Showbiz Today

'The Cell' Premieres; Cindy Margolis Going From Internet to TV; Texas Musician Joe Ely Discusses 'Live at Antone's'

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

JIM MORET, CO-HOST: Hello, everyone. I'm Jim Moret in Hollywood, along with Laurin Sydney. And later in the show, I will head over to SIR Studios, where we'll hear a live performance from multitalented music man, Joe Ely.

LAURIN SYDNEY, CO-HOST: But first, it is NBC's performance that made them No. 1 in coverage of the Democratic National Convention, and it may have been partially in thanks to its lead-in show, "The West Wing."

MORET: Fans of the White House-based show stayed tuned in Wednesday night, allowing the network to dominate. "West Wing" actor John Spencer attended part of the convention and was surprised by the welcome he received.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN SPENCER, ACTOR: It's a little mind-boggling, the response of just walking up here tonight, and the people in the hallways and, first and foremost, the appreciation of the show.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SYDNEY: Hopefully, Al Gore appreciated a big show put on for him at the Shrine Auditorium Thursday night.

Barbra Streisand was among the organizers of the Democratic fund- raiser, aimed at sending the presidential candidate back onto the campaign trail in style.

SYDNEY: Boyz II Men and Kenneth "Babyface" Edmunds were among the performers at the convention closing party.

Stars were out at a competing event in Los Angeles last night, for the premiere of Jennifer Lopez's new film, "The Cell."

MORET: Lopez was there, as were her two Vinces, costars Vincent D'Onofrio and Vince Vaughn.

SYDNEY: Singing divas Diana Ross and Cher also made surprise appearances at the film premiere.

MORET: In "The Cell," Lopez plays a child psychiatrist who has the ability to travel through the minds of her patients.

SYDNEY: But it's one mind trip into the psyche of a serial killer that sends her on a life-or-death mission.

MORET: Michael Okwu took his own trip to interview Lopez and her castmates.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE CELL")

JENNIFER LOPEZ, ACTRESS: Do you believe there's a part of yourself that you don't show anybody, even when I'm inside? I get to see those things.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You could say that Jennifer Lopez can see things, because in "The Cell," she has the inside view, negotiating the varying landscapes of people's psyches. Throughout much of the film, she spends time in Vincent D'Onofrio head.

LOPEZ: You know, it was freaky. He was weird.

OKWU (on camera): He said it was freak you having you there.

LOPEZ: It was freaky having me there?

(LAUGHTER)

VINCENT D'ONOFRIO, ACTOR: She's still in my head.

OKWU: Is she? Right now? Even as we speak?

D'ONOFRIO: If you look really close, you can see her.

(LAUGHTER)

LOPEZ: That's sweet. That's nice.

OKWU (voice-over): Actually there is little room for sweetness in "The Cell." Lopez is a psychologist who's been experimenting with a radical new therapy and technology that allows her to literally enter another person's conscience mind. When a serial killer, played by D'Onofrio, falls into a coma, while his latest victim sits alive inside of a boobytrapped cell, an FBI agent, played by Vince Vaughn, asks her to do the unthinkable.

To stay there are dark moments in "The Cell" would be putting it mildly.

D'ONOFRIO: I find it heartbreaking to have to talk about some of the horrific things that are in the film.

LOPEZ: There was a tenseness and in certain sense, especially where it was interaction between me and Vincent D'Onofrio, where I was inside his mind.

Indian-born director Tarsem Singh production team built the 32,000-pound death trap the killer used to torture his victims. He also relied on his background directing music videos to create images that conveyed lunacy.

LOPEZ: Their disturbing, their engrossing, their beautiful.

VINCE VAUGHN, ACTOR: I am proud to be part of the film, specifically because I think that it's visually pioneering. It's different from what we've seen so far. Special effects have come so far. In fact, after a while, you get numbed, because even though they get better, you're used to it, and this is just from out of nowhere.

OKWU: A serial killer film with a visual twist.

LOPEZ: I would say, you know, my younger fans who, like, enjoy my music, my little girls and all that, this is not your movie. This is more for the older kids.

OKWU: Looking for a mind trip. Michael Okwu, CNN Entertainment News, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MORET: That looks creepy.

Kevin bacon takes a trip into the life of the invisible in "Hollow Man." And while he may vanish in the sci-fi thriller, the film has not disappeared from theaters.

Our dueling critics, Peter Travers of "Rolling Stone" and Lisa Schwarzbaum of "Entertainment Weekly" weigh in on whether "Hollow Man" is a movie worth seeing through.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "HOLLOW MAN")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: So, what's it like being a ghost?

KEVIN BACON, ACTOR: Ghosts are dead -- I'm very much alive.

It's amazing what you can do when you don't have to look at yourself in the mirror anymore.

You have you no idea how much fun this is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LISA SCHWARZBAUM, "ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY": Peter, we are here at the Jekyll & Hyde Club. Scary stuff.

PETER TRAVERS, "ROLLING STONE": Oh, I will be scared. Stop me.

SCHWARZBAUM: I know, but I want you to save your scary noises for when we talk about "The Hollow Man." This is Paul Verhoeven take on what would happen if you were invisible. And, of course, in Paul Verhoeven's world, when you're invisible, you rape, you feel girls up, because who wouldn't, and you murder.

So here we have Kevin Bacon. He is a megalomaniac scientist, very, very proud of his brains. He has devised a way to make animals invisible, but he decides to test this little potion on himself. Watch his skin go. There's great special effects as we watch it all go down. However, once he is invisible, he can't come back again. So what does he do? He's stuck, he's grumpy, he puts on a fake rubber face, and he goes out and he...

TRAVERS: And we can see him.

SCHWARZBAUM: Well, fine, great. So he goes out, and suddenly he is opening women's blouse, he's raping his neighbor, he starts saying he is going to kill Elizabeth Shue.

TRAVERS: I wanted to kill Elizabeth Shue, too, because she was not good, and she was so good in "Leaving Las Vegas." What happened?

SCHWARZBAUM: It seems like it was a long time ago. I don't understand why such a good idea becomes this, so that even the special effects don't matter. Did you find anything in this that make you want to...

TRAVERS: No redeeming social value. I found the whole thing completely indecent, except for those special effects, which were great.

SCHWARZBAUM: No humanistic message.

TRAVERS: It seemed to be, because there is a moral dilemma. There is, what would you do if you could actually run around and not be seen? I'd be sneaking around and die whole lot of things. But Verhoeven, the man who brought us "Basic Instinct" and "Show Girls" goes straight to the rape and murder. And I've got to say, Elizabeth Shue, Kim Dickens are the scientist with Kevin Bacon in this movie, they all wear these outfits that look like they're going to be in "Coyote Ugly" bar. They've got these little buttons popping all the time.

SCHWARZBAUM: You've got to be busty if you're a scientist in a horror movie.

TRAVERS: But why? And if you're going to that, then just make a stupid movie that's about that. Don't pretend that your movie is about something, which this movie does.

SCHWARZBAUM: They don't even pretend in this movie.

TRAVERS: Yes they do.

SCHWARZBAUM: Oh come on, I don't think so.

TRAVERS: Kevin Bacon is really serious. SCHWARZBAUM: Not at all, I think he gives up midway through, and he decides, you know what, throw the blood on me, throw this.

TRAVERS: I'll tell you something, Lisa, I gave up faster than midway, I just thought, this is a waste of time.

SCHWARZBAUM: I had hope for the effects. I love when they were kind of going down the skeleton, but you know what, there is no skeleton here. It is empty. It just crumbles. Skip this hollow thing.

I'm Lisa Schwarzbaum.

TRAVERS: No stars, no thumbs, no nothing.

And I'm Peter Travers.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SYDNEY: Coming up, cyberstar Cindy Margolis is getting downloaded for her own racy television series. And a special live performance from Joe Ely.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MORET: As fans of the CBS show "Survivor" await next week's tribal council showdown, the reality-based show's ratings have soared on to new heights.

SYDNEY: According to Nielsen, Wednesday night's episode drew more viewers than the other five networks combined.

MORET: Now, for those of you who were sorry to see Dr. Sean Kenniff voted off the show, never fear. He will be back on TV soon, appearing as medical correspondent on the newsmagazine "Extra. "

SYDNEY: The most downloaded woman on the Web is hoping to survive as she uploads from the Internet to her own TV talk show.

MORET: Internet model Cindy Margolis is taking her virtual popularity to the beach, complete with beautiful people, skimpy attire, and celebrity guests.

SYDNEY: You kind of Web site.

Paul Vercammen has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CINDY MARGOLIS, MODEL/TALK SHOW HOST: Hi, I'm Cindy Margolis.

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): She's been called the most downloaded woman on the Internet. Now Cindy Margolis is leaping out of virtual reality and onto the beach.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE CINDY MARGOLIS SHOW") UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Say aloha to the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) wahini (ph) in a bikini, Cindy Margolis!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERCAMMEN: The cyberceleb is now making a weekly Saturday night dates with "The Cindy Margolis Show" on CBS.

MARGOLIS: You know I had to twist their arm to name it that. But it was so wonderful. And it's down in Miami South Beach, which is just amazing down there. The vibe, the energy, it's like nothing I ever experienced before. It's out on the beach, the first late night show to actually be shot at night on the beach.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE CINDY MARGOLIS SHOW")

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: South Beach, make some noise!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARGOLIS: We do two shows a night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE CINDY MARGOLIS SHOW")

MARGOLIS: Oh, I just leied him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARGOLIS: It's a party. It's spring break all year long.

VERCAMMEN: Sounds spun by DJ Skribble pump up the crowd. So do musical guests like Rapper Nelly. Margolis used her Internet popularity and her loyal legions of fans she affectionately calls cyber-buddies to help plan this hootenanny of hedonism.

MARGOLIS: Everything in the show is what they asked for. So what I like to say is, you know, 23 hours of the day, please go to my Web site, but that 24th hour, I want you there with me on TV.

VERCAMMEN: The scenery on TV may be hot, hot, hot, but the bikini-clad bombshell isn't forsaking her wired fans or her Web site.

MARGOLIS: It really is my baby. It will always be my first priority. Everything that I've achieved in my career has been because of my cyber-buddies out there. And I owe it all to them for really supporting me and coming back to my site.

VERCAMMEN: And she is humble when talking about her virtual fame.

MARGOLIS: I don't really consider myself famous. I'm so connected with the Internet, and I always want to be that way. So I hope the TV show -- keep my fingers crossed -- is a huge success, but I will always come back to the Internet.

VERCAMMEN: After all, for Cindy Margolis, it all started with mouse and men.

Paul Vercammen, CNN Entertainment News, Hollywood.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SYDNEY: Now, if you want to see men slinging guns this weekend on TV, a classic tale of good versus evil has been remade for whole a new generation. "High Noon," the legendary western, debuts on TBS this weekend.

Sherri Sylvester has more on the updated classic.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "HIGH NOON")

TOM SKERRITT, ACTOR: Noon train on time?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SKERRITT: Why not redo a classic for a new generation to see?

SUSANNA THOMPSON, ACTRESS: I want to say it was daunting, but it really wasn't.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: It's actually one of the greatest stories ever put on the screen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "HIGH NOON")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Have you forgotten that he's crazy?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL MADSEN, ACTOR: I think it's always kind of dangerous to try to remake something that so many people remember.

SHERRI SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dangerous may be an understatement when the movie being remade is the legendary "High Noon," called by some the definitive Western. The film won multiple Academy Awards, including best actor for Gary Cooper. How hard was it to fill those boots?

SKERRITT: It's an obvious question, and all I can say is that we paid our respects, due respects, to the picture and to Gary Cooper and to Grace Kelly and moved on.

THOMPSON: I think what I was competing with is not so much what Grace Kelly did in that role as much as her whole history, her whole mystique. But I never felt like I could step into those shoes anyway, so -- but Tom, I think, had a bigger sort of weight to carry, namely Gary Cooper.

SYLVESTER: Remake or original, in classic Westerns, the bad guy always wears black. Michael Madsen is the hell-bent-on-revenge Frank Miller. MADSEN: I don't have a lot of screen time, but all of the other characters in the film basically waiting for Frank, you know. Frank's coming, Frank's coming, Frank's coming. Then all of a sudden, holy (EXPLETIVE DELETED), it's Frank, you know? You get off the train and you let the music do your job for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "HIGH NOON")

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Frank, how are you doing?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SYLVESTER: Shooting on location let Mother Nature help in the production.

REED DIAMOND, ACTOR: We have an authentic Western village that -- that lives permanently outside of Calgary, and it's filled with at least three feet of authentic mud at all times. So really, unless you're wearing cowboy boots, you know, you're just going to leave your shoes behind.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "HIGH NOON")

MADSEN: Kane, remember me?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SYLVESTER: The faces and the film may have changed, but what happens at "High Noon" remains the same.

Sherri Sylvester, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SYDNEY: Next week on SHOWBIZ TODAY, life after "Survivor." Find out what the island-dwellers will do once the game is over. And the Counting Crows are "Hanging Around" for a special SHOWBIZ performance.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MORET: You've been listening to the music of Joe Ely and this his record, "Live at Antone's," Joe Ely's third live album, right? You've had a slew of them.

JOE ELY, MUSICIAN: Yes. I like to do a live album every once in a while, and you know, catch the band, kind of a snapshot of the band at a particular time.

MORET: You might be able to hear from your music that you hail from Texas.

ELY: That is right. MORET: George Bush country.

ELY: I grew up in Amarillo, Texas, moved down to Lubbock, Texas, and now I live in Austin.

MORET: And to look at you, there is somewhat -- something of an outlaw I see.

(LAUGHTER)

ELY: Well, you know, there's kind of a tradition in Texas, the singer-songwriter, you know, that's always kind of -- I guess it goes back to the campfire days when guys were telling stories around the campfire. And I kind of keep that tradition alive.

MORET: Now, with your albums, you say you like to do live albums. You're known for live performances. What is it about a live audience that changes things?

ELY: Well, I don't know. I just -- I grew up playing ever -- since I was this tall, you know, and there's something about just, you know, hot band on a hot Saturday night that just feels good.

MORET: How do you describe your music, because there's certainly some country influence, there's rock?

ELY: It's country and rock mixed, but you know, it's more -- more about telling a story, you know, and about kind of the song, and kind of grew up out of the traditions, kind of the roadhouses in Texas. And of course, there's millions of them down there, and I've probably played them all. And you know, it kind of comes out of that tradition. And you know, as you travel around you gather stories and you turn them into songs.

MORET: What is it, you think, that makes some of these songs so universal? You can go from one town to the next and there's always someone who says that was written for me.

ELY: Well, you know, if the song -- if it tells the story, then somebody can relate to it, and maybe not in those particular words, but they can relate to the situation of it or the characters in it. And so I think it's, you know, it's universal. It doesn't really have a place.

MORET: When you play to an audience, you prefer an intimate club or do you like an outdoor arena? What do you like?

ELY: It depends. You know, we -- you know, there's something about like a -- like this place, like Antone's. You know, it's like a tight kind of place, you know, 400 or 500 people in. And that has a whole different atmosphere than, you know, playing a huge thing outdoors.

MORET: Well, you're in a small arena today. This is "Live at Antone's." It's on Rounder Records.

What song are you going to play for us right now?

ELY: I'm going to do "Me and Billy the Kid Never Got Along."

MORET: Joe Ely, take it away. Thanks a lot.

(MUSIC)

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