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CNN People in the News

Profiles of Tom Cruise, Lindsay Lohan, Michael Caine

Aired July 02, 2005 - 17:11   ET

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

(INTERRUPTED FOR CNN COVERAGE OF LIVE EVENT)
ANNOUNCER: We now return to PEOPLE IN THE NEWS.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): By the early '90s, Tom Cruise and his bride, Nicole Kidman, were the toast of the town. Everywhere they went, swarms of paparazzi followed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Watch your bag (INAUDIBLE).

PHILLIPS: It was right about this time that Tom went into cruise control.

SARAH SAFFIAN, SR. EDITOR, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Cruise definitely is a man who wants control. Whether it's a percentage of the profits of his movie, or creative control on the set, or control with the media, where in an interview he'll tell you exactly what he feels like divulging and nothing more.

CRUISE: Your Honor, these are the captain chief's (ph) logs...

PHILLIPS: In December 1992, a military drama would be the first of a string of boffo box office hits.

CRUISE: I want the truth!

JACK NICHOLSON, ACTOR: You can't handle the truth!

PHILLIPS: But by May 1996, everyone was talking about Cruise's latest. His mission: The remake of a 1960s TV classic. The result: One monster of a payday.

JON VOIGHT, ACTOR: This tape will self-destruct in five seconds.

MICHAEL MUSTO, THE VILLAGE VOICE: Tom Cruise is about as wealthy as wealthy gets nowadays. And he's smart enough when he negotiates to do a movie not just to get a flat fee, which would usually amount to like 25 million -- not pocket change, exactly -- but often he'll negotiate for points in the movies. So for "Mission: Impossible I," he made 70 million. For "Mission: Impossible II," 75 million.

CRUISE: Show me the money!

PHILLIPS: In December 1996, another huge hit.

CRUISE: Fine! Fine! Fine!

LEAH ROZEN, PEOPLE MAGAZINE: I thought Tom Cruise's performance in "Jerry Maguire" was among the best he has given. You just saw him loosen up on screen in a way you hadn't. There was a kind of humor. There was also a desperate edge that just hadn't been there before.

PHILLIPS: That 1996 role brought his second Academy Award nomination, but his cruise control was about to be tested. In February 2001, just two months after Tom and Nicole had grandly celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary, publicists announced a joint separation. Three days later, Cruise filed for a divorce.

ANNE-MARIE O'NEILL, SR. EDITOR, PEOPLE MAGAZINE: Why did Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman break up? It's a burning question still, and it's something that everyone wants to know.

PHILLIPS: Tabloids, newspapers, rumors ran rampant. And as the buzz built, Cruise wouldn't budge.

CRUISE: I'm not going to discuss any of that. That's between Nic and I, and forever I will never discuss that, ever.

SAFFIAN: There have been rumors that Tom is gay. There were rumors that she was very cautious about Scientology.

PHILLIPS: Both rumors Cruise emphatically denied. Twice in 2001, he filed suit and won against individuals questioning his sexuality.

There were also rumors about Cruise's possible involvement with actress Penelope Cruz, a friendship that began on the set of 2001's "Vanilla Sky," and quickly moved to romance following the divorce.

In March 2004, a startling series of announcements. Expectations that Penelope Cruz would be Tom's future missus turned out wrong. Not only was the Cruise-Cruz union no more, the superstar was also letting go of his longtime publicist, Pat Kingsley.

JESS CAGLE, PEOPLE MAGAZINE: In Hollywood, the breakup between Tom Cruise and Pat Kingsley was just Earth-shattering. Nobody really knows what happened.

PHILLIPS: Cruise had moved on, hiring his sister as his publicist, and falling for "Dawson's Creek" alum, Katie Holmes.

KATIE HOLMES, ACTRESS: You know what, it's incredible. It's absolutely incredible. He's the most amazing man in the whole world.

PHILLIPS: Both actors have big movies hitting theaters this summer. Holmes with "Batman Begins," and Cruise stars in "War of the Worlds." Is it just a publicity stunt, or are these two really in love?

CAGLE: The movies are going to stand on their own. "Batman Begins" is a huge movie. Katie is really a supporting player in that film. "War of the Worlds" is Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg. Nobody's going to go to that because he's in love with Katie Holmes, or stay away because he's in love with Katie Holmes. These are two movies that truly don't need any publicity.

PHILLIPS: With more than two decades and nearly 30 films behind him, Tom Cruise, Hollywood's reigning top gun, continues to live his life in typical cruise control.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes haven't announced a date yet for their wedding.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: When we return, the 19-year-old starlet who makes as many headlines off screen as she does on.

MICHAEL FLEEMAN, L.A. ASSOCIATE BUREAU CHIEF, PEOPLE MAGAZINE: When she gained weight, she was too big. And now she's too thin. This is part of the hazards of living in the public eye.

ANNOUNCER: Lindsay Lohan, and growing up in the media spotlight. Her story next on PEOPLE IN THE NEWS.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ZAHN: Chances are if you've ever glanced at a gossip magazine over the last year or so, you've probably come across the name Lindsay Lohan. The 19-year-old actress is a favorite of the tabloids and the paparazzi for her ever-changing figure, her night life and her ongoing family feud. Away from the tabs, however, Lohan is one of today's most bankable young stars.

Here again is Kyra Phillips.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS (voice-over): Simply, she is one of Hollywood's it girls.

ROZEN: Not since Jody Foster have we really seen someone grow up before our eyes this way, who actually, it seems, can act as well.

PHILLIPS: She's a teenage triple threat: Movie star, pop singer and magazine cover girl.

BRUCE SMIRTI, FAMILY FRIEND: I just remember her as a 7- or 8- year-old freckly redhead kid, skinny as a rail. I guess you never know when somebody is going to blossom into this major movie star.

PHILLIPS: And blossom she did. With only five movie credits under her belt, she has established herself as the queen of a teen film. Her films have made more than $300 million. CAGLE: Lindsay Lohan has a tremendous amount of talent. If she can survive growing up in the public eye, she is going to be a great star.

PHILLIPS: Coming of age in the limelight has made the 19-year- old a lighting rod for gossip. The source of most of the tabloid attention? The Lohan family feud, and her father's criminal problems.

FLEEMAN: He's gotten in fights and brawls and car accidents, driving with a suspended license. The list just goes on and on.

PHILLIPS: Besides her dad's legal troubles, Lindsay's break-up with another star made her tabloid news. And there's her highly publicized club hopping.

CAGLE: She's a favorite target of the paparazzi because she never stays home. She really is out at the clubs every night.

PHILLIPS: Lohan takes the tabloid attention with a grain of salt, shrugging aside any animosity toward the press.

LINDSAY LOHAN, ACTRESS: This is a blessing, what I do. And it comes with a lot of things. Nobody's perfect. Everyone has their ups and downs, everyone has their own opinion, and they're entitled to it.

PHILLIPS: But behind the headlines and rumors is a young woman, a big sister, and a celebrity who also calls her manager "mom."

DINA LOHAN, MOTHER: It's not like I looked at her and said, you're going to be a superstar one day. You know, it just kind of -- it was a beautiful transition.

PHILLIPS: Lindsay Morgan Lohan's life began on July 2nd, 1986. Though she was born in New York City, she was raised in the upper middle class Long Island town of Cold Spring Harbor.

SMIRTI: It's a very tony area. It's a swell place. Everything's very low-key. It's just a great area to grow up. And Michael grew up there. Michael was a lacrosse star at Cold Spring Harbor.

PHILLIPS: Her father Michael was a Wall Street commodity broker, whose family had a lucrative pasta business. Lindsay's flare for the dramatic most likely came from her mom. Forty-four-year-old Dina was a Radio City Rockette.

D. LOHAN: I grew up as a dancer. Then went to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts for acting. And I was more the Broadway dancer person.

PHILLIPS: Lindsay showed her desire to entertain early on.

D. LOHAN: I taught dance all over Long Island and New York, and so I would drag her to all the dance classes. It was really funny, because all my friends would watch her looking in the mirror, like almost mirror imaging what was happening. PHILLIPS: In the late '80s, the talented toddler was signed with the prestigious Ford Modeling Agency. She modeled for Calvin Klein.

FLEEMAN: She was reputedly the first redhead that Ford had ever hired. And she was only 3 years old. So before she could barely even speak entire sentences, she was in show business.

PHILLIPS: Lindsay appeared in several commercials, for companies like Duncan Hines.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don't take our word for it.

PHILLIPS: Even at a young age, she was devoted to her budding career.

D. LOHAN: She wouldn't want to go to the birthday parties. She would want to go to the photo shoot.

PHILLIPS: But behind the scenes, life was not all perfect for her family. In 1990, her father Michael, who was then the president of New York's Futures Traders, was sentenced to federal prison for defrauding investors.

FLEEMAN: Michael Lohan has had so many problems with the law, it's hard to keep track, going all the way back to fraud allegations and convictions when he was a businessman.

PHILLIPS: Lindsay's mother tried to keep Michael's prison sentence a secret from 4-year-old Lindsay. In the August 2004 "Rolling Stone" magazine, Lohan said, "my mom just said, dad's working, he's away, he's busy. I finally figured it out. I was like, mom, I'm not an idiot."

Despite her father's time away in prison, Lindsay pushed ahead with her acting. In 1996, she landed her first television role on the long-running soap "Another World."

L. LOHAN: No.

UNIDNTIFIED MALE: No?

L. LOHAN: That means you and I can get married when I grow up.

D. LOHAN: Working on a soap is such a great experience for a child, because she wasn't there every day.

PHILLIPS: But it would be her first onscreen movie appearance that would make Lindsay a star. She was cast in the dual role of twins, Hallie Parker and Annie James, in the Disney remake of "The Parent Trap." The 1998 movie would test Lindsay's chops as an actress.

L. LOHAN: Mother, you can't avoid the subject forever. At least tell me what he was like.

D. LOHAN: We had another manager at the time. And I said to her, she's called me and she said, can Lindsay do an English accent? Lindsay like yelled from another room, "I saw 'The Secret Garden,' I think I can do that."

PHILLIPS: "The Parent Trap" opened number two at the box office, and garnered rave reviews for Lohan.

ROZEN: She was like a fresh little breeze in it. She was this adorable kid, bright red hair, freckles. And she was really very good.

PHILLIPS: Despite numerous offers to star in other films, Lindsay's family wanted her to be a child first and actor second. She went home to Long Island, and attended her dad's alma mater, Cold Spring Harbor High.

L. LOHAN: My family was -- especially my mother -- was very stern about the fact that I -- they wanted me in school, and to experience going through high school and have an education. You know, grow up with friends and go through all of that, and you know, have normal experiences. And I've always had that.

PHILLIPS: Not everyone welcomed the young actress to their inner circles in high school.

D. LOHAN: There would be the guys in the hall going, oh, "Parent Trap," you know, and girls thinking, oh, you know, just like cynical, normal kid stuff. Kids can be really mean. It built a thicker skin for her.

PHILLIPS: Though she was trying to live a normal teenage life, she still had a passion for acting. After high school, she was eager to return to the silver screen.

D. LOHAN: She was like, let's go, let's get on a plane. And she just wanted to do this. So Disney actually came to us, looking for us.

PHILLIPS: In 2003, Lohan won audiences over when she starred opposite Jamie Lee Curtis in the remake of the Disney classic, "Freaky Friday." She followed that up with "Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen" in early 2004.

LOHAN: I like your boots.

ROZEN: Lindsay Lohan clearly has the "it" factor. I mean, when she is on screen, you are watching her. You're not watching the other kids on the screen, you're watching her.

PHILLIPS: The 17-year-old was making a name as one of Hollywood's most bankable teen sensations.

But when we return, her father's legal troubles make for more family drama.

SMIRTI: I think he does things without understanding the possible consequences. PHILLIPS: And is Lindsay shrinking? The teen's ever-changing figure makes the cover of magazines and raises eyebrows across the country.

L. LOHAN: Everyone has their own reason for why they want to be thin, or how they get that way.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Fredricka Whitfield. PEOPLE IN THE NEWS continues in a moment, but first, here are top stories.

The latest details now on the Idaho girl who was found alive today, nearly seven weeks after she and her brother disappeared. Eight-year-old Shasta Groene was found in a restaurant near her home, with a registered sex offender. That suspect has been charged with kidnapping. Police say there's information indicating Shasta's missing 9-year-old brother, Dylan, may be dead. But they continue to search for him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN WOLFINGER, KOOTENAI COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: I think we're just happy right now that we've got Shasta here, and you know, and there's still that unknown out there, you know. Until we get it totally confirmed, we're not going to go anywhere with that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Around the world, hundreds of thousands of fans have gathered for a series of rock concerts featuring many of the biggest names in music. The global event called Live 8 is aimed at fighting poverty in Africa.

Celebrating the life and music of the late Luther Vandross. A fascinating look back at the singer's career and personal struggles is coming up on "CNN LIVE SATURDAY" at 6:00 p.m. Eastern.

More headlines in 30 minutes. Now, back to more PEOPLE IN THE NEWS.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: We now return to PEOPLE IN THE NEWS.

JAMIE LEE CURTIS, ACTRESS: You think my life is perfect?

L. LOHAN: You couldn't last one day in my high school.

PHILLIPS (voice-over): By 2003, with three Disney movies under her belt, 17-year-old Lindsay Lohan had made her mark as one of Hollywood's youngest stars. But by her 18th birthday, Lindsay would transform from freckled-faced teen to sexy stand-out actress. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shut up!

L. LOHAN: I didn't say anything.

PHILLIPS: It would be her role in 2004's "Mean Girls" that would catapult Lohan to serious stardom. In her first film foray away from Disney, Lindsay landed a new audience.

ROZEN: "Mean Girls" was a very smart comedy, that I think worked both for the teenagers at whom it was intended, and also for adults. And Lindsay Lohan was terrific. I mean, she carried that movie.

PHILLIPS: Lindsay also struck a cord off-screen. She released her first full-length album, "Speak," in late 2004. With songs like "Rumors," Lindsay's record peaked at number four on the Billboard 200. And Lindsay's romantic life had the media buzzing. Lindsay was hot and heavy with the 24-year-old "That '70s Show" actor Wilmer Valderrama. And the paparazzi didn't miss a beat. A high-profile romance, a smash movie and a hit album. Lohan was becoming a media darling.

But by her 18th birthday, the press was more intrigued with her figure than her career. Provocative photos in magazines like "Rolling Stone" and revealing red carpet arrivals had the tabloids speculating about breast augmentation, a claim Lohan denied.

And if Lohan wasn't getting enough tabloid attention, her father's endless brushes with the law put his daughter back on the gossip pages. Michael Lohan had been convicted of seven criminal charges in 2004, including an arrest for attacking his brother-in-law with a shoe at a family party.

Attorney Bruce Smirti represented Lohan for a domestic dispute in 2002. And though the two have become friends, he says he doesn't understand Lohan's recent actions.

SMIRTI: Knowing Michael the way I do, I think he has an anger problem. He's impulsive. He doesn't think before he acts.

PHILLIPS: CNN contacted Michael Lohan for an interview, but according to his lawyer, a gag order prevented him from speaking about his family.

Despite her family problems, in 2004, Lindsay kept a strong front, defending her father.

L. LOHAN: You know, my dad is a grown man, and he's gone a little overboard with some of the things he says. But I love him, and he's my father.

PHILLIPS: But as her dad's troubles continued, Lindsay became less understanding.

FLEEMAN: She used to be very forgiving of him, but as he started making more and more shrill allegations, Lindsay now basically doesn't want to have anything to do with her father. PHILLIPS: Dina filed for divorce in early 2005, a proceeding that would get uglier by the day.