February/March '99"The most positive thing that comes out of all these rumours is that the press conceives me as a pretty eclectic guy. They're linking me with everyone from Pamela to Calista to Matt." --Ben, on all the rumours stirred up about him.(Thanks to Anonymous!)
March 29th, 1999
March 28th, 1999
Hollywood stars gawked at Monica Lewinsky as she made the rounds of parties 3/21. Ben Affleck, to Matt Damon: "Come on, we're all going to go over to meet Monica." Lewinsky's jaw dropped when Affleck introduced himself. After exchanging some banter, Affleck reported, "She was nice." One of Affleck's friends: "She thought you were hot. She called him a 'hotty.'" Affleck: "She bleeped the President. I don't know what she'd want with me. I have to say, though, I admire her -- the way she handled herself in the Senate hearings."
The best shtick, though, had to be Two Gentleman of Queens, a playlet that Shakespeare co-writer Tom Stoppard penned especially for the occasion. The sketch featured Best Supporting Actor nominee Geoffrey Rush wearing an enormous prosthetic belly to play Miramax honcho Harvey Weinstein, and Matt Damon sporting a frizzy black wig to mimic Harveys partner-brother, Bob.The setup: the Weinsteins first meeting with former New Yorker editor Tina Brown to discuss her new magazine, Talk, which is being bankrolled by Disney-owned Miramax.
Listen, growled Rush in a dead-on rendition of Harvey, when she gets here, let me do the talking.
But Harv, said Damons Bob, you must be joking. We know movies, we dont know magazines. Bob: Harvey, what kind of title is Talc {sic}?
Harvey: What do you care? Its {Disney chairman Michael} Eisners money.
Bob: He doesnt know that. And $75 million is a lot of cash just to start up a magazine.
Harvey: No, the $75 million is Tinas salary.
Enter Tina, played by a plummy-accented Paltrow.
Tina: Ive got this incredible, fantastic idea for the Christmas cover: Monica Lewinsky's baby.
Bob: Omigod, is she pregnant?
Tina: This is what I have to talk to you about . Bob, I think Monica will have your baby if Harvey gives her the leading role in Elizabeths Loves. She has to deliver by November because of the {magazines} lead time.
Harvey: Were dead. I already asked her and she wont do it unless I give up my producers credit. (Thanks to 'Anonymous'.)
March 22nd, 1999
I truly thought Saving Private Ryan was going to win for Best Picture, but instead Shakespeare in Love took the Oscar. I haven't seen Shakespeare, so I won't comment.
Gwyneth Paltrow took the Best Actress award for Shakespeare in Love, and once again thanked her friend, Ben Affleck.
Roberto Benigni wins for Best Actor instead of Tom Hanks! (Personal note: Jim Carrey wasn't even nominated-how disappointing.) Of course, Steven Spielberg wins for Best Director.
Don't worry everyone, I will have as many pictures as I can possibly get of Matt and Ben at the awards as soon as possible! Meanwhile, here's a shot from E-online of Matt and Ben's arrival. Visit E-online for a full wrap-up of the awards.
March 20th, 1999 March 17th, 1999 THE OSCARS: So will Matt attend or not? There's been speculation that he won't because of filming on "All the Pretty Horses" but no need to worry there-Billy Bob Thornton (the director) is nominated for an Oscar and will definitely show at the ceremony. Matt isn't mentioned in the list of confirmed presenters at Oscar.com (Ben, Robin Williams and Gwyneth Paltrow will attend.) The Oscars will be presented March 21st.
March 6th, 1999 Rainbow Casting Service of Albuquerque is looking for extras for "All the Pretty Horses," a Miramax/Columbia feature film being directed by Academy-Award winning writer Billy Bob Thornton. The Western begins shooting in San Antonio, Texas, on March 15. The production will move to Santa Fe and Las Vegas, N.M., start April 16 and running through the end of June.
Men and women of all ages and races and children over the age of 7 are needed to work in the Las Vegas area in mid-April and early June. An open casting call is scheduled for the Plaza Hotel in Las
Vegas, 230 Old Town Road, on Friday, March 12, from 2 to 7 p.m., and Saturday, March 13, from 10:30 a.m. until 5 p.m.
Rainbow Casting Service asks that calls not be placed to the
hotel. Men must be willing to cut their hair and shave to match the era, although this won't apply to Native Americans. The women must be under size 14 due to the wardrobe restrictions. The men should be a size-46 jacket or less.
Applicants must bring a current photograph to leave with an
application.
There are going to be additional open calls in Santa Fe and
Albuquerque this month for extras in those areas. Those interested should call 827-9835 for updates. "All the Pretty Horses," starring Matt Damon and Henry Thomas, takes place in 1949 Texas and Mexico.
February 26th, 1999 The pair started the evening at Glamour editor Bonnie Fuller's 60th anniversary bash for the mag at SoHo's Van Dam restaurant.
The party was decorated with Mira Sorvino, Heidi Klum, Cheryl Tiegs, Iman and Bridget Hall, among other beauties. After midnight and quite a few shots the boys rounded up Sorvino, Damon's brother, Kyle, and some other alpha males from Boston and headed to Moomba.
Also in tow was Champagne, a Sorvino pal known for her psychic powers. As more shots went down, the fortune teller grasped Damon's palm and mumbled something about "blockage in your sinuses." Maybe his nasal congestion was clouding her forecast. Or maybe that was her forecast.
As for Affleck, he seems to be keeping his options open as he sorts things out with girlfriend Paltrow. At one point in the
partying, Damon handed him a cell phone. Affleck listened, then
shouted: "I'll go out with her! I'll go out with her!"
Whoever she is better be ready for some late evenings. The lads rolled home around 5 a.m.
February 20th, 1999 The Cambridge homey and his honey held hands all night and were "so syrupy," according to one diner, who deigned not to disturb the couple.
Owner Steve Merola said Matt and his gamine galpal, dressed casually in jeans and jackets, chowed down on salad and bruschetta, then split a veggie pizza, washing it all down with two bottles of Veuve Cliquot champagne. Well, it was Valentine's Day Eve. ...
"They couldn't have been nicer," said Merola, who added that
Matt's mom, Nancy Carlsson-Paige, was the Cupid who rang up to
reserve the table.
Because Mom knows when the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's amore! It was big. Actor Matt Damon ("Good Will Hunting," "Saving
Private Ryan") had arrived at the Soundmirror recording studio to do voice work on a film animation project for Fox television. It was nothing out of the ordinary for Soundmirror, though, a small studio with a reputation for working with big names like Damon. Soundmirror Studios, housed in an unremarkable red brick building on the corner of Cheshire and Green streets, for years has gone
quietly about the business of recording the work of opera singer Jessye Norman, composer and pianist Andre Previn, jazz musician Keith Jarrett, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra with Seiji Ozawa, to name only a few clients. HSI Tomorrow Film is an alliance between production outfit HSI Entertainment and foreign sales company Tomorrow Film. HSI's Stavros Merjos, Adam Rosenfelt and Chad Snopek will produce "Wheel" alongside Moore. Tomorrow's Yoram Pelman will exec produce with Affleck and Damon.
Affleck has been loosely attached to "Wheel" for some time. Pic is about two friends, Stanley and Michael (Affleck), who plan an exciting evening for Stanley's date with Diana, the girl of his dreams. But due to a series of mishaps the couple end up spending the evening with a con artist (Lacopo).
The roles of Stanley and Diana are not yet cast. While Affleck's role is substantial, Damon will play the cameo role of Diana's ex-boyfriend. Shooting is tentatively skedded to begin this June in Los Angeles.
February 13th, 1999 February 7th, 1999 February 4th, 1999 February 3rd, 1999
"It is late and I have to shoot in the morning, after which I board a plane for LA to present the documentary award at the Oscars with Matt. When the show ends I hop back on a flight and get back up here (with little or no sleep) to shoot again on Monday morning."
(Best Documentary? I thought they would be handing out the award for Best Screenplay.) The Oscars
will be televised on March 21st. Check local listings.
CINESCAPE reports FOX's upcoming animated film PLANET ICE has been re-titled TITAN A.E. (After Earth). The film is a TREASURE ISLAND-in-space-type of story, featuring the voices of Matt Damon, Drew Barrymore, Bill Pullman, Nathan Lane, Hank Azaria, Jim Breuer, and Janeane Garofalo. TITAN A.E. is scheduled for a summer 2000 release.
Do you have a dream to be an extra in a big-studio film?
BEN AFFLECK thinks that WINONA RYDER is the sweetest girl in Hollywood. Since Affleck broke up with GWYNETH PALTROW, Ryder, girlfriend of his best friend MATT DAMON, has been trying to get him fixed up with a new love. What Affleck doesn't know is that Ryder's matchmaking has an ulterior motive. The petite actress has been complaining that since Affleck's been single, he's been dragging Damon out for `guys nights' at Hollywood's hippest clubs - and she's had enough of it.
Love - and the smell of baked bruschetta - was in the air the other night at Trattoria Lorenzo where Hollywood Valentines Matt Damon and Winona Ryder cooed in the corner over a late-night dinner.
BEN AFFLECK AND MATT DAMON: The Good Will Hunting boys will try to solidify their can't-miss status this year. Affleck stars opposite Sandra Bullock in the romance Forces of Nature (March 19), and Damon portrays a suave and manipulative bad guy in the thriller The Talented Mr. Ripley (due at year's end). Both may turn out to be savvy moves. Affleck, whose success has come in ensemble films such as Armageddon and Shakespeare in Love, can prove he's a leading man. Damon, who played the good boy in Hunting and then in the gambling saga Rounders and the war drama, Saving Private Ryan, can prove his range as an actor.
Neighbors must have suspected something big was happening when a line of stretch limos pulled onto the normally
quiet, dead-end Cheshire Street in Jamaica Plain a few weeks ago.
They've already starting on 'Planet Ice'? Sounds intriguing.
ALL those women hoping to make time with Matt Damon tonight without interference from Winona Ryder are out of luck. The Tinseltown heartthrob was slated to show solo - Ryder's filming in Pennsylvania - at the ''Time For Peace Awards'' at the Hammerstein Ballroom to pick up an award for absentee pal Robin Williams. But now Damon can't make it either. He's been called to Texas to work on ''All the Pretty Horses'' and had to cancel.
As well, an article about another film Ben and Matt will produce (as well as have roles in):
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon will spin the comedy-romance "The Third Wheel" for Pearl Street Prods. and HSI Tomorrow Film. Wheel" is set to be the first pic to go into production for Affleck and Damon's Miramax-based Pearl Street. The two thesps will exec produce the indie pic, and take supporting actor roles opposite lead Jay Lacopo, who wrote the script. Jordan Brady will direct. "Wheel" also reteams Affleck and Damon with their "Good Will Hunting" co-producer, Chris Moore, who will produce the pic.
Look for Matt Damon to make his singing debut with My Funny Valentine in the film The Talented Mr. Ripley.
Gabriel Yared, who is working on the music for Anthony Minghella's new film, has been in Rome and Venice, working with Damon and Gwyneth Paltrow.
Damon, says Yared, "came in a very shy guy, saying, 'I don't know how to sing.' Then he stepped up to the microphone in the studio and he was great. Immediately. The first time he got it right. I'm sure he's worked more than he says at singing."As usual, the beginning of the show starts off with the host making a short monologue. Gwyneth comes out and introduces herself as a British actress. People in the audience start to get suspiscious and two women stand up and ask her "But don't you live in New York? Your mom's an American actress and your dad's the producer of St. Elsewhere?" Gwyneth denies everything and insists that she lives in "some part" of England. Suddenly Ben stands up in the crowd! He says "Hey Gwyneth, it's me Ben. Ben Affleck." Gwyneth says, oh yes we were in Shakespeare in Love together. He responds "Gwyneth, you're American. You were born in LA and raised in New York. I know your family!" She giggles and insists he's just a silly Yank. He's confused and says "Come on Gwyneth, don't you remember? We dated for a while, we broke up like a month ago...it was in all the papers, didn't you read the news?" and then "You don't have to pretend to be English to be cool, you can be an American." Gwyneth then says something and Ben responds with probably one of the most hilarious lines of the night "Okay, just don't go all Minnie Driver on me."
Jack Nicholson was devastated Sunday when someone repeated the rumor to him, albeit erroneous, that Joe DiMaggio had died.
Nicholson was told this just as he came off stage after being honored at Sundays Golden Globes. During Nicholsons acceptance speech on national TV, he talked about DiMaggio as his boyhood idol.
And then they said he had died, Nicholson told me afterward. I thought I had jinxed him.
Nicholson didnt learn about the DiMaggio story being was incorrect until Matt Damon told him at the CAA party.
He didnt die, Jack, Damon said to him. I just heard it on the
radio coming over here.
Are you sure? Nicholson asked.
Im sure, Damon said.
You should have seen the look of relief come over Nicholsons face. It wasnt acting.
