FYI~
5/29/01
I'll be on vacation starting today till June 13th.

Ann and Geoff will be updating the club with all your DiCaprio news.

I see that Ann has already been busy, busy, busy ;-)

Thanks guys and I'll see you in about 2 weeks.

Click here to read recent DiCaprio news

Love, Steve
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NY Post
5/29/01
Leo Sightings

LEONARDO DiCaprio, looking puffy, with exquisite galpal Gisele Bundchen at Serafina Actor Leonardo DiCaprio sits with model Gisele Bundchen as they watch the Los Angeles Lakers play the San Antonio Spurs during the first half of game four in the Western Conference Finals, Sunday, May 27, 2001, in Los Angeles. The Lakers won the game 111-82, sweeping the Spurs 4-0.


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LA Times
5/28/01
It looks like Cameron will be Leo's neighbor.

Hollywood Home Fit for a Princess Cameron Diaz, who is the voice of Princess Fiona in the animated movie "Shrek," has purchased a walled and gated home in the Hollywood area. The asking price was about $1.5 million. Diaz had been looking to buy for many months, Westside Realtors said. She had been living in West Hollywood. Built in the 1940s, her new home has three bedrooms in 2,500 square feet. The house also has a pool, spa and city and garden views. Diaz, 28, co-stars with newcomer Jordana Brewster in the low-budget movie "The Invisible Circus" but has appeared in such blockbusters as "Charlie's Angels" (2000), "Any Given Sunday" (1999), "There's Something About Mary" (1998), "My Best Friend's Wedding" (1997) and "The Mask" (1994). She appears in the upcoming films "Gangs of New York," with Leonardo DiCaprio, and "Vanilla Sky," with Tom Cruise. Diaz reportedly made $15 million for doing "Charlie's Angels."
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TV Guide:
5/25/01
Pearl Harbor Faces Infamy

Pearl Harbor looks like a sure-fire summer megahit for Disney's Touchstone...

...Audiences should be prepared to wait an hour and 40 minutes before any bombs start exploding. Equally disappointing to many will be the fact that Beckinsale never gets as naked as Kate Winslet did for Leonardo DiCaprio in Titanic.

Full story
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LeoClips.com:
5/25/01
LeoClips.com

More video clips have been added to Leo Clips. If you have not yet seen them checkout the London Beach Premiere

LeoClips
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Variety:
5/23/01
Hallstrom, DiCaprio play ``Catch''

Lasse Hallstrom (''Chocolat'') is in negotiations to direct ``Catch Me If You Can,'' with Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead role. A March start is planned. The DreamWorks picture tells the true tale of Frank Abagnale Jr., a charming young impostor who impersonated so many people and kited so many checks between 1964 and 1966 that he earned the distinction of being the only teen ever on the FBI's 10 most wanted list (news - web sites). Among Abagnale's ploys were passing himself off as a Pan Am co-pilot (which allowed him to fly more than 2 million miles for free), as well as the chief resident pediatrician at a Georgia hospital, Louisiana's assistant attorney general and a professor of American history at a French university. By the time he was caught. Abagnale wrote $6 million in bad checks in all 50 states and in 26 foreign countries. ``Catch Me'' had previously been eyed by directors such as Gore Verbinski and David Fincher. Hallstrom, currently shooting ``The Shipping News'' for Miramax Films, previously directed DiCaprio in ``What's Eating Gilbert Grape.''
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Salon:
5/22/01
Artist Becca Midwood

Artist Becca Midwood, painter of haunting outdoor portraits, is getting a reputation as the "female Basquiat."...

...After a number of shows at the Karnowsky Gallery, Becca's work sells on the high end -- sometimes for as much as $2,000 to $4,000 a piece. She has a number of serious collectors of her work, and Hollywood types such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Balthazar Getty have reportedly purchased her paintings. Perhaps her highest honor to date came in January 1999 when the national "underground" art magazine Juxtapoz ran a cover story in which Becca was compared to one of her heroes, Jean-Michel Basquiat, also known for starting his career on the streets.

Full story
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The Mirror:
5/21/01
MOVIE THAT COST A BOMB

$135m TO RECREATE PEARL HARBOR .. BUT WILL IT SINK AT BOX OFFICE? IT ought to be the movie of the year - but Hollywood bosses fear Pearl Harbor may be blown out of the water by the critics...

..."Disney expected everyone to be swept away by the scale of their picture," says a source. "They hoped Ben and Kate would do for Pearl Harbor what Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet did for Titanic. THE problem with trying to copy Titanic is the danger of sinking. It's clear the film has problems and a runaway hit seems unlikely."

Full story
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JAM Showbiz:
5/21/01
Fox Studios opens movie park at former 'Titanic' studio in Baja beach town

ROSARITO, Mexico (AP) -- The studio originally built to make the blockbuster Titanic opens its doors to the public Sunday as the Foxplorations theme park for backlot tours and a look at behind-the-scenes moviemaking. Mexico has long been used for location filming and its Pacific Coast resorts have strong connections to Hollywood, but development of the Fox Studios Baja theme park marks a major step in capitalizing on that link. It also represents an expansion of tourism goals for the peninsula, which has historically lured surfers, fishermen, spring breakers, shoppers and retirees. "We wanted to open up the doors to the studio to show people this is how movies are made," said Rolando Navarro, a Titanic extra who is now operations manager of the park. Foxplorations, about 40 kilometres south of the U.S.-Mexican border, is an interactive museum devoted to the craft of film and to the making of the most successful movie of all time. Visitors can tour movie sets used in major scenes of Titanic, see how director James Cameron achieved special effects, and get the obsessive insider's view of the massive project from guides who worked as extras on the film. Foxploration also includes general displays on set design, makeup, animation, camera operations and memorabilia from other 20th Century Fox productions, from Anna and the King to X-Men. Fox Studios Baja, which remains an active movie production facility on most of its 16-hectare site, opened the museum as a way to promote its operations, offset expenses and be more accessible to tourist and residents of Rosarito, said Charles Arneson, the general manager of the studio. But Arneson said Foxploration also may develop as a tourist destination in its own right in a region that has few attractions other than its scenic coast and inland desert. "It's one more step in the right direction toward providing family recreation in Baja," he said. Fox Studios Baja opened in 1996 for Titanic. Massive water tanks built at the shoreline have since been used in other productions that require ocean scenes, including the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies and the soon-to-be-released Disney movie Pearl Harbor. The studio has no immediate plans to convert the museum into a more traditional theme park with rides, but Baja California Tourism Secretary Juan Tintos is encouraging them to do so. "We'd like to think of this as the first phase," Tintos said. "For the second phase ... Think of something of the scale of Universal Studios or Disneyland." Baja California draws about 28 million U.S. visitors a year, most of whom never venture farther than the border city of Tijuana. Tourism revenue totals $1.2 billion US, making it the state's second-largest source of income, after the export-manufacturing plants known as maquiladoras
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L.A. Times:
5/18/01
Party, Party, Party

Spotted at the PlayStation 2 party in Hollywood, Leo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Bill Maher, David Arquette and Crispin Glover came stag. Rod Stewart brought a female entourage, and Ben Stiller came with his wife. Around midnight, Boy George deejayed and hip hop chart-toppers Outkast performed.
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Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
5/18/01
Contests off the field offer drama, laughs

With "The Luhzin Defense" --- a movie about a chess competition --- coming to theaters Friday and "Best in Show" --- a movie about a dog competition --- coming to VHS and DVD this week, we started feeling a little, well, competitive. There's something inherently dramatic about that whole "Thrill of/Agony of" thing. No wonder the movies are filled with plots that somehow involve a contest. And they're not necessarily in the realm of sports. Think of the sheep trial in "Babe," the audition in "A Chorus Line," the dance marathon in "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" Here are some other movies that deal in competitions off the playing field.

"The Quick and the Dead" (1995) --- The cast alone is enough to stop you in your tracks: Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, a pre-"Gladiator" Russell Crowe, a pre-"Titanic" Leonardo DiCaprio. One of those movies that mysteriously never connected at the box office, Sam Raimi's over-the-top western deserves a second chance on VHS and DVD. Stone, Crowe and DiCaprio (plus, in smaller roles, Lance Henriksen and Keith David) are contestants in an annual quick-draw competition sponsored by frontier Big Cheese Hackman for his own amusement and ego gratification. The film is a glorious celebration of western movies as much as the myth of the Old West. It's also an imaginative hommage to spaghetti-western maestro Sergio Leone. Trivial pursuit: Stone was so insistent on young Leo being in the film she paid his salary personally.
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TeenHollywood:
5/18/01
DiCaprio's Next Movie

Now that "Gangs of New York" has finally wrapped, Leonardo DiCaprio is free to find another project. DiCaprio was at one point expected to segue from "Gangs" to "Catch Me If You Can," based on the best-selling 1980 memoir of Frank Abagnale Jr., who successfully impersonated an airline pilot, a doctor, an assistant attorney general and history professor AND cashed more than $2.5 million in fraudulent checks in every state and 26 foreign countries. After being captured by the FBI, Abagnale became a consultant for the bureau. DiCaprio's rep told Nando Times, "Catch" could still be Leo's next film, but right now "he's weighing lots of projects, and nothing is formal yet."
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Washington Post:
5/17/01
Vignettes From Cannes Film Festival

CANNES, France –– It's been a poor year for stargazers in Cannes. And now another big name has dropped out. Festival organizers said Martin Scorsese would not be coming to present his four-hour tribute to Italian cinema, which is showing out of competition. Scorsese, who won the festival's top prize in 1976 for "Taxi Driver" and headed the jury in 1998, had been scheduled to appear Wednesday to present "My Voyage in Italy," about the Italian films that have influenced him as a director. But he canceled his visit so he could finish editing "Gangs of New York," starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz, Liam Neeson and Daniel Day-Lewis. The period movie centers on the clash between New York's Anglo-Protestant poor and the United States' next big wave of immigrants, the Catholic Irish. It was filmed in the Cinecitta studio in Rome.
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Calgary Herald:
5/16/01
Nicole Kidman stands Tall

In a media whirlwind surrounding her divorce from Tom Cruise, actress holds her own...

...Luhrmann does wonder how the uproar over Kidman's broken marriage will impact on Moulin Rouge. "Maybe it will be good for the movie, in some regard, putting it into focus."

On the other hand, he knows Kidman is a controversial figure right now. "One moment she's a saint, the next moment she's on the cover of some magazine dealing with Nicole the evil manipulator. So what's the truth? Hey! I see this all the time. For example, the Leonardo DiCaprio I know is not the Leonardo I read about in the magazines."

Full story
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NY Post:
5/15/01
SHOOTING STAR

TOBEY Maguire is on a roll. The actor is dating his "Spiderman" costar Kirsten Dunst, his movie is being touted as the biggest likely hit of 2002, and he recently proved he has game - despite a lack of height. Maguire - playing in an NBA Entertainment League game on a team with his pal Leonardo DiCaprio - won the nail-biter with a three-pointer just as the buzzer went off.
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Variety:
5/14/01
Miramax ties up Benigni, Scorsese

Miramax Films stayed busy on the Croisette over the weekend, getting into the fairy tale business with Roberto Benigni and signing director Martin Scorsese to a five-year extension of his first-look deal. Miramax has acquired worldwide distribution rights outside Italy to "Pinocchio," which will be directed by and star Oscar-winning actor Benigni, who penned the screenplay with longtime writing partner Vincenzo Cerami. It reunites Benigni with his "Life Is Beautiful" co-star, wife Nicoletta Braschi. Production begins in Italy next month in the converted warehouses in Terni where Benigni shot "Beautiful," a Holocaust comedy that also won the foreign language and original score Oscars in 1999. "'Pinocchio' -- nothing more beautiful in the world," said a typically understated Benigni. "It makes you laugh, it makes you cry, it's very mean, generous, magical, universal, a picture of freedom, of unrestrained desire to live, of pain and joy, a joy so powerful and sweet that it restores the souls in every spot on earth." Scorsese's new arrangement will cover projects that the filmmaker will direct, produce or executive produce. The deal also provides overhead and development funds for Scorsese's Cappa Films, which has more than 40 projects in development. The accord, which includes a five-year, first-look pact with Scorsese's producer, Barbara De Fina, is an extension of Miramax's collaboration with Scorsese on "Gangs of New York." The period picture recently wrapped principal photography in Rome, and stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz and Daniel Day-Lewis. "Gangs," which is understood to cost well north of $100 million, is tentatively set for release in December. "That Marty would choose to make Miramax his creative home is everything that I have always wanted and imagined," said Miramax Films co-chairman Harvey Weinstein. "I have always found Harvey to be an innovator who knows and loves cinema, who is enthusiastic about movie history and is open to learning more about film," said Scorsese, who will be in Cannes Wednesday for the premiere of his documentary "Il Mio Viaggio in Italia" (My Journey in Italy). Miramax Films has also acquired worldwide distribution rights, outside of a few Asian territories, to the upcoming Chinese-language comedy "Shaolin Soccer," directed by and starring Hong Kong action-comedy star Stephen Chow, as well as worldwide rights to his comedies, "The God of Cookery" (1996) and 1999's "The King of Comedy." Miramax will handle the North American theatrical release of all three. "Soccer" tells the story of a ragtag team who use kung-fu skills to become winners. A "God of Cookery" remake has long been eyed by Jim Carrey as a star vehicle, with rights held by John Davis' 20th Century Fox-based Davis Entertainment. The picture is now in development at Fox with Jay Roach ("Meet the Parents") attached to direct.
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The Star-Telegram:
5/11/01
Knight fever

The word is out on Heath Ledger. This shining knight is about to become one huge, shining star...

...What apparently is in Ledger's control is his own destiny. He understands that fame is kind of a "ying and yang" balancing act and that as long as he keeps his "five best blokes" close by, keeps his private life (including his relationship with Heather Graham) under wraps and remembers where he's from, he'll remain the same fun-loving man-child he's been. He'll continue to pursue period pieces because he believes you really have to revisit the past to understand the present and future. And as long as he loves what he's doing, he might be as big or bigger than Brad Pitt, Leo DiCaprio or Tom Cruise by the time he's, say, 22½?.

Full story
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The Irish Times:
5/11/01
Increased petrol prices cause tension

The trend towards petrol-free cars, or hybrids run on petrol and electricity, has already got some momentum. The Toyota Prius and the Honda Insight, which have an electric motor as the main power source with small petrol engines for high speeds, have had modest sales in the US. They cost less, pollute very little and get more than double the mileage. Among their owners are Maine governor Mr Angus King and actor Leonardo DiCaprio.

Full story
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The Detroit News:
5/11/01
Heath jousts for teen idol title

Leo, Shmeo. Where DiCaprio failed to deliver on the major heartthrob promise of Titanic, to his debatable credit, Heath Ledger happily breaches the gap. The fair-haired, rosy-skinned young hunk, who eye-catchingly played Mel Gibson's willful eldest son in The Patriot, now has a movie of his own and it is destined to make him the post-Leo idol of every teen-age girl on seven continents.

Full story
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E! Online ~ Ted Casablanca:
5/10/01
Let the Games Begin

Just try to escape the twosome tawk these days. It's impossible. All the splitsville speak, in fact, is a healthy reminder that there are other couples in this twisted town besides Tom & Nicole, Tom & His Nudie Nemesis and Nicole & Her Legal Mouthpieces. (What a sudsfest that's turning out to be! Wake me when the spin cycle's done, will ya? Actually, I think I'll do some laundering of my own on that soiled sitch next week. You bring the starch, 'kay?) 'Course, with all the attention T.C. and N.K.'s travails are nabbing, other randy boyz and goils just ain't gettin' their gossipy due. What say we fix that, my diggin' dearies? Our first shoveling will be a development in the endless Leo DiCaprio & Gisele Bündchen guessing game. (Are they married? Betrothed? Together at all?) L.D. was just one of the sweltering studs at Maxim magazine's Hot 100 bash. Looking newly lean, the hottie sauntered through the crowds at hot, hot, hot Moomba with a particularly well-toned specimen. Think killer abs. Think clingy bodysuit. Gisele or one of her model mates? Nope. If you guessed Spider-Man's sinewy Tobey Maguire, slap yourself where it pleases, why doncha? Both casually clad, the very good chums circulated about the scene, awing onlookers in their wowza wake. Meanwhile, Leo's whatever-she-is was slinking around the exact same saucy shindig. Gisele galloped in with a gaggle of gal-pals, but raised more than a few perfectly waxed brows by not bumping into her boy. Better figure out their convoluted connection soon, because plenty of other duos are daring to steal the gossipy gawks and gabs away. As if that nonmatrimonial match weren't enough, actual sports brought out the stars, and spies sought out the sweetest crumbs.

Story source
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CANNES (Variety)
5/10/01
Briefs from the Cannes Film Festival

Magellan Filmed Entertainment, which is developing "Catch Me If You Can" at DreamWorks, is negotiating mid-seven-figure financing for its 2001 film slate with California investment banker Richard Alan Ladd. That fund, plus cash from other investors and distributors, will allow Magellan to produce four $2 million-$10 million pics a year. First up is the comedy "The Pleasure of Your Company," which was written and will be directed by Michael Ian Black (NBC's "Ed," "The State"). Pic is about a couple who fall in love despite their dysfunctional families. Next is the thriller "First You Dream, Then You Die," based on real allegations that tied pulp scribe Cornell Woolrich -- whose short story was adapted to become Alfred Hitchcock's "Rear Window" -- to a series of grisly serial killings in New York during the 1930s. The project is set for a late-summer start. Magellan's first film, "Rennie's Landing," starring Peter Facinelli, Ethan Embry and Scott Foley, will have its world premiere on June 15 at the Seattle Film Festival. Magellan's "Catch Me If You Can," is based on con man Frank Abagnale's autobiography; Leonardo DiCaprio is attached for the title role.
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Actors Leonardo DiCaprio, left, and Tobey Maguire watch the action during the first half of game two of the Western Conference semifinals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento Kings in Los Angeles, Tuesday, May 8, 2001. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)

LA Times:
5/9/01
The Lakers try to save tickets for last-minute celebrity requests

The Lakers try to save tickets for last-minute celebrity requests, but last year they were so tight for one playoff game they were unable to accommodate Tiger Woods. FACES IN the crowd Tuesday night: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jimmy Smits, Andy Garcia, Dustin Hoffman, Gary Shandling, Tyra Banks, the guy who is going to play the role of Spider-Man, Penny Marshall, Dyan Cannon, Vince Neil of Motley Crue, who sang the national anthem earning two free tickets to the game and dinner, San Diego Charger Coach Norv Turner and Charger GM John Butler. Jack Nicholson was missing, which could be because the Cannes Film Festival, featuring his film, "The Pledge," opens this week.

Full story
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New York Daily News
5/9/01
Leo Goes Casual

How must you look to win the heart of Brazilian beauty Gisele Bundchen? Like a grungy frat boy who hasn't shaved in three days, says a witness at Maxim's Hot 100 party at Moomba LA. Leo DiCaprio, with a small braided ponytail tucked under a baseball cap, was not dressed to impress anyone at the Thursday night fete honoring 100 gals from around the globe. Curiously, Bundchen, No. 5 on the mag's list, took off before her scruff-daddy boyfriend even arrived, leaving China Chow, Rachel Leigh Cook, Bai Ling, Josie Moran, Jamie Pressly and Rosario Dawson to deal with Prince, Tommy Lee, Tobey Maguire, Marlon and Sean Wayans, Craig Kilborn, Rob Schneider, Taye Diggs and rocker Adam Duritz. Not on Maxim's list, but definitely a contender, was Paris Hilton, wearing a fringed super-micro-mini. Lovely as she looked, the hotel heiress — who screamed about losing her cell phone — took a tumble on the sidewalk as she left the party.
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LA Times:
5/7/01
Vespas ride into town

Owner of the store that received planning approval Thursday expects big sales from Newport Beach. MARINER'S MILE -- The wasps are returning. The ones with two tires and aerodynamically shaped steel, that is. In Italian, a wasp is known as a vespa. And Newport Beach planning commissioners approved a request Thursday to open a new store for the famous motor scooters on West Coast Highway. On Friday, the owner said he'd open up shop by the end of June. "People in Newport Beach love toys," said Mike Malamut, adding that the city's Ferrari, Mercedes and BMW car dealerships were an obvious sign of that. Malamut said he holds dealership rights to open Vespa stores in most of California, Oregon, Arizona and Las Vegas. He already opened one in Sherman Oaks in November and another one's coming to Santa Monica in a few weeks. But Newport Beach apparently ranked No. 1 in Vespa sales before the company pulled out of the American market as a result of tighter emission standards 15 years ago, Malamut said. He added that he had great hopes for a Vespa revival in town and planned to turn the 4,822-square-foot shop into his flagship store. Residents "seem to have the dispensable income to engage themselves," he said. While the scooters are still within reach of many at $3,000 and $4,000 apiece, they're no longer quite as affordable as earlier models, which cost a few hundred dollars and hit Italian streets in 1946. Since then, Vespas have starred in movies ranging from "Roman Holiday" to "Austin Powers." A few celebrities, such as Leonardo diCaprio, Jerry Seinfeld, Sting and Steven Spielberg, have already snatched up the latest models for themselves, company officials said. But whether they knew that or not, it didn't seem to impress the city's planning commissioners when they discussed the proposal. What mattered to them was that the store would comply with new design guidelines for Mariner's Mile, among other things. As a result, an attempt by Malamut's architect to substitute a required hedge with potted plants in front of the store didn't get far. "Nice try," said Planning Commission Chairman Ed Selich, with a smile.
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Yahoo News:
5/7/01
MAXIM Magazine's Hot 100 Party

Guests Included Leonardo DiCaprio, Prince, Tobey McGuire, Giselle and Tommy Lee MAXIM magazine celebrated their second annual HOT 100 supplement -- the definitive list of the hottest 100 up-and-coming women in film, television, music, sports, and fashion -- with another one of their legendary parties. MAXIM honored this year's list of emerging talent at LA's newest hot spot, Moomba. The event, which was sponsored by Haagen-Dazs®, Absolut Vodka and Evian, was a decadent affair featuring Haagen-Dazs® Ice Cream sandwiches and shots as well as specialty Absolut cocktails made with new Haagen-Dazs flavors chocolate and raspberry gelato. Approximately 600 guests were in attendance including MAXIM's Hot 100 girls Krista Allen, Summer Altice, Gisele Bundchen, Jolene Blalock, Rachel Blanchard, Brooke Burke, Jessica Cauffiel, Scarlett Chorvat, China Chow, Rachael Leigh Cook, Majandra Delfino, Eliza Dushku, Megan Ewing, Jennifer Gimenez, Carol Grow, Ali Larter, Bai Ling, Josie Maran, Isabella Miko, Laura Prepon, Cameron Richardson, Tessie Santiago, Kim Smith, Marla Sokoloff and Alicia Witt. Other celebrity guests included David Blaine, Tammy Blanchard, Rosa Blasi, Tia Carrera, Morris Chestnut, Christian de la Fuente, Leonardo DiCaprio, Taye Diggs, Jermaine Dupri, Adam Duritz, Sean Fanning, Brendan Fehr, Peter Gallagher, Topher Grace, Paris Hilton, Craig Kilborn, Justin Kirk, Korn, Tommy Lee, Tone Loc, Tobey McGuire, Chante Moore, Patrick Muldoon, Adrian Paul, Jaime Pressly, Prince, Simon Rex, John Salley, Rob Schneider, Ivan Sergei, Hal Sparks, Michael Vartan, Marlon and Shawn Wayans, Kari Wuhrer and Harland Williams. Following last year's event, a MAXIM invitation has become both a creative tour de force and one of this town's most sought-after invites. MAXIM models in refrigerated ice cream trucks hand-delivered pints of Haagen-Dazs® chocolate gelato to Hollywood glitterati. Each pint sported the specially designed HOT 100 label invite wrapped around the container. Gracing the cover of this year's HOT 100 is no ordinary female, but instead a computer-generated woman -- making MAXIM the first men's magazine to do anything of the sort. The distinct cover honor goes to Dr. Aki Ross, the lead character and heroine from the upcoming summer film, ``Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within.'' After months of planning, the cover photo of Aki was created through a collaboration between MAXIM, Columbia Pictures and Square Pictures. Dozens of the world's top graphic artists worked with the hottest CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) machines and CG (Computer Graphics) software available to forge new frontiers in digital content creation. The MAXIM Hot 100 list has established itself as the place to discover hot up-and-coming female stars. These 100 women are sure to be some of entertainment's hottest stars who will dominate our cultural landscape for the next 12 months. MAXIM magazine has had the most successful launch of any men's magazine in the U.S. and in just four years has become the #1 men's general interest magazine in the country. Recently, MAXIM announced that its ABC Publishers Statement for the 2nd half 2000 (as filed with the Audit Bureau of Circulations, subject to audit) showed average paid copy sales of 2,458,150 copies, representing a year-to-year increase of 47.8%. MAXIM's circulation is more than double of its closest rival.
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Washington Post
5/4/01
'Hybrid' Cars Draw Waiting List of Buyer

Gasoline prices are soaring, but there's a small group of car owners who barely take notice. They drive hybrids -- cars that run on both gasoline and electricity and get more than double the mileage, pollute less and -- at about $21,000 -- cost less than the average car.

Want one? Get in line.

There's a five-month waiting list for the Toyota Prius, because Toyota Motor Corp. doesn't plan to manufacture many. The Prius, roughly the size of a Corolla, can go about 600 miles -- from the District to Boston and halfway back -- on an 11.9-gallon tank of gasoline. There is less demand for the Honda Insight, a two-seat hybrid about the size of a Civic. Unlike the pure electric cars, the hybrids don't need to be plugged in, because the batteries charge themselves every time you hit the brakes, and that has made them a huge hit in the niche they were designed for: the hip, the environmentalists and the technology enthusiasts. The Prius went on sale in the United States last July, the Insight in December 1999. But already these two cars have achieved a certain status, especially on the West Coast, where 25 percent of all hybrids are sold. Hollywood celebrities Donna Mills and Ed Begley Jr. each drive a Prius. Leonardo DiCaprio has two.

Full story
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Leo Clips:
5/3/01
Gony Clips is back up Leo Clips

I plan to be adding new clips in the upcoming months. I do not normally keep up with the entertainment shows around here, so make sure you email me if you know of anything going to be on so I can record it. Or if you have made a recording and would like me to make a clip of it and post it, email me. Susanna is my new assistant webmaster at Leo Clips. She is contributing clips from Europe, and is also helping me get Leoclips back up. thanks everyone!!! -Victoria
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IMDB:
5/2/01
DiCaprio Delays On Next Movie Project

Actor Leonardo DiCaprio can't decide which film he'll work on next before this summer's Hollywood strike. The Titanic star has just finished filming Gangs Of New York, and one of his next choices is the Dreamworks project Catch Me If You Can. The film is based on the bestselling 1980 memoir of Frank Abagnale Jr, who from 1964 to 1966 successfully impersonated an airline pilot, a doctor, an assistant attorney general and a history professor. The con artist cashed more than $2.5 million in fraudulent checks in 26 foreign countries. After being captured by the FBI, Abagnale became a consultant for the bureau. A spokesman for DiCaprio admits the actor is considering taking on the role, but adds that at the moment "he's weighing lots of projects and nothing is formal yet."
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Guardian/Observer:
5/1/01
Crunch time in Hollywood

Hollywood is working on a cliffhanger which will reach its climax tonight in one of five ways, which include its film and television actors being left speechless. The 11,500 members of the Writers' Guild of America may strike now, defer action until the summer, win or lose the battle, or arrive at a compromise with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. A strike would test the Cheers writer and producer Rob Long's assertion in Conversations With My Agent, his insider's account of screen industry bedlam, that "the main reason television sitcoms are so bad is that too many educated people are involved in creating them". On the big screen an eventual return to work might resemble the world of F Scott Fitzgerald's Pat Hobby Stories, the sour 1930s satires about a washed-up hack writer trying, none too hard and none too successfully, to get back into the business. "It could be a disaster all round if a strike should hold," said Paul Schulman, president of Schulman/Adanswers, a New York media-buying company. "Some people will desert permanently, finding other things to do with their time: on the internet or with programming, other than network programming." Neither side was speaking to the press yesterday but the feeling was that neither wanted to risk a strike when the economy is slowing down, or to repeat the 1988 stoppage which is estimated to have cost the industry $500m (£347m). On that occasion the writers made their point by picketing studios with wordless banners. Richard Riordan, the mayor of Los Angeles, has produced a study which estimates that a strike would cost the city $6.9bn (£4.8bn) in business and 130,000 jobs, raising the unemployment rate from 4.8% to 6.9%. Negotiations between the parties broke down in March and resumed at the weekend. The main issue for film writers is respect for their craft: they want to curb directors who like to put their names after the phrase "A film by", even though they may not have written any of it. The television writers are more concerned about money: they want a bigger share of the residuals, the payments received when shows are sold abroad or on tape or DVD, or are rerun on television. If there is a strike, cinema-goers and television viewers will not notice much of a difference at first. The studios have accelerated production and have 76 more films on general release than at this time last year. Television shows such as Sex in the City would not be affected because the summer schedules are completed. In time, however, the small screen might have to run more script-free "reality" shows such as Survivor, and firm producers might turn to old unproduced scripts or foreign films. "Imagine if the networks' Monday line-up was essentially Survivor, Millionaire and Weakest Link, and then on Tuesday Survivor, Millionaire, and Weakest Link," said Doug Lieblein, a writer-producer of the CBS comedy Yes, Dear. "The networks may pretend that won't kill them, but it will." There was little television production planned until the summer, he said.
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Media Week
5/1/01
Survival Island

Media person must apologize if this year's spring & Summer Movie Guide seems less filled with must-see blockbuster entertainment than usual. But it's all Hollywood's fault, not MP's. The endlessly looming writer's strike has already had an effect on films that can only be described as deleterious, unless you want to go with inimical, or possibly even meretricious-but that's showing off. From confidential, as well as consequential, sources high in the movie industry (though their pharmaceutical problems are really no concern of yours), Media Person has learned a shocking fact: The moguls have been secretly preparing for the strike by practicing making movies without writers! Some of these scriptless wonders will be hitting the screen in the next few months, which may or may not explain a certain flaccidity that seems to be creeping into the product. But hey, don't let that stop you from having a good time in the dark. Get out there and consume!

Survival Island: After their surveillance plane is rammed by a hot-dogging Chinese interceptor jet, four spies (Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Affleck, Leonardo DiCaprio and Nicole Kidman) are stranded on a tropical isle without their clothes. Occasionally they have sex in various pairings, but more often they pass the time talking about their romantic problems, their personal trainers, and the difficulty of keeping weight off and guarding one's privacy in a paparazzi-packed world.

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Telegraph:
5/1/01
Christian soldiers on

Christian Bale, who stars in Captain Corelli's Mandolin, is a reluctant Hollywood heart-throb. Is this a legacy of having first tasted fame at the age of 13? Melissa Denes investigates...

...He spent nearly 18 months working on the film (American Psycho). He was cast by the director Mary Harron, approved of by Bret Easton Ellis, who wrote the book, and then promptly dropped by the producers when Leonardo DiCaprio expressed an interest in playing the role. DiCaprio was obviously a bigger box-office draw, and so they decided to proceed without Bale or Harron, who had sworn to leave the film if Bale was not involved. When DiCaprio backed out some months later, the producers went back to Bale (and Harron) and, after several weeks of persuasion, the film went ahead as originally planned.

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