News from the entertainment capital

'BLACK HAWK DOWN,' 'BEDROOM' LEAD FIELD OF AFI NOMINEES

A war movie and a family drama led the rest of the field with five nominations each Monday when the American Film Institute announced the nominees for its first ever AFI Awards.

"Black Hawk Down" and "In the Bedroom" were both nominated for best movie, along with "A Beautiful Mind," "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," "The Man Who Wasn't There" and "Mulholland Drive" -- all of which had four nominations each. "A.I. Artificial Intelligence" and "Gosford Park" each received four nominations, but neither was nominated for best movie.

The other nominees for best movie are "Memento"; "Monster's Ball"; "Moulin Rouge" and "Shrek."

"Black Hawk Down," based on a disastrous U.S. military operation in Somalia in 1993, also received nominations for director (Ridley Scott) and for cinematographer, editor and production designer.

"In the Bedroom," starring Sissy Spacek and Tom Wilkinson in the story of a couple that resorts to revenge over the loss of a child, earned actor and actress nominations for Spacek and Wilkinson, a directing nomination for Todd Field, and a screenplay nomination for Field and Rob Festinger.

The other best actor nominees are Russell Crowe ("A Beautiful Mind"), Billy Bob Thornton ("The Man Who Wasn't There") and Denzel Washington ("Training Day"). The other best actress nominees are Halle Berry ("Monster's Ball"), Stockard Channing ("The Business of Strangers") and Naomi Watts ("Mulholland Drive").

'BEDROOM,' MULHOLLAND DRIVE' CLEAN UP OVER THE WEEKEND

"In the Bedroom" and "Mulholland Drive" scored big over the weekend when two major film critics' groups announced their annual film awards.

The Los Angeles Film Critics Association named "In the Bedroom" best picture, and awarded best actress honors to Sissy Spacek. The group named David Lynch best director for "Mulholland Drive," and voted Denzel Washington best actor for "Training Day."

The Boston Film Critics Association went with "Mulholland Drive" for best picture and Lynch for best director. The group also voted Washington a best actor award, but it was a tie with Brian Cox of "L.I.E." Tilda Swinton was named nest actress for "The Deep End."

Both the L.A. and Boston Critics gave best screenplay honors to Christopher Nolan for "Memento."

"Mulholland Drive" has also won the New York Film Critics Circle award as best picture of 2001, and was on the National Board of Review's list of the 10 best movies of the year. Spacek has also won best actress honors from the New York critics.

'VANILLA SKY' TOPS AT THE BOX OFFICE

"Vanilla Sky" left a sweet taste in the mouths of moviegoers over the weekend, finishing at the top of the U.S. box-office chart with an estimated $25 million.

Tom Cruise's stay at the top will probably be short-lived, with a slew of new movie arriving this week -- including "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," which opens Wednesday. For those who just can't wait, there will be some midnight showings around the nation on Tuesday night.

George Clooney and his all-star cast mates Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts and Matt Damon saw their Vegas caper movie, "Ocean's Eleven" fall to No. 2 this week, with an estimated $23.1 million. The new teen comedy, "Not Another Teen Movie," opened in third place with $13.1 million. "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" fell from second to fourth place, grossing $9.9 million, to run its 32-day total to $253.3 million.

For the year to date, the U.S. box office is running 8 percent ahead of last year's pace and has already surpassed last year's overall gross of $7.52 billion. It remains to be seen whether the final results for 2001 will break the single-year record for movie admissions -- 1.26 billion in 1997.

STARS LINE UP FOR AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS

Britney Spears will perform her newest single, "I'm Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman," on the 29th annual American Music Awards.

Producers also announced Monday that Mick Jagger will perform on the telecast, and Usher will sing his current hit, "U Got It Bad." They join a list of previously announced performers that includes Yolanda Adams, Brooks & Dunn, Cher, Toby Keith, Kid Rock, Lenny Kravitz, Shaggy and Sean "P. Diddy" Combs -- who will co-host the show with Jenny McCarthy.

Producer also announced additions that the list of presenters for the show will include Clint Black, Steven Curtis Chapman, Faith Evans, Melissa Joan Hart, Reba McEntire, Jo Dee Messina, Mandy Moore, 'N Sync, Pink and KISS members Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley.

Previously announced presenters include India.Arie, Blu Cantrell, Cedric The Entertainer, Melissa Etheridge, Nelly Furtado, Ginuwine, Ja Rule, Alicia Keys, Master P with his son Lil' Romeo, Method Man, Frankie Muniz, Nelly, LeAnn Rimes, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, SHeDAISY, Niki Taylor and Luther Vandross.

The American Music Awards will be telecast live over ABC on Jan. 9, 2002 from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.

VIVENDI DEAL CHANGES POWER STRUCTURE IN HOLLYWOOD

The deal by Vivendi Universal -- Europe's biggest media company -- to acquire the film and TV units of USA Networks Inc. means a big change in the Hollywood power structure, catapulting USA networks chairman/CEO Barry Diller pretty close to the top of the heap.

Diller will assume day-to-day control of the operation, including Universal's film and theme park operations. The film unit is on a major roll in 2001 with such box-office hits as "The Mummy Returns," "Jurassic Park III" and "The Fast and the Furious."

He assured entertainment reporters that he is not interested in tinkering with whatever Universal is doing to achieve that level of success.

"I'm just a complete supporter of what they've done," Diller said in a conference call.

In addition to running the new Vivendi operation, Diller will continue to run USA Networks under a new name, USA Interactive. The company operates the Home Shopping Network, Ticketmaster and other entertainment, leisure and travel units.

RECORDING ACADEMY SETTLING ANOTHER LAWSUIT?

According to a report in the Los Angeles Times the Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences has quietly resolved another legal dispute, offering to pay a former accountant to drop a wrongful termination lawsuit and return sensitive internal documents that may suggest financial mismanagement at the Academy.

Karen Gruhlke -- a certified public accountant who worked for the nonprofit organization for almost six years -- reportedly has agreed to drop the suit, in return for which the Recording Academy reportedly agreed to drop a $4 million countersuit against her for failing to turn the documents back over to the Academy.

Gruhlke's case had been expected to go to trial early next year, according to the paper, which also reported that an attorney for the Grammys confirmed that both suits had been resolved.

In papers filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, Gruhlke's attorneys said some of the documents in question "may very well contain information that evidence criminal conduct" on the part of Academy officials.

The Times reported that the documents were turned over to federal authorities at one point -- including the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles. Greene was being investigated at the time by the IRS and the Justice Department, but the government eventually closed the matter without filing charges, according to law enforcement sources cited by the paper.

In October, the Academy's board of trustees authorized a $650,000 payment to a former Grammy executive whose attorneys had threatened to file a sexual harassment and battery lawsuit against Academy CEO Michael Greene, who has denied all allegations in that case and in harassment and discrimination complaints brought by six other Academy employees.

Some of those complaints were settled out of court. An internal Academy investigation five years ago cleared Greene of any harassment allegations.

Federal agents returned the documents to Gruhlke without taking action, according to a letter from Grammy attorneys.

SOMETHING NEW IN REALITY TV

ABC is planning a reality-based TV show that will reward contestants for keeping their cool as they answer general trivia questions and accumulate piles of cash for correct answers.

"The Chair" -- which is the working title for the show -- will see contestants wired up to a heart monitor with the challenge of controlling their heart rate as they answer a series of questions. Each time they get an answer right, they get more money, but if their heart rate goes over a certain level, they lose money from their winnings.

According to a report in Daily Variety, contestants will be screened for drug use and other factors that might affect their performance.

IS THIS REALITY?

NBC will use its reality-based hit, "Fear Factor," in a bit of counter programming that will have a lot of male viewers giving their remotes a workout -- featuring Playboy Playmates on a two-part, 80-minute episode during halftime and immediately following the Super Bowl on Fox next Feb. 4.

Six Playmates will compete, but the network hasn't said yet what sort of grossed-out trials they'll be put to.

The first segment will be up against the U2 halftime show at the Super Bowl. The second part of the "Fear Factor" special will go up against a special one-hour edition of Fox's hit comedy, "Malcolm in the Middle."