Hollywood Digest

TV ACADEMY ADDS NONFICTION EMMYS

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in Los Angeles has announced it will add two new categories to its Emmy Awards, for reality TV directors and writers.

The academy announced the change in a statement referring to "The Bachelorette," one of the most popular recent reality shows in prime time.

"Like Trista Rehn in a room full of bachelors, reality programming has become the darling of television," said the statement. "And the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has rewritten its award rules to reflect the audience's ever-increasing craving for nonfiction entertainment."

The academy's Board of Governors voted Wednesday to add new awards for outstanding nonfiction writing and outstanding nonfiction direction. The nonfiction categories were last revised in 2001, allowing writers, directors, producers and narrators of nonfiction shows to share Emmys for the new outstanding program award.

With the new categories added to the list of Emmys, producers and hosts will remain eligible for overall outstanding program awards, while writers and directors will be eligible for Emmys in their own specialties.

The academy board also voted to rename the program awards in order to clarify the distinction among the different types of nonfiction programs. The new categories are: Nonfiction series (traditional); Nonfiction special (traditional); Nonfiction program (alternative/unscripted); and Reality/competition programs.

Nonfiction series (traditional) covers such shows as biography or other documentary-style series such as "Behind the Music," "E! True Hollywood Story" and "Inside the Actors' Studio." Nonfiction special (traditional) applies to such made-for-TV documentary films as "Scottsboro: An American Tragedy" and "In Memoriam: New York City, 9/11/01."

Nonfiction program (alternative/unscripted) includes non-competitive staged reality shows such as "The Osbournes" and "Cops." Reality/competition programs are specials or series that include some type of game, competition or contest -- such as "Joe Millionaire" or "ElimiDate."

GOLDIE HAWN MEMOIR ON THE WAY

According to published reports in New York, Goldie Hawn is being paid $2 million for her memoir, "A Lotus Grows in the Mud: Footprints of a Spiritual Life."

G.P. Putnam's Sons bought the rights to the book, described as a spiritual account of Hawn's "journey toward fulfillment -- the lessons she learned in life and the wisdom she can now impart with the hope of inspiring others." The publisher said the book will cover Hawn's childhood, marriages and children -- as well as her Oscar-winning Hollywood career.

Daily Variety reported Friday that Hawn is also shopping a feature film, "Ashes," which she wrote with Jeremy Pikser, who co-wrote the screenplay for "Bulworth" with Warren Beatty. The movie is a fictional account of a woman confronting her own mortality.

Hawn said the movie would treat some of the same themes as her memoir.

"It's about how we make choices in our lives," she said. "It will be told in a comedic but meaningful way."

STARS LINE UP FOR OSCARS

Actor Colin Farrell will make his first Oscar show appearance as a presenter at the 75th Anniversary Academy Awards in Los Angeles next month.

Farrell currently stars in "Daredevil" with Ben Affleck and "The Recruit" with Al Pacino. His other film credits include "Tigerland" and "Minority Report."

The 75th Anniversary Academy Awards will be presented on March 23 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood.

CASTING NOTES

There's word in Hollywood that Charlize Theron will co-star with Penélope Cruz and Stuart Townsend in the upcoming romantic drama "Head in the Clouds."

John Duigan ("Sirens," "Romero") will direct from his own screenplay about a young student at Cambridge (Townsend) whose life is changed when he falls in love with a photographer (Theron) during the Spanish Civil War. Cruz plays a Spanish refugee who lives with the couple in 1930s London.

BOX-OFFICE PREVIEW

The U.S. box office gets four new attractions this week -- "Dark Blue," "Gods and Generals," "The Life of David Gale" and "Old School."

All four will be trying their luck at dislodging Ben Affleck's comic book action hit "Daredevil" from the No. 1 spot. "Daredevil" opened with $40.3 million last weekend -- $45 million when you count receipts for Monday's President's Day holiday.

"Old School" -- a slacker comedy starring Luke Wilson, Will Ferrell and Vince Vaughn -- is expected to finish ahead of the other new releases, but analysts do not expect it to take the top spot. Kurt Russell plays a bad cop in "Dark Blue," which is expected to open to just modest business.

"Gods and Generals" -- the prequel to the 1993 Civil War saga "Gettysburg" -- has a running time of roughly four hours, suggesting that fewer plays will result in lower overall grosses. "The Life of David Gale" stars two-time Oscar-winner Kevin Spacey as an anti-death penalty activist who ends up on death row for allegedly killing a fellow opponent of capital punishment.