Morning Report - News from Aug. 20, 2002

POP/ROCK

Simon Will Fill Kennedy Center Slot

Having been stood up temporarily by Paul McCartney, the Kennedy Center Honors program turned its lonely eyes to Paul Simon, announcing Monday that the folk-pop icon will join conductor James Levine and actors Elizabeth Taylor, James Earl Jones and Chita Rivera as this year’s honorees at a gala Dec. 8 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. The awards are given in recognition of lifetime contributions to American culture.

George Stevens Jr., co-founder of the awards program and producer of its annual CBS telecast, said that McCartney wrote to him about 10 days ago expressing “profoundest apologies” for being unable to keep his commitment because of a niece’s wedding. He didn’t know of the family commitment when he accepted the invitation, the singer explained.

The former Beatle was the first honoree in the program’s 25-year history to bow out after the announcement had been made. According to Stevens, the Kennedy Center board embraced McCartney’s request that he be feted in 2003 instead.

Simon’s spokesman, Dan Klores, said the singer-songwriter had been told he was in line for the award in 2003 and was happy to move up. “I don’t think he thinks of himself as a substitute for McCartney,” he said. “He is honored and feels as if he is blessed.”

*

MOVIES

Controversial Mexican Film Opens Strongly

Mexico’s latest controversial film, “El Crimen del Padre Amaro,” scored big at the box office. In its first weekend, the movie grossed $3 million--the largest opening ever for a Mexican movie.

The film stars hot young actor Gael Garcia Bernal (“Amores Perros”) as a wayward priest who impregnates a young parishioner. The theme caused a furor among the country’s conservative Catholic community and prompted a firestorm of publicity that benefited the film.

The movie was such a lightning rod that even Mexican President Vicente Fox’s mother weighed in over the weekend. Mercedes Quesada called it “a piece of trash” that was made with the sole intention of “aggravating Catholics.”

Mexico City’s major newspapers, however, gave the $1.8-million film mainly positive reviews. “It shows different views on the clerics,” La Jornada critic Leonardo Garcia Tsao said in a telephone interview. “It is very well-rounded.”

Most of the audience members interviewed by the Mexico City newspaper Reforma said Carlos Carrera’s movie had a simple message: Men of the cloth have weaknesses and the church has its own interests to protect. The producers of “El Crimen del Padre Amaro” are in negotiations with Sony Pictures, which distributed the film in Mexico through its Buena Vista/Columbia Tristar partnership, for release of the film in the United States.

Tainted Journalist Subject of New Movie

Stephen Glass, whose journalism career took a dive after stories he wrote for the New Republic, George and Rolling Stone magazines were shown to contain fabrications, provides the inspiration for “Shattered Glass,” a movie being shot in Montreal this month.

Based on a Vanity Fair story by former Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Buzz Bissinger, the Lions Gate Entertainment movie will star Hayden Christensen, recently seen as the young Darth Vader in “Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones.” Hank Azaria is playing an editor at the New Republic.

Glass, then about 25, made headlines when it was revealed that he had embellished a New Republic piece about computer hackers. Researching his work, the magazine found that 27 of the 41 pieces he’d written over the course of three years took liberties with the truth.

Since then, Glass graduated from Georgetown Law School and worked as a law clerk in Washington, Pennlive.com reports. He could not be located to comment on the project.

*

THE ARTS

Gallery Owners Sue Kinkade Estate

Larry and Susan DiGiovanni, owners of Minneapolis’ Twin Cities Galleries, are trying to liquidate their inventory of works by Thomas Kinkade, who describes himself as “the most collected living artist.”

What’s the problem? The couple claims that Media Arts Group Inc.--the artist’s licensing agency--diluted the value of their holdings by saturating the market and selling so much of his work on TV’s QVC cable shopping network.

The couple has filed a lawsuit claiming that the company misled and defrauded them of more than $1.3 million in life savings. Theirs is one of about 10 suits filed by galleries across the country, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Bob Martin, vice president of marketing for Media Arts, said that the DiGiovannis’ losses were triggered by bad business practices or bad luck rather than by fraud. Most of the more than 300 Kinkade galleries are doing well, he said.

*

QUICK TAKES

Tim Conway, Harvey Korman, the late John Frankenheimer, Bob Mackie, Jean Stapleton and Bud Yorkin will be inducted into the Television Academy of Arts & Sciences’ Hall of Fame at the Beverly Hills Hotel on Nov. 6.... Steven Bochco (“NYPD Blue”) is creating another police drama--this time, a show following New York City cops in the year 2069, for Fox Broadcasting.... Former Motley Crue member Tommy Lee and his band will fill the void on the Ozzfest tour left by Drowning Pool, the main-stage band whose lead singer was found dead last week on a tour bus. Ozzfest arrives at the Glen Helen Blockbuster Pavilion on Aug. 31. The investigation continues, meanwhile, into the cause of death of Drowning Pool frontman Dave Williams.