TV Guide Author: damon.romine

Carrie's Mother on Law &#038 Order: SVU!

Law &amp; Order: Special Victims Unit scored a November sweeps coup by casting three-time Oscar nominee Piper Laurie in tomorrow's episode, "Care" (airing 10 pm/ET on NBC). Best known as the psycho mama to Sissy Spacek's psychic teen in Carrie, she'll play an earthy grandma caught up in a murder investigation on SVU. "I always like to do new things  it keeps me alive and on my toes," the L&#038O fan tells TV Guide Online. "I'm even happy that they used such an unforgiving lens on me and [no] makeup! It's not flattering, but I think it adds to the character." As in Carrie, Laurie also played a crazy shrew in the cult phenom Twin Peaks. "It's great release and great fun to be bad," she enthuses.

Fri, Nov 23, 2001

Carrie's Mother on Law &#038 Order: SVU!

Law &amp; Order: Special Victims Unit scored a November sweeps coup by casting three-time Oscar nominee Piper Laurie in tomorrow's episode, "Care" (airing 10 pm/ET on NBC). Best known as the psycho mama to Sissy Spacek's psychic teen in Carrie, she'll play an earthy grandma caught up in a murder investigation on SVU. "I always like to do new things  it keeps me alive and on my toes," the L&#038O fan tells TV Guide Online. "I'm even happy that they used such an unforgiving lens on me and [no] makeup! It's not flattering, but I think it adds to the character." As in Carrie, Laurie also played a crazy shrew in the cult phenom Twin Peaks. "It's great release and great fun to be bad," she enthuses.

Thu, Nov 22, 2001

Dawson's Hunk: "Me Tarzan?"

Since Smallville  the WB's serialization of Superboy's beginnings  has taken off faster than a speeding bullet, the network has gone ape to bring to the small screen another man of steel... or at least another hero with buns of steel: Tarzan. While the proposed program only recently reached the script stage (meaning that the earliest that it could swing onto the schedule is fall 2002), at least the Frog won't lose any time casting the lead role of a teenager monkeying around in the jungle. Chad Michael Murray  Rory's smitten tormentor, Tristan, on The Gilmore Girls last season and Jen's two-timing lover, Charlie, on Dawson's Creek this year  has a holding deal with the WB that all but guarantees him a show of his own. Still, whether that regular gig will turn out to be Tarzan remains to be seen. "I know of [the pro

Tue, Nov 20, 2001

Jeff Bridges: Amateur Paparazzo

Of all the roles Oscar-nominee Jeff Bridges has played in his 30-year career, one of his faves is that of behind-the-scenes celebrity photographer! The actor first turned shutterbug back in high school, prompting dad Lloyd Bridges to build his son a darkroom in their home. Later, the younger Bridges took to snapping candid photos of his movie co-stars strictly for his private collection. But in 1984, Bridges tells TV Guide Online, his Starman [co-star] "Karen Allen had the idea of making a gift book for cast and crew." That was ages ago, but these yearbooks (of sorts) have been printed for almost every one of Bridges's films since. His latest book is for K-PAX &

Tue, Oct 30, 2001

The Fresh Prince of K-PAX?

On the planet of "coulda-shoulda-woulda," you'd find Will Smith playing Prot, the quirky fellow who claims to be an alien in K-PAX (opening today). Instead, two-time Oscar winner Kevin Spacey aptly fills the character's gravity boots. Indeed, during its seven years in the making, K-PAX wended its way through quite a diverse casting process  to say the least!  that altered the film completely. Screenwriter Charles Leavitt actually envisioned actor John Cusack as the lead alien while adapting Gene Brewer's novel for film. But it was Men in Black spacebuster Smith who originally became attached

Fri, Oct 26, 2001

Howard Stern's "Wife" Returns

Best known as Howard Stern's wife in Private Parts, Mary McCormack has followed up that role with a string of second-banana spouse and girlfriend parts. But this Friday, she enjoys more prominence in two competing films, K-PAX and High Heels and Low Lifes. In K-PAX, McCormack feels she's once again typecast as the strong, dependable wife of Jeff Bridges. Grateful for the work nevertheless, she tells TV Guide Online: "You just do your job and you accept the size of your part and have fun with it. You see people who have really tiny parts making soup a meal and you're like, 'Oy! It's just soup. Just

Thu, Oct 25, 2001

Kevin Spacey: Oscar Bound?

When ballots go out to Oscar voters early next year, Kevin Spacey could be competing with himself for a best actor nod. As the is-he-or-ain't-he-an-alien Prot in K-PAX (opening Friday), Spacey shows off more of his all-too-familiar tics and quirks. The two-time Oscar winner  for American Beauty and The Usual Suspects  tells TV Guide Online: "I like characters that aren't perfect. To me, flaws are what make us human." However, it's The Shipping News  opening Christmas Day  where we'll see Spacey like we've never seen him. He plays an emotionally crumpled man without an ironic or flip bone in his body. "That's probably the least abnormal character I'll play," he admits. Word is, Miramax feels bul

Tue, Oct 23, 2001

Medical Woes on Survivor: Africa

Lions and leopards weren't the only menace that the 16 players on Survivor: Africa had to, well, survive. With malaria-bearing mosquitoes in the air and scorpions crawling on the ground, the show's behind-the-scenes medical team was on constant alert  and saw enough patients to pack a season of ER! Five hours from the nearest city, Survivor doctor Adrian Cohen and team of six medics ran a field hospital in the Kenyan scrubland. With contestants and crew totaling nearly 400, the day-to-day maintenance was high. But don't expect to see any of that medical drama on the air. "If they cut themselves and needed to be stitched up, you would not see that," Cohen tells TV Guide Online. "If it's part of the reason that they leave the show in a dramatic fashion, then you will." While he's tightlipped about details, we're relatively certain there are no sudden exits like t

Thu, Oct 11, 2001

Tragedy Affects Men in Black 2

The sequel to Will Smith's Men in Black  currently in production and slated to bow July 4, 2002  was to feature a rip-roaring special effects finale, set at the foot of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. Unfortunately, the destruction of the towers in last week's terrorist attack required director Barry Sonnenfeld to alter his climactic scene in the interest of good taste. "It's so slightly different," Sonnenfeld tells TV Guide Online, denying talk of a major script rewrite. "The ending took place at the base of the World Trade Center and will now take place at some other New York icon, but we hadn't shot any of the ending." MIB 2 was mostly filmed on location in Man

Sat, Sep 22, 2001

Tragedy Affects Men in Black 2

The sequel to Will Smith's Men in Black  currently in production and slated to bow July 4, 2002  was to feature a rip-roaring special effects finale, set at the foot of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. Unfortunately, the destruction of the towers in last week's terrorist attack required director Barry Sonnenfeld to alter his climactic scene in the interest of good taste. "It's so slightly different," Sonnenfeld tells TV Guide Online, denying talk of a major script rewrite. "The ending took place at the base of the World Trade Center and will now take place at some other New York icon, but we hadn't shot any of the ending." MIB 2 was mostly filmed on location in Man

Fri, Sep 21, 2001

Freddie Prinze Jr.'s Prankster Rap

Matinee idol Freddie Prinze Jr. won't dish about his impending nuptials to Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Sarah Michelle Gellar  "We never talk about the personal stuff"  but ask him about setside horseplay on his baseball flick, Summer Catch (opening Friday), and you'll get an earful! Let's just say, the 25-year-old gives new meaning to the term "man-child." Having heard about the pranks Prinze pulled on previous co-stars Julia Stiles and Claire Forlani, Catch's

Thu, Aug 23, 2001

Scream Star's Life Endangered

Sports-related injuries are unavoidable on a baseball movie, but Matthew Lillard  that slash-happy, rubberfaced fiend from Scream and Serial Mom  feels lucky to have survived the filming of Summer Catch (opening Friday). After buddy Freddie Prinze Jr. helped him get cast, the boyish 31-year-old actor showed up on Catch's North Carolina set suffering from severe headaches. "There was literally nothing I could take  I thought it was sinuses," he tells TV Guide Online. "I called my wife and told her I was dying." Turns out, he really wasn't exaggerating: Doctors discerned that the actor's pain was caused by

Wed, Aug 22, 2001

Jessica Biel: Reformed Vixen?

Talk about misspent youth! 7th Heaven starlet Jessica Biel, 19, still feels haunted by her scantily clad appearance on the cover of Gear magazine last year. "It was really, really a bad decision on my part," she tells TV Guide Online. At the time, her provocative posing may have made the youngster appear all grown-up, but it also tarnished her relationship with her family, fans and Heaven boss Aaron Spelling. "I got involved with the wrong people," says a newly blonde Biel, who plays a girl pitching woo to Freddie Prinze Jr. in Summer Catch (opening Friday). "I won't say they took advantage of me  because I absolutely participated in it  but I made a really bad choice." Biel says she wrong-headedly chose to

Mon, Aug 20, 2001

Lisa Ling's Beau Comes Out

It's no secret that The View's Lisa Ling is dating. She often makes her boyfriend the topic of conversation when the chatfest's dishy women discuss men and  gasp!  sex. But to keep from reducing Mr. Right into her version of Cody Gifford, Ling says, "I've been very careful not to even mention his name." But now, we can tell you that for nine months the TV host has been dating 29-year-old actor Rick Yune (Snow Falling on Cedars). Tomorrow will be a monumental day for Ling, as she not only publicly utters his name for the first time, but appears with him as a couple on her show. Sure, he's technically taking a seat on the sofa to plug his new street-racer flick, The Fast and the Furious (opening Friday). But the real "Hot Topic" will undoubtedly be grilling Ling and Yune on the details of their h

Wed, Jun 20, 2001