Showbiz Today

Helen Hunt and Kevin Spacey Co-Star in 'Pay it Forward'; John Ritter and Henry Winkler Hit Broadway; Tristen Skyler is 'Star of Tomorrow'

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

JIM MORET, CO-HOST: Hi, everyone. I'm Jim Moret along with Laurin Sydney, and we are reporting today live from the set of the WB drama "Felicity" from a secret location. We can't even tell you where we are.

LAURIN SYDNEY, CO-HOST: Absolutely. But we have rustled up Keri Russell, the star of the show, and the executive producers J.J. Abrams and Matt Reeves.

And welcome to your secret location.

(LAUGHTER)

MORET: Let me thank you for inviting us to a show that we are technically too old to watch.

J.J. ABRAMS, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, "FELICITY": That's not true.

MORET: I appreciate that. Talk about -- this is a 20-something show. You are in college right now, right?

KERI RUSSELL, ACTRESS: Right, yes, a junior in college now, yes.

SYDNEY: And the network has really given you a vote of confidence, because they are actually allowing 13 straight episodes to be broadcast with that and it repeats. How did you guys do that?

ABRAMS: How did we do that? Oh, my God. Well, it was basically because in repeats, the show, you know, doesn't do as well because it's a serialized show and they thought, well, instead of doing that why don't we do -- you know, every week, have a new episode. So it's really great for us, we'll get the momentum, you know, building and I think it's sort of better, because we have like six weeks of reruns sometimes.

MATT REEVES, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, "FELICITY": We would always get like really, really terrible letters from people saying, how can you do this to us, because we'd leave them at some place where they wanted to see what was going to happen next and then they get to find out about a month and a half, so...

SYDNEY: Jim wrote one of those letters. (LAUGHTER)

ABRAMS: Yes, we know that.

MORET: And you're not allowed to talk about some new developments in your show, but give us a sense of what's going to happen this year. It's your third season.

RUSSELL: Yes, third season. I don't know, what should -- what can we say?

ABRAMS: I think really (UNINTELLIGIBLE) is that Matt answers this question probably.

(LAUGHTER)

MORET: Matt is concerned about his film that's opening tonight, "The Yards."

RUSSELL: Yes, he is, yes.

ABRAMS: Yes.

REEVES: Yes.

MORET: He is basically too big for the room right now and he is being very gracious to come here.

RUSSELL: Right.

REEVES: It was directed by James Gray, a terrific movie, but we were talking about "Felicity." It's not really my movie.

SYDNEY: But, Keri, it is in the notes that you are having a bonafide real, real, real relationship this season.

RUSSELL: Right.

SYDNEY: So that's not a secret.

REEVES: With J.J.

RUSSELL: Yes, which is odd for everyone.

But yes, I think this year, you know, "Felicity" is kind of established herself in New York as an independent person, away from her parents, and now she'll explore being in a real relationship for the first time.

SYDNEY: And have a good time doing it, I should say.

RUSSELL: Yes, I hope.

SYDNEY: Well, we've had a good time, but right now we have to move on, so thank you so much.

MORET: And we're going to be talking more with some stars from "Felicity," but first other news -- some sad news to report.

One of Broadway's premier actresses has died. Gwen Verdon, who played the seductive Lola in the stage and movie version of "Damn Yankees," died Wednesday of natural causes. The four-time Tony winner, who for 15 years was married to choreographer Bob Fosse, was 75.

The star of "Bedazzled" was bedeviled by protesters in Los Angeles. Dozens of striking actors hurled abuse at Liz Hurley as she showed up for the premiere of her new comedy on Tuesday night. Co- star Brendan Fraser appeared rattled by all the noise. Protesters are angry with Hurley for shooting a non-union ad during the strike, for which she has apologized. She sounded surprised by the demonstration.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELIZABETH HURLEY, ACTRESS: I find it really bizarre, because, you know, the -- all the SAG officials that I have spoken too, who didn't know this, I had no idea there was a strike, and they've apologized not letting me know there was a strike. And I donated something to their drive fund, so I find this all rather bizarre.

ANNIE CHOI, STRIKING ACTRESS: It's unconscionable that an actor of her status and -- I mean, the amount of money she makes -- would cross our picket line and it really upsets me.

JIM OHEIR, STRIKING ACTOR: Her excuse that she didn't know about it, it just doesn't -- it just makes no sense.

QUESTION: You think she's making it up?

OHEIR: I think she knew about it and thought she could get away with it, yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SYDNEY: Now, Keri, pay attention to this one, because she went from television to being an Oscar winner.

TV star turned Oscar-winner Helen Hunt is mad about Kevin Spacey in "Pay it Forward."

MORET: That's right. The two Oscar winners team up with Oscar nominee Haley Joel Osment in the film about a young boy's charitable school project.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In "Pay it Forward," Helen Hunt is a struggling waitress and an alcoholic mother on the mend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "PAY IT FORWARD")

HELEN HUNT, ACTRESS: I have to stop.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OKWU: Physically and emotionally scarred, Kevin Spacey is her son's inspirational teacher.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "PAY IT FORWARD")

KEVIN SPACEY, ACTOR: And you can start that today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

And Haley Joel Osment is a student who wants to change the world.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "PAY IT FORWARD")

HALEY JOEL OSMENT, ACTOR: That's three people and I'm going to help them, then they do it for three other people, and they do it for three more.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "PAY IT FORWARD")

OSMENT: This is the one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "PAY IT FORWARD")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Pay it forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "PAY IT FORWARD")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Pay it forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "PAY IT FORWARD")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: It's like this idea.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OKWU (on camera): There are some people hearing this plot who would just immediately think, ooh, corny.

SPACEY: Yes, well, there were risks in a movie like this. I haven't seen it, so I don't know it's level of goo, but...

(LAUGHTER)

... I can -- I can tell you that we tried pretty diligently to sort of drain it of all of that kind of unfocused sentimentality.

HELEN HUNT, ACTRESS: I think the movie is a love story between three very bizarre, twisted people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "PAY IT FORWARD")

HUNT: Do you want to come in and stay?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: I just love that I got to play somebody who has no cover. She's got none of that. She's between her chemical imbalance and her lack of vocabulary, she's basically just a raw nerve.

OKWU (voice-over): Which is just how 12-year-old Osment felt before meeting his Oscar-winning castmates Spacey and Hunt, as well as Jay Mohr and a barely recognizable Angie Dickinson.

OSMENT: Even though I hadn't seen too many of their films because most of their films are rated R, I was nervous. But when I met them, they're down-to-earth regular people and it didn't make me nervous at all.

OKWU: Osment was known on the set of the "Sixth Sense" for literally working himself into a frenzy to get into character.

(on camera): Did you do the same thing with this role?

OSMENT: They're different characters, but I prepared in the same way. It's like wearing a mask, but the mask is also inside.

OKWU: Was it daunting for him or was it daunting for you guys?

SPACEY: Let me tell you something, he does things. He stopped a scene once. We were done. I was finished. I said, yes, I think we've got that. And he was like "Can we do one more?" And he was off camera. And I said, "You want to do one more?" And he said: "Yes, I just wasn't there for you. Please, I want to give another one to you." I said, "Yes, we'll do another one then."

OKWU (voice-over): The buzz in Hollywood is it might have paid off.

Michael Okwu, CNN Entertainment News, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SYDNEY: "ER" is paying off for NBC once again. The season premiere was seen by an impressive 29 million people, making it the No. 1 show of the week.

MORET: And for those keeping score, that's 5 million more viewers than watched the season premiere "The West Wing." Now, that's good news for NBC, but each of the networks has something to be happy about.

SYDNEY: Sherri Sylvester reports on the early results from the new fall TV season.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHERRI SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Is "The West Wing" a hit now that we know who's been hit? Can "Millionaire" still cash in? Will "The Fugitive" be around in the long run?

The ratings race is just beginning, but some shows have taken an early lead while others are lagging behind. NBC's power this week came from the 1-2-3 punch of "ER," "Will & Grace" and two rounds of "Friends."

LISA KUDROW, ACTRESS: We're in our seventh season. I think people finally want something that they know they can trust when they turn on the TV.

SYLVESTER: "The West Wing" won over voters with a first night landslide of 25 million viewers.

ALLISON JANNEY, ACTRESS: It was a pretty special two hours of television, and everyone has been telling me, even people on the street, they just loved it.

SYLVESTER: But NBC's new shows are not faring as well. "Ed's" ratings are down 33 percent from its debut, "Titans" tumbled 29 percent. "Deadline" dropped as well. Some predict the Peacock network will pull the plug on two other shows.

JANET WEEKS, "TV GUIDE": I think NBC is going to have to say bye-bye to "Daddio" and "Tucker."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "TUCKER")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: You've got to be kidding me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SYLVESTER: ABC's coupling "The Geena Davis Show" with "Dharma & Greg" led to a good first date.

JENNA ELFMAN, ACTRESS: We had excellent ratings Tuesday night, and that was very, very rewarding.

SYLVESTER: Freshman drama "Gideon's Crossing" is an early hit, but ABC's revamped TGIF is missing the mark with "Madigan Men" and "The Trouble With Normal."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: I am definitely having a situation here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WEEKS: The trouble with "Normal" was it wasn't funny and nobody watched it.

SYLVESTER (on camera): ABC's big winner last year is showing signs of vulnerability, and it airs four nights a week. (voice-over): "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" while still in the top 10 has lost 30 percent of its audience. Meanwhile, CBS is celebrating the successful launch of seven new shows: "Bette," "Welcome to New York," "The District," and "The Fugitive" sport star power.

WEEKS: People like the stars, and so even though the shows themselves might not be that strong, they're giving them a chance.

SYLVESTER: "Yes Dear," a surprise hit, bucked bad reviews. "C.S.I." is exceeding expectations. And "That's Life" is breathing life into Saturday nights.

HEATHER PAIGE KENT, ACTRESS: I just think, you know, it's that magical combination of writing and talent, talented cast.

SYLVESTER: Next week, "Cursed" and "The Michael Richards Show" will premiere. Both had troubled pilots. Viewers will decide whether they were worth the wait.

Sherri Sylvester, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MORET: And to find out more about those stories and others, you can visit our new Web site at cnn.com/showbiztoday.

SYDNEY: More TV stars to Broadway as Henry Winkler and John Ritter star in Neil Simon's new play. And she's got brains, beauty and talent. Meet SHOWBIZ TODAY's "Star of Tomorrow" Tristen Skyler.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SYDNEY: Jim, I don't know if you know this or not, but "Felicity" actually means happiness or bliss. And it gives us great happiness to be talking to other co-stars of the show.

MORET: Turn this way. I'll introduce you. We have Tangi Miller and Robert Patrick Benedict -- and the first time viewers will see her tonight: Sarah-Jane Potts.

We've heard about you on the show. This is the first time you're going to make your premiere tonight. Tell us about your character briefly.

SARAH-JANE POTTS, ACTRESS: She is called Molly. And she is kind of completely left of the middle. She is a good contrast, I think, to anybody that they ever have met before on the show. So...

(CROSSTALK)

MORET: And unlike the title, which means happiness and bliss, you're the angry character.

ROBERT PATRICK BENEDICT, ACTOR: I'm pretty angry. I play Richard, who -- he is not very happy with anybody. He's not. It all comes from inside, though -- his internal angst -- very misunderstood.

SYDNEY: And Tangi, you are the frustrated character, because your -- the person you are involved with has not been a -- does not want to have sex.

TANGI MILLER, ACTRESS: Yes, my boyfriend is a virgin. And we've been together for a little over a year. And my character is a little -- I don't know if frustrated is the right word, because she loves him and is very happy about him. It's just...

(CROSSTALK)

SYDNEY: And what do fans come and ask you about that, your position?

MILLER: They ask me: How do I feel? Have I ever been in that situation before? Do I think it's realistic? And I go: Yes, yes. All of this.

SYDNEY: Far be it from us to ask that.

MORET: And do people come up -- do folks identify with you on the street?

BENEDICT: A few of them, a couple of them. But, you know, mostly for me, it's people going, you know: Why can't you just be happy and like other people on the show? Because, I am, you know, the guy who that has trouble with people.

SYDNEY: And Sarah, this the junior year of the series. And you are actually the new kid on the block. What is it like coming into this big happy family?

POTTS: It was cool. I mean, you know, I had to get over a few problems at first, because I didn't really like anybody. And they were all really mean to me. No, they were so lovely to me. And they welcomed me with open arms. And we have fun. You know, we have a laugh every day. So it's cool. I love it.

MORET: Thank you all for being here.

(CROSSTALK)

BENEDICT: Thanks for having us.

MORET: Now, John Ritter recently visited the cast of "Felicity" for a guest spot. He played Scott Speedman's father, who plays Ben on the show -- Scott Speedman.

SYDNEY: That's right. And the "Three's Company" star is now on Broadway. He starring in "The Dinner Party" with another very famous TV face -- I'll give you a hint -- the Fonz.

MORET: Hey.

Cynthia Tornquist had her own dinner party with Ritter and Henry Winkler.

I don't know why I said that.

SYDNEY: You have a good audience.

MORET: Thank you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CYNTHIA TORNQUIST, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Lunch with Henry Winkler and John Ritter: very cool. But be careful where you sit.

(LAUGHTER)

JOHN RITTER, ACTOR: I'm sorry.

TORNQUIST: You never know what might come out.

RITTER: I will tell you this -- between you and me and the million of people around the world -- that yes, I did dress up like Hermione Gingold many, nights screaming "One Grecian Urn." So what?

TORNQUIST: "Three's Company" star John Ritter and the Fonz have worked together five times.

HENRY WINKLER, ACTOR: I've worked with John five times. We've worked together in every capacity.

RITTER: Even live television.

TORNQUIST: Make that six times. Winkler and Ritter now star on Broadway in Neil Simon's "The Dinner Party." The play is about a mysterious dinner party where the guests turn out to be ex-husbands and their ex-wives.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You never were this materialistic when we were married.

RITTER: Of course not, I still had my material!

You know, when they say people know how to push your buttons, the buttons here, you know, rival NORAD. I mean, there are so many switches that turn on and off that -- and blinking red lights: Danger! Danger!

By the way, how is my half of the dog?

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE; Babette (ph) is fine, thank you.

RITTER: Good. Does she ever bark for me? Or is that not the half I got?

(LAUGHTER) WINKLER: Neil Simon wrote from his guts. You know, I mean, he laid it right out there. People are shocked about how raw it is, mixed with the funny.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sometimes you would glare at me and your eyes would grit their pupils.

WINKLER: You can't grit your pupils. You would go blind.

TORNQUIST (on camera): When was the first time you were on stage?

WINKLER: 1973, from 8:00 to 11:00.

TORNQUIST: From 8:00 to 11:00?

WINKLER: Yes, closed in one night. That was -- I -- the joke I make is that I was taking off my makeup, they were ripping out the sink. That's how fast it was.

TORNQUIST (voice-over): That's two hours more experience than what John Ritter has gotten.

RITTER: I had some very huge successes in the Totem Pole Playhouse, Caledonia State Park, right out of Fayetteville, Pennsylvania.

TORNQUIST: What do you want to bet every restaurant owner in Fayetteville remembers Ritter?

Cynthia Tornquist, CNN Entertainment News, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SYDNEY: Ray Romano's TV dad, Peter Boyle is 67 today. The muscles from Brussels, John-Claude Van Damme is 40. And hail, hail rock 'n' roll: The legendary Chuck Berry is 74 today.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "FELICITY") RUSSELL: At some point, like, if I look as sad as you are, and if I was, you know, going through as much as you are, suffering, you would try to help me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't need a bunch of people who have no idea what it feels like trying to figure out why I'm not running around the city looking for my father. OK?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MORET: OK, today on SHOWBIZ: all "Felicity" all the time. Let's meet some more castmembers. We have Amanda Foreman, who plays Meghan, and Greg Grunberg who plays Sean. And you are a couple on the show. Tell us about it. GREG GRUNBERG, ACTOR: Can you believe it?

MORET: I can't believe it.

GRUNBERG: Is that a shock to you?

AMANDA FOREMAN, ACTRESS: We were shocked when it happened at the end of last season.

MORET: Amanda, what you were you thinking? That's the only thing that runs in my mind.

GRUNBERG: Thanks a lot, Jim.

FOREMAN: I was thinking that I'm lucky because I get work with him, because he's funny.

GRUNBERG: Yes, we have a good time.

FOREMAN: And he's just -- we have a great time.

SYDNEY: You have a good time, but yet you are argumentative. With one another all the time. But, but, but.

GRUNBERG: Which is a lot of fun. I think that makes for a great relationship. These two characters are so polar opposite and to see us getting along, then in every episode we are fighting and breaking up and getting back together.

FOREMAN: Which is why we like each other, I think, as characters because they challenge each other.

MORET: That sounds like us.

SYDNEY: Yes, but we never make up.

FOREMAN: Do you guys make out, though?

SYDNEY: No, that's for another show. And that's not for now, even though we are on cable.

MORET: That's right. So this romance just is blossoming this season or the last season.

GRUNBERG: At the end of last season.

MORET: What happens this season.

GRUNBERG: All sorts of shenanigans, that's all.

MORET: That's the problem with these serialized shows, you can only say all shorts of shenanigans.

GRUNBERG: Crazy high jinks and misadventures, I will give you that.

SYDNEY: Oh, I love that. We have that also.

GRUNBERG: Tonight's show is insane.

MORET: Give us just a little bit of a sense of tonight's show.

GRUNBERG: Tonight's show, the Ben character is frustrated with his father, playing by John Ritter. He takes his aggression out on me, OK, in the form of a broken nose. That's all I will give you.

FOREMAN: "Brady Bunch." Think "Brady Bunch."

GRUNBERG: Exactly.

SYDNEY: And yet it heals.

GRUNBERG: Yes.

MORET: Greg Grunberg and Amanda Foreman. Thank you very much.

FOREMAN: Thank you.

GRUNBERG: Thank you.

MORET: OK, you're going to like this lead-in.

SYDNEY: OK.

MORET: She's got it all -- brains, beauty and talent.

SYDNEY: Stop it. I'm blushing and we're running out of time.

MORET: I'm not talking about you. But you do have all of those things. I'm talking about Tristen Skyler, who's the star of the upcoming "Blair Witch" sequel, "Book of Shadows."

SYDNEY: OK, now we have made up. And Lori Blackman has more on this SHOWBIZ TODAY "Star of Tomorrow."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LORI BLACKMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Here with Tristen Skyler of the upcoming "Blair Witch" sequel, and we are here at a park in Little Italy because this is where you live.

TRISTEN SKYLER: I've pretty much lived in I think every apartment you can live in Little Italy. I've been, since I got out of college, just living in the neighborhood. I am not Italian, so I think I'm just sort of a guest here.

BLACKMAN: You have two movies coming out within a couple of months of each other. One,"Getting to Know You, " which you were the screen writer and actress in and then, of course, the much-anticipated "Book of Shadows," the sequel to "The Blair Witch Project."

SKYLER: "Getting to Know You," which is the film I co-wrote and my sister Lisa and directed, played at the film forum in New York City. It opened in one theater. And then "Book of Shadows" is opening in about 3,000. So, I was telling a friend of mine, I said, this is so extreme. You go from one theater to 3,000 -- how do I deal with that? And he said, average them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "BOOK OF SHADOWS")

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So we passing some kind of evil spell.

SKYLER: So what are you really doing?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Commuting with Ellie Keller.

SKYLER: "The Blair Witch?"

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SKYLER: I never in a million years thought I was going to get the part. I just figured, this is the sequel to the most famous independent film in history. You know, I'm a realist.

BLACKMAN: So can you tell me anything about the story line at all?

SKYLER: Sure, I can tell you that I think what's fascinating about "The Blair Witch Project" is that it's self-reflexive in a sense that the camera is turned on itself. The film is about the filmmakers. So, in "Blair Witch 2," the cameras is turned on itself again. The film is about the audience, fans of "The Blair Witch Project, "

BLACKMAN: Are you getting nervous at all?

SKYLER: Well, it's nerve-wracking. I come from a theater background, and you have two weeks of previews, and then the night before opening night is really scary, because the critics are there and the next day you're going to read about yourself in the papers. When we finished filming in May, and it opens in October, it's been about five months of the night before opening night.

BLACKMAN (voice-over): Lori Blackman, CNN Entertainment News, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SYDNEY: Thursday on SHOWBIZ, Elizabeth Hurley gives Brendan Fraser a devil of a time in a new movie "Bedazzled."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SYDNEY: And that's about $24,000 a key, if you're counting. Kind of out of your league, Jimbo.

MORET: It's over my credit limit, for sure. Now we are out of time, but if you want to keep the party going with "Felicity," find out more about the show, you can talk to Amanda Foreman, who plays Meghan on the show, by going on to our Web site. Go to the chat room. Let's see, it's showbiz -- what is it? Cnn.com/showbiz, click on the Green Room.

FORMAN: All right.

SYDNEY: We're going to keep you. That was good. That chat will start in just about a moment from now. From the set of "Felicity," I'm Laurin Sydney with Jim Moret and Amanda. We're going to leave you now with Sarah McLachlan performing her song off the "Felicity" soundtrack. So long.

(MUSIC)

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