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CNN Live At Daybreak

Just in 'TIME': American's Brightest Artists and Entertainers

Aired July 02, 2001 - 08:32   ET

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

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Now a story you will see just in "TIME" magazine: profiles of America's best and brightest artists and entertainers. Steve Koepp is with us now -- he is deputy managing editor for "TIME" magazine -- to tell us more about this story. Steve, you've got Julia Roberts on the cover. That ought to sell a few magazines.

STEVE KOEPP, "TIME" MAGAZINE: I think so. That might happen. This was a fun list to make up because it really makes you think about what your standards are and your values. And we'd still be debating it if we didn't have to publish it right away.

MCEDWARDS: Yeah, I'll bet you would be. Now, you've got Julia Roberts as best movie star, Sean Penn on the inside as best actor. How did you get to that?

KOEPP: Well, two different things. I mean Julia Roberts is best at melding her off screen persona and her on screen one and finding roles that fit who she is. And that really reached a peak with Erin Brockovich. The sort of rowdy person that she is really, really fit that role. Sean Penn, on the other hand, has a very conflicted outlook toward his career and kind of plays hard to get when it comes to acting. But when he does act, there's an incredible intensity there and a surprise factor. You never quite know what you're going to get.

In fact, we had Dennis Hopper write a poem, he wrote a poem, a tribute. It described him as stark energy exploding like the sun. And that's a pretty good way of describing it.

MCEDWARDS: Yeah, it's a nice poem, actually. You said it shows up, shows up everyone with his brilliance, lives in a moment to moment reality, uses all his senses in his work, makes the accident work for him. It's kind of a unique thing you've done in a number of these situations. You've actually got other artists, other actors to do the writing.

KOEPP: That's right, because it really helps if you've actually had to walk the stage or try to do the thing they do. Then you realize the degree of difficulty and the kinds of special things that these people do that you don't see from the outside.

MCEDWARDS: And Dennis Hopper is a poet, pretty good stuff. Martin Puryear you've got there as an artist, a sculptor. Why was he chosen? What makes him among the best in America?

KOEPP: He really epitomizes the pattern that we saw throughout this, which was that somebody takes an incredible degree of skill or craftsmanship at what they do and that enables them to carry through their ideas. I mean a lot of people have ideas, but they just don't have the technical know how to pull them off.

In his case, he has this amazing knowledge of Old World craftsmanship like buildings, boats and barrels and things like that, and he turns that material into these incredibly fluid shapes that no one else could achieve.

MCEDWARDS: And Chris Rock you've included as best comedian. Now, in a way I guess that seems like a no-brainer. In a way it maybe seems like it might be a bit controversial. Some people have complained about his sort of politically incorrect brand of humor.

KOEPP: I think you have to be in that counting, you have to offend people. That's the historical tradition. So in that way he's kind of an old-fashioned guy hewing to the traditions of the role. But there's a quality level there. If you've ever seen one of his long performances on TV, he just has a lot of really good material. He's very spontaneous, too, and just in terms of delivering a skill, the electrifying performance that is politically incorrect, in a lot of ways, he's the guy.

MCEDWARDS: And this is all coming up, I understand, over the course of five issues, right? So people may want to follow along?

KOEPP: That's right.

MCEDWARDS: OK, Steve Koepp, "TIME"'s deputy managing editor, thanks very much for this -- appreciate it.

KOEPP: Thank you.

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