LEO'S NUDES AREN'T NEWS, SAYS NEWSPAPER

The nude photos of Leonard DiCaprio that Playgirl magazine plans to publish in its July issue -- and which have prompted an invasion-of-privacy suit by DiCaprio and a motion to bar their release -- are in reality only stills from DiCaprio's 1995 film Total Eclipse that have already been published in Europe, the New York Post reported today (Tuesday). In the film, which flopped at the box office, DiCaprio, as French poet Arthur Rimbaud, appears nude in a homosexual love scene.

-- Dan Draghici (ddraghic@sprint.ca), April 07, 1998

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Tuesday, April 7, 1998 11:40 AM <>br Could Leo Land $25 Million?

With actors' salaries continuing to skyrocket, how much will the hotter-than-hot Leonardo DiCaprio command if he signs on to a big-budgeted studio pic? An entertainment analyst tells USA Today that depending on the eventual gross of The Man in the Iron Mask, which has taken in about $49 million so far, the Titanic heartthrob's paycheck could soar to an unbelievable $25 million for his next film. "Hollywood is just quaking in its boots about it," Jae Kim, an analyst with Paul Kagan Associates, tells the paper. No doubt. Studios are already shelling out north of $20 million for the likes of Jim Carrey, Tom Cruise, Mel Gibson, and John Travolta, and if the twenty-three-year-old DiCaprio lands a salary in the mid-twenties, their asking prices would have to be adjusted accordingly. DiCaprio's weary rep, Carla Guagenti, refuses to divulge what the actor's current asking price is: "We don't give out that information," she tells USA Today. "We feel that he is overexposed right now. . . . We want to pull way, way back."

And speaking of overexposure, the New York Post says that those nude photos of Leo that Playgirl plans to publish are indeed stills from the 1995 bomb Total Eclipse, in which DiCaprio played French poet Arthur Rimbaud. The pics have already been published in Europe. Leonardo filed suit two weeks ago against the magazine to try to stop it from publishing the photos. Go rent the movie and try hitting freeze-frame if you're desperate.

As for his future, DiCaprio, who has been mentioned for several projects, including Sean Penn's adaptation of William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying, is taking his time deciding on his next move, although the same can't be said for the rest of his family. The New York Daily News says that Leo's father is hot for his son to star in the drama Slay the Dreamer, which centers on a young lawyer who believes James Earl Raythe man convicted of assassinating Martin Luther King, Jr.was a scapegoat for a larger conspiracy and sets out in search of the truth. This is a timely topic given Coretta Scott King's recent call for a new investigation into her husband's murder, which took place thirty years ago last Saturday in Memphis. King and Attorney General Janet Reno are due to meet Wednesday.

Mark Lane, who co-wrote the pic with Donald Freed, says he's "optimistic" about the project, even though he hasn't even met with Leo. "I have spoken to his father, George, on numerous occasions," says Lane. "He said to me, 'If Leo makes the top-grossing film for fifty years and wins an Academy Award for every one of those years, it will not be as significant as if he makes this film.'" Lane and the project's producers, who also happen to be DiCaprio's managers, are set to meet with what the paper calls a "big-name director" in the next few days. Stay tuned.

-- Dan Draghici (ddraghic@sprint.ca), April 07, 1998.

si por favor gracis

-- sonia alvino a. (soniaalvino@latinmail.com), March 22, 2003.