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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Waiting For Someone To Give The Denzel His Due

Compiled By Staff Writer Rick Bo

By now, Denzel Washington is a big enough name that he feels comfortable saying “no” to some of the biggest names in Hollywood - including Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey.

“I just didn’t see myself in ‘Amistad,”’ Washington says of Spielberg’s slave epic, which he discussed with the director. “I ain’t putting no chains around my neck.”

Washington also turned up his nose at Winfrey’s film version of the Toni Morrison book “Beloved.”

The character “was walking around with his hat in his hand, bowing and scraping … (He) sleeps with Oprah and two minutes later he’s sleeping with her daughter, who’s a ghost. That ain’t me.

“I said, ‘Get Danny (Glover) to do it. Danny’ll do it.’ I’m not knocking him, but it wasn’t my part.”

Loose talk

Woody Allen, on his career choices (in Time Out New York magazine): “If I didn’t have a talent for writing jokes, I would have been … I don’t know what - a delivery boy or messenger.”

And by now, the bloom is off the rose

Mayim Bialik turns 22 today.

But Ford was the winner in the Harrison Poll

Clint Eastwood is America’s most popular movie star, according to a nationwide Harris Poll released Wednesday, followed by Mel Gibson, Tom Cruise, John Wayne and Harrison Ford. The top woman finisher was Demi Moore, at No. 22. (And Denzel Washington? A respectable 10th.)

It got to where nobody could stand him, period

Wil Wheaton, who shot to teen stardom in the 1986 film “Stand By Me,” admits it made him a jerk. “It went straight to my head,” Wheaton, who co-stars in the new Robin Williams comedy “Flubber,” tells People magazine. “I remember being mouthy to everybody. I have spent the last couple of years apologizing.”

Sounds like no code of ethics or morals, either

The makers of the new Charlie Sheen/Martin Sheen movie “No Code of Conduct” are paying to treat a flock of pigeons maimed by explosions set off during the filming. During one session, as many as 50 pigeons were killed while several others were left with charred feathers, burned beaks and eyes seared shut.

So they end up being both borrowed and old

Cameron Diaz has no plans to wed sweetie Matt Dillon despite playing a bride in “Feeling Minnesota,” “My Best Friend’s Wedding” and now “Very Bad Things,” co-starring Christian Slater. “I’m a bit jaded,” she tells Entertainment Weekly. “You’re meant to wear a gown for one day, but I end up wearing them for weeks at a time.”

But she doesn’t mind men abusing themselves

Pietra Dawn Thornton, estranged wife of “Sling Blade” star Billy Bob Thornton, appears nude in January’s Playboy - but only, she insists, to raise awareness about domestic violence. “I want to speak about things that disturb me,” she says. “I just want men who abuse women to stop.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 Photos

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Compiled by staff writer Rick Bonino