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Showbiz Today

'Charlie's Angels' Tops Weekend Box Office; U2 Releases New Album

Aired November 6, 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 reporting live from Hollywood.

Today, on this dramatic election eve, we've come to the place for intelligent political commentary. The host of "Politically Incorrect," Bill Maher, is here, and we're on this set.

Thanks a lot for having us here today.

BILL MAHER, HOST, "POLITICALLY INCORRECT": Thanks, Jim.

MORET: Do you think it's a -- are you looking at a dramatic election night?

MAHER: I actually think we're not even going to know this election. I think it's going to take a couple of days. I think it's that close, probably.

MORET: You have spent much of your year focusing on this election on your show, and does it frustrate you or surprise you in any way when you see the polling so close, so neck and neck all the way down to the wire when there's such a difference between the candidates?

MAHER: Well, I don't think there's a difference between the candidates.

MORET: Really?

MAHER: That's why I've been screaming and yelling about this for, like, a year now. That's one thing I think people are fed up with is that there's not a difference. And maybe if there was a difference, we'd have a different kind of election. But, what was your question?

MORET: Is it frustrating neck and neck?

MAHER: It's frustrating that people are going to go and vote for the guy who they want to have a beer with. I mean, I'm not an Al Gore supporter either, but I just don't understand how this guy, who really is not qualified for this job, is about to take it. I'm not saying he's going to win, but just that he got this close, it bothers me. MORET: Now with the election just hours away, the candidates are getting some last-minute help from Hollywood. Jimmy Smits, Eric McCormack of "Will & Grace" and Michael Michelle of "ER" all campaigned for Al Gore in Orlando, Florida, this weekend. Jon Bon Jovi and Stevie Wonder are performing at a Gore event in Miami tonight.

Other celebs are joining the ranks of "Nader's Raiders." Michael Moorer and Danny Glover were among the stars supporting the Green Party candidate at a Washington rally on Sunday. Jackson Browne performed at a Nader bash in Long Beach, California, this weekend, joining Patti Smith and Phil Donahue.

Barbra Streisand made her choice for president known on "The Rosie O'Donnell Show" Monday morning. She threw her support behind Vice President Al Gore in a taped speech. Warner Bros., the show's syndicator, dropped its objections to airing the four-minute clip after O'Donnell threatened not to renew her contract if the Streisand speech was blocked. The popular talk show host's contract is set to expire in two months.

Bill Maher, when you hear things like this, that Rosie O'Donnell wanted to get her message out, and you sawing the candidates appearing -- incidentally, Gore and Bush were invited repeatedly to appear on your show and both declined.

MAHER: Right.

MORET: You've seen them on "Letterman" and "Leno."

MAHER: Right.

MORET: We heard about a segment on Leno where George W. Bush's comments removed for purposes of making better television -- the line between politics and television.

MAHER: Well, first of all, Rosie having Streisand on explains why all the gay guys called in sick today. That's good to know. I was wondering about that. That's one.

Two, yes, absolutely I spoke out against this. Jay and I have talked about it on the phone. We've talked about it here on the show that I think it's completely inappropriate that talk shows should fluff up candidates. It is our job in the press -- and if you have a candidate on, even if you are an entertainment show, you are the press -- and your job is to vet that candidate. Your job is hold his feet to the fire and to ask him tough questions. It's not your job to fluff up his image and rehabilitate his personality, which is what they do with these guys.

They gave him top 10 lists to read. And that was bad enough that they were making him funny. Now they're giving him final cut, they're letting him to edit the stuff that doesn't work. I mean, I wish I had such a deal.

MORET: We're talking about celebrities, let's mention one other. Bo Derek was in Michigan over the weekend campaigning for George W. Bush.

MAHER: Right.

MORET: What do you make of the lineups on each side, because clearly these candidates are trying to enlist help where they feel it will be helping the most, obviously.

MAHER: Well, Bo Derek has always been a very strong Republican, although her nipples are Libertarian -- I don't know if you know that.

MORET: I didn't know that.

MAHER: But it is -- it is always going to be amusing -- I always make you nervous..

MORET: You make me nervous, and it's no secret that your show is on at 12:35 Monday through Friday following "Nightline," and ours is on now. This may be our last show, I don't really know. I...

MAHER: You can say Libertarian on CNN.

MORET: I can say Libertarian. There you go.

MAHER: But it is always amusing when they do line up the Democrat celebrities versus the Republican celebrities because it's never a contest. I mean, the Democrats, for whether you like them or not, they do have a greater lineup of stars. They have big movie stars, big names. And on the Republican side, it's always, you know, Bo Derek and Roy Rogers, which is very funny.

MORET: And you think that the candidates -- now you've had Ralph Nader on a number of times.

MAHER: Oh, yes, we've had Ralph for years.

MORET: And you've had other third-party, so-called third-party candidates. Do you think that the Bush and Gore...

MAHER: It's only the liars who won't come on this show. Because I will say to them, wait a second, that's a lie, isn't it? And that's why they won't come on.

MORET: You never know what you're going to hear from Bill Maher. We're going to here a little more later on, but first...

MAHER: That's what you'll hear, you're a liar.

MORET: ... first let's go to Laurin Sydney in New York -- not me. Thanks, I appreciate that -- Laurin.

LAURIN SYDNEY, CO-HOST: I was hoping you wouldn't come to me. I'm still blushing.

Anyway, some prominent Brits think that Steven Spielberg is a jolly good fellow. The director received the first ever Stanley Kubrick Britannia award this weekend from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, Los Angeles. Prince Andrew was there, along with stars like Pierce Brosnan, Denise Richards, Brenda Blethyn and Joan Allen. All had high praise for the Oscar-winning filmmaker.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PIERCE BROSNAN, ACTOR: I think he's honored and respected throughout the world of film. The man is someone who has been at the top of his game for a long time.

LYNN REDGRAVE, ACTRESS: I think he's absolutely brilliant. I'd love to work with him. Hi, Steven. I've never been in one. That's a bit remiss of him, don't you think? I'm going to have a word with him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SYDNEY: Drew Barrymore, who once worked with Spielberg, has a new hit of her own. "Charlie's Angels," co-starring Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu, demolished the competition this weekend, earning $40 million. And that is the second best opening ever outside the summer season.

"Meet the Parents" dipped one spot to second place, with $12.7 million. It has made more than $116 million total so far.

Now the angels went through a hellish routine getting in shape for the film, but that may have seemed easy compared to the grueling publicity tour.

Sherri Sylvester reports in the end, the marketing paid off beautifully.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Four for "Charlie's Angels."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Charlie's Angels."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Charlie's Angels."

SHERRI SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Call it sweet revenge. "Charlie's Angels" blew into the box office with a more than $40 million opening weekend, after eight months of out-of-control spin. Ultimately, rumors, gossip and countless cover stories paid off by making moviegoers more aware of the feature early on.

LEONARD GOLDBERG, PRODUCER: Normally when you open, you hope to get up into an 80 percent awareness. We hadn't advertised, we hadn't spent $1 and we had a 90 percent awareness just from all the publicity.

SYLVESTER: Goldberg expected some of the early interest, since the TV show he helped create in the late 1970s was such a hit. He's spent nearly 20 years convincing others a big screen version of the story was a good idea. But even before production began, the word was out that umpteen writers were doctoring an ever-changing script, and director McG had never done a feature before.

MCG: We sort of formed an alliance, you know, the producers and the girls and myself, and, you know, we were just very particular about what came in. So we went through a couple of writers, but ultimately we got it to a place where we felt very good about it.

SYLVESTER: Third angel Lucy Liu was not cast until the eleventh hour, resulting in one rumor that Posh Spice was on board.

GOLDBERG: And on the BBC it says Posh to be the third angel, on the BBC. I mean, it was incredible.

SYLVESTER: Later, word leaked that Liu and Bosley Bill Murray were fighting on the set. Both the director and producer were stunned by the quantity of information about the film on the Internet. Keeping set secrets was impossible, so the first test screening was conducted out in the Arizona desert.

The next morning, my daughter called me and said, well we got reviewed. It was on at 7:00 in the morning on the "Ain't It Cool News," and it goes all over the world.

Since the Internet is easily accessed, the filmmakers engaged in some counterspin.

LEONARD: Maybe we leaked a few things that we knew weren't true so that people would sort of be, you know, misdirected down one avenue.

SYLVESTER: The film's most powerful PR weapon: its three leads. Liu, Drew Barrymore and Cameron Diaz, launched a media blitz of their own.

DREW BARRYMORE, ACTRESS: There was no mistaking that you weren't going to give your lives to this, which is amazing, because as hard as it is you don't often have the opportunities to do this.

SYLVESTER: The commercial success of "Charlie's Angels" reaffirms the old adage that there's no such thing as bad publicity.

Sherri Sylvester, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SYDNEY: More strong women on film, as we look at their roles in movies about politics.

And Bono and U2 say it's a beautiful day.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MORET: It may be no surprise to Bill Maher, but the three stars of "Charlie's Angels" are all big Al Gore supporters. MAHER: And you know, when I want to see a hot chick flick, that's what I think: What are the politics? Because, you know, "Charlie's Angels," they -- they're energizing my base. That's all I have to say about them and politics, Jim.

MORET: You've made no secret that you are backing Nader.

MAHER: Yes, it took me a long time to come to that. But I couldn't get myself to vote for those other two nudnicks, those pandering...

MORET: You've been talking about this election, obviously, for the better part of a year. What do you think about the media's coverage of this race?

MAHER: Cruddy. Lousy. Bad.

MORET: Why?

MAHER: Well, to give you one example, how did they miss the Bush DUI story for the whole year that he's been running for president? And then finally, when they get ahold of it, they make it -- they were so salivating that we finally have some gossip, thank god, and it really wasn't that big a story. I don't it's something that should affect the election. I resent that I'm put in a position where I have to defend George Bush, but I really don't think it's that big a deal.

It should have been something they asked about a year ago, but they've let George Bush get that free pass with that, you know, hey, you know my what? My private life, my public life, those are the two areas that you can't ask about.

MORET: What do you make of the fact, though, when it is brought out, then The bush campaign says, you know what, it was 24 years ago, it shouldn't be important?

MAHER: Well, that's true. It shouldn't be important for that. But they don't also, like I said before, hold the feet to the fire. How about telling the guy, you know what, you're lying when you say you're not telling us because it was your daughters? That's the cheapest dodge in the world. Hey, you know what? I'm trying to keep this from my kids. You're a bad guy to even ask me.

He's trying to keep it from the voters. He shouldn't have. He's Clintonesque. That's what Bush is. He's very much like Clinton in all of these ways, and that's what the press won't point out about him.

MORET: You're not outspoken enough. You really have to work on that.

The major party candidates went the traditional route, as you know, choosing men for their running mates. In Hollywood, women have had better luck making the ticket, and Lauren Hunter reports on the movies and the female contenders.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE CONTENDER")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you vice president-designate Laine Hanson.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAUREN HUNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In "The Contender," Joan Allen is a rising politician with strong opinions and a strong will, fighting allegations of impropriety.

JOAN ALLEN, ACTRESS: There is a double standard, and I think there is a difference between what happens to this woman character.

HUNTER: Allen isn't Hollywood's first female VP. Glenn Close was second in command in "Air Force One."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "AIR FORCE ONE")

GLENN CLOSE, ACTRESS: Your commander in chief has issued a direct order. Do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL DERGARABEDIAN, PRESIDENT, EXHIBITOR RELATIONS CO., LTD.: Why not cast a woman in those roles? It just makes it more interesting. And being a movie, you can do whatever you want in terms of thematically having a female vice president without batting an eyelash.

HUNTER: And Hollywood has elected women to other positions of power. Jean Arthur was a straight-laced congresswoman in Billy Wilder's "A Foreign Affair" in 1948.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "A FOREIGN AFFAIR")

JEAN ARTHUR, ACTRESS: Why are you running for Congress?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTER: Loretta Young won her only Oscar for her performance as a headstrong candidate in 1947's "The Farmer's Daughter."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE FARMER'S DAUGHTER")

LORETTA YOUNG, ACTRESS: So help me God.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTER: But the only time in Hollywood history that a woman occupied the Oval Office was in 1964 when Polly Bergen took the oath in "Kisses For My President."

PATRICIA KING HANSON, AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE: You couldn't have had a woman president be a strong, not humorous president. If you did that now, it might be acceptable. Most of the women who are in there are not going to be the center of power. They're going to be working around the male characters who are the center of power.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "STATE OF THE UNION")

KATHARINE HEPBURN, ACTRESS: The world needs honest man today more than it needs presidents.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTER: That was the case with Katharine Hepburn as the wife and conscience of Spencer Tracy's presidential candidate in "State of the Union." In "The American President"...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT")

ANNETTE BENING, ACTRESS: Then your boss is the chief executive of (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTER: ... Sydney Wade is an influential Washington lobbyist who gets entangled with the president.

BENING: She's like a gung-ho career woman, not -- you know, not even involved in relationships.

HUNTER: Hollywood's reflection of political women has evolved over the years, along with the audience it entertains.

ROBERT J. DOWLING, EDITOR IN CHIEF/PUBLISHER, "THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER": If you look at Hollywood and you look at the influence that women have in movie-making today, it's inordinately stronger than it was 10 years ago. Women now are in positions of responsibility in production, in distribution, in marketing.

HUNTER: And with women at the helm of three of Hollywood's major film studios, could there be a female president in the future?

ALLEN: I hope it's in my lifetime, I really do.

HUNTER: Lauren Hunter, CNN Entertainment News, Hollywood.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MORET: To find out how the stars are voting, keep an eye on our Web site at cnn.com/showbiztoday. Plus, by clicking on right now, you can submit questions to our Election-Day roundtable, featuring Ben Stein, Margaret Cho, Paul Rodriguez, and Travis Tritt. They will be on SHOWBIZ TODAY talking politics tomorrow.

SYDNEY: We like her. We really like Sally Field on her 54th birthday. Actor Ethan Hawke is 30 today. And director Mike Nichols has graduated to his 69th birthday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) MORET: President Clinton praised the pope and Irish pop star Bono for efforts to eliminate world poverty Monday as he signed legislation to provide $435 million in debt relief to some of the world's poorest countries. Bill, you may be interested in this. At a White House ceremony, the president said -- quote -- "When we get the pope and the pop stars all singing on the same sheet of music, our voices do carry to the heavens." It's touching, no? I see by your reaction.

MAHER: You know that he pronounced it Bono first.

(LAUGHTER)

Can we do that again, Mr. President, it's Bono. OK, not the guy who was married to the one with -- the skiing thing with the -- no, no, sir. It's Bono, he is different.

MORET: You may not know this, that Bono has a new album out with U2 -- did you know this? Let's -- Mark Scheerer has the latest on this story. We're going to talk among us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARK SCHEERER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Just when guitar- based rock can't seem to get off the ground, U2 comes along, more than willing to take over the controls.

(on camera): There are some people who are -- who think the fate of rock 'n' roll rests on your shoulders, not to be too melodramatic about it.

BONO, U2: Well, you know what? Rock music is maybe a little bit on the slide because it stopped its row, its argument with the pop charts. You know, it's safe in its ghetto, and I don't want to be in that ghetto. I don't want to be in a rock ghetto.

SCHEERER (voice-over): The Dublin, Ireland, foursome's 12th album, "All That You Can't Leave Behind," is viewed by some as a retrenchment, after "Zooropa" and "Pop," CDs that airlifted U2 into territories occupied by dance beats and electronic influences.

But Bono and the Edge resist that "return to roots" label.

BONO: I mean, there's some electronica on the record. It's more of a soul album. I mean, these -- all these terms are kind of ridiculous anyway.

THE EDGE, U2: With this record, we've tried to keep the essence of what it is to be a rock 'n' roll band at the forefront, and I suppose that is a radical sound now. There's not that much of that around.

SCHEERER: No one's ever left U2, and no new members joined the band through 22 years and over 100 million albums sold. Now they see themselves fighting time and trends, and carrying a lot of baggage. BONO: It is a grudge match. It's a fight against the obvious contour for a group like us, you know, whereas you get into your late 30s and you just -- you start to cruise on your past glories. I don't care about past glories right now. It's the present tense.

LARRY MULLEN, U2: When U2 as a band, creatively, stops feeling like it's moving forward, it will drop out of the sky.

SCHEERER: U2 may now return to its upright position.

Mark Scheerer, CNN Entertainment News, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SYDNEY: Tuesday, it's a very special Election Day edition of SHOWBIZ TODAY: the stars tell us who they're voting for and what they think on major issues of the presidential campaign, and a roundtable debate with Ben Stein, Travis Tritt, and Paul Rodriguez.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MORET: Back here with our last few moments with Bill Maher, host of "Politically Incorrect," airing Monday through Friday after "Nightline," 12:05. And just to tell you who's on upcoming shows: Jason Alexander, Jewel, Laura Innis (ph), Lennox Lewis and Representative Loretta Sanchez. That should be a really good show.

Do you still think Gore is going to win on Tuesday?

MAHER: I do. I have been saying that for a year, that there were (AUDIO GAP) Clinton without his sex problems, that's what the thing came down to. But you know, Bush is acting so cocky this last few days that it almost is going to make me want to vote for Gore again, because I just think that bothers me. You know, he is ending his campaign...

MORET: But you're -- you said you are voting for Nader, doesn't that mean you're, in effect, giving Bush support based on what Gore supporters are saying?

MAHER: No, I mean, that's a whole different story even. That's about starting a new party, which I think we need. But it just bothers me that Bush is campaigning in Tennessee and Arkansas as his last stops as a way just to shove it in their face, and to be that cocky about it is so inappropriate, they're just very confident. They've even hired a hundred designated drivers, that's a cocky campaign.

(LAUGHTER)

MORET: We thank you so much for your time, Bill Maher.

And don't forget to join us Tuesday on SHOWBIZ TODAY, we'll have an Election Day roundtable with the stars.

We leave you now with U2 performing "Beautiful Day" from their new album. So long.

(MUSIC)

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