November 18, 1999
Web posted at: 6:14 p.m. EST (2314 GMT)

• Casper didn't fear 'Hollow' pain
• U.A.E. report: Campbell's perfume launch smells
• Kirov Ballet performance bugs out
• Who likes J.R.? Romania

Van Dien at the premiere of "Sleepy Hollow"

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Now, this is dedication to art. Actor Casper Van Dien reveals in the latest issue of USA Weekend magazine that he broke a finger while filming a fight scene for the movie "Sleepy Hollow."

But Van Dien didn't let the mishap sideline him. He says he reset the bone himself. "Then I kept fighting and riding horses for the next eight days."

Van Dien, who plays a rival of Johnny Depp's character Ichabod Crane, says he had good reason for not complaining: "I was having fun. I was in a Tim Burton film. I was in a scene with Johnny Depp."

"Sleepy Hollow" also stars Christina Ricci, Miranda Richardson, Michael Gough, Michael Gambon and Christopher Walken. It opens Friday.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (CNN) -- The company launching a perfume by Naomi Campbell has denied on Thursday a report that the British supermodel walked out of a news conference in the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.).

Naomi Campbell

Cosmopolitan Cosmetics says the report -- carried in the U.A.E.'s Gulf News on Tuesday -- was "defamatory." The Gulf News reported that Campbell arrived 90 minutes late for a 10-minute news conference about the perfume, and left after answering only four questions posed by her own entourage.

The company's statement says the news conference was only 30 minutes late and lasted 45 minutes, during which Campbell answered around 20 questions put to her by journalists as well as queries posed by the vice-president of Cosmopolitan Cosmetics.

PERTH, Australia (CNN) -- Wood-boring bugs -- at least concern about them -- have postponed the Kirov Ballet's first performance of an Australian tour. Thursday's dancing of Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky's 1892 "The Nutcracker" at the 5,000-seat Perth Entertainment Center was canceled when quarantine authorities impounded and fumigated the troupe's shoes and props, fearing that they might carry the bugs.

"Apparently there was wood in the props and also the toes of the ballet shoes, and they claimed they could have wood-boring insects, so they had to fumigate," says a spokeswoman for the Entertainment Center. The process apparently took too long to allow the company time to set up for performance.

Blocks of wood are normal in the toes of ballet pointe shoes, although bugs aren't. The performance was rescheduled for Saturday.

Hagman

BUCHAREST, Romania (CNN) -- J.R. Ewing is still selling oil. The character, played by Larry Hagman in the 1980s television show "Dallas," can be seen on posters and TV commercials in the Romanian market.

It's part of a month-old campaign to help market Russian Lukoil products. The ads have been successful, says Lukoil representative Ionut Visan: "People are coming in here and asking for 'J.R. Oil.'"

"Dallas," which became a United States pop-culture sensation with its "Who Shot J.R.?" episode, was one of the few American TV series that Romanians were allowed to watch during the communist regime of Nicolae Ceausescu.

The new ads show Hagman -- in his Ewing get-up, Stetson and all -- telling consumers that if they use Russian Lukoil products, they'll be "well ahead."