u n i v e r s i t y d a i l y k a n s a n
entertainment
Wednesday, February 12, 1997
11A
Costner's futuristic movie calls for cast of bald men
TUCSON, ARIZ. — The casting call for Kevin Costner's latest movie proves he has thousands of bald-bored faces.
Nearly 5,000 people many of them with shaved heads answered the call for parts as extras in Costner's new science-fiction thriller. The Postman.
Kevin Costner
Hoping to
arneve a futuristic feel, producers were looking not only for men with the hairless look, but fresh-faced teens and horseback riders in their 29s. About 1,000 extras will be chosen.
"A lot of people started calling in from out of state," said casting director Amber Puckett. "We got letters from all over the country."
The Postman, which Costner directs and stars in, is scheduled to begin filming next month in Tucson.
Veteran television actor to host medical series
NEW YORK — Fresh from his battle with cancer, actor Robert Urich will return to television later this month as host of a new medical series.
Vital Signs, which premiers Feb. 27 on ABC, features doctors and patients in re-enactments of medical crises they have faced.
Urinch underwent surgery in November for synovial sarcoma, a rare form of cancer that attacks the joints and can spread to the lungs.
The veteran television actor is best known for playing detectives in Spenser; For Hire and Vegas.
He also starred in the syndicated Western, The Lazarus Man, which halted production when Urich became Ill.
Actor Downey out of rehab, happy to be working again
ARLINGTON, VA. — Robert Downey Jr. is happy to be sober and working again.
The Oscar-nominated actor, who spent months in jail and rehab for drug abuse last year, showed up at a cast party in New York on Sunday for the just-finished film Two Girls and a Guy.
"New York has certainly been a welcome change of pace for me," a fit-looking Downey, 31, told USA Today.
Downey next heads to Los Angeles to visit his wife, Deborah Falconer, who recently reconciled with him. He then is scheduled to go on location in Georgia to make The Gingerbread Man, which co-stars Kenneth Branach.
"I can't wait!" Downey said.
Oscars take thoughtful bent
The Associated Press
By Lynn Elber The Associated Press
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Madonna said she wanted him, even deserved him. But the star won't be snuggling up with Oscar after all.
The Material Mom who proclaimed herself Academy Award-worthy for her starring role in Evita was denied an acting nomination yesterday, and the musical was passed over in the best-picture category.
Academy voters instead lavi-
ful films made outside the Holly-
wood studio system,
including the wartime romance
The English Patient, which capta-
tured a leading 12 nominations.
Four of the five best-picture slots went to independent films, with Fargo, Shine and Secrets & Lies joining The English Patient. TriStar's Jerry Maguire was the sole big-studio, big-grossing nominee.
"There's two businesses in Hollywood: The big studio event movies and the good writing and innovative projects (for which) the indies are picking up the mantle," said Miramax Films chief Harvey Weinstein.
"Ecstatic is mild," was the reaction from English Patient producer Sa Zaentz. His film nearly foundered because of budget problems, but Zaentz held fast against a studio bailout that would have forced cast changes.
The movie ultimately was rescued by Miramax.
Three stars of the film received acting bids: Ralph Fiennes and Kristin Scott Thomas in the lead category, and Juliette Binoche for best supporting actress.
For Madonna, however, it was not to be — her supreme confidence notwithstanding.
"Yes and yes," Madonna said in December when asked whether she expected and desired an Oscar nomination for *Evita*, made by Buena Vista.
Others snubbed by Oscar include rock star Courtney Love for her acclaimed performance as a drugged-out stripper in The People Vs. Larry Flynt and Debbie Reynolds, who returned to the screen in the comedy Mother after a long absence.
Missing from the best-picture list was The People vs. Larry Flynt, although the drama about the publisher of Hustler magazine snared a best-director bid for Milos Forman and an acting nomination for Woody Harrelson.
The Crucible, the film version of Arthur Miller's 1953 play, was an early front-runner for nominations in every category, but after a mixed critical reception only got
Yesterday's nominations elevated a number of relative unknowns to sudden fame, including Billy Bob Thornton of the little-seen *Sling Blade* and Brenda Blethyn of *Secrets & Lies*.
two: Joan Allen for supporting actress and Miller for adapting his play.
"I'm sure there's been some mistake made," Thornton, who was nominated for best actor and best screenplay, said with a laugh.
Thornton's best-actor nomination puts him in the company of Fiennes, Harrelson, Tom Cruise for Jerry Maguire and Geoffrey Rush for Shine. The answer to Friday, the nomi
Besides Scott Thomas and Blethyn, the nominees for best actress were Diane Keaton for Marvin's Room. Frances McDormand for Fargo and
in's Room, Frances McDormand for Fargo and Emily Watson for Breaking the Waves.
While Jerry Maquire has pulled in $100 million-plus at the box office, the rest of
While Jerry Maguire has pulled in $100 million-plus at the box office, the rest of the best-picture nominees have been much less profitable. English Patient leads the group with a respectable $42 million.
The Nominees
English Patient director Anthony Minghella said he didn't consider his film offbeat or independent, even though a major studio didn't back it. "It's about matters of the heart," he
said. "I never saw that as either unconventional or a specialized movie."
1. BEST PICTURE: The English Patient, Fargo, Jerry Maguire, Secrets & Lies, Shine.
2. ACTOR: Tom Cruise, Jerry Maguire; Ralph Fiennes, The English Patient; Woody Harrelson, The People vs. Larry Flynt; Geoffrey Rush, Shine; Billy Bob Thornton, Siling Blade.
3. ACTRESS: Brenda Blethyn,
Secrets & Lies; Diane Keaton, Marvin's Room; Frances McDormand, Fargo; Kristin Scott Thomas, The English Patient; Emily Watson, Breaking the Waves
5. SUPPORTING ACTRESS; Joan Allen, The Crucible; Lauren Bacall, The Mirror Has Two Faces; Juliette Binoche, The English Patient; Barbara Hershey, The Portrait of a Lady; Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Secrets & Lies
B. SUPPORTING ACTOR: Cuba Gooding Jr., Jerry Maguire; William H. Macy, Fargo; Armin Mueller-Stahl, Shine; Edward Norton, Primal Fear, James Woods, Ghosts of Mississippi
6. DIRECTOR: Anthony Minghelia, The English Patient; Joel Coen, Fargo; Milos Forman, The People vs. Larry Flynt; Mike Leigh, Secrets & Lies; Scott Hicks, Shine.
7. FOREIGN FILM: A Chef in Love, Georgia; Kolya, Czech Republic; The Other Side of Sunday, Norway; Prisoner of the Mountains, Russia; Ridicule France.
8. SCREENPLAY (written directly for the screen): Ethan Coen & Joel Coen, Fargo; Camron Carroe, Jerry Maguire; John Sayles, Lone Star; Mike Leigh, Secrets & Lies; Jan Sardi and Scott Hicks, Shine.
9. SCREENPLAY (based on material previously produced or pub-
iliased); Arthur Miller, The Crucible; Anthony Minghella, The English Patient; Kenneth Branagh, Hamlet; Billy Bob Thornton, Slide Blade; John Hodge, Trainspotting. 10. ART DIRECTION: The Birdcage, The English Patient, Evita, Hamlet, William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet.
11. CINEMATOGRAPHY: The English Patient, Evita, Fargo, Fly Away Home, Michael Collins.
12. SOUND: The English Patient, Evita, Independence Day, The Rock, Twister
13. SOUND EFFECTS EDITING: Daylight, Eraser, The Ghost and the Darkness.
14. ORIGINAL MUSICAL OR COMEDY SCORE: Emma, Rachel Portman; The First Wives Club, Marc Shaiman; The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz; James and the Giant Peach, Randy Newman; The Preacher's Wife, Hans Zimmer.
15. ORIGINAL DRAMATIC SCORE: The English Patient, Gabriel Yared; Hamlet, Patrick Doyle; Michael Collins, Elliot Goldenthal; Shine, David Hirschfelder; Sleepers, John Williams.
16. ORIGINAL SONG: Because You Loved Me from Up Close and Personal, Diane Warren; For the First Time from One Fine Day, James Newton Howard, Jud J. Friedman and Allan Dennis Rich; I Finally Found Someone from The Mirror Has Two faces, Barba Streisand, Marvin Hamlisch, Bryan Adams and Robert "Mutt" Lange; That Thing You Do from That Thing You Dol, Adam Schlesinger; You Must Love Me from Evita, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice.
COMMENTARY
Bv Jeff Rubv
Kansan staff writer
Be patient with Oscar picks
The sun refused to rise yesterday morning in Hollywood until the 1997 Oscar Nominations were announced. While they affect few normal people's lives in any way, the stuffy faux-intellectual cocktail party crowd will debate and second-guess the Academy's choices with more ferocity than Siskel and Ebert.
The Academy Awards, everyone's favorite "Oops-I forgot-it-was-on, whowon?" awards show, is usually about as predictable as the Super Bowl. Let me just tell you now: The English Patient will win everything on March 24. But if there's any justice in Tinseltown, here's who should be clearing some space on their Beverly Hills living room mantles for the little statues — according to a guy who throws faux-intellectual Miller High Life key parties.
Best movie: Fargo. No doubt about it. The Coen Brothers' offbeat fusion of comedy and violence brought us memorable masterpieces, such as Raising Arizona and Miller's Crossing. Their hilarious tale of kidnapping and murder
up north — which features characters more square than your high school biology lab partner — will finally get them noticed as the cinematic prodigies they have long been. Any film that makes half of its audience cheer and the other half vomit gets my vote.
But look for The English Patient to win anwav.
Best actor: Geoffrey Rush, Shine. This beautiful, true story of an Australian piano wizard gone bananas boasted cinema's most heartfelt role in years. Rush, as the post-shock treatment, nonsensical but lovable David Helfgott, was the first actor to make me cry since E.T.
But I'd put my money on Ralph Fiennes in The English Patient.
Best actress: Frances McDormand, Fargo. The absurd role of the homey, pregnant sheriff of Brainerd ready to bust at any minute was played brilliantly by McDormand. Anyone who saw the veteran actress walked out of the theater talking in those exaggerated Minnesota accents, ya? Super.
But Kristin Scott Thomas of The English Patient has a more Oscar-worthy name.
Best supporting actor: Edward Norton,
Primal Fear. Because the movie had the most generic name of the year, it was carelessly tossed aside by moviegoers last fall. But Norton's portrayal of the Kentucky hick with multiple personalities was the season's spookiest character. His acceptance speech should be chilling.
Best supporting actress: Jeez, I don't know. Juliette Binoche, The English Patient?
Best director: Milos Forman, The People vs. Larry Flynt. Forman won the award twice before, for Amadeus in 1984 and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in 1975. His visually stunning pornography epic is no doubt a bit too salty for the traditionally conservative academy, but Forman deserves to be the first to win best director in three different decades.
In the Academy Awards' exciting climax — Courtney Love, who was overlooked for best actress in her part in The People vs. Larry Flynt— will show up drunk and punch out John Tesh, ending industry chatter about how well she's cleaned up. Later, Jim Carrey does a beer bong through his nose at Jack Nicholson's party, and everyone goes home happy.
Whistle won't sing anytime this year
NEW YORK — Don't look for Andrew Lloyd Webber's Whistle Down the Wind on Broadway in 1997. After that, who knows?
The Really Useful Company, Lloyd Webber's production arm, said Monday that the new musical would not arrive in New York this year. A new opening date for the show, already postponed from April to June, was not announced.
No one connected with Whistle would comment directly on its demise, although Lloyd Webber issued a statement saying that the show "has not found its stage voice yet."
"I agree with those who feel that it needs time for its creative team to stand back from it," he said. "It is far, far too good a musical to open on Broadway until it's truly ready."
Whistle, which closed Sunday in Washington after a nine-week tryout, was to have opened June 15 at Broadway's Martin Beck Theater. The theater already has a new tenant — the 20th anniversary revival of Annie, which will open March 26.
Directed by Harold Prince — one of Broadway's most successful musical directors — 'Whistle' got mixed reviews when it premiered in Washington. Most of the criticism focused on the show's story.
The show, based on a 1961 British film, is about a group of children who discover an escaped convict in a barn and think he is Jesus.
KU POWER TOOLS 4 LEADERSHIP
1997 Blueprints
Student Leadership Conference
Saturday,
March 1, 1997
Kansas Union
Registration due February 21
Gain knowledge and insight from KU staff, faculty and current student leaders. Join us and take part in dynamic workshops which will give you skills you can use in any leadership position.
Workshops:
Parliamentary Procedures/
Running a Meeting
Networking & Using KU Resources
Balancing School, Leadership &
Social Life
Marketing Leadership Skills
Setting Goals for Groups
Promotions
Fundraising
Ethical Leadership
Icebreakers & Teambuilders
Managing & Motivating Volunteers
Diversity: People Skills & Negotiation
Organizational Skills
Registration:
Cost: $10.00 (per person)
For an application stop by the Organizations & Activities Center
400 Kansas Union
Wednesdays at Dos Hombres NO COVER
50¢
Domestic
Draws
$2.00 Swillers
$1.50
Margaritas
Cris Corey & Ed Edwards - Cash Prize Winners! KAROAKE!!
Thursdays: Measure by Measure Fridays: Chris & Steph Sieggen (Acoustic Vocals)
816 New Hampshire • 841-7286
Roses are Red Violets are Blue She got flowers last year Now try something new.
The University Daily Kansas is currently putting together a Valentine's Day personals section. For only $6.00 you can place a message for that special someone at either the 4th floor of the Kansas Union
or 119 Stauffer-Flint Hall.
of 119 Stuart Hill Park.
But you gotta hurry,
last chance for this deal is
Today at 4 p.m.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Spreading Love Across The Campus.