For Immediate Release on Entertainment Drive
Released by Beck/Smith

Wacky "Spy Hard" Unpremiere
Hollywood -- May 20, 1996 -- Men in drag as nuns, 40s-style cigarette girls handing out bags of unpopped popcorn, ushers wearing formal tuxedo jackets and heart-festooned red and white boxer underwear, (security) attendents in trenchcoats and porkpie hats, and jesters with purple hair shouting orders to a captive audience. What was the reason for all this unruly conduct? The premiere of "Spy Hard," the new Hollywood Pictures spoof, which parodies movies ranging from James Bond to "Sister Act." Our hero, Agent WD40 (code name: Leslie Nielson), arrived at Hollywood's El Capitan theater to great fanfare, but instead of a royal red carpet stretched out before him, he had to make do with a tacky patchwork carpet, keeping with the theme of the evening, an "Unpremiere." Inside the theater, the lights went down, the curtains came up, and Revolutionary War hero "Swamp Fox" appeared. Who??? Well, you'll recall that before his career change to a comic actor, Nielson was a dramatic actor who unintentionally got laughs. Suddenly, Nielson came rushing out onstage yelling for the projectionist to stop the film. "Wrong film!" he yelled. "You're supposed to show the one where there's a long banquet table and the Queen of England is there and I end up on top of her!...Wait a minute, that's not it either!" Nielson then proceded to name scenes from his other movies, concluding each time with, "No, that's not the one!" -- until finally, mental hospital attendants with a straight jacket and a butterfly net captured Nielson in the butterfly net and dragged him offstage. At last, the real film began. We don't want to give away too much, but suffice it to say if you thought the opening credit sequences for the James Bond pictures were ripe for parody, you'll be thoroughly entertained by the "Spy Hard" opening sequence, with theme music and an appearance by the one and only Weird Al Yankovic. (With reporting by Mary Beth Marshall.)

Foxworthy Triumphs at NBC
Hollywood -- May 21, 1996 -- The fact that NBC picked up "The Jeff Foxworthy Show" for the fall, after ABC dumped the sitcom, has got to make Foxworthy ecstatic. And it is further proof that the comic (famous for his "You Know You're a Redneck If..." jokes, albums, and books) did the right thing quitting his job at IBM in 1986 to pursue comedy. The Atlanta, GA, native recalls, however, that when he made that decision his parents thought he'd plumb lost his mind. Says Foxworthy, "They were adamantly against me quitting my job to do comedy. It was literally one of those kitchen table talks where they sat me down and said 'Do you need help?...We can get you help...What's wrong with you!?!" Of course, his parents' tune changed when he finally starting taking off on the comedy circuit. "They love it now...The first time I was on 'The Tonight Show,' my mother -- swear to God -- was like, 'Well, you know, you wasted all those years at IBM. I knew you could do this, honey.' I said, 'Wait a minute, you were bobbin' like a fish on the kitchen floor the day I quit my job."

Pullman Presidential Moves
Hollywood -- May 22, 1996 -- Bill Pullman learned about being "presidential" for his role -- as the President of the United States -- in Fox's huge "Independence Day" alien invasion movie, which debuts July 3. During our phone interview, Pullman is examining photos in which he's been morphed into the president's position. "Here, I'm applauding Nelson Mandela, who is standing in the Senate with arms raised," he says. "Here, I'm standing with Prince Charles...Here I'm with the Pope. And here, I'm with four other presidents. It's strange. People look at these and they don't even get it at first," laughs the actor of "While You Were Sleeping" and "Casper" fame, referring to his presence in the pics. "I guess it shows you really can be a president if surrounded by things presidential." Well, at least for a while....The photos are used as set dressing; they're in the Oval Office on a shelf when "they" -- you know, the aliens -- start flying over the White House. "Kind of a quaking thing occurs...I'm holding my daughter...and these pictures shake." Unlike "Casper," which required him to do a lot of blue screen work (acting with "ghosts" that were added later), Pullman says most of his "Independence Day" scenes were played for real -- not special effects. "I didn't have to imagine anything except for the 25-mile-wide airship overhead." Um-hm! Pullman reports that there was "an incredibly good vibe on the set" of "Independence Day." He attributes that to director Roland Emmerich. "Roland's whole method of getting things going is so playful...He'd astound me in the way he'd start the day, joking around while blocking scenes and then -- ba-ding! -- pouncing into the work."

Naomi Judd Pondering Next Book
Hollywood -- May 23, 1996 -- Naomi Judd says she hasn't ruled out the possibility of writing a book covering the "healing journey" she's been on since being diagnosed with chronic hepatitis in 1990. Since she's been in remission from the disease, Judd has been busy on the lecture circuit sharing what she's learned about the spirit-mind-body connection. She says, "I would love to be able to do the book, so that when somebody comes up to me in an airport and they're calling my flight or calling their flight and you only have 30 seconds to try to give them a silver bullet, you know...I could say, 'Here's the book.' But it's literally a matter of time and I just don't have the time right now." And she's not exaggerating. The former half of the famed singing duo The Judds has almost as busy a schedule on the lecture circuit as she did when she used to go out on the road with daughter Wynonna. "I do so many diverse speaking things," says Judd. "In one week I addressed the Women's Federation for World Peace. A couple of days later I was in Huntsville, AL, as the keynote speaker for NASA. Then a couple of days later I was in Denver, CO, raising money for a women's abuse shelter. Then after that I went to a hospital down in Florida to raise money for a cancer wing."

Lansbury's Promised Sunday Slot Taken on CBS
Hollywood -- May 24, 1996 -- Angela Lansbury, who hasn't been pleased with CBS' prexy Les Moonves since he moved "Murder, She Wrote" out of its Sunday night timeslot last season, now really has cause to be upset with him. He told her at the time he made the switch -- and told her again and again in the months that followed, while her series withered and died in its new slot -- that he was determined to establish and maintain a block of comedy shows on Sunday night. That's why "Cybill" was moved there -- and that's why "Murder She Wrote" couldn't return to Sunday nights. He said she could have any night in the week for "Murder" -- except Sunday night. CBS did, of course, throw her a bone by allowing her 12-year-old series to run off its four concluding segments in its old, beloved Sunday night slot. But now the network has set up its fall lineup, and instead of the block of sitcoms Moonves vowed he would maintain on Sunday nights, the network's filled the evening with the hour-long drama "Touched by an Angel" and a two-hour movie. The irony of all this is that the lineup won't be able to remain like that for a second season -- not if Lansbury doesn't want it to. You see, back in the good old days when her show was riding so high that CBS would give her just about anything, the network gave her a guarantee that she could return to her Sundays-at-8 time slot in 1997 -- if she choose to star in a sitcom.

Copyright (c) 1996 Beck/Smith Ent.


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