What Does ‘Life’ Hold for Martin Lawrence?

Martin Lawrence seemed to have it all. He had his own TV series, “Martin,” had starred with Will Smith in the 1995 hit film “Bad Boys” and a year later co-wrote, directed and starred in the dark comedy “A Thin Line Between Love and Hate.” Lawrence was seen as the potential successor to star comedians like Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy. Then one day in May 1996, Lawrence ran into traffic on busy Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks, cursing and screaming, “Fight the establishment!” at oncoming cars. He was led away by police, who found a loaded pistol in his pocket. It was only the beginning of his troubles. He would later be sued by his “Martin” co-star Tisha Campbell for sexual harassment (the suit was later dropped) and was arrested twice--once at the Burbank Airport on charges that he had a gun in his travel bag and once after hitting a man in the face after a nightclub brawl. He was sentenced to two years’ probation and ordered to perform community service and organize a charity fund-raiser, which took place at the Comedy Club on the Sunset Strip. “The judge said, ‘If you don’t do this show, you goin’ back to jail,’ ” Lawrence told the audience. This week, Lawrence’s attempts to put his troubles behind him will be seen with the release of the Universal prison comedy “Life,” which co-stars Murphy. Murphy and Lawrence play two men framed for murder who spend the rest of their lives in a Mississippi prison. Some who have seen advanced screenings say that while the movie’s two stars should deliver a boost at the opening weekend box office, audiences should not expect this to be a ribald comedy. “The humor [in ‘Life’] is not fast and loose and constant like it was in ‘The Nutty Professor,’ where you are rolling on the floor,” said one Hollywood insider. “However, the performances from Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence are terrific--some of the best work they’ve done as actors.” Later this year, Lawrence will star in the Columbia Pictures comedy-action film “Blue Streak,” playing a jewel thief who impersonates a police detective.

Hard to Knock Rap Tour’s Success

In the music industry, the familiar knock on rap has been that it sells albums, not concert tickets. That’s not the case, however, with the Hard Knock Life Tour, which brings headliners Jay-Z and DMX to Southern California for two shows this week. Traditionally, rap shows have been dogged by production problems and a perception of danger to fans, so when the ambitious 40-city arena tour launched in February, organizers pointed to it as an opportunity to prove the genre could deliver as a concert enterprise. So far, it has: In its first 29 dates, the tour has averaged a robust 13,000 tickets per show (with single-show grosses averaging $360,000), which makes it perhaps the most successful hard-core rap show ever, according to Gary Bongiovanni, editor in chief of Pollstar, a concert industry trade publication. “By any financial yardstick, it’s a success,” Bongiovanni said. Jay-Z and DMX, joined by Method Man and Redman, play the San Diego Sports Arena on Friday and Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim on Saturday.

For Darden, Post-O.J. Life Is a ‘Beach’

Christopher Darden may have come up on the losing end of the “trial of the century,” but the real question in a town like Los Angeles is: How is his entertainment career going? The O.J. Simpson prosecutor--who made his acting debut last year playing a homicide detective in an ABC movie, “Crimes of Passion: One Hot Summer Night,” about the murder of a sports tycoon--guest-stars today as a defense attorney on the NBC daytime soap “Sunset Beach” and turns up Saturday on “Happy Hour,” the quirky USA network variety show hosted by Dweezil and Ahmet Zappa. Darden has also written two books: “In Contempt,” his Simpson trial account, which he’s helping adapt into a movie script for Paramount, and the just-released novel “The Trials of Nikki Hill,” which has generated interest from studios. “He’s certainly having a very good post-O.J. life,” said William Morris Agency Chairman Norman Brokaw, who represents Darden and Marcia Clark. “This is exactly per the plan I laid out for him when we first met.” Despite that hectic schedule, Darden hasn’t rested his legal career, still lecturing, teaching and practicing law. In fact, he even has a case pending in front of another Simpson alumnus, Judge Lance Ito.

--Compiled by Times staff writers