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-- Daniel Kohn <dan@teledesic.com> Teledesic Corporation +1-206-602-6222 (voice) 602-0001 (fax) http://www.teledesic.com-----Original Message----- From: DRUDGE REPORT [SMTP:drudge@drudgereport.com] Sent: Thursday, May 29, 1997 2:30 AM To: drudge@drudgereport.com Subject: DRUDGE REPORT FINAL 5/29/97
XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT FINAL XXXXX MAY 29, 1997 XXXXX
HOLLYWOOD SHOCKER: NEW FILM PUSHES LIMITS
The NEW LINE film BOOGIE NIGHTS received a test screening last night at the Beverly Center in Los Angeles. And what a test it was. The DRUDGE REPORT has learned that the NC-17 rated film does contain the much-rumored, groundbreaking scene that features actor Mark Wahlberg [formerly known as Marky Mark]. The scene, which comes at the end of the film, is a close-up of a 13-inch penis. Standing before a mirror dressed in a white polyester suit and purple shirt, Wahlberg, playing a charter based on porn star John Holmes, reaches to unzip his pants and pulls out his member. The camera traces its length that extends half way down the leg. The shot is roughly 10 seconds in duration. The film -- distributor NEW LINE, parent company TIME WARNER -- will cause absolute controversy as its slated August 29 release nears. Plot: Pornography flourished in the late 70s and early 80s in the Valley. Small film companies operating out of garages; one company recruits a kid [Mark Wahlberg], who becomes a major porn star. With the help of Wahlberg, the company goes from a small outfit to a thriving business. Burt Reynolds is costar. It's a "graphic and bizarre morality tale," declared one screener. The film that starts as satire, playing up the fashions and attitudes of the era, eventually moves into a serious treatment on the porn industry and its culture. Curiously, the film leaves out any references to AIDS, which eventually took the life of Holmes. The running time has been trimmed from a reported 3 hours to slightly more than 2 1/2. And there still may be more cutting. "I can't imagine it will be released with 'the shot', even though it should be... totally appropriate in the context of the story" says a veteran journalist who attended. A classic Hollywood shocker.
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GORE BEING DRAGGED INTO WHITEWATER?
Is there a new Whitewater wild card about to be played? Does it involve Vice President Al Gore? Talk is cheep and only actions will verify, but reports coming out of underground Washington have prosecutor Starr looking too closely, and not liking what he sees, at a supposed White House meeting where former Arkansas Gov. Jim Guy Tucker was given a heads up that he was about to be indicted. Both Bill and Hillary Clinton took part in the meeting -- so the story goes -- but also present, Gore...
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MERV SELLS HOUSE FOR RECORD PRICE
News will break this weekend that has Merv Griffin recently selling his Beverly Hills mountaintop compound for more than $8 million, making it the highest price ever paid for a home in Southern California. Buyer not known as this transmits; restaurant talk that it's David Geffen or Bill Gates appears to be unfounded...
ABC'S Joan Lunden may have agreed to leave GOOD MORNING AMERICA with a smile on her face because she's traded up. Columbus Circle rats have Lunden taking the chair at the network's new second night 20/20 broadcast. Official ABC says there's no such plan...
WARNER BROS and NBC want to do an episode of ER "live", DAILY VARIETY fronts on Thursday. The report has producers busy working on a plan to open next season with a real-time, live episode. They must first decide if the stunt is even logistically feasible. While sitcoms have had success with live episodes, mutlicamera gloss dramas like ER would be harder to stage. [Trying to get one-scene-at-a-time talent to memorize lines could also be a risk.] "The early plan is to use three sound stages," writes VARIETY's Michael Fleming, "with cast members being carried via golf cart from scene to scene." [Clooney could batmobile it.] The downside is how to duplicate the chaos of the operating rooms with just one take...
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MICHAEL JACKSON ONLY MOVES 35,000 COPIES OF NEW ALBUM IN U.S.!
HOLLYWOOD -- Michael Jackson's new album BLOOD ON THE DANCE FLOOR hits the BILLBOARD charts [June 7] at #24 in its opening week. SOUNDSCAN informs SONY the set only sold 35,000 units during the period, down from 391,000 units for Jackson's last opener, HISTORY, which itself was down from an estimated 850,000 of DANGEROUS. One source at the record company privately complains about the lack of airplay the lead single is receiving, but obviously there are other factors at work.
"The music business is always reinventing itself... bringing in new talent," an entertainment journalist friend intellectualizing on the Jackson fall. "He was the King of Pop, and now pop has moved on."
Indeed, there seems to be no way to stop the slide when the pop world decides it's just had enough. Suddenly you look up, it's who are theys like SPICE GIRLS and HANSON with all the bullets.
Some people I talked with around town on Wednesday suspected that Jackson's weirdness factor finally devastated sales. "Who would want to be seen in a record store even holding the thing," laughed a former Jackson fan. [There vicious here.]
"Well, he's selling in Poland," jabs another, referencing the flash that has Jackson opening a theme park in Warsaw.
"Michael today is 10 times bigger than Elvis was, he is the most popular and famous man on the planet," Jacques Tourel, director of the World Trade Center in Warsaw, told the LOS ANGELES on Wednesday.
But in Poland, there's also evidence of the new generation disinterest. In the TIMES piece on the theme park, 14-year-old Warsaw teen Monika Kopysiewicz whines: "Will they only play his music? I think I would go crazy."
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FLINN GETTING COLD SHOULDER FROM HOLLYWOOD?
It appears that CBS, NBC, ABC and FOX have all passed on treatments of the Air Force Lt. Kelly Flinn story. And while it is still likely that someone will end up buying the story -- one source quipped, "when her asking price comes down" -- the tepid response from the networks is coming as a surprise to many in the industry...
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Hello, Chelsea. Caught you...
____________________ Filed by Matt Drudge 5/29/97 05:46 UTC The REPORT is issued when circumstances warrant. All comments: drudge@lainet.com http://www.drudgereport.com P.O. BOX 1171, Hollywood, CA 90028 (c)DRUDGE REPORT 1997 Not for reproduction without permission of the author