MORNING REPORT - News from Aug. 18, 2001

MOVIES

Going Back to the Future at Grauman’s

Wondering why the name Grauman’s Chinese Theatre is back in the Hollywood lexicon? It had been phased out, after all, in 1973, when the Mann Theaters chain bought the Hollywood landmark and began calling it Mann’s Chinese Theatre.

Though it has never been officially announced, a decision was made to revert to the original name about eight months ago. The move coincides with current renovation intended to bring the building closer to the 1927 original. Plush, old-fashioned seats are being added and the canopied box office is being moved. The new location for buying tickets? At the adjacent Mann’s Chinese 6, part of the new complex on Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue that will also house the Kodak Theater--future home of the Academy Awards.

Mann’s Chinese 6 and the Grauman’s renovation are due to be completed on Nov. 8. A new sound system, a larger screen and seismic improvements are part of the Grauman’s plan. Because construction is limited to morning hours, the theater remains open for business.

“This is a special theater--one which everyone knows as ‘Grauman’s Chinese,”’ Rana Matthes, vice president of film and marketing for Mann Theaters, said Friday. “We want to bring this historical landmark back to its glory days.”

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Brockovich Looks Back on Her Hollywood Tale

Environmental activist Erin Brockovich, whose life and work inspired the Academy Award-winning movie of that name, told the National Press Club in Washington this week that what transpired after she helped bring a lawsuit against a power company dumping toxic chemicals into the ground was a Hollywood tale in more ways than one.

“If you think for one minute while I was doing this litigation that I ever stopped to ponder that this case is going to settle for $333 million, they are going to make a movie about it, Julia Roberts is going to play me, they’re going to name it ‘Erin Brockovich’ and I’m going to get a $2-million bonus to boot--I would have been committed,” she told the crowd.

She called the movie a “bittersweet victory”--one that allowed her to share her story with millions but also brought an ex-husband out of the wings. Unless she paid him off, she said, he threatened to tell the press she’d been a bad mother.

Brockovich still works in the legal field and hasn’t given up her crusade. Her latest battle is against toxic mold, which can be found in homes and can cause a range of illnesses.

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Burton Nixes Sequel, Targets Studios as Well

When the inevitable sequel to the current “Planet of the Apes” hits the screen, it’s doubtful that Tim Burton--director of the current 20th Century Fox remake--will be at the helm.

Burton didn’t mince words when discussing the possibility to Britain’s Independent newspaper. “I’d rather jump out of a window, I swear to God,” he said.

The quirky director, whose triumphs have ranged from “Batman” to “Edward Scissorhands,” took a swipe at his studio bosses. They hand a script to a filmmaker and he comes up with a budget, Burton said. When they’re told the movie will cost $300 million, they call the director an “overspending, crazy person.”

“I’m fascinated by the studio technique that ... leaves you bloodied, beaten and left for dead right before you’re supposed to go out and make a great movie for them,” he said. The only time anyone listens in Hollywood, Burton added, is when “you go ballistic and psychotic.”

Burton’s retelling of “Apes” has grossed $154 million in the United States and Canada.

POP/ROCK

Singer Turning Lemons Into Lemonade

In yet another comeback attempt, Fabrice Morvan--better known as one-half of the now-defunct Milli Vanilli team--is singing karaoke: a perfect gig for a guy who had to give back a 1990 Grammy when it was revealed that the dancing duo lip-synced its music.

Morvan is appearing in a Midwest tour of Malibu Rum Showerpalooza, a traveling karaoke booth in a shower stall. “We asked ourselves, ‘Who in the music community sings but is almost in a position to make fun of themselves?”’ said the show’s spokesman, Stuart Kirby. “Fabrice immediately popped to mind.”

To remind folks that he’s capable of singing himself, Morvan, 35, is recording a solo album in his own voice. His Milli Vanilli partner, Rob Pilatus, died of a drug overdose in 1998.

THEATER

Non-Equity ‘Music Man’ Incurs Wrath

Actors’ Equity is asking theatergoers to boycott the national tour of “The Music Man” that opens in October and is slated to play Orange County Performing Arts Center April 30-May 5.

Equity officials say this is the first national tour of a concurrent Broadway show to hit the road without a union contract. Including such productions in a “Broadway” series--the moniker used at Orange County--is misleading, they contend, because musicals appearing on Broadway are all-Equity.

“Broadway” is “a generic term for that musical style,” OCPAC spokesman Tim Dunn said. “You can’t completely equate Broadway shows with Equity shows.”

QUICK TAKES

Singer Sinead O’Connor, 34, and a 27-year-old British journalist, Nick Sommerlad, tied the knot in a secret ceremony three weeks ago. The groom met the singer after he was posted to Dublin in February and proposed a few months later.... In a move that caught the art world by surprise, David Ross announced Thursday his resignation as director of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Ross, 51, had held the post for just three years, following an often controversial seven-year stint as director of New York’s Whitney Museum of American Art. A statement issued by SFMOMA said only that Ross’ “priorities diverge from those of the museum.” ... The Pasadena Playhouse has settled on “A Class Act” as its musical next summer, July 14-Aug. 18, 2002. The Tony-nominated show features the music and lyrics of Ed Kleban.... Christopher Lloyd and Holland Taylor will make up the cast of Yasmina Reza’s “The Unexpected Man,” at the Geffen Playhouse, Sept. 19-Oct. 21.... CBS has scheduled the final episode of “Big Brother 2” for Sept. 20, leading into the second-season premiere of “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.”