SMOKE SCREENING
Audrey Hepburn did it. So did Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis, Nicole Kidman and, famously, Olivia Newton-John. But you'll never see another movie star smoke on screen if the anti-smoking lobby has its way.
Critics of the tobacco industry want Hollywood to treat on-screen smoking the same way it treats indecent language and nudity - with an R rating from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).
It's a change that would effectively ban smoking from many movies, since an R rating hurts a movie at the box office, and producers regularly demand that directors deliver a crowd-friendly rating.
Congress is listening to the activists: On Tuesday, the Senate Commerce Committee invited anti-smoking witnesses to testify on Capitol Hill.
"When are we going to treat smoking as seriously as we treat the word 'f - - - '?" Dr. Stan Glantz asked the panel. Glantz, a leading tobacco-industry opponent, is a professor of medicine at the University of California.
"If you use the F-word once in a sexual context, you get an R rating."
Glantz's salty language wasn't appreciated by Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.), who reminded the professor of the Senate's standards of decorum.
But while Glantz apologized for using the word, he said he used it to make a point.
"I did it quite deliberately," he said. "The use of the word will get you an R rating. It doesn't kill you."
Glantz and other anti-smoking activists say that giving an R rating to movies that contain smoking would prevent 200,000 children a year from lighting up. They argue that 390,000 children develop a tobacco habit because of what they see on the big screen.
Though there is no legislation pending that would force the MPAA to modify its ratings system, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said the movie industry has to step up or it might face such a law.
MPAA chairman Jack Valenti testified in defense of the current system.
"I am opposed to smoking on the screen and off," he told the Senate panel.
"But if the director feels it's essential to the time and place, or a quick way to identify a character's traits, it's his right to tell the story as he sees fit."
It's hard to imagine countless classic movies without those smoking scenes, say experts.
"Cigarettes can instantly convey what a character is like," says Martin Grove, on-line columnist for the Hollywood Reporter.
"Think of Lauren Bacall in a '40s movie like 'The Big Sleep.' When she lights up, it shows that she's a liberated woman, and you don't want to fool around with her."
Cigarettes can indicate elegance - like a tuxedoed Fred Astaire pulling a smoke from a shiny case in one of his '30s musicals - or desperation, like in "Casablanca," when Humphrey Bogart's ashtray fills with butts as he tries to drink away thoughts of Ingrid Bergman.
But according to the anti-smoking lobby, it's not art that Hollywood is after in these scenes, but cash.
At the Senate hearing, Glantz suggested that "product placement" money was changing hands somewhere, even though that would violate the national accord reached by the states and the tobacco industry on advertising.
"If they're getting paid, then they are corrupt," Glantz said. "If they're doing it for free, then they're stupid."
Valenti said that was ridiculous.
"I have been unable to unearth one jot of evidence of product placement with cigarettes," he said.
"The MPAA doesn't want to make smoking one of the triggers for a film rating or to add a T for tobacco designation because that would open the door for everyone's pet causes.
"Alcohol abuse, murder by gun, unsafe driving, smoking, obesity . . . To start talking about things that kill people, the rating system isn't capable of bearing that burden."
HBO Digs 'Six Feet' in June
HOLLYWOOD (Zap2it.com) - - Emmy winning drama "Six Feet Under" is set to return to HBO's schedule in the middle of June. The nation's favorite scripted funeral home family will help relieve "Sopranos" withdrawal starting on Sunday, June 13 at 9 p.m. ET.
The new season begins with an episode titled "Falling into Place," which finds Nate (Peter Krause) still dealing with Lisa's (Lili Taylor) death as David (Michael C. Hall) and Keith (Mathew St. Patrick) keep trying to start their relationship over.
As Brenda (Rachel Griffiths) feels things out with neighbor Joe (Justin Theroux), Ruth (Frances Conroy) is enjoying her new marriage to George (James Cromwell).
Regulars Lauren Ambrose and Freddy Rodriguez also return for the season. The deep roster of returning guest stars includes Kathy Bates, Joanna Cassidy, Patricia Clarkson, Ben Foster, Richard Jenkins, Peter Macdissi, Justina Machado and Rainn Wilson, while Mena Suvari ("American Beauty"), Ellen DeGeneres, Veronica Cartwright ("Just Married") and Michelle Trachtenberg ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer") will also appear.
In 2003, "Six Feet Under" received 16 Emmy nominations, but only won a single award (fittingly for casting). In 2002, the show's 23 nominations yielded six wins, including a directing trophy for series creator Alan Ball and an acting win for Clarkson.
Diva?
According to IMDB, Halle Berry told X-MEN 3 producers that she wouldn't return as Storm unless she was given a much bigger role than X2. "I love working with her," said producer Lauren Schuller Donner. "We would only write a huge role for her, so she's right in that respect. We would make sure that would happen."
Fourth Blood?
Cinescape has heard a rumor that development on RAMBO IV may be cranking back up. "RAMBO IV is ready to be fast tracked with Mario Kassar and Andrew Vajna back at the helm as producers," said their insider. "It seems Dimension Films and the C2 honchos are close to reaching an agreement that would give Dimension half of the worldwide box-office of the film as well as dvd/vhs sales.
The director that Kassar and Vajna are after is none other than action master John Woo. Also, spies say that Stallone is looking at his biggest payday with this film said to be as high as 30 million. The plot of I hear being thrown around has something to do with Rambo and nuclear weapons that were somehow lost."
Hindsight: 20/20 or just plain wrong?
An internal NBC research report created before the 1994 debut of Friends gave the sitcom a failing grade, describing the pilot as "not very entertaining, clever, or original."
Of course the Peacock show went on to become a Thursday night mainstay over the next decade, consistently ranking among Nielsen's top 10 and pulling in over 52 million viewers for its two-hour finale last week.
But test audiences in May 1994 found the program and its then unknown stars "not very favorable," according to the document published online at The Smoking Gun. The show got a "weak" review and was graded a measly 41 out of 100. By comparison, ER earned a 91, though it's only fair to point out that Seinfeld also scored a "weak" rating.
Most critical of the laffer was the over-35 set who described the characters as smug, superficial and self-absorbed. "They were not really like people they would want to know." The show did best among 18-34-year-olds (no big surprise) and men showed more interest than women in both the story and premise of the show (how things change).
Courteney Cox, best known as Alex Keaton's girlfriend on Family Ties at the time, was the test-audience fave, though her appeal was "well below desirable levels for a lead." Lisa Kudrow and Matthew Perry had "marginal appeal" while "Rachel, Ross and Joey scored even lower."
To be more specific: Men thought Monica was sexy, women enjoyed her sense of humor, and both found her the most stable and together of the group. Big bro Ross received a lukewarm response, slightly more favorable among women. But the "slacker" came across as "weak and insecure." Ouch.
Phoebe was kooky from the get-go, described by the test audience as an "airhead" and "'60s personality" who contributed a left-field perspective. "Snappy and funny" was Chandler's review, appealing to adult viewers as "more intelligent and more professional looking than the rest of the group."
As for Rachel, the 'do had yet to catch on. She was described as a "spoiled brat" and the "most sheltered" who had "the most growing up to do." Joey scored best with teens as a wise-cracking, macho character with a big ego (ah, but will they tune in to his spinoff?).
The report even provided some recommendations for improving the Friends format, which execs luckily ignored, including the addition of older characters, fewer sexual situations and using Chandler's dreams as a running bit on the show. Smarter suggestions included a larger role for Phoebe, more humor and a deeper emotional involvement among the characters.
And a potential test-audience victim saved from the screening scrap heap? The Central Perk, which confused viewers who found it too funky and too similar to the apartment setting.
Imagine, a world without Gunther...
'Mean Girls' Star to Host MTV Movie Awards
NEW YORK - Lindsay Lohan will be the queen bee of the MTV Movie Awards, serving as host of the ceremony airing June 10. The 17-year-old actress stars in "Mean Girls," a comedy about high school queen bees and wannabes.
"Lindsay is smart, funny, she has an amazing connection to the MTV audience, and she's a huge star," the network's president, Van Toffler, said Thursday. "That makes her the perfect choice to host this year's show."
Lohan's other movies include "Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen" and last year's remake of "Freaky Friday."
"Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" has the most MTV Movie Award nominations with six, including best movie and best on-screen team for co-stars Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom.
D12, the Beastie Boys and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are among the bands scheduled to perform at the show, which will be taped June 5 at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, Calif.
'Survivor' Gives Rupert $1M Consolation
NEW YORK - Rupert Boneham, the bushy-bearded giant from Indianapolis who was an audience favorite during the last two "Survivor" games, won a $1 million consolation prize during a special edition of the CBS game on Thursday
CBS said 38 million people cast votes for the second $1 million winner, a gimmick that brought an "American Idol" flavor to the long-running game. Host Jeff Probst even called it "America's Tribal Council."
The "Survivor All-Stars" finale on Sunday was seen by just under 25 million people, according to Nielsen Media Research.
Three other men were the top vote-getters behind Boneham: Tom Buchanan, the jolly drawler from Virginia; Colby Donaldson, the hunk from Texas; and "Boston Rob" Mariano, the runner-up during "Survivor: All-Stars" to his fiancee, Amber Brkich.
For the investment of a $1 million prize, CBS got one more hour of "Survivor"-related programming during a ratings "sweeps" month, and is likely to earn more in advertising profits than it spent.
Mariano and Brkich, the final two contestants on Sunday who became engaged during the finale, said a network — they didn't reveal which one — had already talked to them about televising their wedding.
Would they be interested?
"If the price is right," Mariano said.
Viewers voted his fiancee the sexiest "Survivor." Donaldson was deemed the hottest male.
'Frasier' Ends Run With Laughter, Romance
LOS ANGELES - After 11 years of solving many of Seattle's problems and few of his own, radio shrink Frasier Crane — in the end — followed his heart out of town.
The multiple Emmy-winning NBC series, "Frasier," bowed out Thursday with an hour-long episode filled with slapstick comedy, warmly emotional moments and a subtle romantic twist at the end.
Frasier, played by series star Kelsey Grammer, saw his brother Niles (David Hyde Pierce) and Niles' wife Daphne (Jane Leeves) greet the birth of their first child. Family patriarch Martin Crane (John Mahoney) got married to Ronee (Wendie Malick).
Frasier decided to leave Seattle and accept a new job in San Francisco.
"The reason I'm leaving is because I want what all of you have right now — a new chapter," Frasier told his television family.
Yet the final scene showed Frasier in a plane touching down with the pilot announcing, "Welcome to Chicago." That's the city where his potential soul mate Charlotte (Laura Linney) had just moved to.
The ending offered hope and mystery: was unlucky-in-love Frasier finally making the right move? The curtain closed, leaving it to the audience's imagination.
It could also set up a potential spinoff someday. Television viewers followed Grammer's character in Boston from its inception on "Cheers," to the 11-year run in Seattle on "Frasier." Grammer has said he'd be open to someday revisiting the character he'd played in prime-time for 20 straight years.
The hourlong episode, "Goodnight, Seattle," was preceded by a series retrospective.
Although "Frasier" didn't equal the just-ended "Friends" as a ratings leader or cultural phenomenon, it held a place as one of the most successful spinoffs ever.
Psychiatrist Frasier Crane, one of the barflies on "Cheers," made a smooth transition to top banana and the strong center of a smartly drawn supporting ensemble.
Witty repartee and giddy slapstick marked the comedy. Both were blissfully evident during the finale, featuring a dog swallowing a ring, a drunken 6-year-old ring bearer, and both a birth and wedding in a veterinarian's office.
"Most of America, frankly, is much smarter than television assumes they are," Grammer recently told The Associated Press.
"Frasier" matched the 11-year run of "Cheers" and won a record 31 Emmys, including five consecutive trophies as best comedy series and a trio of acting awards each for Grammer and Pierce.
The series was created by "Cheers" alumni Peter Casey, David Lee and David Angell (who died aboard one of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center).
If its finale frenzy didn't approach that of "Friends," it wasn't for lack of effort on NBC's part. Both shows had their own "Dateline NBC" specials and ample promotion on "Today" and other NBC vehicles.
The ratings weren't expected to equal those of last week's "Friends," which drew 52.5 million viewers and ranked as the fourth most-watched series finale in TV history.
CBS' "M-A-S-H" (106 million) and NBC's "Cheers" (80.4 million) and "Seinfeld" (76.3 million) remain the finale leaders.
Viewership for "Friends" justified the $2 million advertisers ponied up for a 30-second spot. On "Frasier," the ad rate reportedly was closer to $800,000 per half-minute.
The end of the pair of long-running NBC series is part of a TV sea change. With HBO's "Sex and the City" also gone and CBS' "Everybody Loves Raymond" expected to end next year, there's a comedy vacuum to be filled.
'Troy' Poised to Hit a Homer at Box Office
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The forces of ancient Greece move to the forefront of the box office battles this weekend as Warner Bros. launches its epic "Troy" in a lot more than 1,000 theaters. As the gods would have it, "Troy" appears fated to claim the top slot in the weekend standings once all the dust clears.
Universal Pictures' "Van Helsing," from director Stephen Sommers, which kicked off the summer last weekend with a $51.7 million debut, is probably facing a 50% falloff typical of horror fare. Currently, the movie is performing somewhat more robustly than Sommers' 1999 creature feature, "The Mummy" but not up to the level of 2001's "The Mummy Returns."
That suggests that the vampire-slaying flick will achieve a second-weekend haul somewhere around the $25 million mark and open up plenty of room for Warners' Trojan horse.
"Troy," directed by Wolfgang Petersen, last represented by 2000's "A Perfect Storm," does have a few obstacles to overcome. Its R rating could put a cap on its weekend earnings, and its 163-minute running time will place a limit on the number of screenings that can be squeezed into the weekend, even though it is bowing in 3,411 theaters.
But the megamillion-dollar retelling of Homer's "The Iliad," penned by David Benioff ("25th Hour"), also has plenty of arrows in its quiver. Its lineup of buff leading men -- Brad Pitt, Orlando Bloom and Eric Bana -- has generated definite interest among under-25 females, while the massive battle sequences are a lure for under-25 men. In addition, Warners is betting that the classics-based saga also will generate interest among the two over-25 quadrants of the market.
In figuring out its potential box office clout, "Troy's" most immediate precedent is 2000's Oscar-winning "Gladiator," whose success gave rise to the current cycle of sword-and-sandals movies. Leading off the summer season four years ago, "Gladiator" enjoyed a first weekend of $34.8 million in 2,938 theaters. But the real key to predicting "Troy's" potential muscle might be found in such other recent nonsequel R-rated films as "8 Mile," which debuted to $51.2 million in November 2002, and "Scary Movie," which arrived to $42.3 million in July 2000. Those precursors suggest that "Troy" could hit the beach with a first-weekend tally just north of the $40 million mark.
The only other studio opener daring to confront the combined power of "Troy" and "Van Helsing" is "Breakin' All the Rules," from Sony Pictures' Screen Gems genre unit. The PG-13 comedy directed by Daniel Taplitz ("Commandments") stars Jamie Foxx, who becomes a best-selling author by advising men on how to break up with their women. With a cast that includes Morris Chestnut, Gabrielle Union and Jennifer Esposito, the movie should pull in a core black audience. But the fact that it is venturing out on just 1,318 screens should hold its initial gross below the $10 million mark.
Meanwhile, continuing to position itself as a femme-skewing alternative to the big guns like "Troy" and "Van Helsing," Paramount Pictures' "Mean Girls," starring Lindsay Lohan, should hang in there. The movie took the top spot two weekends ago and ranked second last weekend with a $13.7 million purse. Having taken in more than $44 million to date, it should manage to hold onto the third spot this frame.
On the specialized film front, Sony Pictures Classics will debut Hector Babenco's "Oz"-like prison drama "Carandiru" in New York and Los Angeles, MGM's United Artists unit will present Jim Jarmusch's music-filled "Coffee and Cigarettes," and Lions Gate will raise the curtain on "A Slipping Down Life."