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Names
Creating a scene
Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz caused quite a commotion outside Gaslight in the South End yesterday. But, not to worry, it was all an act. Gun-toting Tom plays a secret agent in James Mangold’s spy thriller, and while it may look like he was roughing up his costar, the two eventually become romantically involved in the film.
The life and times of Bobby Brown
When we heard VH1 would be featuring Bobby Brown (inset) on the new season of “Behind the Music,’’ we wondered what took the network so long. If there was ever a perfect fit for the show, it’s the Roxbury-bred R&B singer, no? The hourlong episode airing tonight proves the point, tracking Brown’s trajectory from overnight teen sensation to bloated, bleary-eyed ex-husband of Whitney Houston. There’s vintage footage of Brown’s early days in the Orchard Park housing project - “the equivalent of Beirut,’’ he says - and the subsequent formation of New Edition, the chart-topping boy band that included Michael Bivins, Ricky Bell, Ralph Tresvant, and Ronnie DeVoe. A certified star by the time he was 14, Brown says he started drinking and drugging as soon as he had some money. “I was reckless,’’ he says. “I was in it to party as hard as possible and to leave a young corpse.’’ After being bounced from the band in 1985, Brown kept up his wild ways - and he could afford to, thanks to his 1988 LP, “Don’t Be Cruel,’’ which went platinum seven times over and registered five No. 1 hits. At the age of 21, Brown was worth an estimated $30 million. Although he’s often blamed for ruining Whitney, Brown insists she was a lot like him. “We ain’t talkin’ a princess,’’ he says. “We talkin’ a ghetto girl and a ghetto boy.’’ Brown admits his addiction to drugs eventually overwhelmed him. “Between the ‘Bobby’ album and the ‘Forever’ album, that was five years that I don’t remember,’’ he says. “Now, that’s high.’’ As with most “Behind the Music’’ segments, this one ends on a hopeful note: There’s Brown, still bloated but less bleary-eyed, performing onstage with Tresvant and Johnny Gill. At 40, he says he’s committed to making a comeback - and to getting in shape. To that end, he’s on the new season of “Astronauts have to eat too
The stars were out at Scampo as the astronauts who deployed the Chandra X-Ray Observatory 10 years ago stopped by for dinner. Following an appearance at the Seaport World Trade Center, astronauts Eileen Collins, Steve Hawley, Jeffrey Shears Ashby, Michel Tognini, and Catherine Coleman joined Riccardo Giacconi, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2002, for a bite at Lydia Shire’s restaurant at the Liberty Hotel.
Producers focus on 'Host' of possibilities
You might expect Steve and Paula Mae Schwartz to have their eyes on “The Road,’’ the movie they produced based on Cormac McCarthy’s novel. (The film starring Viggo Mortensen hits theaters Nov. 25.) But the Gloucester couple is onto their next project. They’ve teamed with Nick Wechsler to acquire the screen rights to “The Host,’’ a novel by Stephenie Meyer, author of the oh-so-popular “Twilight’’ series. And they’ve enlisted Andrew Niccol to write and direct the sci-fi flick. (Niccol wrote and directed “Gattaca’’ and wrote “The Truman Show.’’) “We all agreed this was the perfect science fiction project. It’s an interspecies love triangle,’’ Steve Schwartz told us yesterday. “As someone said, it’s a ménage à trois with only two bodies. . . . A wonderful mix of sci-fi romance, spirituality, and adventure.’’ By getting Meyer to agree, the Schwartzes succeeded where others failed: She spurned several other offers. “She is a very careful, savvy woman,’’ said Schwartz, CEO of the Waltham-based Schwartz Communications. “But when [Niccol] presented his vision of the movie, Stephenie responded very positively.’’
All eyes on Carnes
Kim Carnes brought her “Bette Davis Eyes’’ to the Martha’s Vineyard Songwriters Festival. The event, which took place at the Katharine Cornell Theater in Vineyard Haven and Union Chapel in Oak Bluffs, featured new and old pop and country acts. Carnes was joined onstage by Spin Doctors singer Chris Barron.Swinging through
Food Network star Emeril Lagasse (center) dropped by Belle Mer in Newport, R.I., the other night, where he said hello to chef Jodi Bernhard (left) and her culinary staff at the kickoff of the annual Johnson & Wales Emeril Lagasse Golf Classic. (The tourney took place this week at Newport Country Club.) A Fall River native, Lagasse is a Johnson & Wales alum.A girl for Pompeo
Everett’s own Ellen Pompeo - a.k.a. Dr. Meredith Grey on “Grey’s Anatomy’’ - is a mom. According to the actress’s publicist, Pompeo and her husband, Chris Ivery, welcomed their first child, a girl, Stella Luna Pompeo Ivery, on Sept. 15.
Hatch stays in jail
“Survivor’’ winner Richard Hatch will remain in jail for now. A federal judge yesterday denied Hatch’s request to serve the remaining weeks of his sentence for tax evasion in home confinement. He had been serving the final portion of his 51-month sentence in home confinement at his sister’s house in Newport, R.I., when he was sent back to jail last month for giving what prison officials said were unauthorized media interviews.
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