Morning Report - News from Sept. 5, 2002

TELEVISION

Clinton Denies Talk of a Talk Show, for Now

Former President Bill Clinton, appearing on “Larry King Live,” dispelled rumors that--having met with executives at CBS and NBC--he’s embarking on a daily talk show. “I’ll think I’ll leave that to you,” he quipped to the show’s host.

Ever the politician, however, Clinton left the door open for a change of heart. While he doesn’t anticipate becoming the new Oprah, he conceded, he wouldn’t rule out television.

“You know, maybe sometime later in my life I’d like to do it,” he said Tuesday. “It would be intriguing to me because I like to talk to people. I’d like to have [former rival Bob] Dole come on my show and tell me what I did wrong about things.”

Right now, however, his plate is too full to commit to a daily show, Clinton pointed out. He has to write his memoirs, pursue a host of public speaking engagements and travel. “You know, I’m going to Africa later this month,” he said. “I’m going to India at the end of November. And I really believe I should always spend more than half my time on public service so I just don’t see how I can do it.”

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THEATER

Off-Broadway Tickets: A Record High at $100?

Off-Broadway, traditionally the bastion of affordable fare, will soon post what is said to be a record $100 ticket.

“Although we don’t keep such records, it is almost a certainty that this is a first,” Marc Rossier, director of development and marketing for art for New York, an organization that monitors the Off-Broadway scene, told the New York Daily News.

The play? Bertolt Brecht’s “The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui” at the 750-seat Pace University Theater in downtown Manhattan, running Oct. 3 to 26. For their money, ticket buyers will get an all-star cast: Al Pacino, Billy Crudup, Chazz Palminteri, Steve Buscemi and Charles Durning.

The play will be produced by the National Actors Theater, run by Tony Randall. “This is a special presentation for us that will help the company, of course,” said spokesman Gary Springer. “We’re a not-for-profit theater company, and nobody is going off to put money in their own pockets.”

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MOVIES

A Golden Paycheck for ‘Legally Blonde’ Sequel

Joining the ranks of Hollywood’s best-paid actresses, Reese Witherspoon will receive a hefty $15 million for “Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde,” Variety reports. It will be a sequel to the 2001 film in which she played a superficial Bel Air sorority girl who enrolls at Harvard Law School to win back her boyfriend.

“Legally Blonde” took in $96.5 million in North America and performed well on home video. Witherspoon will serve as a producer on the sequel--and there may be more “Legally Blonde” down the road: MGM and Disney’s Touchstone Pictures are trying to adapt it for a half-hour midseason comedy for ABC.

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QUICK TAKES

Stellan Skarsgard (“Breaking the Waves”) will play the young Father Merrin in “Exorcist: The Beginning,” the prequel to the 1973 film. Paul Schrader will direct....UCLA Performing Arts has canceled one of its higher-profile events, “Three Tales,” a collaboration between minimalist composer Steve Reich and video artist Beryl Korot that was scheduled for Feb. 27-28. No explanation was offered.... Encouraged by the reception for its series “Sorority Life” this summer, MTV not only has ordered another season of that but also a companion show called--of course--”Fraternity Life.”