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week 37-01
ShowBiz Weekly: news from the UK & US...

D'oh! The Simpsons, the cartoon that lampoons product placement, is to have its two main characters become breakfast cereals. HOMER and BART SIMPSON are to become a father-and-son team on American supermarket shelves, where Kellogg's is introducing Homer's Cinnamon Doughnut Cereal and Bart Simpson Peanut Butter Chocolate Crunch, Variety reported. In the cartoon world of Springfield, it is KRUSTY THE KLOWN who can be found on every imaginable product - from alarm clocks to cereal, which in one episode included breakfast Krusty-Os with a special jagged metal edge.

A film starring KEANU REEVES due out in America this week is facing a court battle with a baseball coach who claims it is based on his life story. BOB MUZIKOWSKI claims Hardball is really about him - but studio Paramount is not giving him anything for it. He has vowed to keep fighting to prevent its release after a judge in Chicago refused his request. ``If it's not a true story, why are they filming on my block?'' he told the Chicago Sun-Times. ``We're going to build a stadium for the kids on Paramount's dollar. The irony is beautiful.''

Actors CHRISTIAN SLATER and AMANDA PEET have got into bed with a studio planing a film about wife-swapping. Rain Falls, set somewhere in American suburbia, is about the ``fashionable'' world of partner-swapping. The 6 million movie will also feature THOMAS JANE and PATRICIA ARQUETTE, brother of DAVID ARQUETTE who is married to Friends star COURTENEY COX.

You may notice female stars CALISTA FLOCKHART, PORTIA DE ROSSI and JANE KRAKOWSKI of TV hit Ally McBeal looking a bit more buxom next season. The three stars received a bunch of the famous new air bras from manufactures in the hope that the legal eagles might wear them and promote the boob-boosting lingerie. The actresses went one better - they wore them on th e set and got such unanimous approval from the crew and the rest of the cast that they're actually having their costumes altered so they can pump up the cleavage-makers and wear them on the show.

Gladiator hunk RUSSELL CROWE has piled on over 20lbs this summer while on the road with his rock band 30 Odd Foot of Grunts. The star's managers are so worried by Crowe's increasing girth that they've sent him a portable gym. They have also included stills of the actor in The Insider, the role for which Crowe put on 50lbs and looked 30 years older. ``If Russell doesn't take the hint, knock off the beer and fast food, he's going to have to go to a real health boot camp before he gets cast in a sexy role again,'' confirms one studio source.

Is any publicity good publicity? Well, yes and no, as troubled pop superstar MARIAH CAREY will find out when her album Glitter hits shops this week. Carey is in well-publicised seclusion at UCLA Medical Centre after an apparent breakdown and relapse due to what her spokeswoman describes as ``emotional distress and exhaustion''. Everyone from the music press to the quality press to the tabloids has been covering the story. But Carey's condition has meant she's dropped out of all promotional and public appearances to push Glitter. So how will this storm of negative publicity affect the diva's album sales? Music industry insiders say radio play is all that counts. Carey, they point out, is third after only Elvis Presley and the Beatles when it comes to churning out No 1 hits, but will this Glitter turn to gold? No one's willing to bet on it.

As tension grows between her family and her fiance CHRIS JUDD on the eve of her wedding, sexy star JENNIFER LOPEZ is taking comfort in doughnuts. Ever since J Lo's family said they thought she should wait before marrying Judd, who is one of her dancers, instead of getting hitc hed this month, the actress has been getting the blues. The Lopez family is allegedly afraid that she is still on the rebound from rap mogul SEAN ``PUFFY'' COMBS. They want the singer and actress to be confident that Judd isn't after her money and also fear he is too much like Lopez's jealous and controlling first husband, OJANI NOA. And they let her know it. Now the actress has six calorie-laden Krispy Kreme doughnuts delivered to her every day - and according to her staff, she eats them all. So far, though, thanks to her rigorous workout regime, the Wedding Planner actress may be feeling the pressure but she's not putting on the pounds.

SEAN PENN, who is not known for light comedy, has signed on to appear in several episodes of the hit television series Friends. The actor will play the boyfriend of Ursula - the twin sister of LISA KUDROW's Phoebe. Penn, a two-time Oscar nominee who has not appeared in a television guest role since playing himself on both The Larry Sanders Show and Ellen in 1994, is expected on the Friends set this week. Previous stars who have appeared on the series include JULIA ROBERTS, BILLY CRYSTAL, BRUCE WILLIS, ROBIN WILLIAMS, WINONA RYDER and SUSAN SARANDON.

BRAD PITT has lost out on the chance to appear in the latest project from the Coen brothers, makers of the GEORGE CLOONEY hit O Brother, Where Art Thou. To The White Sea was to be based a novel about a Second World War American gunner shot down over Japan. It had been due to start filming in Japan, with Pitt in the starring role, but studio 20th Century Fox has cancelled the project over a budget dispute. The 35 million film is now back on ice for the second time in two years and Pitt is likely to be looking for work next January. Pitt, who is married to JENNIFER ANISTON, will ne xt been seen in thriller Spy Game with ROBERT REDFORD, and the all-star remake of Ocean's 11, the rat-pack classic.

British film-maker NICK BROOMFIELD is searching for an actor to star in his feature film directing debut, Indecent Exposure, about the cheque-forging scandal that rocked Columbia Pictures in the 1970s. He has already chosen JAMES WOODS to play ALAN HIRSCHFIELD, the real-life former studio boss who tried to remove swindler DAVID BEGELMAN as the studio's head of production, but has not yet found anyone to play Begelman. Sopranos star JAMES GANDOLFINI was offered the role but turned it down because he did not think he was right for it. Begelman's career collapsed when he was found to have embezzled money from Columbia by using money destined for actors to pay his gambling debts. He later committed suicide.

MEG RYAN will be spending her time in gyms and ringside at fights in preparation for her role as boxing manger JACKIE KALLEN in Against the Ropes. Ryan will also be meeting some of the boxers whose careers Kallen guided, including former middleweight champion JAMES TONEY. The film, which will begin production in November, will be directed by actor CHARLES DUTTON. It has been in development for about five years and was previously titled The Jackie Kallen Story. Kallen, from Detroit, is now commissioner of the International Female Boxers Association.

Following SIR ANTHONY HOPKINS' portrayal of RICHARD NIXON in Nixon, SIR MICHAEL GAMBON is the latest British actor to play a former US president. He will portray LYNDON JOHNSON in Path of War, a film about Johnson's administration to be directed by JOHN FRANKENHEIMER. ALEC BALDWIN will play former Secretary of Defence ROBERT McNAMARA in the behind-the scenes look at LBJ and his foreign policy during the Vietnam conflict. Filming is due to begin in Los Angeles next month.

MADONNA has ended her Drowned World tour with an all-star audience in Los Angeles. TOM CRUISE brought his children and girlfriend PENELOPE CRUZ while KEVIN COSTNER not only brought his children - he also had a song dedicated to him. And director QUENTIN TARANTINO, Ally McBeal star LUCY LIU, ER actress MING NA and Oscar-winner TOM HANKS were also spotted at the LA venue.

BAZ LUHRMANN's movie Moulin Rouge has topped the box office ratings after its first weekend on general release in the UK. The musical extravaganza, which stars NICOLE KIDMAN and EWAN McGREGOR, beat Scary Movie 2, which also opened last Friday, into second place. Moulin Rouge's success comes amid reports that Kidman is to co-star with GEORGE CLOONEY in a film the former ER star will also direct. Kidman and Clooney are to star in Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind, a film version of a novel by a one-time producer of American game shows, according to American newspaper Daily Variety. The Moulin Rouge star will play the love interest to Clooney's part as CIA agent Jim Byrd, reports said.

MARTIN SCORSESE's epic 19th-century period drama, The Gangs of New York, has been reportedly hit by setbacks during filming. Rumours abound of tension between director Scorsese and his movie's main star LEONARDO DiCAPRIO, who plays Italian immigrant Amsterdam Valloni. The first cut of the film was said to be two hours too long, while overspend has pushed the budget beyond 100 million dollars, according to movie magazine Empire. Due for release next February, The Gangs of New York has recreated the Big Apple in the 1850s over an elaborate 100-acre set. Scorsese's pet project also sees the return of Oscar-winner DANIEL DAY-LEWIS, who plays Bill ``The Butcher'' Poole, while CAMERON DIAZ stars as picketpocket Jenny and LIAM NEESON portrays a priest.

WILL SMITH has defied the critics who said he had neither the range, physique nor presence to portray three-time world heavyweight champion MUHAMMAD ALI. But for Ali the Men In Black star showed his mettle by reaching a powerful 230lbs and providing some financial muscle when Sony and director MICHAEL MANN were at loggerheads over a possible five milli on-dollar overspend. Backers are hoping the film bucks the trend of boxing movies like The Hurricane and Girlfight failing to punch their weight at the box office when it opens early next year.

Fans of the virtual reality blockbuster The Matrix will have to wait a while longer to see the much-anticipated sequels. The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions are being shot back-to-back, and the first sequel will be released in 2003 instead of Christmas 2002. Stars of the original special-effects spectacular, including KEANU REEVES, CARRIE-ANNE MOSS and LAURENCE FISHBURNE, will return for the sequels, along with HUGO WEAVING and new addition JADA PINKETT. Producer JOE SILVER told Empire: ``It's just an enormous project. It's unbelievable, and they just need time to finish both movies, because we're shooting them as one big movie.'' The scheduling means The Matrix Reloaded will avoid box-office clashes with Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, X-Men 2 and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

KEVIN SPACEY will star alongside CATHERINE ZETA JONES and RENEE ZELLWEGGER in a film of hit musical Chicago, if its producer gets his way. DON CARMODY told Zap2it.com he wanted the American Beauty actor, who has two Oscars to his name, to take a part in the film. ``Right now, Chicago is my next script and we are hoping for Kevin Spacey,'' said the producer, whose hits include Good Will Hunting and Angel Eyes. And the film already has a specially written cameo role for BRITNEY SPEARS, while Broadway star NATHAN LANE is planning to put in an appearance. It will be a break from his role alongside MATTHEW BRODERICK in the musical version of MEL BROOKS' film The Producers.

Reality TV show Survivor has confirmed its place as the number one show of its type in America. Its British creator, MARK BURNETT, is celebrating after it won two Emmys, American TV's equivalent of the Oscars, for being the best of its type. ``You totally earned this,'' he told the production team, which has now completed work on a fourth Survivor for American audiences. The awards were at a special event held in the run-up to the main Emmy awards, which put the West Wing in pole position for the September 16 ceremony by winning four of the categories, includ ing best casting.

Actress ROSANNA ARQUETTE has announced she is marrying - for the fourth time. Arquette, whose brother David is married to Friends star COURTENEY COX, has become engaged to film studio worker DAVID CODIKOW, who used to live next door to her in Los Angeles. DOLLY PARTON has never been thought of as a natural beauty. But now the country and wester singer has confirmed what people have long said of her. When she was asked to appear in a magazine article on natural beauty she declined. ``She's definitely not a natural beauty and would not want to be photographed as one,'' said her spokeswoman.