STATE OF 'FLUX'
An actor prepares. Charlize Theron goes to the grass roots. For acclaimed turns in "Monster" and "North Country," the dedicated actress spent weeks studying the methods and motivations of a murderous Florida prostitute and sexually harassed Minnesota mining women.
For "Aeon Flux," she studied a gecko.
Yes, gecko - as in tropical lizard.
"There's a scene where Charlize runs on all fours, and her belly's only 3 or 4 inches off the ground," says stunt coordinator Charlie Croughwell, "so we watched National Geographic videos of geckos to analyze their movement."
Says Theron: "I'm from Africa. I know all about geckos. I used to play 'Alcatraz' with them in my yard."
"Aeon Flux," which opens Friday, is the big-screen adaptation of an animated MTV sci-fi series about a mysterious assassin who prowls the underworld of the futuristic city-state of Bregna.
But for Theron, getting cartoon-lethal meant more than dying her blond hair black. Big-bad Bregna meanies don't just keel over because you're drop-dead gorgeous.
"She had to look effortless but powerful, fluid yet ferocious," says Croughwell. "And we didn't want a lot of weapons. We wanted Charlize to get into a guy's face before she killed him."
Three months before filming, Theron began training in L.A. with Croughwell, whose workout regimen incorporated trampoline, hand-to-hand Krav Maga combat techniques and the Brazilian martial art of capoeira.
To teach her the dance-derived skills of capoeira (pronounced capo-edda), Croughwell called in master teacher Neal "Xingu" Rodil.
"Charlize was all-in, she had a lot of drive - and a strong kick," said Xingu, 27, who started Theron out with basic maneuvers like an au' (cartwheel) or bencaou' (push kick). "She used to be a ballerina, so it came naturally."
At the outset, Theron still carried some of the 30 pounds she'd put on for her Oscar-winning role in "Monster." But after three months of grueling, four-hour workouts - plus trampoline training with Cirque du Soleil's Terry Bartlett - Theron was ready for her close-up macaco (monkey flip).
It's in the film, when Theron sneaks up on a guard, springs into a one-armed cartwheel, scissors her legs around the goon's head and spins down to the ground, snapping his neck.
"I'd practiced that hundreds of times but never quite nailed it," Theron says. "On the day of shooting, we had a stunt person try, but after maybe 15 times she still couldn't get it. I looked at Charlie and said, 'I'm ready, let's do it!' Then I nailed it five times in a row."
During filming, Theron herniated a disc in her neck after landing awkwardly on a back flip, but she returned after a six-week production delay and continued to do most of her own stunts.
"Charlize isn't the type to complain," says Xingu. "No matter how difficult the maneuver, she'd keep saying, " 'Let's do it again.'"
Post-Ted Koppel Era Begins on 'Nightline'
NEW YORK - Like a Broadway show in rehearsals too long, the post-Ted Koppel "Nightline" finally has its opening night.
"There are many people out there who are looking to prejudge us one way or another," said James Goldston, the show's new executive producer. "There's a great feeling of `will this remain true to the original `Nightline' and all that. All I would say is that I'd like the show to be judged on what we do, rather than a theoretical version of what we might do."
The new "Nightline" with Martin Bashir, Cynthia McFadden and Terry Moran debuts Monday (11:35 p.m. EST).
It's all-new — new anchors, new look, new pace, new production team. It's literally a Broadway show, originating from ABC's Times Square studios. That's new, too.
Part of the newness is inevitable, given the loss of the only anchor "Nightline" has known for nearly 26 years. But it's also by design, an attempt to correct perceived weaknesses while trying not to alienate the show's longtime fans.
"Most programs, if they stay around for a long time, take on a structure imparted by the anchors," said ABC News President David Westin. "So when you change the personality, you have to make changes in the program. Ted is a very strong example of that, but he's not unique."
The multiple anchor format is at least partly a recognition that it would have been a lot of pressure on one person to succeed Koppel, he said.
McFadden and Bashir will be based in New York. McFadden, a former legal correspondent and "Primetime Live" reporter, is a known quantity who has been with ABC News since 1994.
Bashir is best known in this country, in a not altogether flattering way, for an interview with Michael Jackson. But he has a 20-year reputation as an investigative reporter and interviewer from his work in England, Goldston said. (On Monday, Bashir reports on the California School for the Deaf and its football squad, the Riverside Cubs, who are looking to complete an undefeated season as the only deaf team in their league.)
Moran, ABC's former White House correspondent, will be in Baghdad for the first week as a new studio set is built for him in Washington.
Their feelings about succeeding Koppel are a mystery; ABC News, perhaps showing some nervousness about the relaunch, hasn't made any of them available for interviews prior to opening night.
Gone will be the "Nightline" tradition of focusing on a single story each night. That may happen during big news events, but a typical show will have three stories and a wry ending segment.
The old format left "Nightline" vulnerable to missing out on stories that weren't worth the full show, Westin said.
"You have two choices — either you ignore them altogether, or you stretch," he said. "If you go away from the ironclad commitment to the single topic, it gives you more flexibility to cover the stories that you think really matter to people."
McFadden has been working on a story about AIDS in India. Instead of making it the subject of a single show, "Nightline" will break it up and present it over several nights.
Westin also was insistent on making "Nightline" live again, even if it's more of a magazine-type show than a newscast. In recent years, Koppel had been taping "Nightline" several hours in advance, much like the late-night comics.
"I certainly wanted to make sure we were totally responsive to being on the news, and that's hard to do when you've taped the program at 6 (o'clock) in the evening and people have largely gone home," Westin said.
Goldston talks about making the show "vibrant" again. Most of that comes with thought-provoking reporting, but also with an improved presentation. Expect to see, for example, more "teases" about upcoming material heading into commercial breaks.
"In this kind of a multichannel world you have to make a bit of a song and dance about your material," he said. "I don't think it has any implications for the quality of our journalism. I think we can present the show in a much more modern way."
Between McFadden's AIDS series and several upcoming stories on the impact of the war in Iraq and at home, Goldston's plans show that his first priority is convincing the typical "Nightline" audience of 3.6 million people that despite everything new, it's still a serious show that they'll be comfortable with.
Only then can ABC seek someone new, like the 2 million regular "Nightline" viewers who have tuned out over the past decade.
At his going-away party at the Kennedy Center in Washington on Nov. 16, Koppel noted that critic Tom Shales called "Nightline" after its first broadcast "at best a great leap sideways and at worst a pratfall backwards for television news." But 10 months later Shales revisited, calling the show "smart, classy."
"I don't know if everyone will give you a fair amount of time ... but I promise you I will," Koppel said.
On his final broadcast, Koppel also asked viewers to give the new folks a break, saying, "If you don't, I promise you the network will just put another comedy show in this time slot. Then you'll be sorry." It was a none-too-subtle reference to ABC's 2002 courtship of David Letterman to replace him.
Westin said he has no indication that the clock is ticking on "Nightline," any more than it is for every show that must earn its place on the air by doing good work and drawing an audience.
"I've been getting no pressure in that regard," he said. "The only pressure for us is putting on a really good program and succeeding. If we do that, we're fine. If we don't do that, we shouldn't be fine."
Harry's 'Goblet' Nets $54.9M at Box Office
LOS ANGELES - A boy wizard and a country-music legend outclassed a flurry of box-office newcomers over Thanksgiving. " Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" took in $54.9 million over the three-day weekend to remain the top movie, while the Johnny Cash film biography "Walk the Line" stayed in second place with $19.7 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
For the whole five-day Thanksgiving period, "Goblet of Fire" grossed $81.3 million to lift its 10-day total to $201.1 million, while "Walk the Line" took in $27.6 million, raising its 10-day total to $54.7 million.
The two films paced Hollywood to a healthy holiday weekend. If estimates hold when final numbers are released Monday, it would be the second-highest gross ever for the five-day Thanksgiving period at $218.3 million, beating last year's haul by 3 percent but finishing behind 2000's record $232.1 million.
That was a boost for the slumping movie business, which has had attendance running 8 percent behind last year's.
"You've got to look at 'Harry Potter' as being the savior of the box office right now," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations. "Who would have thought in a year we're having this down box office that we'd have the second-biggest Thanksgiving ever?"
Dennis Quaid and Rene Russo's family flick "Yours, Mine & Ours" overcame bad reviews to lead the new movies, finishing third with $17.5 million. The movie's five-day total since opening Wednesday was $24.5 million.
The animated tale "Chicken Little" held up strongly at No. 4 with $12.4 million, lifting its four-week total to $118.2 million.
"Rent," featuring Taye Diggs and Rosario Dawson in an adaptation of the Broadway musical sensation, debuted in fifth with a three-day total of $10.7 million and $18.1 million since opening Wednesday.
Premiering at No. 6 was Ryan Reynolds' romantic comedy "Just Friends" with $9.3 million from Friday to Sunday and $13.6 million since Wednesday.
R&B singer Usher's first starring role with the mob romance "In the Mix" opened at No. 9 with $4.5 million for the weekend and $6.2 million since Wednesday. John Cusack and Billy Bob Thornton's crime caper "The Ice Harvest" debuted at No. 10 with $3.7 million Friday to Sunday and $5.1 million since Wednesday.
"Goblet of Fire" shot past $200 million domestically in just 10 days, the fastest of the four "Harry Potter" movies to cross that mark. The fastest-grossing of the previous movies was the first, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," which took in $186 million in 10 days.
"Goblet of Fire" could be on track to beat the $317.6 million domestic gross of "Sorcerer's Stone," the franchise's most successful installment.
"Goblet of Fire" has disproved speculation that its PG-13 rating — the first of the franchise to carry that tag, after PG ratings for the first three — might hurt the film by scaring off younger fans.
"We've learned the audience has grown older with the movies, so the PG-13 rating just played into the core of the audience," said Dan Fellman, head of distribution for Warner Bros., which releases the "Harry Potter" films.
Warner Bros. also had terrific results for its limited-release debut of "Syriana," whose ensemble cast includes George Clooney and Matt Damon in a thriller centered on the oil industry. The film took in a whopping $372,147 in five theaters over the weekend and $553,372 since Wednesday. "Syriana" goes into nationwide release Dec. 9.
Heer are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," $54.9 million.
2. "Walk the Line," $19.7 million.
3. "Yours, Mine & Ours," $17.5 million.
4. "Chicken Little," $12.4 million.
5. "Rent," $10.7 million.
6. "Just Friends," $9.3 million.
7. "Pride & Prejudice," $7 million.
8. "Derailed," $4.7 million.
9. "In the Mix," $4.5 million.
10. "The Ice Harvest," $3.7 million.