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Entertainment Today: Showbiz News

By KAREN BUTLER, United Press International
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NEW FILM REVISITS RODNEY KING BEATING

Ron Shelton's new film, "Dark Blue," examines the savage police beating of black motorist Rodney King.

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The movie comes more than a decade after the shocking incident was captured on amateur video.

Set in the Los Angeles Police Department in April 1992, "Dark Blue" is a dramatic thriller that takes place just days before the acquittal of four white officers in King's beating and the subsequent L.A. riots. In this racially charged climate, the L.A.P.D.'s elite Special Investigations Squad is assigned a high-profile quadruple homicide.

As they work the case, veteran detective Eldon Perry (Kurt Russell), known for his tough street tactics and fiery temper, tutors SIS rookie Bobby Keough (Scott Speedman) in the grim realities of police intimidation and corruption. Meanwhile, Assistant Chief Holland (Ving Rhames), the only man in the department willing to stand up to the SIS, threatens to end Perry's brand of single-handed "justice" on the streets of Los Angeles. While navigating through the tumultuous neighborhoods of South Central L.A., Perry and Keough must track down cold-blooded killers and face their own demons, which prove to be more ruthless than the criminals they pursue.

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The film opens nationwide on Feb. 21.


MODEL MOMS DOING FINE

Elle Macpherson has given birth to her second child.

The bouncing baby boy was born on the same day Macpherson's fellow supermodel Claudia Schiffer took her newborn son home from the hospital.

"Elle Macpherson and Arpad Busson welcome a baby boy into the world," Macpherson's publicist announces in a statement released Wednesday. "Aurelius Cy Andrea Busson will be a cherished brother to their son Flynn who turns 5 on Valentine's Day."

Baby Aurelius was born by natural delivery at London's St. John and St. Elizabeth Hospital and weighed 7 pounds, 11 ounces at birth.

Macpherson is the latest in a long line of models and actresses, including Sadie Frost and Elizabeth Hurley, to give birth in London over the past year. Schiffer left the hospital Wednesday with baby Caspar, who was born by Caesarean section nearly a week ago.

Upon leaving the hospital with her film producer husband, Matthew Vaughn, the 32-year-old Schiffer posed for pictures, saying she felt "great."

Ever the proud papa, Vaughn brags to reporters, "Caspar is very healthy."

"Meeting Matthew and giving birth to Caspar have been the two most amazing moments of my life," Schiffer says. "I have never been happier. Caspar is absolutely beautiful and amazing."

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ANOTHER TALK-SHOW BITES THE DUST

Just as the nation seems captivated by reality television programs, day-time TV talk-shows are dropping like flies.

Not long after the demise of "The Rosie O'Donnell Show" and "The Sally Jessy Raphael Show," Variety reports the syndicated gab-fest "The Jenny Jones Show" will call it quits this spring after 12 years on the air.

A spokesperson for the show's distributor, Warner Bros., told E! Online no "definitive" decision had been made but show insiders point to production ending in May, with the show's finale set for sometime this summer. Variety says the show's staff, however, were advised Friday this season probably would be Jenny's last.

Positioned somewhere on the taste scale between "Ricki Lake" and "The Jerry Springer Show," "The Jenny Jones Show" invited everyday people to participate in segments dealing with entertaining subjects like makeovers, man-stealing and reunions -- and sometimes a combination of the three. Jones usually left the heavier subjects to her more sensitive, morally responsible counterparts, Oprah Winfrey and Montel Williams.

The show did court controversy, however, when a gay man revealed at a March 1995 taping he had a secret crush on a fellow guest. The object of his affection seemed to accept the revelation good-naturedly, but three days later shot and killed his admirer. He confessed to the slaying, was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 25 to 50 years in prison. The victim's family filed a multimillion-dollar civil suit accusing the show's producer, Telepictures, and distributor, Warner Bros., of being liable for his death. Although a Michigan jury initially found them liable and ordered them to cough up $25 million, the verdict was appealed and overturned last fall.

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E! Online describes Jones as a "survivor," noting how many other talk-shows have fallen by the wayside during her 12-year-stint. Newcomers "The Ananda Lewis Show," "Iyanla" and "The Rob Nelson Show" were all canceled shortly after their debuts.


PALTROW ON PLAYING SYLVIA PLATH

Oscar-winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow says she had no interest in "vilifying" anyone in her upcoming movie, "Ted and Sylvia."

Asked if she would portray doomed modern poet Sylvia Plath as a victim of her poet/husband's ambitions -- as some critics have described her -- Paltrow replies emphatically, "Not at all!"

"I'm not interested in vilifying people," she explains to United Press International. "I just don't think that there's anything to be derived from that that is interesting or informative. It takes two people to compose a relationship and I want it to be like a documentary of their life together and have Ted Hughes' side completely represented, as well, and the truth is, they were incredibly in love. I think that he loved her always, as evidenced that he published her letters before he died. I think it was just one of those relationships that was so full of passion. It was like the classic 'can't live with you can't live without you' scenario."

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AND THEY SAID IT WOULDN'T LAST...

The star of the ABC reality show, "The Bachelor," is back on the market, having split from his prospective bride.

The reason for the break-up, coming weeks after their engagement, reportedly will be given on a Feb. 20 ABC special.

"There has not been any dagger throwing," 28-year-old banker Aaron Buerge insists, refusing to go into further detail.

An estimated 29 million viewers watched Buerge propose to Helene Eksterowicz, the fiancee he selected from among 25 contestants at the end of the second season of "The Bachelor" last November.

Buerge says in the Feb. 17 issue of People magazine by New Year's the engagement was off, refusing to elaborate on why and teasing viewers to watch the Feb. 20 update.

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