The Fix

Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick in "Strangers With Candy: The Movie," Prince on pushing the envelope, and Sean Penn, hair actor. Plus: Magazine to lose Martha's name?

Published March 15, 2004 3:21PM (EST)

Afternoon Briefing:

The little Prince: The artist once again known as Prince -- along with Jackson Browne, Bob Seger, Traffic, ZZ Top, the Dells, the late George Harrision -- will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame tonight in New York. On the "Today Show" this morning the purple one sounded like professor Prince, saying that young musicians are trying so hard to shock that "not pushing the envelope is pushing the envelope now." (AP via Miami Herald)

Cutest couple in the class: Sarah Jessica Parker and hubby Matthew Broderick will team up for "Strangers With Candy: The Movie" -- a feature version of the Comedy Central cult fave set in high school. (TV Guide)

The next Harry Potter? Remember the name Clive Woodall. The British supermarket manager just sold the film rights to his children's story "One for Sorrow: Two for Joy" to Disney for $1 million, and he's got a lot more where that came from. The 47-year-old has been writing since he was 10 and has more than a million words and 30 short stories in his drawer. (Reuters)

Start at the top: Sean Penn says he used to get into his roles by working from within, but now, "I consider myself to really be a hair actor. I discover the hair, the clothes, the movement and the role starts to form." (IMDB)

He reigns in Spain: Soccer hero David Beckham dismissed rumors that he would leave Real Madrid after last week's bombings, saying, "What happened in Madrid showed the strength of the people and the country and solidarity ... I have signed a four-year contract with Real Madrid. I want to stay here." (AFP)

Sopranos" trivia moment: Whose mug shot is that on the Bada Bing! wall near Tony's desk? Hint: He was one of the guys who got thrown off the bridge last night. Click here to find out.

-- Karen Croft

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Morning Briefing:

"The Passion" passion: Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" is still cleaning up at the box office, raking in $31.7 million over the weekend and beating the pants off Johnny Depp's "Secret Window," which pulled in $19 million on its opening weekend. Gibson's flick has raked in an estimated $264 million since Feb. 25 -- and is one of the 25 highest-grossing films of all time. (Reuters and the N.Y. Daily News)

What's in a name? Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia has filed an application to trademark the name "Everyday Living" as a magazine title, but a company spokesman refuses to say whether it is being considered as a replacement name for Martha Stewart Living in the wake of Martha's conviction. (Ad Age via Page Six)

By the book: Jayson Blair's book is not selling well, moving only 422 copies nationwide in preorders and on its day of release (last Saturday). Now, a little more than one week later, its Amazon sales rank is only 1,437. Plus Blair's biggest lie? "One other thing I learned about Jayson Blair from interviewing him that I haven't seen anywhere else: He changed his name from Jason to Jayson in eighth grade, but gave no reason why," writes Editor & Publisher's Joe Strupp. "He said he did not change it legally so, in a sense, even his very name is a lie." (Richard Prince's Journal-isms via Romenesko)

Money Quotes:

Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner, who will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame tonight, on presidential musical taste: "I'm feeling confident that Kerry can win ... Look who he likes: Bruce Springsteen! And I was with him at a Stones concert in Boston. What does Bush like? Wayne Newton! That's the choice for our country: Springsteen or Wayne Newton. I know what my choice will be." (Lloyd Grove's Lowdown)

More revealing than a nipple flash: Janet Jackson on her new song "Moist": "I'm equating the lyrical grace of gentle water with the phenomenal sensation of physical release. I want to praise that sensation, celebrate the feeling, and recreate the ecstasy that comes with a total mind-blowing, body-shaking orgasm." (Upscale magazine via Rush and Molloy)

Lisa Marie Presley on how she feels these days about her ex-husband Michael Jackson, whom she says she left because she "saw things going on" she could do nothing about: "It's really bizarre; I feel nothing." (ABC TV's "Enough Rope" via the Salt Lake Tribune)

-- Amy Reiter

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