FEATURES 73 Special Oscar Section
As Felix Unger would say, "Oscar, Oscar, Oscar." It's that glam time
again, when even Hollywood cynics fall for the annual glitter parade in L.A. Here's
a look back, forward, and sideways at everybody's favorite golden uncle. Plus,
the results of our annual Readers Poll and Libby GelmanWaxner's treatise on Gere,
hair, and everywhere as Intersection combs the Libbys.
94 Christian Slater
BY VERONICA CHAMBERS
For a while, Christian Slater was living by the credo he talks about in True Romance:
Live fast, die young, leave a good-looking corpse. "I definitely went through
an extremely irresponsible stage," he says. "I thought, Ahhh, the career
will take care of itself." But the bad films just kept on coming, so he went
to AA, dropped the Nicholson shtick (his new idol is squeaky-clean Harrison Ford),
and seems ready to challenge Keanu Reeves and Brad Pitt as a leading man for the
'90s.
101 Wary Levinson
BY JESSE KORNBLVTH
The seemingly invincible Bard of Baltimore, Barry Levinson, finally stubbed his
toe with his pet project, Toys. Since then he's made some big changes in his life,
including a break with longtime producer Mark Johnson. Will Jimmy Hollywood, starring
Joe Pesci and Christian Slater, return him to Hitsville?
106 Jam Session
PHOTOGRAPHED BY MARK PETERSON
TEXT BY MARTHA SOUTHGATE
"I feel like people just need to give me the benefit of the doubt, or I'm
gonna be a real angry person," says Above the Rim star Tupac Shakur, now
facing charges of sodomy, sexual abuse, and aggravated assault. Meanwhile, he's
busy filming in Harlem's Rucker Park, a legendary basketball shrine.
110 Cool Waters
BY JOHN CLARK
He has made movie stars out of such disparate folk as Divine, Traci Lords, and
Patty Hearst. His early work is either inspired or disgusting (depending on your
POV). But John Waters's "version of reality" may have actually entered
the mainstream—well, apart from the rats and a bit of vomiting—with
Serial Mom.
117 Tabloid Vet Stalks Stars
BY JERRY NACHMAN
A former editor of the New York Post (the apotheosis of tabloid culture) chugs
java, smokes some butts, and probes Ron Howard's newspaper opus, The Paper, starring
Michael Keaton, Robert Duvall, Glenn Close, and Marisa Tomei.
125 Grand Illusion
PHOTOGRAPHED BY JEFF MERMELSTEIN
TEXT BY ANTHONY REILLY
Hollywood plus Vegas plus $1 billion equals the monstrous MGM Grand hotel, a perverse
distillation of movies, madness, and Munchkins. All this and Rip Taylor too.
130 Salut, Suckers
BY JEFFREY GOODELL
Will the Jurassic Park dinos devour the Eiffel Tower? Is MPAA chief Jack Valenti
really a cultural imperialist? Yes, you too can finally understand the Sturm and
Drang surrounding Hollywood's washout at the GATT negotiations. DEPARTMENTS
33 In the Works
BY ELIZA BERGMAN KRAUSE
Hey, kids, Maverick is a remake of the James Garner TV western, not the sequel
to Top Gun. Plus, Keanu Reeves picks up the pace a little in Speed.
39 Rushes
EDITED BY HOLLY MILLEA
A cinematic Beatles reunion inspires a sonic update of the Fab Four, newly babe-a-licious
Ricki Lake is "blissed out," and Denis Leary has been knocking for a
while, so is he finally coming in?
53 California Suite
BY JUDY BRENNAN
Executive pileup at Disney: Where does this leave Hollywood Pictures chief Ricardo
Mestres?
56 Independents
BY J. HOBERMAN
China may have lost the right to host the 2000 Olympics, and there is still that
hUmma-porn-star">Uman rights problem—but its film industry, fed by Taiwan and Hong Kong,
is booming.
61 Players
BY JOHN CLARK
What are art house deities Joel and Ethan Coen doing at the helm of a $25 million
Joel Silver production starring Paul Newman? The Coens used to always think that
they could do a commercial movie pretty much whenever they wanted to," says
Jim Jacks, a past collaborator.
"It'll be interesting to see if there's something in their personalityslash-style
that prevents [that]."
141 Home Guide
This month: Ted Casablanca accosts Faye Dunaway in the middle of a meal, a dissertation
on les films d'Andy Sidaris, and the correct way to send Baby to the Sandman. OTHER
24 LETTERS
28 CALENDAR
149 CLASSIFIEDS
152 FILMOGRAPHIES
