This Controversy Has Caught Irons In The Fire
Major movie distributors may have passed on the controversial remake of “Lolita,” but star Jeremy Irons isn’t backing down.
While the film about an older man’s affair with an underage girl is “very disturbing,” Irons said in London, “it does not encourage pedophilia in any way.
“Actors should be like the medieval clown standing behind the ear of the king and telling him he is mortal. Somebody … has to tell the truth and when you are surrounded by political correctness, fashion, all of that, someone has got to stand up and make sense.”
Counters Sue Lyon, who played the title role in the original 1962 film and blames her descent into drink, drugs and depression on her sudden fame from it: “I am appalled they should revive the film that caused my destruction as a person.”
Loose talk
“Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” director Terry Gilliam, on how Prozac compares to mind-expanding ‘60s drugs: “Today’s drugs make us nice, quiet and good shoppers.”
And he’s still complaining about ‘Portnoy’
Richard Benjamin turns 60 today.
Even today, guys are still hitting on her
For 18-year-old Christina Ricci (“The Ice Storm,” “The Addams Family,” “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”), the “bad girl” roles come easy. “I was bored and unhappy in school,” she told The New York Times. “I used to act out and do horrible things … (I) used to provoke other kids into hitting me and throwing me around, I think as a way of drawing attention to myself.”
All that ice must’ve made him cold-blooded
Leonardo DiCaprio is set for a radical change of image. The “Titanic” heartthrob has agreed to play a yuppie serial killer in a $10 million adaptation of the controversial Brett Easton Ellis novel “American Pyscho,” scheduled to begin shooting in the fall. Brad Pitt and Matt Damon also had expressed interest in the role.
And he must’ve had those drinks on the rocks
Meanwhile, David Hasselhoff and Priscilla Presley will star in a $25 million spoof of “Titanic” called “Titanic Too - It Missed the Iceberg,” scripted by the screenwriter of the “Naked Gun” series. Said producer Kelvin MacKenzie: “It would be great to say we came up with the premise after loads of market research and development. But the truth is I had the idea after a couple of drinks in the bar.”
Which shouldn’t stop Hunter S. Thompson
ABC is so far refusing to air commercials for “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” saying it hasn’t seen a cut of the film and adding the book it’s based on “glorifies drug use.” But Johnny Depp, who stars as “gonzo journalist” Hunter S. Thompson, begged to differ in a “USA Today” interview: “If you see this movie and you want to take drugs afterward, you’ve got to be a madman.”