Latest gossip from "The Week" (serious this time)...


From "the Week" magazine, Oct 19, 2007

I'm not passing on any crap on meritless media figures

Two items of significance (at least to me) both on page 10:

First item:

"Why Redford won't run for office"

"Robert Redford has a dim view of American politics, says David Hochman in _Playboy_ [and I have a dim view of Playboy]. As a younger actor, he made several films about the corruption and compromises at the heart of political ambition that, he hoped, would make Americans demand more of their leaders. 'I once had great hopes that people would see movies like _The Candidate_ and _All the president's men_ and say, 'Hey, if we're not careful, we might get snookered.' I discovered we Americans enjoy the distraction of entertainment but aren't really interested in the deeper message. We don't like to look inward; we don't like darkness.' His cynicism was reinforced when he received a Kennedy Center honor in 2005 and spent an evening hobnobbing with Washington's elite. 'Here were sworn enemies, the leaders who beat the s___ out of each other all day in public, but the minute those doors closed for the state dinner, the daggars went away and it was one big happy family. I saw former Republican Sen. Bill Frist weaving through the tables, and he came over to Ted Kennedy and started massaging his shoulders and laughing like they were the oldest buddies in the world. Everyone was corssing the aisles and chuckling, and I said, 'Oh, I get it! It really is just a game.'"

I can relate to that.



Second item (for all of you introverts), from same page:

"Hopkin's aversion to actors"

"Anthony Hopkins does not enjoy the company of other actors, says Geordie Grieg in _Tatler_ [must be a media figure gossip rag]. When he's not working, the Oscar-winning British actor prefers solitary activities such as painting, playing the piano, and gardening. And, on those rare occasions when he does socialize, it's not with his fellow players. Hollywood parties, he finds, are just too affected--'all that salmon-sandwiches-and-white-wine brigade and people smoking cigarettes with their middle fingers.' He even shrinks from socializing with actors he does admire, out of an acute self-consicousness. 'Whenever I meet actors, too, I'm so nervous. I think back to people like Judi Dench, a perfectly charming, nice woman, and I'm so nervous around people like that. I don't know what it is. I am paralyzed with fear. It's not their fault, it's me.' Tom Cruise is another actor whose friendly overtures he rejected. 'After I finished _Mission Impossible II_--and I loved working with Tom--I was in a difficult situation. Tom, being a nice guy, said 'Let's all go off for dinner.' My agent phoned him and said, 'Tony hates dinners.' He explaind that after I had done the work I didn't want to socialize, to sit around with actors talking about how wonderful they all are. It's pretty boring. Years ago I did it, but I guess now I want to be private.'"


Maybe a third item on the same page about Elizabeth Swado's problems (she's evidently bipolar), but not worth it to me to type up the piece. Evidently she's got things under better control, now. FWIW.





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