People in the News for May 13, 1998

Don't expect to see commercials for the film "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" on ABC. Universal Pictures and director Terry Gilliam say the network won't run ads for "Fear and Loathing" because an executive there thinks the film glorifies drug use. But the executive, Chris Hikawa of ABC's broadcast standards and practices department, says that's only because Universal won't let her see the film, opening May 22. "I said, 'Let us see a cut of the movie,"' Hikawa says. "They have never sent us a cut of the movie." Nor will they; Universal says it's against company policy. No other network has questioned the film's ads. Hikawa says ABC has refused to air advertising for other movies, though she could not recall an example. "Fear and Loathing" star Johnny Depp was unhappy. "This is the small move of a hypocrite," he says. "I can safely say this film doesn't make people want to do drugs. Quite the opposite. If you see this movie and you want to take drugs afterward, you've got to be a madman." Hikawa argued that Hunter S. Thompson's original book "glorifies drug use," a charge Gilliam denies. "I don't think it does," he says. "Some people are going to get really angry about this film, and other people are going to say it's the greatest thing since sliced bread. And that's part of the reason for making this film -- to create a ruckus. Somebody has to."

Miss Universe

Wendy Fitzwilliam was all set to talk during interviews at the Miss Universe pageant. It's a good thing she was ready to sing, too. The 25-year-old beauty from Trinidad and Tobago became the 47th Miss Universe on Tuesday night, helped by her silky rendition of the old jazz standard "Them There Eyes." "I heard it on my Ella Fitzgerald greatest hits CD," Fitzwilliam says. While she can sing, Fitzwilliam didn't think she would be asked. When it turned out she had to, "I just cleared my throat and did it." Fitzwilliam beat out 80 other contestants. Miss Venezuela, Veruska Ramirez, 18, finished second and Miss Puerto Rico, Joyce Giraud, 23, was third (Miss USA, Shawnae Jebbia of Massachusetts, was among the 10 finalists). Fitzwilliam, a pre-law student who wants to become a professional model before going to law school, will receive more than $200,000 in cash and prizes.

Diana book

A new book about Princess Diana is raising royal hackles with its assertion that two years before her divorce from Prince Charles, she had an affair that led to an abortion. In "The Real Diana," Lady Colin Campbell says the princess became pregnant by London art dealer Oliver Hoare. Quoting an anonymous friend of Diana, Campbell -- author of another unuauthorized bio of the Princess of Wales -- says she was "freaked right out" by the pregnancy. "She wanted the baby. 'Suppose it's a girl,' " she said, distraught at what she knew she had to do," Campbell said. Buckingham Palace had no comment, but one royal-watcher says of Campbell and her books, "Nobody even vaguely intelligent believes a single word she has written."

Compiled by Sun staff

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