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Access Atlanta > Blog > Archives > 2006 > February > 24
Friday, February 24, 2006
Friends set to roast Fonda at fund-raiser
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Bernie Marcus may want to go ahead and test all those fire extinguishers at the Georgia Aquarium. They’ll likely come in handy on June 1 at the venue.
That’s the date and place for the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention’s first-ever celebrity roast of Jane Fonda.
Buzz Central’s “save the date” card arrived this week.
Among the two-time Oscar winner’s famous friends who will be flying in to serve as roasters: “Vagina Monologues” playwright Eve Ensler; “Star Wars” actress and novelist Carrie Fisher; Fisher’s Hollywood legend mother Debbie Reynolds; actress and comic Rosie O’Donnell; Fonda’s “Monster-in-Law” co-star Wanda Sykes and ex-hubby Ted Turner.
Fonda told us last week that she was especially happy to be able to persuade Sykes to fly in for the occasion. When she turned up last year as a celebrity auctioneer at the G-CAPP “Monster-in-Law” benefit premiere, Sykes brought down the house while trying to unload a golfing trip to Scotland (when bidding stalled at one point, the comic grabbed a microphone and lectured the monied crowd: “Come on! Girls are gettin’ pregnant! ”).
David Letterman, meanwhile, is providing a Fonda-themed “Late Show” top 10 list for the occasion. CNN chat show icon Larry King has been recruited as the evening’s “master of flames.”
Fonda told Buzz that the roast will serve as G-CAPP’s big fund-raising event this year. Traditionally, the activist-actress has organized lavish Hollywood-in-Atlanta premieres for films like “Twister,” “The Perfect Storm,” “Lost in Space” and “retro premieres” for “9 to 5” and “Barefoot in the Park.”
And according to www.gcapp.org, glitzy patron packages are running $1,500 to $25,000. Honorary co-chairs for the evening are Ginny and Charles Brewer and Sue and Bob Nardelli. Steering committee members include Marilyn Krone, Scott Seydel, Barbara Roos, Julia Sprunt, Suzanne Inman, Pam Yarbrough, Peter Conlon and Sarah Monsour.
For tickets and more info: www.gcapp.org.
Channeling late INXS singer
The late Michael Hutchence’s name was never uttered Wednesday night at the sold-out INXS concert with new lead singer J.D. Fortune. But his afterglow remained.
Fortune opened at the Boisfeuillet Jones Atlanta Civic Center with the INXS hit “Suicide Blonde,” which seemed vaguely inappropriate, given that Hutchence committed suicide in 1997. Fortune seemed stiff and tentative at first, but warmed up as the concert progressed. The band sounded tight, the original five INXS members joyously rejuvenated by their young lead singer’s antics.
Vocally and visually, the 32-year-old Canadian occasionally evoked Hutchence with his slinky sexiness. But he projected enough of his own charisma to keep the crowd pumping through the hits (“Original Sin,” “Don’t Change,” “New Sensation”) and new cuts from the comeback album “Switch,” including Fortune’s own “Pretty Vegas.” He did a few bars of “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” and climbed partway up a balcony, wading into the crowd, as a band manager watched nervously from the stage.
During a special Star 94 session at Nickel and Dime Studios in Avondale Estates before the Civic Center appearance, sax player Kirk Pengilly said the reason folks think Fortune sounds like Hutchence is because of the songs themselves. “It’s an illusion,” he said.
‘Madea’ makes the rounds
Atlanta writer-director-producer-actor Tyler Perry was all over the morning talk shows Thursday to promote today’s theatrical release of “Madea’s Family Reunion.”
On “Live With Regis & Kelly,” Perry told the pair that watching Oprah Winfrey inspired him to write down his thoughts and inspirations in a journal.
Cracked Kelly Ripa: “Did you ever learn anything watching our show?” Perry replied: “Yes, I learned that Regis has a very small foot.” (Last year Reege no doubt caused millions to reach for the remote as he related how his 4-ish shoe size varies from country to country.) On “Tony Danza,” Perry gave away “Madea” church fans and blank journals for the audience.
Alas, you can’t please everyone.
Perry awoke in New York to a blazing headline in the Post : “Advance Film Reviews in Critical Condition.”
The article chastised movie studios for not screening new films “Madea” and kiddie-friendly fare “Doogal” in advance for critics. Lions Gate Films President Tom Ortenberg told the Post the reason why his distributor didn’t screen the film: “We are not going to spend $50,000 for the privilege of negative reviews for a film that isn’t going to be affected by them.”
In other words, come Monday, Perry and Lions Gate will be waay too busy counting enormous piles of money to care about the Post’s snit.
FYI: In Atlanta, Lions Gate and Perry screened “Madea” numerous times this month for critics and advance audiences. See Eleanor Ringel Gillespie’s review in today’s Movies & More.
Bonding over Bond
It took an old Bond to come to the rescue of the new Bond.
Roger Moore, who played Agent 007 in seven of the James Bond movies, said critics of the film franchise’s new star, Daniel Craig, should give him a chance.
“He’s a helluva good actor,” said Moore, 78, noting that critics haven’t even seen Craig in the role yet. “So why attack him?”
The fair-haired Craig, whose recent screen credits include “Munich” and “The Jacket,” was tapped last October to play the secret-agent icon in “Casino Royale.”
A group of Bond fans have launched a Web site (www.craignotbond.com) to protest the hiring of Craig and boycott the upcoming movie.
Moore, whose Bond films include “A View to a Kill,” “Moonraker” and “Live and Let Die,” suggested the group was merely trying to attract people to its Web site.
He also dismissed suggestions that Bond is obsolete in a post-Cold War, post-9/11 world.
“Bond is fantasy, there’s no real substance to it,” he said. “It’s a figment of imagination. … [It’s] sort of crazy, you know, a spy who is recognized wherever he goes. Spies ain’t like that.”
Celebrity birthdays
Actor Abe Vigoda is 85. Actor Dominic Chianese (“The Sopranos”) is 75. Actor Edward James Olmos is 59. Actress Debra Jo Rupp (“That ’70s Show”) is 55. Country singer Sammy Kershaw is 48. Actor Billy Zane is 40. Actress Bonnie Somerville (“NYPD Blue”) is 32. R&B singer Brandon Brown of Mista is 23.
Contributing: Rodney Ho and news services. If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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