Morning Report - News from Dec. 8, 1998

MOVIES

Downey’s Progress: Robert Downey Jr. passed muster with the judge overseeing his probation Monday during a short hearing to determine whether the actor has been staying away from drugs and alcohol. “You’re doing a lot better than you did in the past, you look great and you seem to be doing well,” Malibu Municipal Court Judge Lawrence Mira told Downey. “Keep up the good work.” Downey--now enrolled in a nonresidential “sober living” program--said after the hearing: “I’m just glad to be well. . . . I’ve never been better and actually, I’m glad [Mira] agrees.” Downey, who served 113 days in jail earlier this year for violating his probation on a 1996 drug conviction, was ordered to complete within six months the 100 hours of community service required as part of his current probation. Downey said he wants to meet that requirement by working in a substance abuse recovery program.

Awards Are Beautiful: Miramax Films’ Italian-language Oscar hopeful “Life Is Beautiful” (“La Vita e Bella”) captured the best film award and took home a best actor trophy for its writer-director-star, Roberto Benigni, during the 10th annual European Film Awards ceremony in London. Elodie Bouchez and Natacha Regnier of France’s “The Dream Life of Angels” (“La Vie Revee Des Anges”) shared the best actress award, Peter Howitt was named best screenwriter for Britain’s “Sliding Doors,” and America’s “The Truman Show” received the Screen International Award for non-European film. The awards will be televised Dec. 15 at 9 p.m. on cable’s Sundance Channel.

JAZZ

Pledging Allegiance: Jazz trumpeter Arturo Sandoval was sworn in as a U.S. citizen on Monday, eight years after defecting from Cuba while on tour with Dizzy Gillespie. “I never wished to have to escape from my own land,” said Sandoval, who was granted political asylum in 1990. “It does not make me feel happy to give up my own citizenship.” The ceremony ended Sandoval’s three-year battle to become a citizen; he was initially turned down because of a regulation disallowing applicants who had been members of the Communist Party within 10 years of their request. Sandoval has maintained that he agreed to join the Cuban Communist Party three months before defecting from Cuba only to deflect attention from his departure plans.

POP/ROCK

Combs Backs Magazine: Rapper-producer Sean “Puffy” Combs has invested “multi-millions” in a revival of the defunct Notorious magazine, said David Anthony, a co-publisher of the magazine. The magazine shares the name of Combs’ friend, the late rapper Notorious B.I.G. Four issues were published between November 1997 and July. The revived magazine, featuring “the 25 most notorious people of ‘98,” hit newsstands Monday.

QUICK TAKES

Tonight’s benefit concert for two youth programs at the Palace featuring Don Henley, Shawn Colvin and others has been postponed due to “scheduling difficulties.” Organizers plan to reschedule it in the spring. . . . Donald Sutherland has replaced the previously announced Marlon Brando in the upcoming CBS TV movie “Behind the Mask,” about a doctor at a mental institution whose life is saved by a patient (“Party of Five’s” Matthew Fox). CBS had no comment on Brando’s departure from the project, and the actor could not be reached. . . . Supermodel Cindy Crawford was treated by paramedics for glass fragments in her eyes following a one-car crash Sunday that occurred when her husband swerved to avoid a horse and hit a cement mailbox on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. Her husband, club owner Rande Gerber, wasn’t injured or cited. . . . Sarah McLachlan has joined Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, Los Lobos and Keb’ Mo’ on the lineup for a Dec. 18 Santa Monica Civic Auditorium benefit for Central American flood victims. . . . “Everybody Loves Raymond” star Ray Romano will host the 25th annual People’s Choice Awards airing Jan. 10 on CBS. Daily Variety columnist Army Archerd will co-host.