jeanne.wolf

David Duchovny Criticizes God

David Duchovny says he learned an important moviemaking lesson when he agreed to star in the 1997 flop Playing God. Duchovny, who's once again looking to turn his X-Files fame into big-screen stardom with the romance pic Return to Me, tells TV Guide Online he now realizes the importance of only committing to movies with completed scripts. The actor was given just a partial script when he agreed to star in Playing God, the crime thriller that died a quick death at the box office. "I said yes before the script was done because I really liked the idea and I didn't know this game at all," recalls Duchovny, who made Playing God during a two-month break from The X-Files. "They said, `The script will be done by the time you finish.' And the script wasn't done, and we made it anyway. "Playing God was not a great film," he admits. "Obviously there

Wed, Apr 5, 2000

Minnie Driver's "Medieval Disease"

Minnie Driver has a confession to make: Years before making it big as an actress, the brunette Brit battled a life-threatening, bizarre ailment known as quinsy. Driver was just 18 years old and still living at home when she developed quinsy, a very serious form of strep throat that can choke its victims through infected, inflamed, open sores along the throat. Driver, whose parents were away when she developed the ailment, didn't think much of the symptoms at first and tried to treat the condition on her own. "I stayed in bed and eventually I couldn't get out of bed," she tells TV Guide Online. "I went into the hospital and I had to get on a drip of antibiotics. I was really dehydrated and I didn't have anything left to fight the infection. It is pretty scary." The actress, who describes the ailment as a "kind of medieval disease," says she had no idea at the time that she was in such a d

Tue, Apr 4, 2000

Lisa Bonet on the Comeback Trail

Former Cosby Show kid Lisa Bonet says she'd consider making a return to series TV ? if she could do so entirely on her own terms. "I have some conceptual things I'm thinking about," Bonet tells TV Guide Online. Among them is an idea for a TV variety show she describes as a "kind of Laugh-In meets Saturday Night Live meets Courtship of Eddie's Father kind of thing." Bonet, who plays a singer in the new feature film High Fidelity, says she really doesn't miss her TV sitcom days. "I'm kind of tired of actually being a pawn in other people's worlds," she says. "There's a whole big world out there. A lot of it doesn't take place in front of the camera." In recent years Bonet has been busy doing charity work and raising Zoe Isabella, the 11-year-old daughter she shares with ex-hubby/musician Lenny Kravitz. Bonet confesses she doesn't quite understa

Wed, Mar 29, 2000

Backstage Banter From the Oscar Pressroom

After Angelina Jolie won a Golden Globe Award for her performance last year as Gia, she jumped fully clothed into the swimming pool at the Beverly Hilton Hotel at 2 am. Clutching her Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for Girl, Interrupted, she was asked if she might repeat that impromptu dip. "Probably not, but I was eyeing the roof of the Shrine [Auditorium]. I guess I couldn't get up there in this dress. I'll probably do something weird, though." Jolie added that her startlingly long hairdo wasn't a fashion statement. "I'm wearing it this way for a film I'm doing in Mexico," she explained. Michael Caine, who collected his second Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for The Cider House Rules, admitted backstage that it was a lot more nerve-racking than his first in 1986 for his role in

Mon, Mar 27, 2000

Voyager's Doctor Doubles Up

Wacky Robert Picardo has an intriguing new co-star on an upcoming episode of Star Trek: Voyager  himself! What's more, he came up with story idea. "It was a thrill to get a writing credit," he says. "I think that's a first for any actor on a Star Trek series. My next goal is to take over the catering on the set; I know I'd be great at craft services!" Before that, Picardo has to explain the specifics of the dual role. "The Doctor is a hologram, but he had to be programmed by somebody. So I came up with the idea of playing both the doctor and his human creator. It's sort of a father-son drama with that classic gulf between them because 'dad' was a little disappointed in the way his 'son' turned out." Does Picardo get along with his new co-star? "I love working with myself. I finally found somebody I really respect and admire that I'm willing to share the stage wit

Sat, Mar 25, 2000

Wrestler Ivory's Pain in the Back

Before finding fame as a bone-crushing World Wrestling Federation superstar, feisty Ivory actually worked at a chiropractic college! Like many other struggling actors in Hollywood, Ivory found herself taking acting work as a make-believe patient in order to bring in some easy cash. But she discovered that pretending to be a sickly patient for nervous would-be chiropractors was not always as easy as she thought it would be. "Some of them just totally shut you down because they didn't know how to handle somebody that was in such pain," she tells TV Guide Online. The weird job was actually just one in a long list of pre-WWF gigs that ranged from Revlon make-up trainer to Universal Studios stuntwoman. Ivory wasn't exactly a newcomer to wrestling when she joined the WWF, having starred years earlier in the short-lived 1980s syndicated TV series Glorious Ladies of Wrestling. She tells us she had also learned a thing or two about wrestling from her two older bro

Fri, Mar 24, 2000

WWF Star Eyes Retirement

If all goes according to plan, 24-year-old World Wrestling Federation star Test hopes to retire within 10 years. "To be honest with you, I'll be glad when the time comes when nobody knows who I am and I can be just myself again," the popular wrestler tells TV Guide Online. "I mean, sometimes you just want to be normal. You've got to have your own time and your down time." Test, one of the youngest superstars on the WWF roster, says he expects to retire his famous flying elbow drop well before age 40. "At 34, I can see myself sitting on the beach with a big margarita, retired.... It will be hard to step out of the spotlight, but I mean, at the same time, people don't understand what we give up... I'm gone 310 days a year on the road." And it's not just the traveling that has taken its toll on the former M&ouml;tley Cr&uuml;e bodyguard. "You can get hurt," he adds. "The injuries are very real. I've had a bad back, I had bad knees. I was just out for three w

Thu, Mar 23, 2000

Russell Crowe: Foster Care

Russell Crowe found out how you get attention in Hollywood: snag an Oscar nomination (for The Insider) and take Jodie Foster to the Golden Globes! "Funny, isn't it," he says with a grin. "I was reading an English tabloid and it said that I intentionally went to the Golden Globes with Jodie Foster to cause a stir. It's like, 'What are you talking about?' I just happen to really respect her. I think she's a magnificent talent and now I know she is a very magnificent woman. And we got on like a house on fire." Before anymore speculation, Crowe wants to end some of the rumors about him and La Foster. "We didn't go shopping for baby clothes ? and no, I'm not [her son] Charlie's father." Despite the stir at the Globes, Crowe says the twosome won't bask in the glow on the Oscar red carpet. "I won't have the magnificent Miss Foster to keep me entertained this time. She has told me she

Mon, Mar 20, 2000

Leslie Bibb Kicks... Groin?

Leslie Bibb, best known as cheerleader Brooke McQueen on WB's Popular, proved to be one tough cookie on the set of the new big-screen thriller The Skulls. "I did a lot of my own stunts," says Bibb, whose Skulls character gets into trouble while investigating a secret college fraternity. "It's just easier to do. It takes longer if you don't do it, because you gotta match and it looks like crap." Still, the 25-year-old actress confesses to TV Guide Online that not all of her stunt work in the movie went as smoothly as planned. In one scene, she says, she accidentally kicked a stuntman in the groin while hitting him repeatedly in the forehead and nearly pulling his ear off. "I was so bad, and I was like, `I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry!'&nbsp;" she says. "But [director Rob Cohen] is like, `Don't stop! If you sell it, it looks real.'&nbsp;" Bibb says some of the scenes in which she was chased were so exhausting and frightening that

Fri, Mar 17, 2000

Malcolm Mom's Pregnant Pause

How did Malcolm in the Middle mom Jane Kaczmarek manage to hide her real-life pregnancy during the show's first season? It wasn't easy. "If you check out the shows you can see me indulging in the fine art of keeping my tummy off-camera," Kaczmarek tells TV Guide Online. One thing viewers will never get to see: the pregnant actress scarfing down Tootsie Rolls from the set's snack table between scenes. "The worst was the episode where I was in a bubble bath," she recalls. "I thought that would be a great idea but sitting in lukewarm water for hours turned out to be less than luxurious. I have to admit that by the end I got a little itchy, but at least the bubbles kept my tummy covered." She was ready to give birth to her son by the time the popular Fox sitcom hit the airwaves earlier this year; it's the second child for Kaczmarek and husband

Thu, Mar 16, 2000

South Park Dude Has His Phil

All of the nominees at Monday's Academy Awards Luncheon played nice and spoke well of the competition ? everyone, that is, except South Park co-creator Trey Parker. "I hope Phil Collins doesn't win for 'You'll Be in My Heart,'&nbsp;" Parker told reporters while sizing up his competition in the Best Original Song category. "Everything I've achieved would come down to, 'I lost to a Phil Collins song.'&nbsp;" Parker, nominated along with Marc Shaiman for the song "Blame Canada," also revealed that his much publicized battle with the Oscar censors continues. "I think it was the least foul of all the songs we wrote," Parker said, "but now they want us to take the word 'fart' out of it before it's performed in the Academy Awards teleca

Wed, Mar 15, 2000

Fox Takes a Shine to Sheen

So what does exiting Spin City star Michael J. Fox really think of his replacement, Charlie Sheen? "I can't say I picked him, but when they said, 'What would you think of Charlie?' I said, 'That would be great,'&nbsp;" Fox tells TV Guide Online. "I like him a lot. He's a good guy and a good actor. Also, let's face it, my company is one of the producers of the show, so keeping it on the air means my kids get more shoes." We caught up with Fox backstage at Sunday night's Screen Actors Guild Awards ceremony in Los Angeles, where the star took home a trophy for Outstanding Male Actor in a Comedy Series for the second consecutive year. The 38-year-old actor, who's leaving the show after this season to fight his ongoing battle with Parkinson's disease, told us that rehearsals for his much-anticipated final episode have been an emotional roller coaster. "We've done a lot of funny, surreal and bizarre stuff, but this one is tough," he says. "You'

Tue, Mar 14, 2000

Jerry O'Connell Gets Lost in Space

Jerry O'Connell had no problem dressing up in a space suit for his role in Mission to Mars, but there was no way that he was going to get into an aircraft commonly referred to by astronauts as the "vomit comet." "There was talk about doing the vomit comet," the actor tells TV Guide Online. "But I don't go on planes that are nicknamed 'the vomit comet.' I don't do things like that. I don't like the left lane on the freeway, I don't like vomiting on myself. It's a little peeve I have." On the other hand, O'Connell says he loved every minute he spent in his space suit. "To throw on a NASA-made space suit with an American flag on the arm  it doesn't get any better than that. That's every little boy's dream come true." O'Connell was so comfortable in his suit, in fact, that he occasionally nodded off while wearing it  which isn't all that surprising given that he

Sat, Mar 11, 2000

Kerr Smith, Flying High!

Kerr Smith is best known as the sweet, sensitive and gay Jack McPhee on Dawson's Creek, which is why he couldn't wait to twist his image in Final Destination, a new thriller about teenagers trying to cheat death. "I play a bully, a real jerk," he tells TV Guide Online. "This guy is a jock who lives on rage. It was going from one end of the spectrum to the other." The film opens with a horrific plane crash and Smith admits that filming it was a little unsettling. "We were in this mock-up of a 747 fuselage that was rigged to twist and turn," he says. "We were sitting up there while some guy with a joystick was tilting us like crazy. It didn't take much acting to display fear. Actually, a couple of extras got sick. I thought I'd prepared myself by taking Dramamine, which turned out not to be a good idea. It made me drowsy and I kept falling asleep." Smith doesn't deny that filming those scenes made it a little harder to get aboard a real plane. "I never h

Fri, Mar 10, 2000

Jerry O'Connell Gets Lost in Space

Jerry O'Connell had no problem dressing up in a space suit for his role in Mission to Mars, but there was no way that he was going to get into an aircraft commonly referred to by astronauts as the "vomit comet." "There was talk about doing the vomit comet," the actor tells TV Guide Online. "But I don't go on planes that are nicknamed 'the vomit comet.' I don't do things like that. I don't like the left lane on the freeway, I don't like vomiting on myself. It's a little peeve I have." On the other hand, O'Connell says he loved every minute he spent in his space suit. "To throw on a NASA-made space suit with an American flag on the arm ? it doesn't get any better than that. That's every little boy's dream come true." O'Connell was so comfortable in his suit, in fact, that he occasionally nodded off while wearing it ? which isn't all that surprising given that he had to han

Fri, Mar 10, 2000

Private Parts, Good Cause

On Valentine's Day in Los Angeles 3rd Rock From the Sun's Kristen Johnston thought the marquee on the Wiltern Theatre was a bit too tame. "We're performing The Vagina Monologues and they put the name of the cause but they wouldn't put vagina on the sign!" The all-star reading of Eve Ensler's controversial play examining a key part of the female anatomy from a variety of perspectives was a charity performance to raise funds for groups devoted to ending violence against women. Yes, some stars were embarrassed about saying the title out loud, but that didn't include the celebrities who participated, from Gina Gershon, Rita Wilson and Annie Potts to Lara Flynn Boyle, Kathy Najimy and Kirstie Alley. And Gillian Anderson, who seldom steps out front at big public events, was an enthusiastic participant. Gershon delightedly called her moment in the live performance, which was taped for broadca

Sat, Mar 4, 2000

Private Parts, Good Cause

Fri, Mar 3, 2000

Mike Nichols Is A Nice Guy

Veteran director Mike Nichols (Primary Colors, The Graduate) says we shouldn't read too much into the reported tensions between him and star Garry Shandling on the set of What Planet Are You From? Nichols admits there was flare-up on the set of the new comedy, but nothing of the magnitude implied in a recent New Yorker profile. "We had an angry moment between us which was fixed, I would say, within 10 minutes," he tells TV Guide Online. "I apologized and he understood why I'd been pissed and then it was really over. We had a good collaboration and I think it shows in the movie." Not that we're surprised to hear of friction on the set. Shandling, if we're to believe the accusations made by ex-manager Brad Grey during their nasty 1998 split, is not the easiest guy in the world

Thu, Mar 2, 2000