July 6, 1999

UPCOMING BRAD PITT MOVIE NOT GARBAGE, INSIDERS SAY

By ROGER ANDERSON Scripps Howard News Service

THE UPS AND DOWNS OF MOVIE STARDOM: In its current ish, People mag very gently points out that Brad Pitt's film career hasn't been doing so well lately, what with the ignominious (not to say embarrassing and humiliating) failure of such Brad movies as "Meet Joe Black," "Seven Years in Tibet" and The Devil's Own."

Understandably, then, there are those who feel some misgiving at the news that the theatrical release of Brad's next project - "The Fight Club" - has been delayed, quite as though it, too, were a stinkeroo just waiting to happen.

Fortunately, unnamed Individuals who are supposed to be hip to what's really going down assure the periodical that the movie is looking fine.

"It's just not ready," one such person explains.

"We could have made the Aug. 6 date," a "studio rep" offers. "But the film would not have been ready until right before release." Sort of like finishing a term paper back in high school, we guess. "We're excited about this movie and want to screen it well in advance for critics." We're excited, too, but not about that.

HISTORY IMITATES ART, WHICH IN TURN IMITATES LIFE: What we're excited about is this deal where Britain's Prince Edward, in the course of getting married not long ago to Sophie Rhys-Jones, managed to have the title "Earl of Wessex" added to his pre-existing list of honors. The fascinating thing is that the title came straight out of the movie, "Shakespeare in Love."

"The Queen was initially somewhat taken aback" by Ed's asking to have the title bestowed upon him, a Buckingham Palace "source" admits to the Times of London. "But Edward made an effective case for taking the title." Like that otherwise he'd hold his breath till he turned blue?

THE LATEST WORD ON MICHAEL DOUGLAS'S LOVE LIFE: We've been stringing you along for some weeks now with late-breaking developments in the on-again, on-again romance between the middle-aged Michael Douglas and the 29-year-old movie goddess Catherine Zeta-Jones. This time out, we're in a position to pass along something really sweet the Zeta-Jones woman said to a British magazine.

"Michael has given me a lot of support when I've needed a friendly helping hand," she says. "He's a charming guy and a real gentleman."

THE DOUGLAS DYNASTY: We interrupt the foregoing item to mention in passing that Michael's dad, the inimitable Kirk Douglas, is due to have a Los Angeles high school named after him. However, rumors that the actual name of the place will be Stark Raving Psychotic Movie Anti-hero High School are completely untrue.

FOOD AND FAME: As you know, Bernadette Peters has been tearing up the pea patch the last few months with her performance in the Broadway revival of Irving Berlin's "Annie Get Your Gun." The question arises: How does she gird her loins for such ongoing high-octane stress?

"I'm on the zone program," Bernadette explains to a New York Post columnist. "The foods delivered home in a cooler, dry ice. I take it to the theater - 40 carbs, 40 proteins. Very balanced so it raises the insulin level. I don't drop. My energy's up." Not dropping during a musical show is always a great idea.

DEPARTMENT OF CLARIFICATION: Ron Silver is an interesting guy, a fine actor, the president of Actor's Equity, a co-founder of the Creative Coalition and a true old-school liberal of the sort who stands in solidarity with trade unionism. So he was distressed to read an account in the New York Daily News suggesting that he recently crossed a picket line to attend the PEN Literary Gala at a Manhattan eatery.

"I went around the back of the restaurant," Ron explains to the Daily News, "and was escorted in by four policemen. And I walked out the same way. Maybe it was a lapse in judgment being there at all, but I did not cross a picket line, and never would." We get the distinction. (Actually, we don't, but other news beckons.)

BODY DOUBLE: Finally, here's Leslie Stefanson telling a reporter about all the fun she had portraying a dead woman in the big John Travolta movie, "The General's Daughter."

"For the long shots, when John Travolta and Madeleine Stowe are looking at me, they made a replica of my body," Leslie recalls. That way I wouldn't be too embarrassed. I had to do a full body cast. That was strange, because you're locked into these clay molds, and they actually make another you. When I got on the set, I found out my new 'body' had been hand-painted to look authentic." How creepy. "It freaked me out a little." We bet. "Many people have asked if I kept It." And did you? "I didn't." We don't blame you.

Roger Anderson is arts and entertainment editor at Scripps Howard News Service.

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