Disney plans to edit “Pearl Harbor” for international audiences
Yet another sign that the sure-to-be blockbuster “Pearl Harbor” has a rigorous allegiance to history: Disney plans to make “minor dialogue changes” for the international versions that will be released in Japan and Germany. The $140 million film premiered Monday night at a $5-million-dollar gala on a battleship in Pearl Harbor. The film opens Friday in the United States, June 7 in Germany and July 14 in Japan.
Andrea Marozas, a senior vice president of communications for Walt Disney Studios, would not elaborate about dialogue except to say, “We made these changes out of consideration for the international audiences.” Before filming, the studio held meetings and discussions in Japan to get input there on the film. She said the film was edited so as not to offend people in either Japan or Germany, because normally the subject matter of war wouldn’t offend people.
HIT AND A MISDEMEANOR: One case might settle, but thousands more drag on. Prosecutors have reduced one of the charges in Robert Downey Jr.’s Palm Springs drug possession case to a misdemeanor. The actor was scheduled to be arraigned Thursday in a Riverside County court on the reduced charge after his attorneys filed a court document arguing he should be charged with a misdemeanor for allegedly possessing Valium, Deputy District Attorney Tamara Capone said. Downey still faces a felony count of possessing cocaine and an additional misdemeanor count of being under the influence of a controlled substance.
SAME OLD SONG: Meanwhile, scrolling down the music celebrity docket: Christina Aguilera has sued two music companies, her former producers and several other people to block the commercial release of some demo tapes made several years ago, reports Agence France-Presse. Aguilera alleges in a lawsuit that her former producers and others made a deal to package and sell the recordings in a 13-song album titled “Just Be Free,” due out June 5. According to the suit, the distributors have started accepting tens of thousands of orders at $10 apiece for the album. The 20-year-old star also claims the producers used her name, likeness and photograph for advertising without her consent.
In another musically inclined lawsuit, the widow of Dave Prater, half of the 1960s duo Sam and Dave, is suing for royalties. Rosemary Prater, who was married to her husband for seven years before he died in a 1988 car accident, claims she and Prater’s children have been royalty-deprived for several years. Prater and his partner, Sam Moore, had several hits in the 1960s, including “Soul Man” and “Hold On, I’m Coming.” They continued to perform for many years before breaking up in the early 1980s.
TOP-HEAVY PLATFORM: How someone who is a size 34FF can stand for anything is beyond the grasp of physics, but in politics, anything is possible. British model Jordan, whose real name is Katie Price, is running as an independent candidate in the Stretford and Urmston seat in Manchester. So far she has made campaign promises of free plastic surgery, more nudist beaches and tax cuts for those who get involved with a foreign soccer player (her boyfriend, Dwight Yorke, plays for the Manchester United). The platform also includes a ban on parking tickets and a requirement that police escort home drunken clubbers.
The 23-year-old Jordan, backed by the Daily Star, told the tabloid that she’ll “need a big swing to get into Westminster, but I’m bursting to start campaigning.” The paper pumped up the puns, “Jordan has always kept abreast of current affairs and she’s ready to provide a bigger and bouncier Britain.” Did we revolt yet? Oh, yes, good thing.
THINGS SEEM TO BE BETTER THE SECOND TIME AROUND: Ellen DeGeneres, who’s about to launch her second sitcom, has been chosen for the second time to host the Primetime Emmy Awards.The Emmys are scheduled to be broadcast live on CBS on Sept. 16 from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. Nominations will be announced July 12. DeGeneres was the awards show co-host in 1994 with Patricia Richardson of “Home Improvement. “The actress-comedian came out as a lesbian in 1997 on “Ellen,” which ABC canceled a year later. She’s working on a CBS comedy debuting this fall in which she plays a lesbian Internet executive who moves back to her small hometown.
Today’s People Column was compiled by Vera H-C Chan from staff and wire reports. Comments? Write to us c/o the Times, P.O. Box 8099, Walnut Creek, CA 94596-8099. Or call 925-943-8262, fax 925-943-8362, or e-mail spin@cctimes.com.
Milestones
Manuscript auctioned: Of Jack Kerouac. The original manuscript of “On The Road” was auctioned Tuesday for $2.46 million, a record for the sale of a literary work. The Indianapolis Colts football team owner James Irsay acquired the 120-foot-long scroll filled with the single-spaced typewritten narrative. He hopes to display it in an Indiana museum and maybe take it on a national tour.
Birthdays: Comedian Tommy Chong (63), singer Bob Dylan (60), actor Gary Burghoff (58), singer Patti LaBelle (57), actress Priscilla Presley (56), country singer Mike Reid (54), actor Alfred Molina (48), singer Rosanne Cash (46), actress Kristin Scott Thomas (41), actor-dancer Gene Anthony Ray (38), rock musician Vivian Trimble (38), actor John C. Reilly (36), actor Eric Close (34), rapper-recording executive Heavy D (34), rock musician Rich Robinson of The Black Crowes (32), actor Billy L. Sullivan (21), actor-rapper Big Tyme (18), country singer Billy Gilman (13).