Stepping Into Spidey’s Parlor

As Hollywood news conferences go, the one held last week at Sony Pictures Entertainment for the effects-laden movie “Spider-Man” could go down as one of the more memorable. As journalists from around the world took their seats high above a wrestling ring in the middle of Sound Stage 27 on Sony’s Culver City lot, they beheld a giant cage with bars stretching toward the ceiling. The cage slowly rose, there was a jazzy drumbeat and a full-throated announcer, in the best tradition of the World Wrestling Federation, made the dramatic introductions. One by one, director Sam Raimi, the film’s producers and the principal cast of Tobey Maguire, Willem Dafoe, Kirsten Dunst and James Franco took their seats on director’s chairs lined up on the wrestling mat. Such an elaborate press conference wouldn’t be unusual for Hollywood if, say, the movie were about to come out. But this movie doesn’t start filming until today and won’t be hitting theaters until May 2002. But Sony wants to get the word out that this is planned as a big franchise-in-the-making film. It should also be noted that just getting before the cameras is a victory because the battle over the movie rights to the Marvel Comic’s character lasted about eight years.

So, what did the media learn from the news conference? Well, Raimi insists that the script is not in trouble. He also said Spider-Man’s outfit will be the “classical” red and blue but updated with more subtle coloration. Maguire, who plays newsboy Peter Parker and Spider-Man, normally strikes one as a pasty-faced kid who looks as if he has spent too many hours at the library, but he arrived for the press conference in a tight-fitting black T-shirt to show off how months of training for the role have resulted in a newly buffed physique. Dunst was asked if her character, Peter’s actress girlfriend Mary Jane Watson, would be saying her famous line from the comic book when she meets Peter: “Face it, Tiger, you just hit the jackpot.” As Raimi squirmed in his chair, it was clear the line isn’t in the script. Dunst admitted that it isn’t the first thing she’ll say to Spider-man in the movie. “But I have a Tiger in there,” she said, as the crowd laughed.

‘Jazz’: Ours for Hours and Hours

It started out at a daunting 19 hours, then slipped to 18 1/2. Lately documentary-maker Ken Burns has been telling interviewers that his massive “Jazz” history, which begins tonight on Public Broadcasting Service stations around the country, will require a commitment from viewers of a mere 17 1/2 hours. The precise running time for the program, which will be broadcast through the rest of the month, is actually 17 hours and 48 minutes, according to the program’s publicist, who said the show dropped in length in the course of final editing. The series required an unusual commitment from the stations too, faced with blocking out far more than 17-plus hours on their schedules. PBS pushed to have individual installments of the documentary get three-times-per-week runs, with episodes scheduled to run Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of Week 1 and Week 3 and Mondays and Wednesdays in Weeks 2 and 4--with a late-night and weekend repeat of each of the 10 parts. Stations in 12 of the nation’s top 27 markets--including KCET-TV in L.A.--agreed to PBS’ strategy, which is borrowed from cable’s multiple runs of shows and designed to take advantage of the buzz already building around “Jazz.”

Manson, Yes; Eminem, No: It’s an AMA Night

There’s no Eminem, but the American Music Awards will have some intriguing subplots playing out beneath tonight’s glittery telecast. The glare of last week’s Grammy nomination announcements has left the rival AMA show in a bit of a shadow--most of the award-show talk of the moment is about Eminem’s “The Marshall Mathers LP” getting a Grammy nomination for best album--but AMA producer Dick Clark says there are still some volatile or memorable moments on tap for the 28th edition of his trophy telecast. Glam-ghoul Marilyn Manson will make a rare appearance on prime-time network television; Kid Rock will perform a tribute to the stars who died during 2000, including his bandmate, Joe C; and Jennifer Lopez, whose dress (or lack thereof) created a sensation at last year’s Grammys, will be the first performer on the show. “The censor lady can bleep out bad words, but how do you bleep out a whole woman’s body?” Clark asked. “And Manson has the censor folks hemorrhaging.” You can forgive Clark the hyperbole--the AMA program is still a strong show, but the gala is losing ground to its biggest rival, the Grammys. In 1997, the AMA had 19.7 million viewers, topping the 19.2 million mark set by that year’s Grammys, but since then the elder award show has beat Clark’s broadcast handily; the margin swelled to 11 million last year. The competition turned ugly a few years ago when Grammy chief C. Michael Greene banned any performer who played the AMA show from the Grammy stage, which is why Eminem, for instance, will not be performing despite two AMA nominations. The American Music Awards, hosted by Britney Spears and LL Cool J, will be presented at 8 tonight on ABC.

--Compiled by Times Staff Writers