CASTING Madonna, usually the prey of TV tabloid reporters, will become one in the film "Ton 80." In this romantic comedy, she falls in love with her investigative subject: a cynical and dysfunctional man who secretly writes cheery self-help books under a female pseudonym.... Helen Hunt is teaming with producer Wendy Finerman ("Stepmom," "Forrest Gump") to star in "Mama Masai," an epic drama.
LAWSUITS A former assistant to Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman is suing the all-star couple for unspecified damages, claiming they fired her with no provocation in July after five years of employment. Judita Gomez, who says she always received excellent evaluations for her housework and for helping the actors with their wardrobes, claims she wasn't told her contract with the couple specified they were able to "fire her for any reason".... In response to a civil suit, Geraldo Rivera and CNBC finally settled with a lawyer demanding the $10,000 that the newsman promised on-air to anyone who could find another case mirroring President Clinton's, where a plaintiff was prosecuted for lying about sex. Lawyer Marc Bogatin submitted five actual examples on Oct. 6 but got no response, so he filed a suit on Oct. 26 claiming Rivera was reneging. While Rivera stated that Bogatin's examples did not fit the exact criteria -- that they had to be federal criminal prosecutions for perjury in a dismissed civil case -- Bogatin said those specifics were never mentioned in the original challenge.
REEL DEALS Steven Spielberg may direct a new version of H.G. Wells' "The Time Machine" in a coproduction by DreamWorks and Warner Bros.... "Shakespeare in Love" cowriter (and Oscar nominee) Marc Norman is scripting a new musical that Jennifer Lopez is considering starring in, about a struggling female singer who finds unexpected success by teaming with an aging rock star.... Dimension Films will spoof the horror films that have been their meal ticket ("Scream," "The Faculty"). The company has commissioned three Wayans to pull it off: Keenan Ivory will direct, while Shawn and Marlon will star. Dimension bought two scripts -- "Last Summer I Screamed Because Friday the 13th Fell on Halloween" (cowritten by the two younger Wayans') and "Scream if You Know What I Did Last Halloween" -- and is combining them for this project, which Keenan will rewrite.
TV WATCH NBC's "The '60s" was the highest-rated miniseries this season, in spite of critical distaste, so the network has announced that it's already planning a follow-up called "The '70s," which will follow the same characters into the next decade (watch out "Saturday Night Fever").... Perhaps instituting a cradle-to- SPEAKING "OUT" The Reverand Jerry Falwell has warned his followers that Tinky-Winky, the purple Teletubby who carries a purse, is gay, and that presenting him as a role model is "damaging to the moral lives of children." Other evidence Falwell cites in an article in his magazine, the National Liberty Journal, of the Winker's homosexuality is his color ("the gay pride color"), and his triangular antenna ("the gay pride symbol"). A spokesman for the Teletubbies says that the purse is actually a magic bag, and "to out a Teletubby in a preschool show is kind of sad on (Falwell's) part."
TODAY IN HISTORY In 1993, for his first interview in 15 years, Michael Jackson tells Oprah Winfrey that his lightening skin is due to a skin disorder.
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