McCormack doesn’t have a problem playing ‘Will’
Q: On the show “Will and Grace,” I was told that Eric McCormack, who plays Will, didn’t want to do it at first because he says he’s straight and the role might keep him from getting straight parts later on. Is that true? And if so, what changed his mind? — Pat D.
A: When “Will and Grace” debuted in 1998, he was interviewed by one of my colleagues who asked him if he thought the role might prove to be a problem in stereotyping him as a gay character. McCormack said no. He believed audiences understand that when an actor plays a role, he is not playing his alter ego, and he felt (correctly as it turned out) that he would be offered a variety of roles to play during the series’ hiatus periods.
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Q: A recent magazine article about Martha Stewart said that she wanted to choose the prison where she’d be spending her five-month sentence. She didn’t get what she wanted because it was overcrowded. But how is it that she even was allowed to choose a location anyway? — Julie T.
A: In many instances of white-collar crime, the convicted person can request a prison facility that would be easier for his or her family to visit. Barring extenuating circumstances, more often than not, judges may well suggest that sentencing boards comply. In Stewart’s case, she asked to be sent to one close to her Connecticut home. But, as you noted, it was too crowded and she was sent instead to serve time in a West Virginia institution.
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Q: I’m curious about the arrest photos of celebrities that sometimes appear on the Internet. Some of them — like one of Nick Nolte looking wild-eyed and disheveled and another recent one of Glen Campbell that I could hardly recognize — make them look really bad and hung over. Can the celebrities sue for invasion of privacy in allowing those pictures to be used in the media or on the net? — Sherry W.
A: Probably not. An arrest is a public event (as it should be in a democracy where we don’t want people carried off in secret in the middle of the night), and unless one is a minor, being processed in connection with an arrest is a matter of public record.
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Q: I recently saw a movie in which Alec Baldwin played “The Shadow,” one of my favorite classic comic-strip characters. Will there be more “Shadow” movies? — Stu M.
A: Probably not in the near future. Baldwin’s flick was not the box-office success “Shadow” fans like yourself hoped for.
The same thing happened with another classic comic character, “The Phantom.” Hollywood predicted it would attract fans to the theaters, especially with Billy Zane playing the “Ghost Who Walks.” But the flick stumbled.