He Was Wise To Put The Cartel Before The Force
The latest word on that controversial Michael Jackson video being shot in Brazil: director Spike Lee reportedly paid a drug lord for permission to film in a Rio de Janeiro slum.
The cocaine kingpin in the Dona Marta neighborhood said he had received the payoff. “We had to get permission from somebody to shoot there,” Lee said. “Whether they were drug dealers or not, I don’t know … The police have little authority there. The producers had to negotiate with the right person.”
Complained a Rio state security official: “The Jackson team could have requested our help, but they didn’t. It must be the custom in his country to give money to traffickers.”
Brazilian officials fear the video for “They Don’t Care About Us” will taint the city’s image and hurt its chances to host the 2004 Olympics.
Loose talk
Julia Louis-Dreyfus (“Seinfeld”), on her taste in men (in TV Guide): “I don’t like guys that are too gorgeous. That is not a thing for me. I like funny. It’s so nice to be funny. Funny is everything. Funny is smart. Funny is happy.”
Time to start doctoring those publicity photos
Jane Seymour turns 45 today.
All he really has to do is switch gloves
Speaking of Michael Jackson, his 17-year-old nephew, T.J. Jackson (Tito’s boy), is both a member of the pop group 3T and a talented high school baseball player. “Music is something I love and so is baseball,” he told the Los Angeles Daily News. “I couldn’t live without both.”
It will be the biggest part he’s ever had
The long-awaited film version of Howard Stern’s autobiography, “Private Parts,” will begin shooting in early May. Starring Stern, the movie will be produced by “Ghostbusters” director Ivan Reitman and directed by Betty Thomas, who played Sgt. Lucy Bates on “Hill Street Blues” and has since directed “The Brady Bunch Movie.”
Like Pam, it isn’t exactly the real thing
“Baywatch” bimbo Pamela Anderson Lee has her own soft drink, Pammy Cola, out on store shelves in England. There are no plans yet to market the soda stateside.
We can’t wait until this trend catches on
“Friends” star Jennifer Aniston, best known so far for her much-copied coiffure, bares her behind on the cover of Rolling Stone’s March 7 issue. Sneered a disgruntled magazine source in Time: “It’s shameless, but it’ll probably sell.”
But they’ll never live down ‘Hudson Hawk’
Demi Moore, who takes it off in her latest film, “Striptease,” says she and hubby Bruce Willis have no problem letting their three young children see them in the nude. “Sitting together naked, relaxing with a book or watching TV is wonderful,” Moore told the British magaziene Eva. “I’m not worried that when the kids get older they’ll be teased because mommy does nude scenes. I never do anything to make my children feel ashamed of me.”
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 color photos
The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Compiled by staff writer Rick Bonino