MOVIES - Dec. 8, 2001

MOVIES

‘Ocean’s Eleven’ Cast Visits U.S. Troops

George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Andy Garcia, stars of the new film “Ocean’s Eleven,” signed autographs, chatted and posed with American troops at a top-security military base in southern Turkey on Friday.

Staff Sgt. Steven Coppock of Roy, Utah, said he helped instruct Roberts as she drove a giant remote-controlled tractor, which is used to defuse bombs, around a parking lot at the Incirlik air base. “She was concerned she might hit somebody’s vehicle,” Coppock said.

There was no media access to the base, which serves as the launching point for patrol missions over northern Iraq and is a transport hub for the war in Afghanistan.

The five Hollywood stars arrived early Friday morning aboard a private jet that they had boarded after attending the premiere of their film in Westwood on Wednesday night.

Closer to home, “Vanilla Sky” star Tom Cruise and director Cameron Crowe made a stop at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth to thank military personnel.

About 500 people from several military branches cheered as Cruise told troops Thursday that he appreciated the sacrifices being made by them and their families. He and Crowe then shook hands with many in the crowd.

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‘Monsters, Inc.’ Adds Outtakes to Credits

Specially created animated “outtakes”--six minutes of purported mishaps that took place during filming--began appearing Friday during the closing credits of the Disney/Pixar hit “Monsters, Inc.” The computer-animated characters blow lines, knock over props and clown around on sets adapted from the film’s backgrounds.

The most elaborate of the new scenes: a two-minute musical production number, “Put That Thing Back Where It Came From or So Help Me!”

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TELEVISION

Attebery, Longtime L.A. Newsman, Retires

Veteran Los Angeles newsman Larry Attebery retired Friday from KCOP-TV. Attebery, who was a correspondent for the station, had worked in many capacities during his career, including investigative reporter, news anchor and news director.

He was first employed in Los Angeles as the morning co-anchor at KNX Newsradio in 1968. He later became an investigative reporter for the “On Target” team at KTTV-TV, and later served there as anchor, vice president and news director.

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Brockovich to Head N.Y. Rebuilding Project

ABC has enlisted Erin Brockovich to spearhead a New York rebuilding project that it will turn into a prime-time reality-TV special. Modeled after a British TV series, it requires Brockovich to rally support for the project within one week.

ABC will tell Brockovich what she’s required to do Monday on “Good Morning America.” All the network would say Wednesday is that it’s a rebuilding effort related to Sept. 11, with proceeds going to the city of New York, and it “will require manpower and material from the public.” Her efforts will be chronicled in an ABC special Dec. 21, “Challenge America With Erin Brockovich: The Miracle in Manhattan.”

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AWARDS

ASCAP Honors Lifetime Achievement Winners

At the ASCAP Foundation Awards in New York on Thursday night, lifetime achievement awards went to Broadway lyricist and composer Richard Adler (“Pajama Game,” “Damn Yankees”), songwriter-producer Jerry Ragovoy (“Time Is on My Side,” “Piece of My Heart”) and pianist-bandleader-songwriter Jay McShann (“Confessin’ the Blues,” “Hootie’s Blues”)....

The Producers Guild of America will give lifetime achievement awards to film producer Lawrence Gordon and TV producers Marcy Carsey, Tom Werner and Caryn Mandabach at its gala on March 3 at the Century Plaza.

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QUICK TAKES

Wilford Brimley canceled performances with the community symphony and choir in Great Falls, Mont. this weekend because he is ill with pneumonia.... Larry Mantle will be hosting his KPCC-FM (89.3) show “AirTalk” from New York City next week, pegged to the three-month anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. The program airs weekdays 9-11 a.m., with repeats 7-9 p.m..... United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan taped an appearance with Elmo for “Sesame Street” this week, to air sometime in 2002.... Country music stars Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, who already had two daughters, welcomed a third one Thursday when Hill gave birth to Audrey Caroline McGraw at an undisclosed Tennessee hospital.... The Little Angels-Children’s Folk Ballet of Korea has canceled its U.S. tour, including a Feb. 6 date at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts.

Lee Margulies