Stallone creating LAPD rappers flick
LOS ANGELES, June 6 (UPI) -- Sylvester Stallone is writing and will direct and star in a film about corruption in the LAPD and the murders of rap stars Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls.
Daily Variety reported Friday Elie Samaha's Franchise Pictures will produce the picture.
Stallone is eyeing a Sept. 1 production start for the drama, which threads together a number of controversial recent events.
Stallone will play a real-life LAPD detective, Russell Poole. The flick, tentatively titled, "Rampart Scandal," will be told from different perspectives, in the vein of "Rashomon," and begins with Poole's investigation of the murders of rappers Shakur and Smalls. It follows Poole -- who vows to Smalls' mother he'll finger her son's killer -- as he unravels the intrigue and coverups surrounding the crime.
A&E to do Hillary pic
LOS ANGELES, June 6 (UPI) -- A&E has given the go-ahead for production on the tentatively titled biopic "Hillary's Choice," based on Gail Sheehy's tome on Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Original made-for television movie picks up in 1992 at the beginning of former President Bill Clinton's White House tenure and traces the former first lady's journey in launching her own political career amid the Monica Lewinsky scandal and personal setbacks.
"It won't be a history lesson. Senator Clinton continues to be a force today," A&E senior VP of programming Robert DeBitetto told Daily Variety. "This is the quintessential pre-sold title. We don't have to tell people why to watch."
Production is slated to begin late this year, with the movie expected to debut in 2004. Additional details have not been set.
Clinton's own memoir about her years in the White House, "Living History," hits bookstores next week.
Sheehy, best known for her work chronicling the Clintons for Vanity Fair, also wrote the bestseller "Passages." Random House will publish her new novel, "Middletown, America," later this year.
Guitar legend Les Paul turns 88
NEW YORK, June 6 (UPI) -- Guitar legend Les Paul will celebrate his 88th birthday Monday night at his long-time Big Apple musical home, the Iridium jazz club.
Guitarists Al DiMeola, Russell Malone, Pat Martino, Bucky Pizzarelli and Jon Paris are expected to be among the special guests.
Paul was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, received multiple Grammy Awards, pioneered the modern electric guitar and invented numerous recording techniques. He and his late wife, Mary Ford, were a top popular music duo in the 1950s.
He has influenced countless musicians and guitarists. Paul's regular Monday night appearances at Iridium since April 1995 have attract devoted fans from all over the world. Musicians including Paul McCartney, Keith Richards, Tony Bennett, Steve Miller, George Benson, Pat Metheny, Jeff Beck and Slash have stopped by - and often sat in -- to pay homage.
