With a triumph for Jim Cameron and an even bigger one for Paramount and 20th Century Fox publicity. For Cameron, it was the wildly enthusiastic reaction of the crowd to the film. For the studios, it was their success in getting a handle on the estimates of overwhelming production costs that have been bandied about by the media. Back while the film was shooting, estimates ran up to $300 million. But, Entertainment Weekly serves up a warm, wet smoochy, Cameron-driven cover story on Titanic with the $200 million tag and BOOM!, the media falls in line. Remember when you read this stuff — those of us who write it tend to be a bunch of bleating sheep. But in the end, who really cares? No one goes to the theater to see a budget. They go to see movies that they’ll like and, apparently, Titanic is one of those. Congratulations to all.
Another test of the media’s honor is the Roman Polanski story. He’s coming back and is getting away with child molestation. Has he paid his price by way of exile? Perhaps. But the tendency in the Hollywood culture is to forgive the “indiscretions” of its own. Indiscretions are anything that doesn’t cost me money. I don’t know whether it’s better, or even more disgusting, that the precocious object of Polanski’s lust has sold her story to “Inside Edition.” Samantha Geimer will appear in a two-parter just in time for November sweeps. Makes you want to take a shower just reading it, huh?
The inalterably pleasant Yasmine Bleeth is set for her first feature film, It Came From the Sky. She plays a mysterious stranger who is either a con woman or a real-life angel, Non-Charlie Division. She starts the film after completing her latest TV movie, The Lake, a science-fiction thriller about a small town that does a reverse Stepford as locals turn evil after being sucked into the water. Get it? Shawn Weatherly turns into Erika Elaniak who turns into Nicole Eggert who turns into Pam Anderson who turns into Yasmine Bleeth who turns into Gena Lee Nolin who turns into Donna D’Errico. They all play the same character, don’t they?
Have some of your own indiscretions? Well, I’m not a priest, but I’ll listen to your confessions. Email me.