Showbiz Today

Femme Fatales Give 'X-Men' Added Punch; 'Big Brother' Causes CBS Big Trouble; Nine Days Enjoy Their Day in the Sun

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

LAURIN SYDNEY, HOST: Hi, everybody. I'm Laurin Sydney, reporting from our new set in New York.

Our look has undergone a mutation, kind of like the "X-Men." We sure hope it's as big a hit as the movie. Those comic book mutants transformed the box office this weekend, earning an astounding $55 million, way above what Hollywood experts had predicted. The movie starring Patrick Stewart enjoyed the best opening ever for a nonsequel. "Scary Movie" scared up another $26 million for second place. The horror spoof has now earned $89 million overall.

Even a scary movie couldn't frighten the testosterone-fueled "X- Men." After all, you wouldn't exactly call "X-Men" a chick flick. But there is a feminine side to the superhero film.

Michael Okwu shows us the femme fatales helping make "X-Men" a woman thing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These ladies would like to take a moment to preen, to pose. And why not? "X-Men" is a box-office bonanza partly because these women pack a punch, which is partly why Anna Paquin, who won an Oscar for her performance in "The Piano," signed on.

ANNA PAQUIN, ACTRESS: I don't really think of my career like, you know, this is a big departure from the last movie I did, or this is -- you know, I just take it as it comes, but you know, I like doing things that are different, and this was definitely different.

HALLE BERRY, ACTRESS: The women are strong and they're sexy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "X-MEN")

PAQUIN: I can move things with my mind.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Really. What kinds of things?

PAQUIN: All kinds of things.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BERRY: And they're very equal to their male counterparts, so women should be very proud of the way they're represented in this movie.

OKWU: Yes, there are some well-known and well-honed male talents here, but these women are hard to ignore. Based on the 38-year-old comic book, "X-Men" tracks the doings of mutants, highly-evolved humans with supernatural powers. Some are bent on destroying humanity. The others have chosen to stop them. It's a storyline that required lots of action.

Halle Berry plays Storm.

BERRY: I had a really wonderful stuntwoman that took a lot of the harder hits, you know. I did some, but when after, you know, my bell got rung a few times, I said, you know, OK, "Time, bring her in!"

OKWU (on camera): You look like you are having a good time, though, being mean in that one particular scene.

BERRY: In life, I take a lot and I think Storm does. She's not very aggressive. She's very passive. She's all about, you know, peace and love and everybody coming together, but if you push her, it's pretty much over for you.

OKWU (voice-over): Rebecca Romijn-Stamos is mean. That's actually her in the role hand-picked by director Bryan Singer -- as the slithery metamorph, Mystique.

REBECCA ROMIJN-STAMOS, ACTRESS: He said, "And here's Mystique -- she's going to be blue and covered in scales," and I went, "Cool!" On paper it looks pretty easy. You know, I never really thought about the execution of it.

OKWU: The execution involved eight hours of makeup, coping with more than 120 silicone prosthetics.

ROMIJN-STAMOS: And a couple pairs of contact lenses, full-eye yellow contact lenses, and a lot of patience!

FAMKE JANSSEN, ACTRESS: There were days when they thought you were going to be used, and at the end of the day, all of a sudden they're like, we never got to you, but come back tomorrow again.

OKWU: The patience appears to be paying off.

Michael Okwu, CNN Entertainment News, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SYDNEY: And joining me now is one of the men of "X-Men," one of the good guys, in fact, Patrick Stewart. Welcome to SHOWBIZ TODAY.

PATRICK STEWART, ACTOR: Thank you.

SYDNEY: OK, one of the good guys, was that type casting? STEWART: Well, I do have a man of worth in my past, as well some pretty despicable characters as well. For years here in the United States I was known as the guy Sir Janus (ph) from "I Claudius," who was about as nasty a piece of work as anyone could possibly be. But this is a super good guy, because the "X-Men" -- this is the leader of that group.

SYDNEY: The leader, and the leader at the box office. In fact, the updated estimate is 57.2 million clams, Patrick Stewart. And a long time ago you knew that this was going to be a smash hit.

STEWART: Well, we believed in it, of course, and we knew that there were a huge number of fans out there. You know, people have been waiting for almost 30 years for this movie, for an "X-Men" movie. So we knew there were high expectations and that made many of us very, very nervous.

Sometimes it's better to be a dark horse, to be an underdog and to come in from behind the pack, but on Friday -- late Friday evening I got a phone call with a projection of between $12-$15 million, which we thought was amazing, and first thing Saturday morning my phone rang to tell me it was almost $22 million for the day.

It's been very difficult to absorb. Last night I had dinner with the director, Bryan Singer, because I suddenly realized I think he's on his own in New York, he was sitting alone in his hotel room last night.

SYDNEY: But did you go to McDonald's or did you eat steak?

STEWART: We went to a nice restaurant here in Manhattan, and I think he's just a little bit stunned by the scale of this success, because we were hoping for $30-$35 million and here it is almost double that.

SYDNEY: It's incredible, and quite an eclectic cast. You had some major thespians going on, some models thrown into the mix. Did you all hang out together?

STEWART: Very much so. It was -- we were four and a half, nearly five months in Toronto on this movie, and it was significant that Saturday, Sunday nights you would find whoever happened to be in town working that week would all be hanging out together. There are a lot of big personalities in this movie, a lot of egos, some of the most beautiful women in the entertainment industry.

SYDNEY: And did that all meld together or was there a little tension?

STEWART: Fairly good-looking guys too. And so you might have expected that there would have been difficulties and tensions here. It was totally absent, and the atmosphere on the set and off was always excellent.

SYDNEY: And you must be happy because you all signed for the sequel already? STEWART: Yes, everybody signed a two-picture deal on this.

SYDNEY: Before you knew how well the movie did?

STEWART: Yes.

SYDNEY: Smart producers.

STEWART: Yes, smart producers in this case, but also very happy producers. I've heard from Lauren Shuler Donner today, who is absolutely thrilled.

SYDNEY: I'm sure. All right, now in the movie you can read my mind, so can you read that we are out of time?

STEWART: You were giving me that winking signal, which I interpret as being out of time.

SYDNEY: OK, Patrick Stewart, big numbers, big movie, congratulations.

STEWART: Thank you very much.

SYDNEY: And happy birthday.

STEWART: Thank you.

SYDNEY: SHOWBIZ TODAY will be back right after this, so don't go anywhere.

Controversy over a "Big Brother" contestant -- is he using the show to further political agenda? And hot rock group Nine Days are ready to play ball.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SYDNEY: The word is out on who has won the game show "Survivor," or maybe not. CBS won't confirm or deny a report that a Web surfer discovered the identity of the eventual champion by making a few keystrokes on CBS's Web site. We will not reveal the identity of the supposed victor, but whoever it is stands to get a million dollar prize.

CBS's other big summer show is also making news. The network says it will not allow any hate speech to be broadcast on its "Big Brother" program. This after it was revealed that one of the contestants locked in the "Big Brother" house has connections to a militant political organization.

Jodi Ross gives us the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "BIG BROTHER")

WILLIAM: If you had something to say, you would have came to my face up front from the beginning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why am I going to come you and start (EXPLETIVE DELETED). I got no (EXPLETIVE DELETED) beef with you

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JODI ROSS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Big Brother isn't watching us, we're watching "Big Brother," apparently with increased interest as new revelations about members of the house are revealed. While the house guests think they're getting to know each other, viewers are privy to information that the guests aren't.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "BIG BROTHER")

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel like you are using "Big Brother" as a platform to voice your opinions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSS: None know that Will Collins (ph), seen here on the right at the Million Youth March in New York City, is a member of the new Black Panther Party, and an associate of Khalid Abdul Muhammad, who was banished from the nation of Islam for calling Jews "bloodsuckers." That news prompted CBS to issue a statement saying the network and the show's producers would -- quote -- "not tolerate or permit any hate speech to appear on the program" -- end quote.

Only two contestants so far know Jordan's past as an exotic dancer. And none know that George, a roofer from Rockford, Illinois, accidentally killed his best friend in a hunting accident 12 years ago. While ratings for the CBS show have gone up and down, the 24- hour, real-time Internet feed of what's going on in the house has captivated cyberspace voyeurs around the world and become prime water- cooler topic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, BIGBROTHER2000.COM)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And if I sleep with someone, I am just going to like perpetuate the various stereotypes I'm trying to break down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TY BURR, "ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY"/EW.COM: What's odd is that you've got a water-cooler hit, but it's not really a water cooler show -- it is really the water cooler. I mean, I put this thing up on my computer, people come into my office. We stand around the computer. We shout back at the computer. It is actually the water cooler itself that is the hit. It is what people gather around.

ROSS: Life has become tense for the 10 house guests sequestered in the camera-laden, fabricated San Fernando Valley home. Last Thursday, they voted on which two members should leave.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "BIG BROTHER")

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, is everyone ready?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I guess so.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The first nominee is William.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The next nominee is Jordan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSS: It remains to be seen if any of these revelations will affect who viewers will vote for via a 900-number when deciding who to kick out of the house.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM: All right, who voted me out?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSS: The results of that vote will be announced on this Thursday's show.

Jodi Ross, CNN Entertainment News, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SYDNEY: "Big Brother" is shot on a CBS lot in Los Angeles and unlike plenty of other shows, which are shooting over the border. Add to that the continuing commercial actors' strike, and you have a lot of production moving outside Hollywood outside the country.

Sherri Sylvester discovered how that is affecting the entertainment capital.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHERRI SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Welcome to "Adele's of Hollywood." The costume shop is hardly a fly-by-night operation.

THERESA SAIDY, OWNER, ADELE'S OF HOLLYWOOD: The business was started by my aunt in 1945, and so it has been in the family for over 55 years.

SYLVESTER: But business is down.

SAIDY: In the '90's, I've seen a decline of 10, 15 -- now, it's up to about 25 percent.

SYLVESTER: Because Hollywood is out...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And action!

SYLVESTER: ... out of the country, lured by strong exchange rates, salary rebates, and other incentives to shoot in Canada, Australia and Europe.

STEPHEN KATZ: Last year, in 1999, out of 240 movies of the week shot worldwide, only 70 of them shot in the United States, and only 33 of them shot in California. And to many people, this is how they made their livings, their income.

SYLVESTER: "Mission: Impossible 2," filmed in Australia. George Lucas is there now with the follow-up to "Star Wars: Episode One." Sequels to "The Matrix" will be made down under. And then, there is Canada.

KEVIN SORBO, ACTOR: There's 41 productions going on in Canada right now. They call it Hollywood North. It's been called that for at least 10 years now.

SYLVESTER: Canada captures 81 percent of Hollywood runaway productions, says a new study by the Screen Actors and Directors Guilds. Incentives include salary rebates on local labor of 22 to 46 percent, depending on the province. The money gets the filmmakers there. The attitude brings them back.

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, ACTOR: When we make noise, or when we kind of block off streets, that they're understanding. They don't get negative. They don't have negative stories in the papers the next day like you have sometimes in Los Angeles when you block off streets.

SYLVESTER: According to the study, 60,000 U.S. jobs were lost to runaway production over a three-year period. The economic impact: $10.3 billion in 1998 alone. Vice President Al Gore has called for an evaluation of the situation by the end of the year. And California's Governor Gray Davis has budgeted $15 million annually for a program of state incentives to even the playing field. Meanwhile, Hollywood's little guys continue to feel the squeeze.

SAIDY: I know several costume companies that -- at least eight to my knowledge -- that went out in the last seven, eight years.

SYLVESTER: But they are hopeful at "Adele's" that Hollywood can write its own happy ending.

SAIDY: It will go through periods of prosperity and plateaus and downturns, but it will always, always be Hollywood. You can't change that.

SYLVESTER: Sherri Sylvester, CNN, Hollywood.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SYDNEY: Surf's up for "Baywatch" guru David Hasselhoff on his 48th birthday. Comedian Phyllis Diller is 83. And TV pioneer Art Linkletter is 88.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "DISNEY'S THE KID")

SPENCER BRESLIN, ACTOR: Let me get this straight. I'm 40, I'm not married, and I don't have dog. I grow up to be a looser!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE PATRIOT")

JASON ISAACS, ACTOR: ... a lesson sir, in the rules of war. Or perhaps your children would.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE PERFECT STORM")

MARY ELIZABETH MASTRANTONIO, ACTRESS: You're headed right for the middle of the monster!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEING VIDEO CLIP, "SCARY MOVIE")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: We have to call the police.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: No way. I'm not going to jail.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: It's OK, I'm fine.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: We'll get rid of the body.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "X-MEN")

ROMIJN-STAMOS: You know, people like you are the reason I was afraid to go to school as a child.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SYDNEY: We are joined by Marty Grove, who despite reports to the contrary, is not a genetic mutant.

But Marty, you have super powers of analysis. We know that. What about the "X-Men" debut?

MARTIN GROVE, CNN MOVIE ANALYST: Laurin, in a word, "x- ceptional." Fox is thrilled, as well they should be, about $54 1/2 million: the biggest non-sequel, non-holiday opening in movie history. Fox is delighted. By the way, a little extra for Fox: They opened in Australia as well, and in Australia it did $2.1 million. That made it the third-biggest opening ever for a Fox movie down under. Hugh Jackman, of course, is from Australia, and that certainly didn't hurt.

They're thrilled, and this picture is going to be a big, big grossing film this summer.

SYDNEY: It already is. "Scary Movie" did score well once again. Now between that and "X-Men," they have really rescued Hollywood this summer. GROVE: It didn't take much, just two blockbusters, and the last two weeks have turned things around. "The Hollywood Reporter" has been counting every dollar for the first seven weeks of the summer, Laurin: $1.33 billion so far. Last year, 1.34 billion. You work out the math: It's less than 1 percent down from last year. And all those media reports about how this summer was a disaster, forget it.

SYDNEY: Don't always believe everything you read, Marty.

GROVE: Only what we tell you.

SYDNEY: Right, absolutely.

"The Patriot" opened overseas this weekend, but there is one country where they aren't too keen on it?

GROVE: Well, that, of course, is the UK, because the Brits don't come off terribly well. Nonetheless, Sony put this picture into nine countries over the weekend. It was No. 1 in six of them, but in the UK it was No. 3. It did about a million-six, which isn't terrible, but those reviews over there were not good. But frankly, Laurin, they are missing a good movie, because "The Patriot" is one of my summer favorites.

SYDNEY: Now NASA is keeping a close eye on Mars, and you have kept it in your scopes lately as well. Tell me all about that, Marty.

GROVE: Well, now, Laurin, it's summertime of course, but Hollywood is thinking fall already, and our friends at Warner Brothers have sent out this wonderful bottle of "Red Planet Water." This promotes the movie "The Red Planet," which opens in early November from Warner Brothers. It stars Val Kilmer. It's set in the year 2050. Oxygen is running out on Earth, and well, you guessed it, they've got to go to Mars to get some. So we'll keep on eye on "The Red Planet" for you, and this water looks very drinkable.

SYDNEY: OK. Well, you go and take a sip, Marty, because we are out of time, but we'll see you next week. And we will see all of you right after this, so don't touch that dial.

Tuesday, on SHOWBIZ, it used to be you had to be talented to be famous, but not anymore. And he's short in stature, but big in talent. We'll spend the day with Josh Ryan Evans.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SYDNEY: The band Nine Days has found its lucky number in a hit single called "Absolutely: Story of a Girl." Beaches to ballparks, radios are playing their song this summer, and for the five guys from Long Island, it is finally "Nine Days" in the sun. And in the sun is where we found Nine Days one afternoon in Central Park.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN HAMPSON, NINE DAYS (singing): This is the story of a girl who cried a river and drowned the whole world...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SYDNEY (voice-over): And this is the real story of how the lead singer of Nine Days was inspired to pen their breakthrough hit after a fight with his girlfriend. .

HAMPSON: And I just thought to myself, you know, as much as she drives me nuts, I just -- I love this girl. When she's smiling and she's happy, I'm just in love with her. And as cheesy and corny as it sounds, that's just where it came from. I mean, like I went over, I started singing the chorus in my head, and I picked up the guitar, and the song kind of wrote itself.

SYDNEY: And here's Nine Days on an off-day, showing that these days, life is a walk in the park for the Long Island-based band, which formed in 1995 and fumbled about the local bar scene waiting for their call up to the big leagues.

HAMPSON: Just about every single record company passed on us at least once.

SYDNEY: The big reason record labels kept passing them over?

HAMPSON: We don't hear the hit. We don't hear the single.

SYDNEY: So the boys huddled together and put out a couple of independent LPs. After winning some local battle of the bands contests, they were on their way.

BRIAN DESVEAUX, NINE DAYS: One of them we won some studio time with, and we did a third CD, and that just got -- got everything started, got our name our there and stuff.

SYDNEY: Not too long after, "Absolutely: The Story of a Girl" made a spike on radio play lists.

DESVEAUX: We were just, I guess, watching the amount of times it's been played on the radio, and it just kept building and building.

SYDNEY: The song has been featured on the WB's "Dawson's Creek," and...

VINCENT TATTANELLI, NINE DAYS: I think it's No. 4 on VH1. It's getting some MTV play.

But how has life changed? People will do things a lot faster for you now.

SYDNEY: As for the story of how the band got their name?

HAMPSON: And that's where we got the name of the band from is -- you can edit this, right?

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

SYDNEY: But really...

HAMPSON: It took nine days to get our first record done, our first sort of identity music-wise. And it just sort of stuck.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HAMPSON (singing): This is the story of a girl who cried a river and drowned the whole world...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SYDNEY: Tomorrow, we will have the story of girls, guys, regular folks who are finding fame faster than you can say "reality TV." Please join us right back here.

We're going to leave you this day with more of Nine Days. Enjoy. See you next time.

(MUSIC)

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