”Zodiac” killer to be subject of new film
For many years San Franciscans were terrorized by the Zodiac killer. Journalist-author Robert Gray then wrote two books, “Zodiac Unmasked” and “Zodiac.” They are now being made into a movie starring Jake Gyllenhaal as Gray, Robert Downey Jr. as a San Francisco newspaper reporter, and Mark Ruffalo as a homicide detective in charge of the case. Filming gets under way as soon as the script is finalized.
•Darryl Hannah, who might have given John Jr. a loving life had not Jackie O. vetoed the relationship, has been cast in “Love Is a Drug,” the story of a single mother struggling to raise her son.
•Still more casting: Naomi Watts will produce and star in “Ellie Parker,” about the struggles of a young actress for integrity and happiness while pursuing a career in Filmtown.
•And we haven’t seen Ralph Fiennes for a while, but he surfaces now in “Who Killed Norma Barnes?” based on Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s “The Idiot.” This is a dark tale of sexual obsession.
•Sarah Jessica Parker will have a big-screen fling in “Slammer,” about a crafty publicist who is framed for theft and sent to Sing Sing, a New York prison. Here she tries to polish the prison’s image by producing an inmate musical. This I’ve GOT to see!
•Oprah Winfrey’s making like a movie star. She’s all glamoured up in the looks department; she’s moving from Chicago to her manse in Montecito (that’s about 90 miles north of L.A. on the ocean) and will commute to do her shows in Hollywood. I wish she would latch on to Alexander McCall Smith’s “The Number One Ladies’ Detective Agency,” about a lady with a detective agency in Botswana. Oprah would be just perfect in the part.
•Aside to Luther K. of Chicago. As far as I know, that was a $50,000 ring Nicole Kidman received from Stephen Bing; what I do not know is whether it is an engagement ring. Maybe by the time you read this we will both know.
•And to Peter B. of Dillsboro, Ind. Yes, I have seen the area in the Hollywood Hills on Mulholland Drive where Jack Nicholson lives. And yes, as far as I know he did buy Marlon Brando’s home adjacent to his. What I don’t know is what he plans to do with all that property. And in answer to your other question. It is so situated that it cannot slide down the hill, which levels off at the top where the house is.
BITS ‘N’ PIECES
•Paris — all over the Sunset Strip again, hitting some of the clubs, trying to get into the acts in others. On one particular night she was out solo.
•George Clooney’s girl friend Lisa Snowdon matches him in height, as does Leo’s Gisele Bundchen.
•I just can’t visualize Britney as a mommie. She seems like such a child herself. However, it will be interesting to see.
•All kinds of bets out this way on which femme star changes her hair color the most: Charlize? Renee? Nicole?
•Don’t believe rumors. All is well in the Douglas/Zeta-Jones household. She is 36; he is 60.
•”Elvis by the Presleys” (Crown) a great big book full of pictures. Elvis fans will feast on many unknown, intimate details about “The King,” revealed by wife, daughter and friends.