His Next Role Should Be Titled The Grapes Of Roth
He’s played an undercover cop in “Reservoir Dogs,” a brutal hitman in “Little Odessa” and a foppishly effective swordsman in “Rob Roy.” But, unlike the character he plays, British actor Tim Roth is afraid. Of the stage.
“It’s that waiting in the wings to go on that makes your hands sweat,” Roth told the New York Daily News. “It’s just the fear of walking on stage, just getting out there that’s terrifying.”
Roth, who may be best known for his role as “Pumpkin,” a cheap hood who gets a surprise while holding up a restaurant in “Pulp Fiction,” says he’s been afraid of the stage ever since he won the part of Dracula in high school.
“Before I went on, I actually wet myself,” Roth said. “But after I got out there in front of the audience, I just fell in love with acting.”
Loose talk
Gloria Steinem, comparing neo-feminist Camille Paglia to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas (in Interview magazine): “(She is) someone who was helped by a movement they weren’t a part of, but then discovered they could be rewarded for opposing it.”
Looks like he’s ready for the bridgework of Madison County
Clint Eastwood turns 65 today.
Just wish we found the results more infotaining
Talk-show host Larry King, describing his softball questioning style, told TV Guide, “I never said I was a journalist… I’m an infotainer.”
She has more than a ghost of a chance for success
Christina Ricci, the 15-year-old star of the “Addams Family” films, follows up with the just-released comedy-thriller “Casper.” And, she told People magazine, she was worried about how the film would affect her reputation. “I was like, ‘Casper the Friendly Ghost’? Will my friends think this is cool? Then I heard I’d have a love scene with Casper! I mean, how friendly is he?”
What a great introduction to a deodorant commercial
Jill Hennessy (“Law & Order”) told TV Guide she doesn’t see herself as sexy. “I was jogging through Central Park and Madonna passed me,” Hennessy said. “I could hear her say to her companion, ‘She’s hot.’ Maybe she thought I was sweating or something.”
Maybe he should have taken a crack at ‘Keanu’
Novelist William Gibson, author of “Johnny Mnemonic,” told the Orange County Register that he was a computer ignoramus when he created the term “cyberspcace” in 1984. “There was actually an evening where I sat at the typewriter typing ‘dataspace,’ and then ‘infospace,’ and then, no, ‘cyberspace.’ Hmmm, that might slide,” he said.
Forsooth, my man, what shakest in thy hood?
Look for a new movie version of “Othello,” starring Lawrence Fishburne as the jealous Moor of Venice and Kenneth Branagh as the dastardly Iago. Director Oliver Parker, who was able to raise money only when Branagh signed on, say he will update the language. “Where I feel verse is not necessarily contributing to the emotion of a scene, I make the dialogue more conversational,” he said.
The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Compiled by staff writer Dan Webster