Entertainment Today: Showbiz News

SCHUMACHER SHOWS FILM TO GUERIN'S MOM

Ireland's Veronica Guerin died in 1996 and Joel Schumacher's new film about the slain journalist's life has pleased her mother.

The American filmmaker said showing the film to Mrs. Guerin was an extraordinary event he never will forget.

"Her mother was really thrilled with the film and thought we had done a great honor to her daughter, but the emotion!" Schumacher recently told United Press International. "Because I didn't pull any punches. It's tough. We show what really happened. That was difficult. I love the outcome, but I hope I never have to do anything that hard again."

Initially called "Chasing the Dragon," the film is based on a GQ article written by Mike Sager entitled "The Martyrdom of Veronica Guerin."

Guerin, an award-winning writer for Dublin's Sunday Independent, was killed by an assassin working for drug dealers she exposed in a series of investigative stories. Her death sparked a dramatic revision of Irish law and led to the arrests of several of the country's top criminals.

Schumacher ("Phone Booth," "Batman Forever") said Jerry Bruckheimer ("Pearl Harbor," "Top Gun") asked him to direct "Veronica Guerin" after the producer saw his acclaimed Vietnam drama, "Tigerland." Schumacher admitted he had never heard of Guerin before Bruckheimer mentioned her, but said he was desperate to make the film after watching a "60 Minutes" piece and reading the "tons of research" about her that Bruckheimer had amassed.

"I thought she was so bold and interesting and a fascinating character and the story was phenomenal," Schumacher said. "You almost can't believe it. It's a true story, but it's almost unbelievable and we were lucky enough to get Cate Blanchett to play her and a great Irish cast. I'm very proud of the film."

Describing Guerin as "so beloved in Ireland," Schumacher said there was no shortage of people willing to talk about the murdered reporter to the filmmakers and cast. Noting most of her colleagues still work at Dublin's Sunday Independent, Schumacher said he found Guerin's fellow reporters particularly supportive.

"They were very, very helpful," he recalled. "Then, her mother really befriended me. She's a wonderful woman and consequently I met her whole family and they were very helpful. The police were helpful to us. A lot of the police knew her and worked with her were great and we did have some criminals that offered, but I didn't want to go that route. We had enough information."

"Veronica Guerin" opens in the United States this fall.

ROMIJN-STAMOS: IT'S NOT EASY BEING BLUE

Rebecca Romijn-Stamos says being "blue" for "X2: X-Men United" wasn't so bad as long as co-star Alan Cumming was around.

That's not because of Cumming's charming smile and dazzling wit, however. Although he does have both. Like Romijn-Stamos, the Tony Award-winning former "Cabaret" star also underwent hours of painstaking makeup application for his role as a blue mutant in the sequel to the blockbuster, "X-Men."

"We were like an old bitchy blue married couple," laughed Romijn-Stamos. "Nobody understood us. We just stayed in our trailer going: 'They just don't get it. My paint and my glue are giving me a headache."

In "X2," Romijn-Stamos reprises her role as the shape-shifting blue femme fatale, Mystique. The actress said being the only actor to undergo full body paint in the first film made her feel isolated, almost as if she was making a different movie than everyone else.

"Having Alan there (in the second film) was really great. I was totally by myself on the first one," she explained. "On this one, I had this other blue person to commiserate with."

TV'S 'ANGEL' TO STAR IN 'CROW' SEQUEL

The star of the WB show "Angel" reportedly is looking to spread his wings on the big-screen.

Word from TV Guide is actor David Boreanz has signed on to play the villain in the fourth installment of "The Crow" film franchise.

Up-and-comer Brandon Lee was killed in an accident on the set of the first film in 1994. That film, about a man who returns from the grave to avenge his and his fiancee's deaths, was followed by two sequels, the most recent of which starred Kirsten Dunst.

TV Guide said Boreanz, whose WB drama has yet to be picked up for a fifth season, will play a satanic biker in a film called, "The Crow: Wicked Prayer," set to start shooting this June.

Expected to co-star in the story of a murder victim resurrected by a crow's avenging spirit, are Dennis Hopper and Edward Furlong.

BACHARACH BACK AT WORK

Composer Burt Bacharach is back at work after recovering from surgery for complications following a dental abscess.

A source close to Bacharach told United Press International the 74-year-old Oscar- and Grammy-winning composer will travel to New York for Sunday's opening of "The Look of Love," featuring songs he wrote with lyricist Hal David.

Bacharach was scheduled to write and record in a Los Angeles studio for two days this week, before a planned Wednesday reunion with contestants on the Fox TV show "American Idol" -- when he is expected to make his third appearance on the show, performing "What the World Needs Now Is Love."

Bacharach has recorded the song with 10 "American Idol" contestants. Proceeds from the record project will benefit the American Red Cross. Bacharach's composition with Carole Bayer Sager, "That's What Friends Are For," has helped raise more than $1.5 million for AIDS research.

Bacharach was discharged from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on March 10, and continued recuperating at his home from surgery for complications following a dental abscess. The date of surgery was not disclosed for reasons of "family privacy," according to a publicist for Bacharach, but he had been admitted to the hospital more than one week before the surgery.

(Thanks to UPI's Pat Nason)