Morning Report - News from Dec. 22, 1998

Leading the Pack: Ian McKellen, already named the year’s best actor by the National Board of Review and the Los Angeles and San Diego film critics’ groups, notched another kudos Monday when he was cited for the same honor (for his roles in “Gods and Monsters” and “Apt Pupil”) by the Broadcast Film Critics Assn. The group, which bills itself as the nation’s largest organization of film critics, selected “Elizabeth” star Cate Blanchett as best actress, named Steven Spielberg best director for “Saving Private Ryan,” and gave supporting acting awards to Billy Bob Thornton (for both “A Simple Plan” and “Primary Colors”) and Joan Allen and Kathy Bates (the actresses tied for their roles in, respectively, “Pleasantville” and “Primary Colors”). Screenplay honors went to Tom Stoppard and Marc Norman for “Shakespeare in Love” (original script) and Scott A. Smith for “A Simple Plan” (adapted). Joseph Fiennes was lauded as the year’s breakthrough performer for his roles in “Shakespeare in Love” and “Elizabeth,” and Ian Michael Smith was named best child performer for “Simon Birch.” The broadcast critics will name their best picture designee on Jan. 25; nominees for that honor are “Elizabeth,” “Gods and Monsters,” “Life Is Beautiful,” “Out of Sight,” “Pleasantville,” “Saving Private Ryan,” “Shakespeare in Love,” “A Simple Plan,” “The Thin Red Line” and “The Truman Show.” . . . Meanwhile, the National Board of Review, which announced most of its year-end picks Dec. 8, has finally weighed in with its final honor, with the best screenplay nod going to Scott A. Smith for “A Simple Plan.”

Cinematographers Laud Altman: Director Robert Altman will receive the American Society of Cinematographers’ 1999 Board of Governors Award on Feb. 21 at the Century Plaza Hotel. Explaining that the honor goes to “someone other than a cinematographer who has made exceptional contributions to advancing the art of filmmaking,” ASC President Woody Omens called Altman an iconoclast and noted, “Cinematographers love working with him because he never hesitates to break the rules.”

Congress, Take Note: Even the Farrelly brothers, known for gross-out comedy including this year’s big hit “There’s Something About Mary,” draw the line somewhere. The writer-directors told Newsweek magazine that they’d pass on making a film version of the investigation into President Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky. “We do gross-out humor, admittedly, but we won’t go this low,” Peter Farrelly said. “This is beneath us; it’s too vile. There is nothing slap-on-your-knee funny. It’s just, like, ‘Ugh!’ ”

POP/ROCK

Supposed Tour Junkie: Alanis Morissette will launch her latest concert tour Jan. 30 in New Orleans, with stops scheduled for April 6 in Anaheim and April 7 in Los Angeles. Though no locations have been confirmed, Morissette’s publicist says the singer will play “arena-sized venues,” meaning that the Arrowhead Pond and Great Western Forum are likely spots. The band Garbage will be the opening act for much of the tour, including the local dates. Venues and ticket information are expected to be announced soon.

TV & VIDEO

Minorities on the Small Screen: The Screen Actors Guild’s latest study on minority employment has found that “large segments” of the U.S. population, including women, Latinos, Native Americans, Asians, the disabled and seniors, are “significantly underrepresented” on television. In findings released Monday, the guild said that Latinos are the most underrepresented ethnic group on TV, and that seniors of both genders “seem to be vanishing, instead of increasing as in real life.” The study--which examined 6,882 characters from 440 prime-time programs aired from 1994 to 1997, and 2,137 characters on 205 daytime programs during the same period--found that roles for performers with disabilities are also waning, and that women characters “age faster than men, and as they age they become more evil.” On the plus side, the study found that African Americans on TV “are present . . . in numbers generally equivalent to their percentage of the U.S. population.”

Animated Martin Luther King Story: The family of Martin Luther King Jr. has worked with filmmakers on a feature-length animated video about the civil rights hero that will debut in stores Jan. 12. Billed as the first animated movie of its kind, “Our Friend, Martin” will blend animation with actual footage from King’s life while telling a story of two boys who travel back in time to meet King at various points in his life. The Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment release features a star-studded voice cast including Ed Asner, Angela Bassett, LeVar Burton, Danny Glover, Whoopi Goldberg, Samuel L. Jackson, James Earl Jones, Ashley Judd, Susan Sarandon, John Travolta and Oprah Winfrey. A companion Motown Records soundtrack is also planned.

QUICK TAKES

Teen singing group Hanson will go on the Internet for a 5 p.m. chat today (at https://chat.yahoo.com). . . . Brandy and “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch” star Melissa Joan Hart have been named hosts of the 26th annual American Music Awards, airing Jan. 11 on ABC. Meanwhile, Hart is scheduled to do a live Internet chat with fans on Wednesday at 8 p.m. (at the Teen Center site at https://www.vagisil.com).