Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Monday’s People in the News

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])

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