hollywood puts such a tremendous amount of pressure on women to stay young forever and, you know, to alter their physical state because being older isn't something that's attractive. But you know wh

Tue, Jun 6, 2000

Branagh's Stinkiest Performance

Respected Shakespearean actor Kenneth Branagh has a confession to make ? he once tried to arrange a seemingly impromptu meeting with a woman on the street by hiding inside a stinky garbage can. Needless to say, Branagh's cockamamie plan turned out to be a disaster. And it began to fall apart just as soon as the would-be object of his affection came into view. "I attempted to get out quickly, hit my head and fell over," he tells TV Guide Online. "So I rolled out of the trash can and then it all became very, very embarrassing. But it meant that the relationship was resolved very, very quickly." "I was pungent [upon] emerging from this trash can," he adds. "It sort of underlines how stupid one can be, because it had never crossed my mind. It just seemed a good place to hide." Branagh, who next stars opposite Alicia Silverstone in the movie musical adaptation of Shakespeare's

Thu, Jun 1, 2000

Alicia Silverstone Explains It All

Could there be traces of killer drugs in your dinner? Clueless star and die-hard vegan Alicia Silverstone seems to think so. "When you eat a piece of meat or a piece of chicken, you're actually eating euthanization drugs," the 23-year-old actress tells TV Guide Online. "They take all the dogs and cats that are euthanized in the pound and they take all the roadkill ? you know, like animals that get killed in the road ? and they grind them all up ? even the cows that are deemed unfit for human consumption ? and they're all ground up and fed back to cows and chickens and turkeys and pigs." Silverstone, who stars opposite Kenneth Branagh in the movie-musical adaptation of Shakespeare's Love's Labours Lost, gets downright preachy when it comes to promoting the vegan lifestyle. The actress, whose tight-fitting Batgirl outfit in Batman and Robin prompted some of the

Wed, May 31, 2000

Kevin Eubanks Gets Down With Judge Judy!

If Judge Judy ever appears to be winded while guesting on The Tonight Show, chances are she's been getting down with bandleader Kevin Eubanks during the commercial breaks. Eubanks tells TV Guide Online the no-nonsense TV judge has been known to cut loose and treat the studio audience to some rocking song-and-dance numbers during commercial breaks. "Judge Judy will get up and dance in a second," he says. "If we're doing a funk tune our vocalist, Vicky, will take the mike over to Judy and she'll just jump into it." "I knew when I saw her walk out that she had a bouncier step than most people, so I figured I'd just try something with her," he says. "The crowd just loves that. So when you see the audience screaming when we come back from the commercial break, that's what they are excited about." When he's not busy on the set, Eubanks says he joins other Tonight Show staffers at Jay Leno's house to help the host prepare his opening mon

Wed, May 17, 2000

Christina Applegate's Engaging News

This week brings good news and bad news for Jesse star Christina Applegate. The bad news is that NBC has just canceled her sitcom; the good news is that she's engaged to be married! Applegate, who rose to fame as Kelly Bundy on the gross-out sitcom Married... With Children, is preparing to walk down the aisle with long-time actor-beau Johnathon Schaech (Time of Your Life). TV Guide Online learned the news at last Saturday's Revlon Run/Walk for Women in Los Angeles, where the blushing bride-to-be was sporting a big rock on her ring finger. The Hollywood couple first met a few years ago when Applegate went to see Schaech in a play. But they decided not to go public with their romance until two years ago, when they showed up hand-in-hand at the star-studded Armageddon premiere. Applegate remains hopeful that Fox will continue to support Time of Your Life, which, like Jesse, has struggled in the ratings. "I'm happy tha

Tue, May 16, 2000

Ethan Hawke Bad-Mouths Burton

Hamlet star Ethan Hawke pulls no punches when it comes to critiquing the late Richard Burton's 1964 movie version of the Shakespeare drama. "I was surprised at what a ham he was," the 29-year-old actor tells TV Guide Online. Hawke insists that he's a big Burton fan but says he still can't get over how much the late actor was "flailing about" in his interpretation of the doomed king. Hawke offers a decidedly more subtle version in his soon-to-be-released Hamlet, which is set in modern-day New York. "I felt like if I had anything to offer it, which I probably didn't, the only thing I would have to offer would be to approach it with a level of simplicity that I hadn't seen this part approached with." Hawke says his favorite film version of Hamlet is the 1948 version starring the late Sir Laurence Olivier. "If any

Thu, May 11, 2000

Amy Smart Takes It All Off

Believe it or not, Amy Smart got a little help from Mom with her decision to go topless in the goofy comedy Road Trip. "I'd never done nudity before so I was a little nervous," she tells TV Guide Online. "Of course, I had to call my mother. She said, 'If you think it's the right choice then you should do it.' I was just so glad she didn't become overprotective." Smart, whose movie credits include Outside Providence and Varsity Blues, says Road Trip director Todd Phillips also helped convince her to do her first nude scene by explaining how Phoebe Cates's topless scene in Fast Times at Ridgemont High had changed his life. "I guess that made me feel better," she says. "I wanted to make sure everything was tastefully done and it didn't just become me showing my boobies."

Thu, May 11, 2000