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FLASHES 
News & Notes
Column
3/6/98 |
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March
6, 1998
News & Notes
FLASHES
OH, WHAT A FELINE See Fluffy
run. See Fluffy jump. See Fluffy win an A-Cat-emy Award. You read that
right. Continuing Hollywood's eye-on-the-prize mania are the First Annual
Whiskas Vitalife Awards, honoring distinguished felines. The contenders--announced
on the same day as the Oscar nominees--vie in such cat-egories as Most
Heroic, Glamour Puss, and Most Popular TV or Film Cat. Scratching it out
in that arena at the March 3 ceremonies will be Caroline in the City's
Salty, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch's Salem, and Early Edition's Panther.
And what's in it for the fur balls? Besides the limo to the festivities
at L.A.'s Beverly Wilshire Hotel, there's an Oscar-like statuette (for
the top of the litter box, we presume), a year's supply of cat food, and
a likely career boost. Caroline exec producer Fred Barron says a win would
put Salty in "a strong negotiating position. She's already got a deal where
she's guaranteed a certain number of episodes per season. If she wins,
she'll want to appear in them all." How catty. --Pat H. Broeske
TOWNIES Forget 90210. The
hot new zip code these days is 28402--better known as Wilmington, N.C.
Ever since 1983, when Universal's Firestarter was filmed in the small (pop.
65,000) coastal town, Wilmington has quietly grown as the alternative film
locale of choice; today it's the third-biggest moviemaking city in the
U.S., behind L.A. and New York. Thanks to its Anytown, USA, look, Wilmington
boasts a resume of 200 productions, including the recent Oprah Winfrey-produced
TV miniseries The Wedding. Even young Hollywood is getting into the act.
Kevin Williamson's I Know What You Did Last Summer was filmed in Wilmington,
and the cast and crew of Williamson's new TV hit, Dawson's Creek, just
took up residence there. But how does the sleepy Southern burg fare for
actors used to the fast lane? "The people are incredibly kind, but everything
does move at a slower pace," laments Dawson's Michelle Williams, who adds
that a few weeks in Wilmington inspired her to go a little wild. "The first
thing I did when I got back to L.A. was drive down Sunset Boulevard with
the top off of my car." --Tricia Laine
IN THE CAN Before Diet Coke
was it, a no-cal soda called Tab ruled. Well, heads up, Tab is back--in
Hollywood at least, where it has become the drink of choice for movie characters
not quite with the times. Seventies prisoner Marcia Brady kept a hot pink
can poolside in A Very Brady Sequel. Last year, a dejected Austin Powers
went on a Tab bender. Now the saccharin-laden pop gets laughs in Zero Effect.
As an eccentric private eye, Bill Pullman lives mostly on a diet of tuna
and Tab. "People used to suck it back," says Zero director-scripter Jake
Kasdan. "Most people stopped--but he didn't." Coca-Cola Co. execs have
no problem with their product's dubious distinction as a movie gag; they
even sent the Zero production 20 cases. Says a Coke spokeswoman, "We're
just delighted that people remember it." --Kristen Baldwin
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