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Showbiz Today

Elizabeth Hurley Torments Brendan Fraser in 'Bedazzled'; CBS Discovers Crime Pays With 'C.S.I.'; Joan Osborne Releases New CD

Aired October 19, 2000 - 4:30 p.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

JIM MORET, CO-HOST: Hi, everyone. I'm Jim Moret in Los Angeles, along with my favorite visitor, Laurin Sydney.

LAURIN SYDNEY, CO-HOST: Thank you so much.

Brendan Fraser plays a pathetic kind of character in the new movie "Bedazzled." He sells his soul to the devil to impress the woman he loves -- something you would do, Mr. Moret.

MORET: It's not a bad deal really, when you consider the devil in this case is played by Elizabeth Hurley.

Bill Tush gives us a few more details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "BEDAZZLED")

ELIZABETH HURLEY, ACTRESS: There is nothing sinister here. It's almost a standard boiler plate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BILL TUSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): OK, we can all agree model-turned-actress Elizabeth Hurley is hot, but hot enough to play the devil?

HURLEY: Well, to my horror, I think they wanted me to be myself, which I was rather surprised about.

TUSH: Of course, what would the devil be without some poor soul to torment?

HURLEY: I play the devil. Brendan...

(LAUGHTER)

TUSH (on camera): Do that again.

HURLEY: I play the devil. Brendan Fraser plays this sort of socially inept computer nerd, and I basically get to torment him for the entire movie. TUSH (voice-over): Yep, "George of the Jungle," "Dudley Do Right" of the Royal Mounties, AKA Brendan Fraser, as Elliot, the guy who signs on with Beezelbub for a chance to have it all.

BRENDAN FRASER, ACTOR: Elliot wishes for money, lots and lots of it, and power, and he is given it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "BEDAZZLED")

FRASER (speaking Spanish): Wow! I'm really speaking Spanish!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TUSH: A drug lord is just one of the many guises Fraser and his co-stars become as he searches for happiness with the woman of his dreams, Allison, played by Australian transplant, Frances O'Connor.

FRANCES O'CONNOR, ACTRESS: I worked with a dialect coach on this and we worked on each kind of character to make them not just an American accent but, like, try and make each one a little different.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "BEDAZZLED")

O'CONNOR (speaking Spanish): And I'll be happy doing it because it will mean I'll never have to look at your disgusting face again!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'CONNOR: Oh yes, there is some -- they'd be like, "what did you say?" That's OK. That's the beauty of filmmaking, you can always go again.

TUSH: And the man who would call for take two: Harold Ramis, the director and screenwriter of such blockbuster comedies as "Caddyshack," "Groundhog Day," and "Analyze This," to name a few.

HAROLD RAMIS, DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER: You know, I think part of it is that there is truth in it. You know, I think what makes a good comedy moment is, you know, it's good dialogue, it's good physical business, it's timing, it's story.

TUSH: And even with all of his success, Ramis has no control over Brendan Fraser's Spanish.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "BEDAZZLED")

FRASER (speaking Spanish): Hello, Esteban. Where is the library?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAMIS: And I was just told by the foreign press that his Spanish is not that good, but I was so impressed that he could just get through it. They say his accent was -- you know, was not great.

TUSH: Well, you can't have everything, even if you do make a deal with the devil.

Bill Tush, CNN Entertainment News, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MORET: That film should be rated D for devil. But James Caan's latest film, that's rated R. He turned out in Beverly Hills, Wednesday for the premiere of "The Yards." His son Scott was also there.

SYDNEY: Ellen Burstyn co-stars in the film, set in a world of crime. James Caan told us about his character, a construction boss who's not exactly a sweetheart.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES CAAN, ACTOR: He's not very nice. But I think he makes feeble efforts, you know, to try to do the right thing, but he's just emotionally crippled to do it. I mean, he's pathetic, a pathetic character.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SYDNEY: Jim, the new film "Requiem For a Dream" is not exactly for the faint-hearted. With its graphic scenes of sex and drug abuse, it's creating quite a stir, earning the hard-to-market NC-17 rating.

MORET: The filmmakers behind this gritty addiction drama have rejected the rating and chose to release the film with no rating at all.

SYDNEY: Michael Okwu takes a look at the NC-17 stigma.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "REQUIEM FOR A DREAM")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: Purple in the morning. Blue in the afternoon

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Citing sexually explicit and graphic scenes, the MPAA rated Darren Aronofsky's "Requiem for a Dream" NC-17. The film's distributor, Artisan Entertainment, is not a member of the MPAA, so it chose to release "Requiem" uncut and unrated, and for good reason.

DARREN ARONOFSKY, DIRECTOR, "REQUIEM FOR A DREAM": NC-17 could be a, you know, a kiss of death.

DAN COX, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT, "VARIETY": It is the kiss of death. A lot of it has to do with the marketing of a film. You're not allowed to advertise in certain places, in certain publications. As well, a lot of chains won't go near you. OKWU: And those theaters that do will not admit anyone under 17. That's almost half of the movie-going public. At the New York premiere of "Requiem," United Artists hired security guards to keep the underaged out.

But perhaps the most damage is at the video counter. Studios expect to make more than half of their profit on video sales and rentals. But the two biggest retailers, Hollywood Video and Blockbuster, will not carry films with an NC-17 rating. That, say experts, could cost a typical film saddled with an NC-17 several million dollars.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "MIDNIGHT COWBOY")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: A person has got to make a living.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OKWU: The MPAA created NC-17 in 1990 to replace the X rating after pornographers co-opted the X to market non-artistic films two decades after the X-rated "Midnight Cowboy" won the Oscar for Best Picture. Since "Henry and June," the first NC-17 movie, experts say the MPAA has become less strict.

COX: "Scary Movie" got an "R". How that movie got an "R" I will never know. That is -- should be an NC-17 if not a X. They keep pushing the envelope. And you know, the Farelly brothers did it. Certainly, "There's Something about Mary" is a very risque film.

OKWU: MPAA chief Jack Valenti says the studio-funded ratings board, made up of parents, is influenced by the changing face of the small screen. NBC's "Tucker."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "TUCKER")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: What do you think you are doing?

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Nothing

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JACK VALENTI, CHAIRMAN, MPAA: Television really sets the standard. The rating board has to take into account if television allows some things on free, over-the-air television, then they certainly have to take that into account.

OKWU: But for those filmmakers who have to make do with an NC- 17, their only recourse is to exploit the public fight.

ARONOFSKY: Ultimately, it's going to help "Requiem for a Dream" because audiences are going to hear about the controversy and we're going to attract the people that are interested in seeing something different.

OKWU: Michael Okwu, CNN Entertainment News, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SYDNEY: To find out more about this and all of our other stories just go to our new Web site at cnn.com/showbiztoday.

And coming up, we go behind the scenes of the new hit crime show "CSI," and singer Joan Osborne is back with her first album in four years.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MORET: That's an honor.

For the first time in three weeks, negotiators are back at work trying to resolve the commercial actors strike.

SYDNEY: SAG president William Daniels says that he has his fingers crossed, hoping that the latest talks lead to a settlement.

MORET: Still, settlement or not, SAG may have a beef with Wendy's founder Dave Thomas. The fast-food pitchman has resigned from the guild after shooting a non-union ad.

SYDNEY: CBS is discovering that crime may not pay, but crime scene investigation certainly does.

MORET: It sure does. The network's new show, "C.S.I." is off to a good start, finishing in 20th place in the latest Nielsen ratings.

SYDNEY: Paul Vercammen clues us in on this forensic drama.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Set. And action, please.

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Enter the often dark, mysterious world of crime scene investigation, or "C.S.I."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "C.S.I")

WILLIAM PETERSEN, ACTOR: Is this your friend?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERCAMMEN: This case: a death after a rave party.

PETERSEN: It's the Sherlock Holmes meats the new millennium, you know: Sherlock Holmes in cyberspace.

VERCAMMEN: William Petersen stars and produces the CBS series about forensic investigators set in Las Vegas, but shot mainly in Santa Clarita. The criminalists test fatal falls with dummies, or search for clues on footwear.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "C.S.I")

MARG HELGENBERGER, ACTRESS: Left shoe is tied differently. (END VIDEO CLIP)

VERCAMMEN: Marg Helgenberger joins the "C.S.I." team.

HELGENBERGER: I always think that women would make better detectives than men, just because we -- especially if you're married, because we all have to keep track of our husband's crap, you know. "Where's my keys? Where's my wallet? Where's my glasses? Where's my this? Where's my that?"

VERCAMMEN: Gary Dourdan is also on-scene.

GARY DOURDAN, ACTOR: We have so many stories that are relevant to everything. We have a story about these little scooters, all these little scooters that people are riding around, and all the accidents that they've caused.

VERCAMMEN: Petersen's character is an entomologist and can solve mysteries of death through bugs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "C.S.I")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: Is there a grasshopper in here?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PETERSEN: The flies and the maggots that we find, and how we are able to analyze them and determine, actually. Even though the body of a person has lost everything inside of it, the maggots keep what was in that body alive.

VERCAMMEN (on camera): This "C.S.I." set offers up all the tools of the criminalist trade, including this combination chem/DNA laboratory.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "C.S.I")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Well according, to my DNA data, the type is 814 quadrillion to one that your suspect is our killer

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERCAMMEN (voice-over): Elizabeth Devine, an expert in forensic biology from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department advises the actors.

ELIZABETH DEVINE, SUPERVISING CRIMINALIST, L.A. CO. SHERIFF'S DEPT.: The fun stuff is physical matches. You know, a piece of this part of this car matches this piece of something that we found at a crime scene, or paint chips, hairs, fibers, or shoe prints, blood spatter -- that's my expertise.

VERCAMMEN: Helgenberger becomes a criminalist on a series a decade after "China Beach."

HELGENBERGER: It's been 10 years since I've been on one. That means I'm 10 years older.

VERCAMMEN: But vast experience may help draw intrigued viewers to "C.S.I.'s" forays into forensics.

Paul Vercammen, CNN Entertainment News, Santa Clarita, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SYDNEY: Stars turn out in Hollywood to play -- literally -- as the Sony PlayStation II is unveiled. In it a dog-day afternoon in the Woofer Park (ph) with "Best of Show" star, Eugene Levy.

"Third Rock" alien John Lithgow is 55. And South Park creator, Trey Parker, is 31.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SYDNEY: Joan Osborne shot to fame by asking just one question: "What if God was one of us?"

MORET: Now, I don't know if she found the answer. But I do know it's been five years since that release.

SYDNEY: Now the Kentucky-born, New-York-based singer has finally come out with a follow-up album.

And Mark Scheerer found out what she has been up to.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC)

MARK SCHEERER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Joan Osborne is back on stage, performing new music from a new CD. It seems like we haven't seen this since the last century. In the early '90s, Osborne sang her way into a record contract and a stellar debut with songs like "One of Us." But an attempt at a follow-up album fell flat.

JOAN OSBORNE, MUSICIAN: Well, I -- yes, I presented Mercury with some material and they were not happy with it and decided not to release it.

SCHEERER: All she could do, she says, was go back to the drawing board.

OSBORNE: Yes, there were some really difficult moments where I questioned whether -- not whether music had a place in my life, but whether the music business was a territory that I could navigate successfully.

SCHEERER: In the interim, she met Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, the Pakistani master of what's called Qawwali music.

OSBORNE: He said, "Sing this for me." And so I sang it back to him. And he said, "OK, now do this." And I sang it back for him. So he gave me like a little audition there in the dressing room. And finally, at the end of it, he sort of looked around to the other people in his party and said, "Oh yes, we can teach you." So that was like a great -- that was a great moment for me.

SCHEERER: She took a few lessons with him before he passed away in 1997. There's an Eastern influence in some of the songs on her new album, "Righteous Love."

(MUSIC)

OSBORNE: Every time that I was down, I just had to remind myself of the amazing things that music has brought to me in my life, and the incredible opportunities that I've had. And it's really the only thing I've ever done where I felt like: This is where I belong.

SCHEERER: What if Joan Osborne was back among us? She'd get "Righteous Love" from her fans.

Mark Scheerer, CNN Entertainment News, New York.

(MUSIC)

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SYDNEY: Jim, Hollywood stars are game for the new PlayStation system.

MORET: Who isn't? Dozens of celebrities turned out for the launch party, thrown by Sony for the updated version of the game platform, which goes on sale next week. Carmen Electra and Jason Biggs strode the blue carpet before trying out the games.

SYDNEY: Birthday boy, Trey Parker -- and Matt Stone -- told us that they liked the idea of throwing a Hollywood-style premiere for a videogame system.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TREY PARKER CO-CREATOR, "SOUTH PARK": I think it is great.

MATT STONE, CO-CREATOR, "SOUTH PARK": I think it is cool. I mean, we are like huge gamers. And it's like, games, videogames are where it is at, not movies.

PARKER: Yes, I think, more than -- I mean, we go to about one or two movies a year and we spend all our time gaming.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SYDNEY: Like that.

MORET: Now, when it comes to video games, nothing is hotter than Pokemon.

SYDNEY: Nothing.

MORET: Nothing.

SYDNEY: "Pokemon Gold," "Pokemon Silver" went on sale in the U.S. Sunday and fans have already gobbled up more than a million copies.

MORET: Dennis Michael shows what all the excitement is about.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DENNIS MICHAEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Just when you thought you had caught them all, the pokemon have evolved again. Parents, don't be shocked if "Gold" and "Silver" appear on this year's holiday wish lists.

For the poke-neophyte, the game's premise is to collect the various pocket monsters. Over 100 new pokemon have been added to the original cast of characters. These titles for the Game Boy Color system aren't the only pokeballs up Nintendo's sleeve.

"Hey You, Pikachu" is the evolution of the virtual pet. Players interact with the electric mouse using a microphone included with the game. Here is a game that even parents may enjoy. "Pokemon Puzzle League" is a new take on the classic video game "Tetris."

Fourteen million Pokemon games have sold in the U.S. in the last two years. Nintendo expects to sell 10 million units of "Gold" and "Silver" over the next six months.

It appears we may all live in a Pokemon world.

I'm Dennis Michael with the "Tech Guide."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SYDNEY: Friday on SHOWBIZ, a roaring good show as we go live from the Pantages Theater for the Hollywood opening of "The Lion King" And Jakob Dylan and The Wallflowers perform for us from their new album "Breach."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MORET: Laurin, when I think of Eugene Levy, and I think of him often, levity comes to mind.

SYDNEY: Your minds works in incredible ways, I have to say.

He's actually been making people laugh for many years, most recently in the new film "Best of Show," which could have starred, be still my heart, my precious puppy Mallie (ph).

MORET: Gloria Hillard dogged the actor in L.A. about his comedy career.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) GLORIA HILLARD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Eugene Levy -- he seems the unlikely star. He's more like, well, a salesman.

Or maybe a dentist.

Or a dad who wears a clip-on tie.

EUGENE LEVY, ACTOR: I kind of gravitate to these characters, they're guys with, you know, good hearts and they're not the brightest bulb in the chandelier.

HILLARD: His latest film is "Best in Show," a send-up of the world of dog show competition.

LEVY: It's kind of a strange world. It's a, you know, it's an exciting world -- not so much to me, but to the people involved.

HILLARD: "Best in Show" is from the same creative team as the film "Waiting for Guffman," and it's done in the same mock-documentary style. Most of the scenes are improvised.

LEVY: For someone who is, you know, not innately funny, I think the irony is I've spent my entire career only doing comedy.

HILLARD: The 53-year-old actor got his start in the comedy troupe Second City. But his breakout film, as far as his teenage son is concerned, was last year's hit "American Pie."

LEVY: This is a movie that all his friends went out to see and loved.

It's been a long time since we've had a little father-son chat.

The kind of talk that I had with my son in "American Pie" was a very, very difficult thing to have with my own son.

He didn't want any part of it. I just kind of bought the books and dropped them on the bed and said, you know, why don't you peruse these, you know, before too long.

HILLARD: Maybe it's because he plays such affable characters that people often come up to him and tell him jokes.

LEVY: They're trying to sell themselves to you in the hopes that you will say, hey, what are you doing, you know, cleaning teeth? You should be on a stage somewhere.

HILLARD: Dogs, on the other hand, treat him, well, just like they treat everyone else.

LEVY: How are you doing little guy?

HILLARD: Actually, some of the dogs may have been auditioning for the actor.

LEVY: They're sharing; they're learning to share. Well, this is like a little screen test.

HILLARD: Well, these dogs do live in Hollywood.

Gloria Hillard, CNN Entertainment News, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SYDNEY: Now, I still could have done it for less.

Tomorrow on SHOWBIZ, a special performance from The Wallflowers.

MORET: They're great, too.

We'll also have the lowdown on "Pay it Forward," the new movie starring Helen Hunt and Kevin Spacey.

In Hollywood, I'm Jim Moret.

And I'm Laurin Sydney.

We 're going to leave you now with more music from Joan Osborne. So long for now.

(MUSIC)

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