Hollywood Digest

STREISAND'S POLITICAL GIG

Barbra Streisand has weighed in -- through a memo to Capitol Hill written by her political adviser -- on the debate over war plans in Iraq and the charges that the debate has been politicized.

In a fax to House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt Wednesday, Streisand adviser Margery Tabankin urged Gephardt and other Democrats to respond to charges that they are more concerned with "special interests" than they are about national security.

"While the Republicans are shouting about the Democrats' special interests," said Tabankin, "why are the Democrats not saying the same about the Republicans? How can we ignore the obvious influence on the Bush administration of such special interests as the oil industry, the chemical companies, the logging industry, the defense contractors, the mining industry, and the automobile industry, just to name a few?"

Tabankin said many of those industries -- "run by big Republican donors and insiders" -- stand to gain from war with Iraq. The memo stipulated that Saddam Hussein presents "serious problems" for the U.S., but Tabankin said her boss thinks President Bush might be using the Iraq situation to divert attention form other serious problems.

"Barbra feels that we can't let this issue become a distraction from the country's domestic problems and the president's inability to fully dismantle the Al Queda (sic) network," said Tabankin.

News of the memo comes out as Streisand tunes up for a performance in Hollywood Sunday night to raise funds for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Barry Manilow and comedian Steve Harvey will also perform.

TRAVOLTA'S NEXT?

According to The Hollywood Reporter, John Travolta is in talks to star in "Joe's Last Chance" for writer-director Andrew Bergman "Honeymoon in Vegas," "The In-Laws."

The movie is about a professional hit man who goes to a tropical resort to whack a guy -- but the guy winds up saving the hit man's life. In appreciation, the hit man puts off killing his subject, and the two wind up bonding.

Before Travolta can start on that movie, he is scheduled to star in "Basic," the story of a DEA agent who investigates the disappearance of a legendary Army Ranger drill sergeant and several of his cadets during a training exercise that went wrong.

ERIC BANA IN A TOGA

Eric Bana -- the Australian actor who parlayed a performance in "Black Hawk down" into a starring role in Ang Lee's upcoming movie version of "The Hulk" -- is joining the cast of director Wolfgang Peterson's upcoming epic "Troy," based on Homer's epic poem, "The Iliad."

Bana will star as Troy's Prince Hector, who dies in a heroic fight with Achilles, played by Brad Pitt.

CASTING NOTES

Chris Cooper ("American Beauty," "Lone Star") has joined Tobey Maguire, Jeff Bridges and professional jockey Gary Stevens in the cast of "Seabiscuit," the upcoming movie based on Laura Hillenbrand's best-selling book about the legendary race horse, "Seabiscuit: An American Legend."

Cooper will play horse trainer Tom Smith. Maguire is on board as jockey Red Pollard, and Bridges is playing Charles Howard, Seabiscuit's owner.

Smith was credited with transforming Seabiscuit from a perennial also-ran into a legendary champion.

BOX-OFFICE PREVIEW

Box-office analysts will be watching this weekend to see if Reese Witherspoon or Jackie Chan has what it takes to unseat "Barbershop" as the nation's top movie attraction.

Witherspoon shows up in "Sweet Home Alabama" as a New York big shot who has to return to her Deep South roots to get a divorce from her childhood "sweetheart," so she can marry a suave big city man. "Tuxedo" stars Chan as a limo driver who comes into possession of a special effects-laden tux that bestows super-hero powers on its wearer.

"Barbershop" has been No. 1 at the U.S. box office for two straight weeks, and may have benefited from a publicity bonanza this week, after Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rev. Al Sharpton complained about some offensive jokes about civil rights icons Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks.

Going into the weekend, the U.S. box office overall had grossed an estimated $6.6 billion so far in 2002, 12 percent ahead of last year's pace.

WILL SMITH ON 'BARBERSHOP' CONTROVERSY

Will Smith seems to have mixed feeling about the "Barbershop" controversy.

He told "Access Hollywood" he thinks the movie is very funny and full of great performances by a cast led by Ice Cube and Cedric the Entertainer. Acknowledging the controversy over jokes about civil rights icons Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks, Smith said those kinds of things are actually said in real barbershops -- but he also seemed to understand why some people are upset to hear it in a movie.

"There's a sentiment that we, as blacks, need to preserve our idols, need to preserve our people that have made their way to that position," said Smith. "Another part of the problem is that 'Barbershop' is the only historical reference to Rosa Parks that some young black kids may ever hear. So that's an issue, but I don't think the problem is 'Barbershop,' the problem is a lot deeper."