Return to Transcripts main page
Showbiz Tonight
Showbiz Tonight for August 16, 2005, CNNHN
Aired August 16, 2005 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
A.J. HAMMER, CO-HOST: Hello, I`m A.J. Hammer.
KARYN BRYANT, CO-HOST: I`m Karyn Bryant. TV`s only live entertainment news show starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRYANT (voice-over): On SHOWBIZ TONIGHT, concern for Madonna. The pop star suffers a very serious accident on her birthday. We`ll tell you what happened in the English countryside, and we`ll have the latest on her condition.
HAMMER (voice-over): Also, decoding "The Da Vinci Code."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is so powerful that men have died to protect it.
HAMMER: Ron Howard-Tom Hanks film is still a year away, but the religious battle lines are being drawn today. What`s fact, what`s fiction, and is "The Da Vinci Code" offensive? The sparks fly in tonight`s "SHOWBIZ Showdown."
BRYANT: And want to have a chat with Elvis, Jim Morrison or Marilyn Monroe? Call him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Something just pushed my hand.
BRYANT: Chris Fleming. He says he talks to dead people, very famous dead people. And tonight, he talks to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT, live not dead.
STEVE CARELL, ACTOR: Hi. I`m Steve Carell. If it happened today, it`s on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HAMMER: Hello, I`m A.J. Hammer.
BRYANT: I`m Karyn Bryant.
We begin tonight with SHOWBIZ TONIGHT under attack. There is a major computer virus going on. Just a short time ago, it hit all of CNN, ABC, "The New York Times," as well as other companies.
HAMMER: The reason we`re kind of smiling is basically all of our systems here at CNN are controlled by computers. The images you see on your television, the pictures, the video, the little images at the bottom of the screen there. So fasten your seatbelt. It could be a wild wide. We`re going to have as much fun with it as we possibly can.
We`re joined now by CNN correspondent J.J. Ramberg. Just sort of fill us in on what`s going on. All right, J.J., we`ve been having a big time trying to get this together this afternoon. Who exactly has been affected? We named some of them. Who else?
J.J. RAMBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Let me just tell you one thing first. I think this is sort of encouraging, because we`re always talking about how we`re so dependent on computers. Right? We don`t have computers. You guys are still there. I`m still doing this report, and we even have something to report to you, just by using the old phone and talking to people. Right?
BRYANT: Right on.
RAMBERG: So yes, there were some media companies affected. You talked about "The New York Times." They were affected earlier. They said they`re back up and running right now. Everything is fine.
ABC, CNN, lots of bureaus at CNN, but we had some of those bureaus up and running, as well. The U.S. Capitol also says that they were affected.
It`s people who run on Windows 2000. Now there about a billion people who run on Windows systems. There`s anywhere -- we`re getting conflicting reports, but from anywhere between five and 20 percent of people in companies who run on Windows 2000, and those are the people who are being affected by this worm.
What you probably don`t know, and a lot of people don`t know out there, is what`s the difference between a worm and virus. Well, a virus is something that you actually have to interact with. So for example, you get an e-mail, and it says open this attachment, you open it up and then suddenly your computer shuts down.
Well, in this case, it`s a worm, and that doesn`t require any interaction. And that`s why something like this happened at CNN today, where you were just sitting at your computer. I was sitting at my computer, typing along, doing my story, and then suddenly my computer says it`s about to shut down. And obviously, you think it`s something you did, until you look next door and you see that everybody`s computer is shutting down.
But again, it`s just for people who are using Windows 2000 who are affected -- A.J., Karyn.
BRYANT: Now, J.J., I was using Windows XP and mine did get a little funky, as well. What can I do to fix it? What can our viewers at home do to fix the problem if they`ve got it?
RAMBERG: All right. Well, there are a few things. First of all, let`s talk about if you don`t have it, because those are the people who really have something to do. They can go to Microsoft.com and download a patch. Microsoft was reporting a vulnerability in their system. And they have a patch that you can download. Definitely go ahead and download that patch.
Also, and you should do this always, any time, make sure your antivirus software is up to date. Most of these, you go into it, there`s a button that says update. Always just make sure that`s up to date.
Now if, in fact, you`ve been infected by this worm, that`s a little different story. And if you`re not tech savvy, like I`m not, and I`m just going to guess you guys aren`t.
BRYANT: Hey, J.J.
HAMMER: The only reason I`m not personally affected, other than here at work today, is because I run a Macintosh at home. But that`s for another time.
RAMBERG: Speaking about computers.
HAMMER: J.J., we`re going to talk you to a little later on, get some more on this computer worm. We appreciate you filling us in.
And as we do our best to recover on all of this, one of the biggest stars in the world is recovering from a very serious accident today.
BRYANT: Madonna injured herself in a riding accident. We have David Haffenreffer here with the latest -- David.
DAVID HAFFENREFFER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Frightening event across the Atlantic today. A frightening birthday scare for the material girl, sending Madonna to the hospital with broken bones. It all took place on her 47th birthday while the superstar was riding a horse at her estate outside of London.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HAFFENREFFER (voice-over): A painful and frightening birthday that will take Madonna out of the limelight for awhile.
RUTH HILTON, "OK!" MAGAZINE: What we know, is that obviously, it`s Madonna`s 47th birthday. And late afternoon London time she decided to go for a ride with her personal assistant while Guy and the kids were also at home. And during that, she was on a new horse and took a tumble, and it seems that she`s broken her collar bone, her hand and three ribs. So it`s a fairly hefty injury, what`s happened to her.
HAFFENREFFER: This month`s issue of "Vogue" featured rare pictures of Madonna at the southern England estate where the accident occurred. She calls the 1,000-acre, $16 million dollar estate she shares with husband Guy Ritchie, a place of adventure and says in the summer time it`s the most beautiful place in the world. It`s clear from these photos, the once time dance floor diva is learning to love the outdoors.
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And she says, and I quote her, that she wears sensible shoes on her 1,000-acre estate, goes hunting and fishing, rides horses and looks after her flock of chickens. And that is how she runs her life these days in the U.K., very much the lady of the manor.
HAFFENREFFER: Madonna`s accident brought back sad memories of another horse accident, the mishap that left the late Christopher Reeve paralyzed. Thankfully, Madonna`s accident wasn`t as serious.
HILTON: The injuries are not -- they`re not on a Christopher Reeve level, which of course is what we immediately think of when a celeb takes a tumble. They may keep her in for observation. Time will tell how long it will take her to recover.
HAFFENREFFER: But it does have her fans wondering how long she`ll be out of commission.
Madonna told me she had a lot on her plate when I caught up with her this spring at her book signing in New York City.
(on camera) What is next for you, back into the studio?
MADONNA, ENTERTAINER: I have a record that I`m almost done with that hopefully will come out before the end of the year. I have a documentary that I made while I was on tour that hopefully will come out soon. And I`ve written more books.
HAFFENREFFER (voice-over): That new record, "Confessions on a Dance Floor," comes out in November. She`s also planning a summer tour next year. But with Madonna`s injury, it`s questionable whether she`ll be hitting any dance floors or stages any time soon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HAFFENREFFER: And of course we wish Madonna a speedy recovery. Madonna`s new album, as you mentioned, is expected in mid-November. The first single is reportedly called "Hung Up" and is set for release in October -- A.J.
HAMMER: Not the way you want to spend your birthday.
HAFFENREFFER: No.
HAMMER: Thanks very much. SHOWBIZ TONIGHT`s David Haffenreffer -- Karyn.
HAMMER: Tonight, Ron Howard and Tom Hanks are hard at work on the film adaptation of "The Da Vinci Code." Now, it is nowhere near done, but the controversy is already brewing, with some calling it an attack on Catholicism.
SHOWBIZ TONIGHT`s Sibila Vargas is live in Hollywood with the details -- Sibila.
SIBILA VARGAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That`s right, Karyn. It`s not even in theaters yet, and already "The Da Vinci Code" movie is sparking a fire storm of controversy, with some religious groups taking serious issue with Dan Brown`s best seller.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VARGAS (voice-over): It seemed almost preordained, 29 million copies in print in 44 languages, topping world wide best selling lists for two years and counting. A stack of every existing copy of "The Da Vinci Code," its publisher claims, would reach 220 miles into the sky. A novel anointed for success.
Cryptic code cracking, breathless chases through some of Europe`s most sacred sites. Woven throughout, dusty secret societies, like the Priory of Sion, the Knights Templar and hallowed religious rites.
(on camera) What it says about the church has some calling it an attack on Christianity. Critics say it questions the corner stone of the Christian faith, the divinity of Jesus Christ, casts Mary Magdalene as his lover, if not wife, with whom he has a child, which suggest the child then becomes a part of the bloodline of the kings of France and that the Catholic church`s Opus Dei sect has conducted a centuries long cover-up that has included assassinations.
(voice-over) Mystery tinged in history, or so it appears.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Although it`s a novel, and one doesn`t want to overreact, it does have a pseudo academic disguise, and therefore things which are presented as facts are unusually damaging.
VARGAS: But author Dan Brown does claim the grounding of his novel is fact. The simple statement in the prologue reads "all descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents and secret rituals in this novel are accurate."
The dark intrigue, biblical undertones, Hollywood couldn`t resist. Power house producers, Brian Grazer and Ron Howard secured the rights and signed Tom Hanks to star. With Howard at the helm, the movie had instant hit written all over it.
An added bonus, the recently discovered religious audience after Mel Gibson`s "The Passion of the Christ" last year blind-sided box office watchers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you alienate that audience, you do so at your peril, because if they don`t come out to see your movie, that could hurt you at the box office.
VARGAS: With the prospect that devout Christians might be offended, a shroud of secrecy came down over the making of "The Da Vinci Code."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Usually at the upper level of Hollywood, there are scripts floating around. There are -- people know things. People don`t know anything about "The Da Vinci Code."
VARGAS: Here`s what we do know. London`s Westminster Abbey wanted nothing to do with the movie. The 940-year-old cathedral rejected a request to shoot there, stating, "The Da Vinci Code is theologically unsound."
Since filming began this summer in Great Britain, no outsiders have been allowed near the sets. These pictures are among the few that exist of the shoot. Scripts are under tight control, and individuals associated with the film have signed confidentiality agreements.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a very controversial book. I don`t think everybody`s figured out exactly how they want to handle that controversy.
VARGAS: For that, movie makers hired a marketer with expertise in Christian sensibilities. The producers and Sony Pictures turned down CNN`s request for interviews.
The book is already a lightening rod, but it`s how Christian beliefs will be portrayed in the movie that has intensified Catholic concerns.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A movie can have a more convulsive effect on the audience than a book can. But I`m not going to stand in the sidelines on this. I wrote a letter to Ron Howard. Very clear what my concern was: if you have a disclaimer in the beginning of the movie which simply says that this is a work of fiction, fine, I`m walking away.
VARGAS: Author Amy Welborn, whose book, "Decoding Da Vinci," refutes "The Da Vinci Code," gave advice to the Sony Studios marketing team.
AMY WELBORN, AUTHOR, "DECODING DA VINCI": The major concern was, you know, what can they do not to make everybody really mad and not inspire a boycott of this film or the studio or anything like that. It`s really a very delicate situation. They don`t want to alienate the core audience.
VARGAS: That core audience is made up of people who loved the book, many of whom accept its premise as fact. The cottage industry grown around them, of conspiracy theorists, myth busters, even "Da Vinci Code" based tours, with the faithful following its clues to places like Chateau de Villette in France, home of the book`s villainous art historian.
In the novel, a nun is bludgeoned to death in Paris` Church of Saint- Sulpice. That put local priests on the defensive. They even put up a sign clarifying that a brass strip running across the floor is not a pagan astronomical device. That, too, is in the book.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Most of the things in the book are not true, especially much of what is said about this church.
VARGAS: It`s not just one church. The novel challenges some of the fundamental tenets of Catholicism. Small wonder the movie is becoming so controversial.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Controversy puts people in seats. Keeping thing secret is a phenomenal marketing tool. It stirs up interest. And how much do you have to market a thriller made by Brian Grazer and Ron Howard that 25 million people have already read and love?
VARGAS: Sibila Vargas, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VARGAS: And "The Da Vinci Code" is scheduled to roll out in theaters next spring. It will be interesting to see what happens at the box office -- Karyn.
BRYANT: All right. Thank you very much, Sibila, live in Hollywood.
And later on in the program tonight on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT, we`re going to be looking at both sides of this issue. As you can well imagine, it is very heated, for and against making "The Da Vinci Code," the movie. So stay with us, and we`ll have that "SHOWBIZ Showdown" a little later -- A.J.
HAMMER: We`ll just need to relax, Karyn.
Murder, adultery, bribery, extortion, you name it, "Dallas" had it. Come and take a trip down memory lane to the South Fork Ranch with J.R. Ewing and company, coming up next.
BRYANT: All right. Stop, collaborate and listen, because Ice is back again. He`s leaving pop in the past for a much harder sound. Find out what Vanilla Ice is up to, live on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.
HAMMER: That`s really good.
And also, a guy who makes really, really long distance phone calls. He calls the afterlife. Real life ghost buster Chris Fleming is going to tell us if he`s made contact with Elvis Presley, among other celebrities, live. Celebrities who are dead, but the segment will be live on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BRYANT: It was the burning question of the summer of 1980, probably the biggest television cliffhanger of all time. "Dallas" fans were dying to know, who shot J.R.?
Who knew the answer? And who didn`t? Well, we have some new information on that old question. SHOWBIZ TONIGHT`s Brooke Anderson is live in Hollywood with more -- Brooke.
BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, there, Karyn.
Well, "Dallas" premiered in 1978, yet it was season three that put the Texas oil drama on the map, and everyone knows what I`m talking about. Those episodes just came out on DVD, and we got the inside scoop from the show`s two biggest stars.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LARRY HAGMAN, ACTOR: Jose?
ANDERSON (voice-over): Brace yourself, here`s the season finale cliff hanger that became a pop culture phenomenon. March 21, 1980. Texas oil man, J.R. Ewing, gets shot, and television history is made.
People across the country, obsessed, "who shot J.R.?" SHOWBIZ TONIGHT got the inside story from -- yes, we told you this was good -- Larry Hagman.
HAGMAN: I found out who shot J.R. about three weeks before it aired, because they didn`t want anybody to know. And I didn`t want to know, because then I couldn`t tell anybody.
ANDERSON: Come on, Larry, not even your wife?
HAGMAN: I didn`t tell my wife. No, I never told her. I was offered a lot of money for telling. I was offered $250,000 by a consortium of newspapers in Europe.
ANDERSON: Larry`s "Dallas" wife, co-star Linda Gray, told SHOWBIZ TONIGHT she knew who shot J.R. early on.
LINDA GRAY, ACTRESS: I knew long before, because I went into a recording booth and recorded, "Kristen, it was you who shot J.R." So people forget. They think it was on camera, but it wasn`t. Because it was on Kristen`s face, but I said the words. So that`s what really happened.
ANDERSON: Season three does give us clues. Here`s Kristen.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`ll kill him.
ANDERSON: But of course everyone hated J.R.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take a number. There are a few of us ahead of you.
ANDERSON: And audiences loved to hate him.
HAGMAN: The first step in curing a drunk is getting them to admit what they are.
When they wrote that I`d come into the office with a scowl on my face, I game in with a grin on my face. And I always did relatively the opposite of the way they wrote it.
ANDERSON: And it worked. "Dallas" became an international phenomenon for hundreds of millions of viewers, airing in more than 130 countries around the world.
GRAY: I think it was the perfect series of that time. It was the Reagan era. Everything was bigger: you know, hair, and shoulder pads, earrings, cars, money, oil. It was that time in history that was perfect. It fit.
ANDERSON: Although Larry confesses the premise might have been a stretch.
HAGMAN: Much about this dysfunctional family, about three millionaires, daddy and his two sons who live in one house with their wives and with one bedroom and one bathroom each. And they`re all multi millionaires. I don`t know. That seems a little far-fetched to me.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Well, far fetched or not, "Dallas" ran for 14 seasons. Larry and Linda told us they remain close friends and they still go out for dinner at least twice a month -- Karyn.
BRYANT: Thanks very much, Brooke Anderson. SHOWBIZ TONIGHT`s Brooke in Hollywood.
Well, drop with the zero and get with the hero. Because his name is Vanilla Ice, but his story in not plain vanilla. From the "Ice Ice" era to "The Surreal Life" to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. He`s got a brand new album, and Vanilla Ice is here live.
HAMMER: That was one of the greatest movies of all time, Karyn.
Plus, "The Da Vinci Code," of course, it`s a fictional story, but the fact is, it`s causing an awful lot of religious controversy. The question is; will the Tom Hanks-Ron Howard movie about the code crack under pressure? We`ll going to get into it in a "SHOWBIZ Showdown."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HAMMER: Welcome back to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. Time now for a "SHOWBIZ Sitdown," with Vanilla Ice.
Fifteen years ago, Vanilla Ice sat on top of the music world with his no. 1 hit "Ice Ice Baby." These days, well, we`ve seen him all over the place on reality TV, from VH1`s "The Surreal Life" to NBC`s "Hit Me Baby One More Time." And he`s got a brand new CD out today called "Platinum Underground."
Vanilla Ice, a.k.a. Rob Van Winkle, joining us live here in New York. Excellent to see you, my friend
VANILLA ICE, ENTERTAINER: Good to be here, man.
HAMMER: Can we flash back now? Do we have the still? Are we able, with all our computer problems, to bring up this picture from 15 years ago? Here it comes. There we go, man.
VANILLA ICE: There we are.
HAMMER: You and me.
VANILLA ICE: Come on.
HAMMER: Your album, your song, "Ice Ice Baby," No. 1. That was the week of our birthday, by the way. Halloween.
VANILLA ICE: Yes, Halloween.
HAMMER: When you see that picture, what flashes through your mind, man? Was it just another person to you?
VANILLA ICE: No, because I remember WPLJ. I mean, that`s everlasting, because you guys, you know, broke the record and stuff. So I mean, it was huge back then.
HAMMER: You look a little different, though.
VANILLA ICE: I do. You look too. Look at you.
HAMMER: My hair was a little poofier than it is now.
But seriously, you know, because I`ve seen -- you`ve talked a lot over the years about the fact that that wasn`t really you. That was a show that was being put on by your record company. So when you see that, what flashes through your head?
VANILLA ICE: Just about how artificial it had became. You know, I mean, music shouldn`t be about gimmicks, image. It should be about the music. And you know, I didn`t know, I was young. I did "Ice Ice Baby" at 16, you know? And then I was, like, 19 there.
So I mean, it`s been a long road. But it shouldn`t be about that. So I felt like a puppet, you know? And it took on a life of its own. And I`m riding this wave, right? And you know, there was no way to get off it, man. I had to, you know, deal with everything. That young and with that much success, it was -- you know, it was hard.
But what doesn`t kill you makes you stronger, man. And that`s why I`m here. You know, I`m a survivor. I did the song survivor, and that was what it was about, you know?
HAMMER: Let`s talk about that, because you did sort of make this transition. I mean, after the whole "Ice Ice Baby" thing, you had some rough times that followed. A couple of albums after that.
And then we started seeing you pop up, first on that celebrity boxing, you and Todd Bridges going at it. Then you did "The Surreal Life," and then you had a real big splash with the "Hit Me Baby One More Time." Was it by accident that you did that, or was that sort of a plan that you had?
VANILLA ICE: No, actually, we didn`t rehearse any of that. I went on there. I mean, honestly, I hadn`t danced like that in 10 years, man. But we had a great time. I just you know -- I came out, and I kind of -- I didn`t know how it was going to be, you know? I didn`t know how -- I hadn`t, like, done that in so long.
So I get out there. And the crowd goes nuts. And it just kind of all came to me, man. And you know, the dance moves came back and everything. And I busted it out and had a blast. And I mean, I`m telling you, I`m still in heaven over it. It was just a ball.
HAMMER: And a cool remix of "Ice Ice Baby" on the "Platinum Underground" album that landed in stores today.
VANILLA ICE: Yes.
HAMMER: But to be clear, a much harder edged sound, much more like Korn or Limp Biskit type of a sound.
VANILLA ICE: right.
HAMMER: That`s really you, isn`t it?
VANILLA ICE: Well, I worked with Ross Robinson, who produced Korn and Limp Biskit and Slipknot and so on. So I mean, he had a way of showing me to use the music as therapy and, you know just express yourself, man, and be yourself. You know, and that`s the best thing I`ve had. So it`s been like a new music adventure for me now, you know, like starting all over again. So I basically swam back out and caught another wave. And I`m riding it, man, I`m surfing.
HAMMER: Well, it`s good to see you.
VANILLA ICE: I`m enjoying it.
HAMMER: Glad things are going well. Congratulations on dropping that CD today.
VANILLA ICE: Thanks, buddy.
HAMMER: Fifteen years, and life comes around full circle at CNN. Who would have thought?
VANILLA ICE: Yes, man, and you`re doing great.
HAMMER: I`m doing all right.
VANILLA ICE: I`m happy to see you.
HAMMER: Thanks for stopping in. We appreciate you stopping by.
The new CD, "Platinum Underground," in stores today.
Well, it`s a best selling book with a star studded movie on the way. But already there are people unhappy with the project, "The Da Vinci Code." We`re going to have a "SHOWBIZ Showdown" you won`t want to miss, coming up next.
BRYANT: Plus his normal day evolves around the paranormal. Chris Fleming on the trail of the famous and dead. But he joins us live. That`s on the way.
HAMMER: And Garner goes glam. Jennifer Garner is married, pregnant and isn`t afraid of showing it off. We`re going to show you. That`s coming up on "Tuesday InStyle" here on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SOPHIA CHOI, CNN HEADLINE NEWS ANCHOR: SHOWBIZ TONIGHT continues in just a minute. But first, I`m Sophia Choi with your "Headline Prime Newsbreak."
Well, we have been following a developing story out on the West Coast where a suspect has given up to police after a three-way standoff. Police had fired gas canisters into the driver`s window after chasing this vehicle. This is happening in California.
Surprisingly, he did not come out of the car for almost 20 minutes. He then was cuffed and taken into custody without any further incident. The incident apparently began in Montebello, California -- that`s between Los Angeles and Pasadena -- when a driver was stopped by local police for speeding.
There was some sort of alteration and then the driver was somehow able to get back in the car, this Honda Prelude, and then took off. That`s when the CHP, the California Highway Patrol, got involved and a chase ensued. It ended when the driver simply stopped in the middle of the highway at the junction of the 10 and 710 freeways.
That`s the news for now. I`m Sophia Choi.
BRYANT: Welcome back to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. It is 31 minutes past the hour. I`m Karyn Bryant.
HAMMER: I`m A.J. Hammer. You are watching TV`s only live entertainment news show.
Tonight, coming up in this half-hour, communicating with the dead. We`ve got a guy who not only talks to dead people, he happens to talk to dead celebrities. He`s the host of the new Biography show. He`ll fill us in and what that`s all about.
BRYANT: All right. And also, we`re going to have a very heated debate -- I know this -- about the "Da Vinci Code" movie. Some Roman Catholics very offended by the potential movie that is coming out, because they do not like what is in the book, what it says about their religion. And so we`re going to get into that deep.
HAMMER: Stand back.
BRYANT: Yes.
HAMMER: But first, we`re going to get updated with tonight`s "Hot Headlines." SHOWBIZ TONIGHT`s Brooke Anderson back with us live in Hollywood -- Brooke?
BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, A.J., Karyn.
A major computer virus affected computers here at CNN, ABC, and the "New York Times." The computer worm affected computers with Windows 2000. And we will bring you more as we are aware of that.
And also tonight, Madonna is recovering after a horse riding accident. The superstar was celebrating her 47th birthday today at her estate in the English countryside. Madonna`s rep says she was riding a new horse she wasn`t accustomed to and took a fall. The material mom cracked three ribs and broke her collarbone and hand.
Churches are divided over the filming of the "Da Vinci Code." Tom Hanks and the cast are on location in Lincolnshire, England. Lincoln Cathedral agreed to doubled as Westminster Abby, which refused the studio`s request to shoot there. The head of the cathedral call the novel far- fetched and heretical, but says the church needs to open up to the debate. Well, not everyone agrees it`s appropriate.
And those are your "Hot Headlines" from Hollywood. Karyn, back to you in New York.
BRYANT: Thank you very much, Brooke Anderson.
Well, more than 25 million copies of Dan Brown`s best-selling novel, "The Da Vinci Code," have been sold. And the book, which claims Jesus may have been married to and may have fathered a child with Mary Magdalene, has sparked a lot of controversy among Catholics who claim Brown`s mixture of fact and fiction distorts the truth that they hold sacred.
Now, with soaring sales figures, it wasn`t long before Hollywood came calling. Oscar-winner Ron Howard is directing fellow winner Tom Hanks in the film, which is as close to a guaranteed blockbuster as you can get.
Joining us for a "Showbiz Showdown," is Professor Richard Walter of UCLA`s film school and also Doug Urbanski, a Hollywood producer and talent manager.
Gentlemen, thank you for joining us tonight. I want to set this straight: I have not read the book, nor am I a Roman Catholic. So I`m going to be objective here.
Second rule is, so a little bit of civility with each other here, because I have a feeling things can get a little bit hot. But with that in mind, let`s get to it.
I want to talk to you, Doug. You do not think that this is a good idea to make this film. Is that true?
DOUG URBANSKI, PRODUCER: Well, I think there`s a lot of reasons why it`s not a good idea. I want to say hello to the professor. We kind of know each other tangentially. But, no, it`s a movie I would prefer, and I think Catholics would prefer, wasn`t being made at all.
BRYANT: But it`s fiction. It`s in the fiction section. So what`s wrong with making a movie based on fiction? They`re out there all the time.
URBANSKI: Oh, listen, I`m delighted that now they`re calling it fiction. The problem was that, when it was a best-seller, a lot of people were confused and talked about it as fact. In fact, you may remember that the ABC network devoted a whole evening to this as possible fact. So it was very much in the mindset of the people.
BRYANT: And, Richard, you obviously have no problem with this film going forward.
PROF. RICHARD WALTER, UCLA FILM SCHOOL: Well, is the Catholic Church so faithless, so worried? Are Catholics` faith in Christ, is it so frail and so petty that they think that a movie by Ron Howard is going to damage the institution?
It`s just preposterous. It`s the American Taliban. I`ve just had it up to here with religious groups and other special interest groups trying to control what people see and what they don`t see. It`s so out of keeping with the spirit of the church and with the spirit of American democracy.
URBANSKI: You know, it`s very interesting. I wish that the professor had his facts a little more accurate here. The Catholic Church has not spoken to the studio about this motion picture.
In fact, about an hour ago, I called the one person in Hollywood who the studio contacted -- that`s Barbara Nicolosi. They contacted her because they were very interested.
Clearly, the studio and the marketing department, who know they`re not making an independent film -- they`re making a very expensive motion picture -- clearly, they discover that the same many customers who bought tickets to the "Passion" will not be buying tickets to this motion picture. This is a business, and a very enormous business decision, with a very enormous price tag attached.
BRYANT: Richard, what do you think about the idea that -- because the studio has, in fact, done some work reaching out to religious groups and perhaps maybe they`re going to change some of things in the book, maybe they`re not. But they`re definitely testing the waters to see what that relationship is going to be.
WALTER: The most hazardous thing you can do in entertainment is try to play it safe. They`re going to -- if they make a boring picture by dumbing down this film, they`re not only going to lose the faithful, but they`re going to lose gentiles. They`re going to lose people who are not members of the church.
Nobody wants to go see a movie that isn`t not provocative, that isn`t disturbing. You know, life is where we need to be responsible. Film is where we have a safe place to try out notions that are upsetting and that cause us to stretch our minds and exercise our imagination.
Nobody wants to see the village of the happy, nice people. Nobody wants to see an intelligent film as much as they want to see just a good movie. That`s the way I feel about it, and I don`t think I`m alone.
URBANSKI: Listen, I agree completely with the professor on this point. And I`ve devoted my entire life to making movies that are beige or doing Broadway shows that are beige. I completely agree with him on this point.
The fact is that this script sits on my desk in my office this minute, a draft about a year old. I must tell you, I thought it was a pretty boring script when I read it. And the fact is that Hollywood has made a number of movie adaptations in the past 100 years of its history. Some of the movie adaptations are good, some are bad.
Before they even attempt talking to Catholics in this town, you have to ask yourself, was the script any good to start with? And I didn`t even think the script should have probably been made.
BRYANT: Well, the script is being written by Akiva Goldsman, who wrote "A Beautiful Mind." He worked together with Ron Howard on it.
URBANSKI: I know him personally.
BRYANT: I have a feeling they have a pretty good track record there. This is probably going to be a pretty good film. You`ve got some top-notch talent.
URBANSKI: Listen, "Prince of Tides" was a best-selling book, and everyone involved in it had a pretty good track record. But it was a less- good film. It happens.
BRYANT: OK, Rich, I want to talk about this for a second, Doug. What about the idea that making a film with religious context -- and some of it may be fact, some of it may be fiction -- how about the idea that my friends and I are going to come out of the movie theater and go, "Oh, my gosh, I didn`t know this. I don`t know that." We might have a discussion. I might go to church. I might want to learn more.
What about that as an art, as a motivating factor for learning something new?
URBANSKI: Well, I actually made a film called "The Contender" that functioned in a way like a Rorschach test. Our whole point was to have people go out and debate the film afterwards.
There`s no problem with that at all. The problem is, with this film, from a business decision, if you run a studio, and you`re making a $100 or more million dollar decision, you have one special interest group that you might cater to. They`re called your shareholders. They`re called your customers.
And studios have fallen into a terrible trap, because they`re making the equivalent of refrigerators that make your food hot, ovens that make your food cold, and mattresses that have stones in them. So the studio has learned late in the game -- listen, the process begins with the optioning of the book, the developing of the script, and then the marketing.
The marketing people are now involved, and they`re saying, "Hey, wait a minute. We have a problem." The problem wasn`t considered at the beginning of the process.
BRYANT: Well, but here`s the thing, Richard -- and you, I`m sure, know this feeling -- wasn`t there a huge problem with the "Passion of the Christ"? Weren`t people up in arms? Weren`t there protests a year before the film came out?
Richard, I`m guessing that sometimes this is the best way to put butts in the seats...
(CROSSTALK)
WALTER: Absolutely. Absolutely. And I think what`s happening at Sony right now is they`re just upset that all of this publicity is now. You know, there`s no such thing as bad publicity, they say. And here the film isn`t coming out until next summer.
Doug, I loved "The Contender," I congratulate you on that. And I`m honored to be here with you. But, really, don`t we just have to tolerate movies, even if we don`t like them? Isn`t that the burden that`s placed on us, the sweet burden that`s placed on us, by our American democracy, by our Constitution, that lets us express ourselves freely?
URBANSKI: I agree with that, as a country.
BRYANT: Guys, that`s going to have to be it tonight. And I`m sure...
URBANSKI: Oh, there`s a lot more to say.
BRYANT: I know there`s a lot more to say. And I`m sure, in the year ahead, we will get to it. Thank you, Richard, and thank you, Doug, for joining us here tonight on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT -- A.J.?
HAMMER: All right, Karyn.
Well, tonight, memories of Peter Jennings that fans will be able to keep forever. Six of the late ABC anchor`s primetime news specials are going to be a part of a two-disc set. The specials, which have only all aired once, include documentaries about post-9/11 security and an expose on the tobacco industry. Of course, Jennings died last week after a battle with lung cancer.
The Peter Jennings Collection will be out on October 18th.
Well, when we come back with more of SHOWBIZ TONIGHT, we`re going to take a look at this week`s most bizarre headlines of the past week. It`s the best of the late-night talk shows, coming up next.
BRYANT: A page from the style book of "Alias" star Jennifer Garner. And why the newlywed wants to keep her husband and her pregnancy to herself. That Tuesday`s "InStyle."
HAMMER: And he sees dead people. He`s going to say dead people. I`m not kidding. Chris Fleming, host of the "Dead Famous: Ghostly Encounters," will join us live. It`s all coming up after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HAMMER: Welcome back to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.
Chris Fleming has contacted some pretty famous celebrities in a more intimate way that any fan could imagine. He`s the host of a new show called "Dead Famous: Ghostly Encounters." Each week, Chris tries to sway the skeptics by communicating with celebrities who passed on.
He joins us now live to talk about the dead. Chris Fleming, nice to have you here at SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. And I want to clear something up right out of the box. As you may have heard us talking about all evening, we`ve had a major computer worm affect systems here at CNN, as well as other industries throughout the country. I`m in our executive producer, Dave Levin`s (ph), office earlier today.
He`s a bit of a skeptic when it comes to this stuff, and he says, "I don`t know about this stuff." And all of a sudden, all of the computers shut down.
CHRIS FLEMING, HOST, "GHOSTLY ENCOUNTERS": Really?
HAMMER: I`m not kidding. That`s exactly the moment that it happened to happen. Just to clear it up, you had nothing to do with that, right?
FLEMING: Not at all. Not at all. Things happen that are very strange that you just can`t really explain. That`s kind of like what we do on the show.
You know, we go all over the country investigating paranormal phenomena, dealing with, the twist is, celebrities, you know, such as James Dean, Elvis Presley, for example.
HAMMER: And to be sure, obviously, there are skeptics, people who don`t buy into this. And you`re trying to sway them, as I just mentioned. Assuming all of it is for real, explain exactly what you mean by the fact that you communicate with dead celebrities on this show.
FLEMING: OK, there`s many different thing that I do. I just don`t talk like I`m talking to you and say, "There`s a ghost talking back to me."
I can sense that they`re around. And what that means is, I can feel if there`s a different energy that`s in the room, namely a ghost, paranormal. I can feel or sense images, and see images, of that individual that might be there. I can also use equipment, scientifically use EVPs, get EVPs, using electronic voice phenomenon, tape players. We can use videos and get strange anomalies that can coincide with what I`m feeling and sensing.
HAMMER: OK. Well, let`s talk about some specific celebrities. You spent a little time at Graceland for the show, which is going to be premiering tonight. What happened at the gates of Graceland?
FLEMING: Well, that was interesting. The biggest thing that I picked up there is what`s called place memory. Let me explain that to you. Place memory is any image can be left behind, an imprint in an inanimate object, can be energy, such as emotions, trauma.
Now, I picked up a lot of energy that was left over from Elvis. Not only that, I picked up a lot of energy that was left over from certain fans that would frequent Graceland. And some of the details that I picked up were kind of negative and kind of scary.
HAMMER: Hmm. And did you find out how Elvis is doing?
FLEMING: You`ve got to watch the show.
HAMMER: All right. And you also spoke to Elvis` tailor, but he`s not dead.
FLEMING: No, no.
HAMMER: OK, but we`ll see that.
FLEMING: You`ll see that tonight, too. What we do is we try to interview people that knew Elvis when he was alive, as well as some people that might allegedly think that he`s still around, that his spirit`s still around. And that`s what you see in our investigations, you know, all over across the United States, is trying to find as much information we can so that the next step is, is there spirit still here?
HAMMER: You know how sometimes you`re sitting at home, eating dinner, and the phone rings, and it`s one of those telemarketers? That kind of happens a little bit with you sometimes. You reach out and try to contact some of these people, and they`re not quite too pleased about it. Frank Sinatra, for example, didn`t want to hear from you.
FLEMING: Definitely. Definitely. The thing is, we don`t get every celebrity. We try to. But sometimes we do.
HAMMER: Kind of like our show.
(LAUGHTER)
FLEMING: With Frank Sinatra, you know, I was actually shocked. I just sensed him right away, and it`s like this tunnel opened up. And he was like, "Get out of her." He was like, "What are you doing here?"
And I was like blown away by that, because I thought, you know, maybe he`d want to talk to us or do something. Right after that, it was -- I freaked, because I`m like, "I can`t believe this."
HAMMER: What`s his beef with you?
FLEMING: Well, I think he wanted nothing to do with us. He really wanted to do. He`s done. He`s trying to move onto the other side...
HAMMER: Any of his other friends hanging around at the time?
FLEMING: Well, Sammy Davis, Jr., did come through...
(CROSSTALK)
HAMMER: Well, OK, the Rat Pack is together in the afterlife. That`s god to know. A little insight into that.
John Lennon, this is a particular fascination to me, because I live in New York City. I was here when John was shot by his home at the Dakota on the Upper West Side. And you spent some time at the Dakota?
FLEMING: The interesting is what -- I walked around the Dakota building. And I walked around the exact location where John Lennon was shot, trying to pick up what happened, the trauma. And I kind of tried to re-experience it.
But the interesting thing -- and you don`t even see this on the program, because sometimes some stuff happens off-camera. I was sitting in the car waiting to do this, and all of a sudden, I started shivering and getting the senses I do when something`s going to occur.
And I saw an image in my head of John Lennon as if he was trying to communicate to me. Now, I can`t relate every single thing he said to me, because it was kind of personal, but the one thing I did get was, he`s at a very high spiritual level. He can cross over. He can go back to the third-dimension, to the spiritual dimension, and he definitely is watching over his son and Yoko Ono.
HAMMER: And you would expect that from John Lennon.
FLEMING: Yes.
HAMMER: So you`re kind of like a groupie for dead celebrities. And I think that`s pretty cool.
FLEMING: Thank you.
HAMMER: Chris Fleming, thank you for stopping by. We appreciate you joining us here at SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.
"Dead Famous: Ghostly Encounters," Tuesdays nights on the Biography Channel. Its premiere episode tonight. Catch it.
BRYANT: It`s time now for Tuesday "InStyle." Tonight, on the cover of September`s "InStyle" magazine, and of course, September, the best book of the whole year, it is Jennifer Garner. Now, you know her not only as the butt kicking spy on "Alias," but as the newlywed wife of Ben Affleck.
She is pregnant. She is happy. She is stunning. She`s on their cover.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: September "InStyle" is our sexy issue, and nobody is sexier right now than Jennifer Garner. On our cover, Jennifer Garner is wearing a stunning tool and sequined Oscar de la Renta gown. That will run you about nine grand, if you`re willing to sort of spend the money for a very special event.
But you can get a very similar, equally glitzy look. Kay Unger makes this $650 gown that`s available at NiemanMarcus.com. Now, Jen Garner is also wearing a diamond and platinum stunning bracelet by Tiffany & Company. But Ell Jewelry (ph) makes the $90 cubic zirconium version.
And then Zach Pozen (ph) custom made for her this stunning electric blue, Demi Brolocock (ph) cocktail dress. And what our stylist, Freddie Lieba (ph), said which is so interesting and really bespeaks Jennifer Garner`s sensual and subtlety, is that the dress, although it has a plunging neckline, isn`t in-your-face va-va-va-voom sexy, it`s just simply gorgeous on her, and it showcases her femininity without being over-the- top.
Oscar Blondie created the soft curls. And I was looking at the opening spread in our sexy portfolio. She`s draped in this pink-white cotton blouse, and she kind of looks like a lioness waiting for her cubs to come home.
So Oscar, her favorite hairstylist, created soft, wavy curls with a 1 1/2 inch barrel curling iron from Hot Tools, and then he spritzed some of the anti-gravity spray from his own line of hair products.
What`s interesting about Jennifer is the way that she sort of toes the line between sharing a lot with our readers and still really keeping everything very private. She`s fiercely protective of what she says is her joy, you know, her recent marriage to Ben Affleck and her impending motherhood.
She couldn`t be happier. She couldn`t be more thrilled. And what`s interesting is, says to our writer, "You know, if we were just two girlfriends gabbing, I`d tell you everything, but it grosses me out," she said, "to reveal too much to the public." She wants to keep her marriage and her new baby to herself.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRYANT: If you want to read more about Jennifer Garner, pick up a copy of September`s "InStyle" magazine on newsstands this Friday.
HAMMER: Well, here on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT, we have a segment called "Hot Headlines." Once a week, the "Tonight Show" with Jay Leno has a segment simply called headlines. And here`s a look at some of the strangest headlines from the past week.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAY LENO, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW": "Crocodiles go hungry, due to shortage of tourists."
"Two convicts escape Baker prison." I like the warden`s quote. "We can`t watch them all at the same time, and it was dark."
All right. Come in for a teeth cleaning. Look at before. That`s quite a difference. Look at that, before and after. This is why, if you don`t...
Yes, sir, "Liquor tax in...
(LAUGHTER)
We got the liquor tax. Here`s rockaway. "Room to rent with full double door closet and private baloney."
There`s nothing better than apprehending criminals. The police are looking for a man who held up a bank in queens. Here`s the surveillance photo. If you`ve seen that man, please, apparently, I believe is name is Mr. Potatohead.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HAMMER: Well, tonight, Jay`s going to welcome pop singer Ashlee Simpson and comedian Norm McDonald.
BRYANT: Coming up, talk about name-dropping. A major name change for Sean "Puffy" Combs. We`ll let you know what he wants you to call him, in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BRYANT: It is simple. Five letters, one word: Just call him Diddy. Rapper turned mogul, Sean "P. Diddy" Combs has changed his name again. He has dropped the P -- this is big news, people-- saying it gets between him as fans.
What happened was, he was at a show. Some people were chanting P. Diddy, some people were just chanting Diddy. It got very confusing. So Sean has decided to change his name. And he says the moniker is part of a new era, complete with a new album that he is recording. Diddy is set to host the MTV Video Music Awards, which air live on August 28th.
HAMMER: Thank goodness, because I was calling him P. at the concert.
BRYANT: Here`s the thing: I would lose sleep. It was killing me, this whole name.
HAMMER: It`s all over.
Time to find out now what`s playing on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT tomorrow.
BRYANT: Let`s check in with the Showbiz Marquee Guy.
Take it away.
MARQUEE GUY: Tomorrow, you love them, you hate them, or you love to hate them. Reality TV favorites duke it out on the "Battle of the Network Reality Stars," Adam Mesh, Heidi Bressler, Richard Hatch, and Amarosa (ph), oh, no, join us live tomorrow to dish on the knock-down, drag-out competition.
Also tomorrow, from the A-team, tough guy, Mr. T. He pitied the fool on the hit `80s TV series. But there`s a softer Mr. T. Just check out his socks. He joins us live, tomorrow on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.
There is the Marquee Guy, and you can just call me M. Diddy.
BRYANT: That`s it for SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. I`m Karyn Bryant.
HAMMER: I`m A.J. Hammer. Stay tuned for the latest from CNN Headline News.
END
