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American Morning

In Hollywood, Stars Come Out to Raise Money for National Resources Defense Council

Aired May 13, 2002 - 08:49   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: We've been mostly dormant since 09/11, but all-star, a-list political fund-raisers are making a comeback.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM HANKS, ACTOR: You know, Steve, you are damn fine on that banjo.

STEVE MARTIN, ACTOR: Thank you very much, Tom.

HANKS: What made you give that up and take up comedy?

MARTIN: Well, I guess it's because of the one sentence that's never been uttered before in the English language.

HANKS: What's that?

MARTIN: Oh, look, it's the banjo player's Porsche.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: Very good, Steve, you wild and crazy guy. Friday night, in Hollywood, it was political fund-raising as usual, and one of the biggest, most prominent events since 9-11, and the stars came out to raise money for the National Resources Defense Council, an environmental group closely associated with Robert Kennedy Jr., and the guest list included Tom Hanks, Rob Reiner, Ted Danson, Ted Danson and former President Bill Clinton.

Chris Lawford was also there as a special segment reporter for TV's "Extra," and he joins us now from Los Angeles with the celebrity scoop.

Good morning.

CHRIS LAWFORD, SPECIAL REPORTER, "EXTRA": Hey, Paula, how are you?

ZAHN: I'm fine, thanks.

So how was it?

LAWFORD: It was an interesting event. As you said, everybody was there. I mean, it was one of those events at the next morning at the water cooler everybody talked about, I went to this think last night, and it was like, you were there? I was there. Everybody showed up.

ZAHN: Now, I understand there were some new faces, though, in the crowd that one wouldn't necessarily associate with political activism.

LAWFORD: As you pointed out, there were a lot of sort of the old guard there, Rob Reiner, Ted Danson, Tom Hanks, but there were new people like Owen Wilson was there, Ben Stiller, Leonardo DiCaprio was there. There was a real melding of sort of the old guard and the new guard, and I think that's a testament to this issue. I asked people why they were there, and they said the environment was the issue that really could bring everybody together.

ZAHN: That's interesting, because that's not an issue at all that gained traction in this last election. Do you think it had more to do with the fact one of your cousins, Bobby Kennedy Jr., is such a passionate force in this movement?

LAWFORD: Well, I think there are a couple things. One is I think the Bush administration, according to the people there, has really galvanized the environmental movement. They have really made people mad. I mean, this event, people talked about Enron, they talked about the California energy shortage.

Bobby, certainly his passion for this and the National Resources Defense Counsel, which the evening benefited, has made, really, a strong impact in this community.

ZAHN: I think it's interesting to note, with the exception of the big awards program, the Hollywood a-listers have generally been sort of under the radar since 9-11. What did this represent in terms of the profile they're willing to take on again?

LAWFORD: I asked everybody that, because it really was the first major, visible event where people really did come out, and that they were willing to attack the administration. Bobby said during his speech that we all support the president in the war and in his fight against terrorism, but it's time for the American -- it's not unpatriotic for people to come out and really express their views.

The other thing about it was, I think, the people that organized this event are really strong activists. They're not people that are just interested in visibility. They're interested in the issue. Lori David, Tom Hanks, these people are really committed to this issue. They know a lot about it, and this community really responds to that.

ZAHN: How did they respond to the ex-president?

LAWFORD: Bill Clinton has a very special relationship with this town. I mean, mean, he's very credible, and he's also a bit of a movie star. You know, people really love him here. And I think a lot of people came here for Bill Clinton. And it was interesting, I asked a lot of people what they hoped he would do after the -- during his post-presidency, and most of them said, you know, I expected a lot of sort of smart-alecky answers about talk shows and stuff. There way couple good ones, but most people really had a very strong sense that Bill Clinton could do a lot of good in the world. Dustin Hoffman talked about how Bill Clinton could really tell it the way it is, that people would really listen to him.

Some of the funnier answers, Ed Begley said that he hoped he was available to be Bill Clinton's Ed McMahon, and Albert Brooks said he should stay two hours away from Oprah.

ZAHN: I'm sure Oprah would like that just fine. She has that protected time slot. Hollywood's been considered this liberal bastion. It's interesting to note, before I let you go, Christopher, there was a study down last week to say if the next election was held anytime soon, in fact, Bush would take the state.

So there were no Republicans anywhere in sight at that event, were there?

LAWFORD: Well, I asked everybody if they saw any Republicans, and they said they hoped that there were some Republicans. They couldn't name any.

ZAHN: That's always the dead giveaway, isn't it?

LAWFORD: Always.

ZAHN: Christopher Lawford, thank you, good to see you again.

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