Hollywood Invades Pearl Harbor
ABOARD THE USS JOHN C. STENNIS — So many sightings, so little time. Actors Dan Aykroyd and Tom Sizemore showed the Navy how to rock, commandeering the stage at Disney’s mega-spectacular, $5-million “Pearl Harbor” premiere Monday night. The two belted out “Mustang Sally” and “Let the Good Times Roll,” while Aykroyd’s three daughters danced as backup.
“Was I good?” asked Sizemore, who hasn’t sung onstage since high school. Unbuttoning his shirt to cool down after the set, he added, “I just did a little Eddie Vedder there.”
Director Michael Bay, who was kept off the Stennis after he forgot his credentials during the first day of the weeklong junket, told us he’s “notorious” for that. “It happened to me at NASA [while] shooting ‘Armageddon,’ ” he said. “My entire crew was going through, and I’m at the guard gate with my story boards. I had to go back and get my pass before they’d let me in.”
Ben Affleck hammed it up on the red carpet, the longest ever rolled out by Disney. He poked fun at the Queen Mother for the British press. “She’s randy,” he said, affecting a British accent. Cuba Gooding Jr. relaxed and tossed a lei into the crowd.
The $135-million, three-hour movie premiered on a screen six stories high on the deck of the Navy’s newest nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, which is moored a few hundred yards from ground zero of the Dec. 7, 1941, bombing raid that brought the United States into World War II.
Following a 15-minute fireworks display, the 2,000 guests made their way to the hangar deck,
which was decorated USO-style, with huge red and blue drapes and giant movie posters. Sailors in dress whites gawked at the celebrities in the roped-off VIP area.
Courtney Love, who recently suffered a miscarriage while on location in Vancouver, made an appearance. Carrying daughter Frances Bean on her hip, Love talked quietly with Affleck.
Early critics have not been impressed by the film, and the locals were not swayed by the Hollywood hoopla. The Honolulu Advertiser chided the filmmakers in a front-page story Sunday: “The only thing that lends a sense of place is the tropical scenery serving as a backdrop to a lot of Caucasian faces.”
“We shot a lot of Hawaiian faces,” Bay said, but they wound up on the cutting-room floor.
Poetic License
Actor Michael Madsen, 40, has played his share of violent bad guys, although to his credit he did help free Willy the whale in one movie. Still, it must be hard getting past that chilling breakthrough role as the ear-slicing Mr. Blonde in “Reservoir Dogs.”
Who knew Madsen wrote poetry? His poetic stylings can be seen in Razor, a glossy men’s magazine that hits newsstands June 1. Madsen’s poems are pretty dark. Is it art? Decide for yourselves. We’re sharing one called “Paper”:
It’s funny when you write on paper because each word is born like a little baby. It grows up just like a kid, depending on who reads it. You can’t help but think of all the people that put pen to paper. All the words that came out with blood and sweat and pain and joy and love and hate and weary wonderful silence. I just burned some hairs off my arm with a cigarette. Yeah, think about it. I wonder what Earnest was thinking when he loaded the gun.
Quote, Unquote
We know that Brad Pitt has expressed “no interest in producing a B. Pitty clothing line.” Good thing, according to Tommy Hilfiger: “I’m sure Brad would look great in the clothes, but it’s like me going into the movies.”
Feet, Don’t Fail Him Now
Michael Flatley recently woke up to find a strange man in the bedroom of his house in Monte Carlo. The 42-year-old Irish step dancer from Chicago told us he chased away the intruder, who was standing by his bed, “close enough that I could have hit him. It was a little too close for comfort.”
Police are investigating. “For someone to leave all the cash, come into the bedroom--that’s a new experience,” Flatley said. “I don’t know what he wanted and I would hate to speculate.”
Flatley said he felt so violated that he needed to recover at another home in Ireland. His new show, “Feet of Flames,” comes to Staples Center on July 20.
Sightings
Ed Begley Jr., holding a little girl and standing at a bus stop on Ventura Boulevard in Studio City. . . . Matthew Perry, dining with friends (no, not those Friends) at Encore, the new restaurant at the St. Regis Hotel in Century City. . . . Mick Jagger, Bill Maher and Rachael Leigh Cook, partying at Moomba in West Hollywood after the Rock & Soul fund-raiser for Multiple Sclerosis.
*
Times staff writers Gina Piccalo and Louise Roug contributed to this report. City of Angles runs Tuesday-Friday. E-mail: angles@latimes.com.
More to Read
Only good movies
Get the Indie Focus newsletter, Mark Olsen's weekly guide to the world of cinema.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.