Newsmakers

'Gangs' Warfare

After a movie's release gets postponed three times, its budget spirals out of control and rumors leak that the director and the producer are fighting, the movie begins to acquire a certain stench. That was the cloud hanging over Miramax's "Gangs of New York," Martin Scorsese's violent, romantic epic of pre-Civil War Gotham, said to cost as much as $110 million. So how do you turn the negative buzz around? By showing a 20-minute "extended preview" to selected press and VIPs at the Cannes Film Festival.

From the enthusiastic reaction to the "Gangs" trailer last week, the gamble paid off. The movie--starring a beefy Leonardo DiCaprio out to avenge the death of his father at the hands of gang leader Bill the Butcher (Daniel Day-Lewis), and Cameron Diaz as a woman of the night--looks sumptuous, classy and action-packed.

At the post screening press conference, Harvey Weinstein, Miramax's co-chairman, blasted the reporters for being more interested in DiCaprio's partying than in art. "You write about Leo's late-night antics. I'll tell you what Leo was doing late at night. He was working on the goddam script." Scorsese admitted there were turbulent moments getting his movie made. "I'm a very excitable person," he said. "Harvey is very colorful. We had our disagreements, but after every one we came to terms." On Christmas Day, a year after it was first scheduled to open, we'll see if the enthusiasm lasts. There was, remember, great buzz when the "Evita" trailer played in Cannes in 1996. Then it opened, and many people wished the whole movie were only 20 minutes.

SPARRING PARTNERS

Q&A: TONY CURTIS

I've always wondered, what exactly did you wear underneath your dress?
We had to wear some tight underwear, so there wouldn't be any unnecessary bulges, without getting too descriptive. We had these pieces of equipment built in that brought us down to practically nothing. Which was a dilemma when you had to pee.

Please tell me you're not playing a woman again.
I'm playing Osgood E. Fielding this time, the eccentric millionaire.

Can you carry a tune?
I never sang, but listen. I fall in love too easily. I fall in love too fast. How's that?

Lovely.
Too bad you can't see me dance. I've got it covered. I can move.

You once said that kissing Marilyn Monroe was like kissing Hitler. Was she really that bad?
I never said that. By that time, she had caused so much trouble with everybody: she was late, she didn't show up half the time. The studio was fed up with her, but they didn't want to say that outright. They'd plant anything. You know, she and I were lovers in 1948.

So what was she like to kiss?
She was delish. A voluptuous peach. I won't go into the details. I'm allowed the privilege.

Ever kiss Jack Lemmon?
Yes, I did. It was a bad night.

Have you given up on Hollywood?
There's movies that come up every now and then, but I don't want to play old men on the screen.

But you're 76.
Are you kidding, my dear? I can get away with murder. I could still f--- around at being 50.

So you look good, huh?
Oh, so handsome.