People talk 04/15/03

Maguire, Mortensen up for MTV movie awards

NEW YORK -- Tobey Maguire and Viggo Mortensen were nominated for best male performance, and the movies they star in -- "Spider-Man" and "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" -- each received a leading five nominations for this year's MTV Movie Awards.

"Spider-Man" and "The Two Towers" were among the nominees Monday for best movie, along with "8 Mile," "Barbershop" and "The Ring."

Kirsten Dunst, who played Maguire's on-screen love interest in "Spider-Man," is up for best female performance, and the two were recognized in the best kiss category. Willem Dafoe, who plays the superhero's nemesis, the Green Goblin, is up for best villain.

"The Two Towers," the second film in "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, also was nominated for best on-screen team and best action sequence. And the film's tortured creature, Gollum, was nominated in a new category: best virtual performance.

Other digital creations competing against Gollum are Yoda from "Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones," Kangaroo Jack from "Kangaroo Jack," Dobby from "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" and Scooby-Doo from "Scooby-Doo."

The 12th annual MTV Movie Awards will be given out May 31 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, with the ceremony scheduled to air at 8 p.m. June 5.

Jolie pledges protection for Cambodia wilderness

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- Angelina Jolie has agreed to provide more than $1.3 million over five years to protect virgin wilderness in northwestern Cambodia.

The first installment of $350,000 is expected to arrive in Cambodia within 10 days.

Over the next four years, the actress will give $250,000 every year to fund the conservation project for nearly 52,000 acres of forest known as the "100 Elephants Forest," Mounh Sarath of Cambodian Vision in Development, which is coordinating implementation, said Monday. He hopes additional funding can keep the project going for 15 years.

The forest is in a remote area of the country controlled for years by the defunct guerrilla movement, the Khmer Rouge. The area is believed to be home to some of the last remaining wild tigers and elephants in Cambodia, he said.

Jolie, 27, became enchanted with Cambodia in 2000 while filming "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider." She later adopted an infant from Cambodia.

Prinze interested in writing after acting

RADNOR, Pa. -- Freddie Prinze Jr. says he plans to stop acting eventually to pursue a writing career.

"I'm going to stop acting in the next few years because it's just too weird," Prinze says in the April 19 issue of TV Guide. "You have to constantly be willing to live in a scary, emotional place, which is why actors are in therapy all the time."

Prinze, 27, has acted in such films as "I Know What You Did Last Summer" and "Scooby-Doo" and is shooting the sequel to the latter opposite his wife, Sarah Michelle Gellar.

But in the future, he plans to turn his efforts to writing. He's already written an episode of the TV series "Mutant X" that will air this month.

Lewinsky prepares for role on new Fox dating gameNEW YORK -- Handbag maker, gossip-column fodder and former White House intern Monica Lewinsky has a new gig: host of a dating game on Fox called "Mr. Personality."

"I've come to realize that I've already had my own reality show," Lewinsky told Newsweek for a story in this week's editions, out Monday.

"Mr. Personality," which debuts April 21, will feature a stockbroker named Hayley and 20 masked men vying for her affection. Hayley must choose a man based on his inner beauty.

Lewinsky also offers dating advice in her role as Hayley's confidante.

The woman who has pleaded for privacy in the past told Newsweek that she realizes her affair with President Clinton made her a public figure.

"I walk down the street and people recognize me," Lewinsky said. "That happened before I decided to do this show, and it will happen after."

Lewinsky isn't sure whether she'll continue in television. She's still designing purses and is considering law school or graduate school in psychology.

"I'm trying to see what is going to work best for me and what is my career," she said. "I'm trying to figure out my life."

Rourke hopes to make comeback in movies

NEW YORK -- Mickey Rourke says he hopes to make a comeback after years of making enemies.

"I hit the wall about five years ago," the actor told The New York Times for Sunday's editions. "I remember looking at myself in the mirror and thinking, look at what happened to you. I had blown everything, you know? I lost my credibility, my marriage, my money, my soul. I said to myself, you've got to change. And I realized that the acting was the only thing I had left."

Rourke plays a methamphetamine maker in the new film "Spun," and has smaller roles in the upcoming "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" and "Masked and Anonymous."

Though he was praised two decades ago for films including "Diner" and "Rumble Fish," he says he missed out on many roles in the past few years because of his hostility to the commercial aspects of making movies.

"I burned a lot of bridges, you know?" the 46-year-old said. "Thank God there's a new generation of directors and studio executives, or I wouldn't stand a chance."

-- From wire reports