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TENNIS tart Anna Kournikova dancing on the bar at Michael Capponi and Ingrid Casares' Friday night party at Prive in South Beach, to the delight of Matt Damon and Houston Rockets star Glen Rice.
Best Buddies Make it to the Silver Screen
By Claire Massimo
What could be better than spending a day with Matt Damon? Being immortalized on the silver screen.
Last month a group of Best Buddies from DHS spent the day in Rockport on the set of the new Farrelly Brothers movie, "Stuck on You".
Best Buddies is a national program that fosters friendships between peer buddies and developmentally disabled high school[ers] through one on one activities.
John Elliot Jordan, who founded DHS's chapter of Best Buddies, is related to the Farrellys, and arranged the visit to the set as well as roles as extras for some of the buddies.
Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear star in the film, portraying Siamese twins who excel at wrestling and as hockey goalies, but then try to make it in the movies. Other Hollywood actors appearing as themselves in cameo roles include Cher, Meryl Streep, Jay Leno, Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino, Jesse Ventura and Luke Wilson.
The buddies spent the entire day on the set, learning just how long, and how many takes, it can take to film a single scene.
The group ate with the crew, and several of the female buddies got a chance to steal a hug and kiss from Matt Damon.
"I gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. He hugged me back," said Caitlin Zellar, North Street.
A picture of the great event now resides on Zellar's bedside nightstand, where she says she looks at it every night.
Zellar didn't see any of the other stars on the set, but would like Julia Roberts to be the next star she meets, she said.
"She's pretty. I'd like to meet her," Zellar said.
After lunch, the buddies worked as extras in the background of a scene at a skating rink.
The movie is scheduled to be released this December. Keep an eye out in the background for the DHS extras.
Other Farrelly brothers movies include "There's Something About Mary","Me, Myself and Irene", "Dumb and Dumber" and "Shallow Hal".
The Joke's On You
Last week while visiting South Beach, Fla., the town was all abuzz about the filming of the movie "Stuck On You" starring Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear in South Florida. The Farrelly Brothers film ("There's Something About Mary") is set for a December release date and is the story of brothers conjoined at the hip.
Hundreds of extras showed up for the shooting of a scene last week in North Miami at Florida International University.
While schmoozing around South Beach, the place was crawling with stories from the set. A Damon fan told me to pick up the Boston Herald to see a story about a practical joke that was played on Cher during one of the scenes. But the joke was actually on the Boston comic Jackie Flynn and Cher was in on the spoof.
Flynn was shocked when Cher stormed off the set of the movie after a cell phone in Flynn's pocket kept ringing a "Howdy Doody" tune, the Herald reported. After the phone rang a few times, Cher said "I can't put up with this juvenile crap" and stormed off the set.
Flynn, who plays Cher's agent in the movie, was crushed until he later found out that Damon and Kinnear got Cher to pull the prank.
Meanwhile, it wasn't a joke when producers Peter and Bobby Farrelly and Kinnear showed up to batting practice after being scheduled with the Florida Marlins before Saturday's game. The late arrival cost them a chance to hit on the field, the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel reported.
Gilliam heads to Prague for Grimm shoot
Sandy George in Prague, 24 April 2003
Terry Gilliam's Brothers Grimm has received the final go-ahead for a shoot in Prague, with the gothic fantasy set to start a 17-week schedule at the end of June and wrap in late October.
Producers are currently in negotiation with Nicole Kidman for a small part in the film, sources in Prague told Screendaily. The film stars Matt Damon and Heath Ledger in comic turns as the brothers of fairy-tale fame, directed by ex-Monty Pythoner Gilliam (12 Monkeys, Brazil).
The Prague film world, already busy with the shoot of Stephen Sommers's Van Helsing (Universal), Guillermo Del Toro's Hellboy (Sony), and Dreamworks' Ugly Americans project, received word of a greenlight earlier this month for Brothers Grimm along with Alkon Entertainment's First Daughter project, directed by Andy Cadiff.
The $75m Brothers Grimm sees Miramax's Dimension Films teaming up with MGM for financing, production and distribution. On the ground in Prague, local Reforma Films - a new production services outfit headed by Ales Komarek - handles services together with Komarek's former firm, Etic. Etic is also handling production services for the First Daughter project, which is notably a different film than one of the same name to be directed by Forest Whitaker for Regency Enterprises.
Italian costume designer Gabriella Pescucci, who created the undead of Van Helsing, returns to Prague for Brothers Grimm, which sees the brothers touring the German countryside conning villagers into believing in woodland spirits and then charging money for the exorcisms. John Schofield is executive producer, Nicola Pecorini is director of photography and Guy Dyas is set designer.
Matt's Star treatment
Matt Damon might want to hide the new issue of Star magazine from girlfriend Odessa Whitmire.
The tab claims the "Good Will Hunting" actor-writer had a night of frolicking with various blonds and brunettes at a Miami mansion while filming "Stuck on You." One female eyewitness called the all-night party a "regular sin bin," while another said Damon was "soooo horny!"
Even though we hear all the witnesses took lie-detector tests, Damon's rep, Amanda Silverman, said the story is "completely not true," and that "everything is perfect" between Damon and Whitmire.
Matt Damon voicing approval of Fleet
By Carol Beggy, Globe Staff, 4/24/2003
THE VOICE SEEMS FAMILIAR, BUT I CAN'T PLACE THE FACE
If you were home watching TV Tuesday night you might have noticed the new FleetBoston Financial commercials featuring the voice (sorry, sports fans) of local cutie-made-good Matt Damon. The $70 million ad campaign is the work of Boston-based agency Hill, Holliday and will air (more and more, we're told) throughout the East Coast, where all those Fleet branches and oh-so-necessary ATMs are located. "We wanted someone with a strong, warm voice, one which projects a sense of comfort, which is why we chose Matt," said Anne Finucane, executive vice president at FleetBoston Financial. "And it doesn't hurt that he's a local boy." Damon took some time to do the spots while on the Miami set of the Farrelly brothers' next adventure, "Stuck on You," in which Damon plays Greg Kinnear 's Siamese twin.
E! has a special entitled, "Revenge of the Celebrity Assistants," which includes a segment on celebrities who have dated assistants. As you might guess, there's a piece on Matt and Odessa, with commentary on how they met, where Matt had taken her, and the apparent seriousness of their relationship. Check local listings for airdates.
I spent Tuesday, April 1, 2003 working on the Farrelly Brothers' new film Stuck On You. We shot a golf tournament scene at Turnberry Isle Country Club in Aventura, Florida. I played a spectator and served as a stand-in for several professional golfers (Sergio Garcia, Jesper Parnevik and Billy Andrade). The comedy was real on and off camera. Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear were very silly. Those two, along with director Bobby Farrelly and several other cast and crew members (including me) tossed a football and hit golfballs between scenes. When I see the finished film, I don't know which will be funnier; the movie itself or recalling the hilarity that transpired while shooting it.
Movie extras set clock back to the '80s for Stuck on You
By David Raterman, Special Correspondent
Posted April 21 2003
It was the 1980s with a few exceptions: cell phones, a few Florida Marlins jerseys, not much big, poufy hair (although lots of men had goatees), and Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear as conjoined twins playing high school football.
On Thursday night at Florida International University's stadium in North Miami, 20th Century Fox shot a scene for Stuck on You, a comedy starring Damon, Kinnear, Cher and former Miami resident Eva Mendes.
It's written and directed by the Farrelly Brothers, Bobby and Peter, whose previous South Florida production -- There's Something About Mary -- included equally goofy scenarios. Stuck on You, expected to be released in December, is the story of brothers conjoined at the hip who have used their condition to great advantage, such as in sports.
To fill the stadium for a flashback to the '80s scene, the film's producers ran radio ads seeking 2,500 extras decked in their finest '80s acid-washed denim. And wearing purple, the high school's color. And parkas. This was to be fall in New England, after all.
The extras wouldn't get paid, but the producers would donate thousands of dollars to the American Red Cross of Greater Miami & the Keys to assist families of U.S. soldiers in Iraq. As further enticement, extras also received sandwiches and were eligible for door prizes. Of course, they also had the chance to see the celebrities.
"It's really fun to see actual movie stars," said Paula Barros, who was born in 1983. "That's rare around here. And it's fun to dress up, plus it's for a good cause."
Paula, her 17-year-old sister Carolina, and their friend Ana Barley, 20, were dressed like '80s pop stars Tiffany and Cyndi Lauper. Carolina wore pink hoop earrings, a striped magenta and black miniskirt, black gym shoes and big hair.
The girls were so excited to be part of the film they couldn't stop giggling.
Ron Polikoff, who does title insurance work in Miramar, came wearing a timeless white baseball cap and a post-Ferris Bueller-era goatee. "I love movies and like to be part of the movie process," said Polikoff, 37. "I hope to be a screenwriter one day. My friend's a TV writer and actor in Hollywood."
He arrived with friends Gary Laiken, 36, and Toni Pezzeca, 29, and a cooler brimming with sandwiches, bottled water and beer.
"How much more '80s can you get than this?" Pezzeca asked of her ripped acid-washed jeans with a butterfly patch. The hostess at Mangos in Fort Lauderdale went for the Punky Brewster look. "Everything I have is '80s," she said.
"Not the `born on' date for our Budweisers," said Polikoff with a laugh. "That didn't exist."
"Where's Matt [Damon]?" Laiken suddenly shouted. "Matt!"
But others in attendance envisioned more than flashes of fame and a glory days revival. Some were hoping the night might lead to their break into professional acting.
"We're here to do a little schmoozing and try to get noticed," said Sylvia Morse, whose son, Michael, was dressed as a punk rocker. "We figured we'd bring his headshots just in case."
Michael, 14, described his hairstyle as "a Mohawk with liberty spikes." As in the Statue of Liberty. His black T-shirt featured the Ramones, and pinned to it were buttons for the Grateful Dead, the Misfits, and of course, anarchy.But his headshot revealed a clean-cut All-American boy.
"I usually dress like this," he said of his punk ensemble. "But when you go for acting jobs you have to be versatile so go with the conservative look or go way out."
"He can put [tonight] on his resume," said his mom, whose long brunette hair had its own rebellious purple streak.
The production crew seemed to enjoy the evening's shoot as much as the extras.
"I'm having fun with all the people," said Troy Hotchkiss, a 20th Century Fox production coordinator who graduated from Fort Lauderdale's Cardinal Gibbons High School in 1996. "I love dealing with the extras and the police officers. I've never had as much fun."
After Stuck on You wraps production, Hotchkiss, who freelances on various film projects, said he'll work for a Miami Vice film that's scheduled to be shot soon. He's guessing that film will need a lot of extras, too.
I suppose the coat minder tends to Affleck's wrap as well. Ben looks sadly duded-up these days. He was much more at home in his frat boy Matt Damon palship than he is as consort to a diva.
Besides a TV shooting schedule of three weeks a month for nine months and logging some 140 standup shows a year - "Not including the Hollywood Improv, where I'll spend some time whenever I'm home," Valentine said - the Los Angeles resident is about to begin his first movie assignment.
"It's 'Stuck On You' by the Farrelly Brothers, about these conjoined twins who share a liver," he said about the film being made by the ones responsible for "Dumb and Dumber," "There's Something About Mary" and "Shallow Hal.""I play this ex-boyfriend of the girl one of the twins is friendly with. I have this fight in a bar, fighting one of the twins but, of course, I wind up fighting both of them."
Thursday 17th April 2003: Stuck on You Update:
Filming on Stuck on You has started in Miami Florida at the FIU Football Stadium. Scenes shot there included Matt and Greg playing Football with 2500 extras looking on with a marching band also present and may have been a flashback scene to the characters college days.
Bank launching TV ads with Damon
by Greg Gatlin, Saturday, April 19, 2003
FleetBoston Financial Corp. next week kicks off a $70 million ad campaign - its largest ever - with two brand positioning TV spots featuring a montage of life's moments, and narrated by Cambridge's own Matt Damon.
Fleet says the campaign, created by Boston agency Hill Holliday Connors Cosmopulos, is aimed at communicating how the bank helps customers make smarter business decisions. The two 60-second branding spots meld dozens of images of simple moments - skaters on a Central Park ice rink, a retired couple traveling down the highway in an RV, a dog trying to fish a ball out of a swimming pool. Mike Sheehan, president of Hill Holliday, said the idea was to subtly capture moments in people's lives that may be the result of smart financial decisions.
Sheehan said it made sense to use Damon's voice for a brand with New England roots. Hill Holliday liked the subtle but expressive character of the Hollywood star's voice, Sheehan said.
The branding spots will be followed up by ads featuring real Fleet customers and employees. Fleet is aiming to shed light on what it says is the bank's improved customer service.
"Steven Soderbergh and I, or our company, had three projects planned. We were going to do The Good German, a kind of Chinatown set in post-WW2 Germany, with me starring. Then The Informant, with Matt Damon, and then Ocean's Twelve. But then Solaris bombed, cos audiences are even dumber than me. So we've moved Ocean's up a bit, as we couldn't budget the other two films otherwise."
Clooney's Night of Strippers
Hollywood hunks George Clooney and Matt Damon partied with a group of seven strippers during a recent boozy trip to Las Vegas, America - and didn't emerge from the soiree until six in the morning. The pair - who starred together in 2001's Ocean's Eleven - ogled the girls while sitting with the owner of the Crazy Horse III strip joint, according to Britain's Daily Sport newspaper. A club regular says, "George and Matt had a really good time. The women in there seemed to enjoy dancing for them." Clooney is well known for his passion for strippers and recently offered money to his favorite New York club to help battle against its proposed closure.
'Twas very early Sunday ayem. Was def worth it--raised more than $150,000. Was fun. But wasn't easy after a night filled with Britney Spears' fave restroom stopover, the Crobar, and Matt Damon (in town for Stuck on You) & Chic Co. at a Diane von Furstenberg fashion do at Sky Bar--the Miami version.
New CBS comedy about a group of long-time friends dealing with the fact that two of them are about to become parents. Starring Charles Esten ("Whose Line", "On the Spot"), Alexander Chaplin, Amanda Ditmore, Laura Bell Bundy, Jay Lacopo (who wrote the pilot and will play one of the friends) and Michael McDonald ("MadTV"). The project is being produced by LivePlanet, the production company headed by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, and Bull's Eye Entertainment.
Date: Thurs., April 24
Time: 9:30-10:30pm ET
About: Guest Star Clip Show
NBC remembers some of the past guest stars and their quirky bloopers from its Emmy Award winning comedy "Will & Grace." Hosted by series star Eric McCormack, the special includes such past guest stars as Matt Damon, Glenn Close, Michael Douglas, Cher, Kevin Bacon, Demi Moore and Madonna.
85. Matt Damon
Rank last year: Not ranked
Title: Bourne again star
Sticker price: $10 million
Career domestic box office: $1.2 billion
2002 box office: $194.7 million
Status report: After too many pretty movies that pretty much tanked, scored his biggest solo opening weekend with The Bourne Identity
Next: Will attach himself to Greg Kinnear in the Farrelly brothers conjoined-twin comedy Stuck on you, and then play one of the Brothers Grimm.
Yes, it's true: Leery of working with unseasoned directors before making Bourne with Doug Liman. Now more leery than ever.
Award-winning cinematographer Escoffier dies
April 16, 2003
Jean-Yves Escoffier, a French cinematographer who shot the original "Three Men and a Cradle" for Coline Serreau, has died of a heart seizure in Los Angeles. He was 52. A memorial service will be held at 5 p.m. Friday at the Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena. He died April 1.
George was not present at the night of Arnold's tribute, but he did say some things about Arnold: "His ghostwriting. He helped Matt Damon write Good Will Hunting. It was originally named "Yeah, Zur Hunting", which means "Let's Go Hunt Some Animals".
Over at the Eye, Live Planet's Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Sean Bailey, as well as Bulls Eye Entertainment's Tom Nunan, will executive produce the comedy "All Grown Up." The Warner Bros. laffer, penned by Jay Lacopo ("I Killed My Lesbian Wife, Hung Her on a Meat Hook, and Now I Have a Three-Picture Deal at Disney"), focuses on lifelong friends who must adjust when two of them become parents. Damon, Affleck, Bailey and Nunan will exec produce, along with Casey Affleck. Lacopo will be a producer.
On April 5th, the same day that he was spotted at Crobar and El Rancho Grande in Miami, I met Matt Damon at The Shoreclub Hotel on South Beach. He was in the back at the bar known as "Skybar." Matt totally blended in (although he is quite gorgeous) and he was talking to people at the bar. I approached him and met him and he was extremely friendly and smiley. My friend asked him to give me a kiss on the cheek and he did! He was taking pictures with anyone who asked.
It was a great experience meeting my favorite actor because he is a nice guy in person. By the way he was wearing a green t-shirt that said "Lifeguard on Duty" on it. He was dressed real casual and cool. What a blessing it was to meet him!!!
Grimm News: Here's some news on the forthcoming The Grimm Brothers, due in theaters February 30, 2004. Matt Damon and Heath Ledger star as the grim Grimm Brothers, and the story follows the duo as gatherers of wicked fairy tales and folk stories from around the globe. Shooting will begin soon in Prague, under the direction of Terry Gilliam, and I can't think of anyone better. Although Grimm fairy tales can be rather gritty, Gilliam reportedly will stop short of filming the true nightmares they are. Expect a more PG tone. Think Harry Potter meets Lord of the Rings.
Rather (albeit disappointingly) normal was Matt Damon, Greg Kinnear and Cher, all dining together at El Rancho Grande last Saturday. Later that night, however, things got freakier for Damon at least, at crobar, where he welcomed a long receiving line of girls kissing him. While the so-straightlaced-it's-almost-boring Damon was busy trying to look edgy kissing strangers...
I was out for dinner on Saturday night April 5,2003 at ElRancho Grande on Lincoln Road. This is a local's Mexican restaurant. We were sitting outside and I saw this lady wearing a cowboy hat walking in that resembled Cher. Sure enough it was Cher with Matt Damon, Greg Kinnear and the Farrelly brother's.
"I'm in Florida now working on a movie. It's with (directors) the Farrelly brothers, who did 'There's Something About Mary.' It's called 'Stuck on You' and it's got Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear and Meryl Streep. It's one of the weirdest comedies..."
When the Farrelly brothers cast Cher in "Stuck on You,' their next comedy, they had her playing a frustrated movie diva bitter at being underemployed as the star of a TV show.
But just when the cameras were about to roll last month, the brothers said, "You know, it would be great if you did yourself.'
Cher was all for it.
Monday 7th April 2003: Company Confidential Update:
Just received the following information on Company Confidential"
DIRECTOR: Matt Damon
CAST: Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez, Alec Baldwin, Robin Williams, Jennifer Garner, Paul Sorvino and Wilford Brimley
BASED ON: COMPANY CONFIDENTIAL, a novel by Tom McCroryOFFICIAL SITE: www.TomMcCrory.com
PREMISE/SYNOPSIS: In this suspenseful corporate thriller from Tom McCrory, women are objects and men are pawns at Campbell Industries in Los Angeles. The ground-rules for survival in this hostile workplace have long been established. If you value your paycheck, never question authority. In this environment, "yes-men" prosper, and for female employees, there is no such thing as an unwelcome sexual advance.
"The two lead characters are perfect for us," Affleck told a source. Ben would play Scott Murphy, a young executive, and Jennifer would play New Orleans bred beauty Lisa LeDoux. With all the scandals going on in corporate America, Ben feels the timing for this film couldn't be better, said the source. The novel is set in Los Angeles and New Orleans. Ben will modify the novel for the big screen, but said the love story between his character and J.Lo's would remain intact." Thanks to Anon!
J.Lo on a short leash
Ben Affleck isn't taking any chances with his soon-to-be-wife. Thus far, J.Lo's love has had a short shelf life and Ben fears his time could be up at any moment. So he's reportedly negotiating to purchase the film rights to the book "Company Confidential." That way, he and Jen can work together again and he can keep her wandering eye in check. After all, they met on the set of "Gigli" and a short time later, she was giving her then-husband Cris Judd his walking papers. But Jen's going to flip when she finds out that Ben's asked his buddy Matt Damon to direct the film. Jen and Matt have been at each other's throats since she found out Matt had tried to talk Ben out of marrying her.
Just being herself isn't enough for Dark Lady
April 3, 2003, By Cindy Pearlman
They say to write what you know, but what about playing who you know?
In the Farrelly brothers' new comedy "Stuck on You," about conjoined twins played by Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear, a certain "Dark Lady" is playing someone close to her heart. Cher is ... Cher.
"I play myself as the most unbelievably narcissistic bitch you could ever imagine," Cher whoops with glee. "At first she was just a character. Then the Farrellys said, 'It would be great if you just did yourself.' Yet, it's difficult to play yourself if you don't see yourself in this way. I guess what I'm saying is it's hard to see yourself as a caricature."
In the film, which is currently being shot in Miami, one of the twins is a short order cook, the other an actor. "One even looks much older because he has a bigger liver," Cher says, laughing. "It's crazy."
CHER: "I'm doing a movie with the Farrelly brothers called "Stuck on You." It's about these Siamese twins [played by] Greg Kinnear and Matt Damon. I play two characters; Cher, the most miserable bitch that ever stepped foot on the planet, and then I play Honey, the most miserable bitch that ever stepped foot on the planet."
