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American Morning

'Survivor' Makes Her Acting Debut

Aired June 05, 2001 - 11:48   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.
LAURIN SYDNEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good day, everybody. I'm Laurin Sydney in New York. Tom Cruise is again fighting back against rumors concerning his sexual orientation. Cruise filed a $100 million defamation lawsuit in Los Angles Monday against a man claiming he had videotapes of the actor having sex with a man. The man, identified in the suit as Michael Davis, sent e-mails to news organizations offering the alleged tapes. Cruise says Davis's claims are, quote, "unequivocally false" and that no such tapes exist.

John Travolta and his Hollywood friends turned out last night for the premiere of his new action thriller "Swordfish." Travolta was joined by castmates Hugh Jackman, Don Cheadle and Halle Berry. Berry had some steamy scenes in the movie that include full frontal nudity. We asked her, just for the "halibut," about reports that she received extra money for those scenes in "Swordfish."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HALLE BERRY, ACTRESS: There was this rumor swirling around that I got $500,000 extra to expose my breasts and it totally wasn't true. 250 -- honey I -- my breasts would cause way more. They don't have enough if that is what I was charging for.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SYDNEY: Rob Schneider says that he knows what Sony studios should do after they admitted inventing a fake critic to give glowing reviews to his film, "The Animal." He told Craig Kilborn that the good news was that Sony was going to invent a marketing guy to take the fall.

Real critics have actually praised the film, and its co-star, former "Survivor" contestant Colleen Haskell. Our Paul Vercammen sat down with America's sweetheart to discuss her movie debut.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sitting here with Colleen Haskell, and everybody wonders, how do you go from "Survivor" to Rob Schneider?

COLLEEN HASKELL, ACTRESS: I know, I should write a book. Really fast is how you go do it, and I don't even know how it happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE ANIMAL")

ROB SCHNEIDER, ACTOR: I'm Marvin.

HASKELL: I'm Riana. Is something wrong?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HASKELL: I was going back to school, but I went in and auditioned for this just kind of, hey, I auditioned for a movie and did the screen test, and I met with Rob and all these other girls, and then I got the part. So now, I'm on a movie set and now I'm talking to you.

VERCAMMEN: What is the most disgusting or absurd thing he put you through on this shoot?

HASKELL: Put me through was watching him feed the bird or watching the bird eat out of his mouth when he fed it. That was disgusting.

VERCAMMEN: Do you think back at the University of Georgia some of your colleagues are saying what the heck is going on with her.

HASKELL: Yes. Oh my God, definitely. I was in the theater department. I worked my way through school working in scene shop. I did set design and lighting design. So, I've always been around actors, but working where I did amongst them, actors were bad and you know, designers are good.

So, I think now they're, why did she cross the line? Now she's an actor. What is she doing?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "SURVIVOR")

HASKELL: The past five days have been the longest five days of my entire life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERCAMMEN: Thinking of "Survivor," what has been your most lasting or enduring or lasting relationship or friendship with a member of that cast?

HASKELL: It's kind of like summer camp, so there are people that I keep up with and we e-mail, and then I won't talk to them for a month. Gretchen, her and I keep up pretty well, Jenna, Greg, Jervis, mostly people from the team that I was on.

VERCAMMEN: You're in a town that hands out rumors like breath mints.

HASKELL: Right, right.

VERCAMMEN: You had no romantic links on "Survivor."

HASKELL: I had no romantic links, but everybody likes to create. I'm engaged. I'm not, you know, running around with anybody. I like to keep my personal life personal.

VERCAMMEN: And also, you might have heard that Mark Burnett accused and admitting to somewhat restaging shots. Were you ever a part of anything like that?

HASKELL: No. You know, like when he came out and was talking about that, I can't answer because I was a contestant on the show and I don't know much about it. I was never aware of that going on. If it did, I'm sure just sort of aerial shot if the helicopter makes you fall down. He's going to make somebody do it again. But I never saw... I was there. I voted for the person. Yes, Rich won. So, from what I saw, none of this controversy took place. But then, again, I'm just -- I want to stay out of it.

VERCAMMEN: We thank you for taking time out. Congratulations on surviving "The Animal.

HASKELL: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SYDNEY: And when "Showbiz Today Reports" returns, another survivor. We're going to tell you what Madonna is going to do this summer. Stay tuned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SYDNEY: Madonna fans take note: The singer is hitting the road this summer with her first tour in years. Better save up. Tickets for the Material Girl's concerts are topping out at $250 in some cities. A little later today, we will give you a rundown of all the summer's top concert tours, from Dave Mathews to U2. That's in our 2:35 p.m. cut-in. So start saving up. Until then, in New York, I'm Laurin Sydney.

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