Brooke Shields’ Revenge on Tom Cruise | Star Actress Wanted for New Drama | Mercedes Rules; Warden Remembered
Brooke Shields’ Revenge on Tom Cruise
Brooke Shields has infamously crossed swords with Tom Cruise on the subject of psychiatry — the pint-sized film star openly criticized Shields for taking antidepressants to cure her postpartum depression.
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Shields told me over the weekend that she’s now set to play a shrink on the F/X hit drama “Nip/Tuck.” But she won’t be anything like the confident dispenser of comfort and wisdom that Lorraine Bracco plays on “The Sopranos.”
“This is a shrink no one should go to,” Brooke told me while chasing her 3-year-old daughter Rowan around the VIP tent at Mercedes-Benz Bridgehampton Polo on Saturday afternoon. Meanwhile, writer-producer husband Chris Henchy (“Entourage”) had a watchful eye on their newborn, Grier.
“It’s a recurring role,” Shields reported, but the irony is not lost on anyone. Cruise, an avowed Scientologist, is anti-psychiatry. He attacked Shields for embracing the otherwise-revered science. Now she’s joining the ranks of the professionals.
Shields and Henchy weren’t the only notables at Polo, which kicked off its season with a slew of sponsors like Intermix, T-Mobile Sidekick 3 and Gold Peak iced tea.
Also glad-handing and having a ball were model/entrepreneur Janice Dickinson, gay and dead “Soprano” Joe Gannascoli, two-time Oscar nominee Sylvia Miles and FOX’s very own Bill McCuddy.
Movie producer/media mogul/businessman Keith Barish was also on the scene, with son, Chris and Chris’ wife, Michelle .
The Barishes threw a terrific barbecue later at their Southampton manse with all the fixins and plenty of interesting guests, including former Barneys owner Gene Pressman, who’s publishing his first book this fall, “Chasing Cool.”
Star Actress Wanted for New Drama
Hollywood agents and managers are on red alert this week. Oscar-nominated director Terry George, who brought “Hotel Rwanda” to life and garnered numerous awards, is casting the fourth of a quartet of actors to star in his next film.
George is set to begin shooting “Reservation Road” on Oct. 1 in Connecticut for Focus Features. The story, based on Jonathan Burnham Schwartz’s novel, centers on two couples and what happens when one husband kills the child of the other in a hit-and-run.
So far, Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Ruffalo are set to play the male leads. Jennifer Connelly is on board as Phoenix’s wife, a role that George tells me every actress in her age range has coveted. But the part of Ruffalo’s wife, which is said to be just as good, if not better, is still open.
George is said to be considering a slew of actresses, from Annabella Sciorra to Christina Applegate, with plenty of other names tossed in there, including Bridget Fonda and Jennifer Jason Leigh. Parts this meaty for young actresses don’t come along very often anymore, so you can imagine the jockeying for position on George’s list.
I am told the director himself is currently rewriting and tinkering with Schwartz’s script to get it exactly right.
Filming is set for Oct. 1, and George should have an easier time in Connecticut than he did a couple of years ago while filming “Hotel Rwanda” in the tougher neighborhoods of Johannesburg. You never know, though. Those Greenwich matrons can be pretty tough if you cross them the wrong way!
Mercedes Rules; Warden Remembered
Mercedes Ruehl has an Oscar (“The Fisher King”) and a Tony (“Lost in Yonkers”). One of our most accomplished actresses, Ruehl opened on Saturday night in a nifty new play about artist Frida Kahlo in Sag Harbor at the Bay Street Theater.
“Viva la Vida!” — written by Diane Shaffer and directed by Susana Tubert — gets a short tryout run at Bay Street, so catch it now if you live in the New York area, and you can say you saw it “when.” Ruehl is so phenomenal, and the play is so well-staged that an Off-Broadway run and a taping for HBO or Showtime is inevitable.…
Jack Warden, so memorable in “Heaven Can Wait” and “Shampoo,” passed away over the weekend at age 85. He will be sorely missed. Warden leaves a lot of great performances behind, from “The Verdict” to “12 Angry Men” to “Bullets Over Broadway,” not to mention countless others. But I always really liked him in a little-known Andrew Bergman comedy “So Fine,” in which he co-starred with Ryan O’Neal . It’s worth a look.…
Also, condolences to Dick Cavett, whose wife, actress Carrie Nye , lost her battle with lung cancer two weeks ago at age 69. Nye was a Tony winner and popular New York stage actress who was a presence at the Williamstown Theatre Festival and made a lot of TV appearances, too. The couple had one of the longest “Hollywood” marriages, lasting 42 years.…
And how bad can “Miami Vice” be? The Michael Mann movie opens Friday, but the only advance quote Universal could find for its ads came from an obscure movie blog, aka fan page. Even the regular quote-pluggers must have been unavailable for this one. How creepy and sad. Where was the Hollywood Foreign Press on this one? Isn’t this what they’re for?
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