In Hollywood, almost everyone is overpaid for the essentially frivolous task of making movies. But who, you're wondering, is the most egregiously overcompensated, in a dollars-paid-to-dollars-made sense. Well, the helpful folks at Entertainment Weekly have compared salaries to box-office returns, and the top dog is no surprise: Sylvester Stallone, whose huge checks have been grosser than his grosses. He pocketed $20 million for such piles of celluloid as "Judge Dredd" and "Assassins," when, the study suggests, he should be making $8.4 million at the most. Now, Morgan Freeman -- he's easily worth a Stallone and a half. A scene-stealer in "Seven" and "Unforgiven," he's Hollywood's most underpaid star. Instead of the $6 million per pic he commands, he should be getting $11.4 million. According to EW, the only star worth his mega-checks is $15 million man Tom Hanks, whose films "Forrest Gump," "Apollo 13" and "Philadelphia" raked in big bucks.
Speaking of Hollywood underperformers -- "Showgirls"! Unable to watch it with a straight face during its disastrous first run, irony-prone audiences in New York and Los Angeles are giving the breasty epic a glimmer of new life on the midnight-movie circuit. A la "Rocky Horror Picture Show," it's movie-going as interactive performance art: Filmgoers, some in drag, toss fake money at the lap dancers onscreen and shout out their favorite lines. It has director Paul Verhoeven inexplicably comparing "Showgirls" to "the metamorphosis of a butterfly to a caterpillar." Uh, sure.
Not even the jaws of life will pry us out of this place: The Hello Gorgeous!! Museum, a planned shrine to Barbra Streisand in San Francisco. (Yes, this story comes from a reputable wire service, so it must be true.) Set to open May 10, it's the dream-become-reality of superfan Ken Joachim, who's sinking his $200,000 life savings into it. And rarely has money been better spent: The museum will feature a display of Barb's cast-off dishes and lamps, as well as costumes she once wore. Don't forget your American Express card: Joachim plans to sell wigs of Streisand's various hairstyles. And -- talk about your vacation highlights -- visitors will be able to undergo Streisand makeovers, prosthetic nose and all, thus completing their own metamorphoses from butterfly to caterpillar.
Compiled by Scott Dickensheets ([email protected])
archive