Actor Worries About Losing Fame

©The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) – Ben Affleck is still worried that all fame is fleeting.

“I just so hate the idea of achieving something and losing it,” he said in the August issue of Premiere Magazine. “That’s the definition of a has-been.”

Affleck, currently starring in “Armageddon”, shot to the top when he shared an Oscar for the “Good Will Hunting” screenplay.

“I also know that this success I’m having is nothing permanent,” he said. “I have this huge fear that I’ll end up 55 and broke and unable to support my wife and kids.”

AP-NY-07-10-98 1518EDT

A few interesting trends emerged this week during the launch of HSX’s Director StarBond series. Kevin Smith (KSMIT) is the most widely held of all the Director StarBonds as of this writing. Twice as many HSX accounts own KSMIT than Quentin Tarantino (QTARA). And twice as many traders own QTARA than Martin Scorsese (MSCOR). Together these three directors are the most widely held of the director StarBonds. The least widely held are Joel Schumacher (JSCHU), Roland Emmerich (REMME) and John Singleton (JSING) in that order. Oddly enough, this ranking is almost inverted from the grosses of their respective films.

Another interesting FACTOID is that Kevin Smith’s new film, “Dogma” (DOGMA) is the 15th most widely held MovieStock in the entire HSX universe, with over 26 million shares in the float. More HSX traders own “Dogma” than “Scream 3” (SCRM3).

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Kevin Smith (KSMIT)

This young indie director has been trading like hot cakes since his bond was issued earlier this week. Along with directing films he’s a huge comic book fan and pop television buff. That’s probably why he’s an off again, on again writer on such projects as “Superman Reborn” (SPRMN) and “The Six Million Dollar Man”. After “Dogma” (DOGMA), Smith hopes to work on a film about the restaurant industry entitled, “Bussing”. Sounds a lot like “Clerks” which I was a big fan of.

Now, to “Dogma”, Smith’s film about a renegade group of angels trying to battle their way back into Heaven. The film stars Ben Affleck (BAFFL), Matt Damon (MDAMO), Chris Rock (CROCK), Alan Rickman (ARICK), Salma Hayek (SHAYE), Linda Fiorentino (LFIOR) and Alanis Morisette has a cameo. “Dogma” is currently in post-production (Smith is one of the editors) but reports have begun to surface about some serious controversy brewing around the film.

William Donohue, the president of the Catholic League, got his grubby little hands (not that I know they’re little for sure) on a copy of the screenplay. He is ticked off by the film’s take on Christians. He stated in an interview with the New York Daily News, “They love doing this… ‘Let’s see how we can stick it to Christians. What would really offend them?” Now Donohue wants an audience with the head honcho at Disney, Michael Eisner, and it looks as if he just may get that meeting.

Eisner is apparently a little uncomfortable with the project himself. In a recent interview with the web site, Mr. Showbiz, Ben Affleck claimed, “It would not surprise me if the political situation around Dogma was very tenuous. I know Harvey Weinstein has his trepidation about this, and he’s gotta answer to Disney.”

When asked if he knew what Eisner thought about the film Affleck went on to say, “For a $5 million movie, which is small beans, he may take a disproportionate amount of heat over it. So if I were Eisner, I might be a little nervous, but I certainly hope [Disney] supports the movie and stands behind it and is brave enough to say, ‘Listen, this isn’t necessarily Disney’s credo, this is Harvey Weinstein and Miramax, whom we allow to make the kind of movies they want to make.”

Now I really can’t wait to see this film.

This past winter I was witness to a photo shoot of young, influential film directors. Filmmakers such as Mimi Leder, Griffin Dunne, Bryan Singer, etc. were all present. In walks Kevin Smith, middle of January in Los Angeles, wearing the long green wool trench coat and backwards baseball cap of his famous recurring character Silent Bob. This would have been an appropriate outfit if the shoot were in New York City and if almost everyone else was dressed in casual, yet semi-formal clothing AND if he hadn’t been wearing Bermuda shorts underneath his coat. You either have to give him credit as fashion rebel or a few extra dollars to hire a fashion coordinator.

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Damon, Affleck Win Humanitas Pic Prize
By Eric J. Olson

HOLLYWOOD (Variety) – Adding to their screenwriting Oscar kudos, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck Thursday won the Humanitas Prize in the feature film category for “Good Will Hunting”.

The ceremony was held Thursday at the Sheraton Universal Hotel.

The Humanitas prizes, which totaled $120,000 this year, are given to the writers of TV programs and motion pictures which do the most to communicate human values and dignity.

In the 90 minute-or-longer PBS/cable category, Paul Monash and Marshall Frady won for TNT‘s “George Wallace.” The 90-minute-or-longer network or syndicated category prize went to Toni Ann Johnson for ABC‘s “Ruby Bridges” Bill Cain took the 60-minute television prize for “Proofs for the Existence of God,” an episode of ABC’s now-canceled “Nothing Sacred.” Marilyn Suzanne Miller won in the 30-minute category for “Turpis Capillis Annus,” an episode for CBS‘s “Murphy Brown.”

Hilary Jones-Farrow won in children’s live action for TNT’s “Smudge.” In the children’s animation category, David Silverman and Marcy Gray Rubin won for “Blinded By Love,” an episode for Fox‘s “Life With Louie”.

Texas Schools To Dump Disney Stock
Board votes to divest in protest over films like ‘Pulp Fiction’ Texas state Rep. Harryette Ehrhardt, D-Dallas, was one of the few officials Thursday who objected to divesting from Disney. She was joined by a few other protesters, some dressed as Mickey Mouse and other Disney symbols.
AUSTIN, Texas, July 10 — The Texas Board of Education on Friday decided to dump $45 million in Walt Disney Co. stock — not because of its performance but because of the content of some movies produced by Disney subsidiaries. The board felt Disney-backed movies like “Pulp Fiction” are promoting violence, drug use and promiscuous sex as well as homosexuality.
THE BOARD appears to be the first state agency anywhere in the United States to rid itself of Disney stock in protest against the content of its films. Board chairman Jack Christie said before the vote that he expected the full board to go along with a “sell” recommendation made Thursday by a board committee. “I hope it sends a message to Miramax (Films, a Disney unit) that the public in this country has had enough of the violence in these movies. How many more school shootings do you want?” said Christie, a Republican from Houston. He said he was convinced to sell the Disney stock after the religious group American Family Association showed him clips from the Miramax-produced black comedy “Pulp Fiction,” which includes scenes of murder, drug use and sadomasochism. The 1994 film won an Oscar for best original screenplay. “I think as the public sees that type of garbage [the stock] will lose some of its luster,” Christie told reporters. “Watching that [“Pulp Fiction”], I cannot be any part of investing children’s money into that type of promotion.” Divestiture was favored by eight members of the board, with four voting against, two abstaining and one absent.
OTHER DISNEY FILMS ON LIST
The American Family Association has been lobbying all Texas state agencies for the last year to divest their Disney stock. It is also urging Americans to boycott Disney, claiming it has a “homosexual agenda.” The AFA’s list of other Disney films it finds objectionable include: “Chasing Amy” (lesbianism), “Color of Night” (sex), “Clerks” (graphic language), “Chicks in White Satin” (lesbianism), “Dogma” (homosexuality), “Lie Down with Dogs” (homosexuality), “Priest” (homosexuality, anti-Christian), and “The House of Yes” (incest). AFA’s effort in Texas included collecting 5,000 signatures and producing a video called “Dumping Disney: How Texas is Bankrolling the Disney Empire.” It also found support in the Texas legislature, where an AFA official earlier this year testified by reading lyrics from groups produced by Disney’s music label, Hollywood Records.
A scene from “Pulp Fiction,” which a Texas education official singled out as an example of a Disney-backed film that the state education board objects to.
OTHERS FOR, AGAINST The AFA is not the only group to go after Disney. Southern Baptists last year voted to boycott Disney because of its alleged “promotion of immoral ideologies and practices.” But Rep. Harryette Erhardt, D-Dallas, was one of three state lawmakers who told an education board committee Thursday that they felt that going after Disney was about politics, not what’s in the best interests of schoolchildren.
And the Texas Freedom Network, a religious group that calls itself a “moderate voice” in the debate about family values, warned that tactics like divesting stock are risky for state agencies, which also hold stock in companies involved in tobacco, alcohol, gambling and adult entertainment. “Divesting from a profitable stock to make a political point is the top of a slippery slope in which the investments of public state agencies … are determined by the social morals of select groups,” said Richard Levy, a board member of the network who testified before the education committee Thursday.
GOVERNOR AGAINST IDEA Texas Gov. George W. Bush also voiced opposition, saying through a spokeswoman that he believes investment decisions by state funds should be based on return on investment, not ideology. But Karen Hughes added that Bush, a Republican, would not interfere in the board’s work. “This is a decision to be made by the board, which is independently elected,” she said. The board runs the public school system in Texas and controls the $17.6 billion Permanent School Fund, which holds the Disney stock.