People talk 7/9/02

Actress confesses her love for Pop Tarts

NEW YORK -- Lara Flynn Boyle swears she really does eat.

"I love Slim Jims, Hot Tamales, banana cake," the notoriously thin actress tells Jane magazine for its August issue. "I love pie a la mode -- oh, God, nothing like it. Roast beef, peas in mashed potatoes, escargot, caviar, peanut butter and jelly, Pop Tarts, I love it all."

And she doesn't work out to maintain her slim frame.

"I just work. You know? I get up at 4 in the morning, and I'm on my feet most of the day," the 32-year-old says. "Certain jobs just naturally keep you the weight you are. I mean, I like to swim, but I don't have a swimming pool or anything."

Boyle co-stars with Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones in "Men in Black II" as Serleena, a power-hungry alien who comes to Earth disguised as a Victoria's Secret model. The sequel to 1997's "Men in Black" was the top movie at the box office this weekend, and has grossed $90 million since opening Wednesday.

Top bachelor proud of his intellectual talents

MILWAUKEE -- Sam Page recently made People magazine's Top 50 Bachelors list, but he's more than just a pretty face.

The actor, who plays meddlesome lawyer Trey Kenyon on the ABC soap opera "All My Children," believes his unique Ivy League background helped put him on the list, which includes Ben Affleck, George Clooney and Carson Daly.

At Princeton University, Page wrote his senior thesis on female mating preferences in the Eastern mosquito fish, which was published in the science journal Current Biology. He also played on the school's baseball team.

The 26-year-old never dreamed of being an actor while growing up in Whitefish Bay, Wis.; he spent his time studying and playing sports.

But after college, Page looked at his degree in ecology and evolutionary biology and decided to move to Los Angeles, despite having no acting experience.

"The only thing I could think of that I wanted to do was acting," he said.

'Sex and the City' author gets married

NEW YORK -- Candace Bushnell is no longer a single girl in the city. The author of "Sex and the City" has gotten hitched.

Bushnell, whose best-selling book was adapted into the Emmy-winning HBO series starring Sarah Jessica Parker, married Charles Askegard July 4 on a wind-swept Nantucket beach, off the Massachusetts coast.

"One has to be open-minded when the right man comes along," Bushnell, 43, told The New York Times for Sunday's editions. "And I know it's freaky, but this just seems like the natural thing to do."

"We're both independent, so we complement each other in a good way," said the groom, a 33-year-old ballet dancer she met eight weeks earlier. "It's fun to be out on the town with her, but when we're alone, that's when it's really great."

After the couple were declared man and wife, Bushnell ran across the sand and leapt at Askegard, who caught her and held her above his head.

It's her first marriage and his second.

"Bushnell's book was a collection of columns she'd written for the New York Observer newspaper. She's also the author of the best seller "Four Blondes."

Jackson takes role as host for ESPY Awards

NEW YORK -- The difference between athletes and movie stars is easy to identify for Samuel L. Jackson.

The actor of such recent fare as "Changing Lanes," the latest "Star Wars" episodes and the upcoming thriller "XXX," has had a lot of time to think about the issue while preparing to host the ESPY Awards on ESPN this week.

"Athletes take things more seriously. We have a lot of drama around here with the show because certain athletes won't come on because ESPN said something bad about them," he told the July 15 edition of Newsweek magazine, on newsstands Monday.

"As an actor, you get criticized and rejected all day. We don't take it personally."

Election sways director's mind for film shoot locale

MIAMI -- Swinging chads and a confusing presidential election inspired John Sayles to film his latest movie in Florida.

A native of Schenectady, N.Y., the writer-director has used other locations for his films, including Texas ("Lone Star"), Alaska ("Limbo"), Ireland ("The Secret of Roan Inish") and Latin America ("Men With Guns").

Then came the 2000 election.

"The election helped me focus ideas that I had been thinking about for a long time," Sayles told the Miami Herald on Sunday. The result is "Sunshine State."

"It reminded me how much Florida is a place of parallel communities that don't always intersect and have totally different ways of looking at the world. They might do certain things together, but they don't necessarily mix."

Young rapper found court transition easy to make

PHILADELPHIA -- Bow Wow, the rapper-turned-actor, wasn't too worried about making the transition to the hard court for "Like Mike."

A basketball fan, the 15-year-old needed less preparation than most when he took the role of Calvin Cambridge, an orphan who stumbles across a pair of old-school high-tops and becomes a basketball star.

"I just had to get adjusted to it, but it's good I could play a little; I'm happy about my balling. Probably saved Fox a lot of money by not paying for expensive basketball lessons," he said.

"This was my first movie, and the experience was wonderful," Bow Wow, who has dropped the Lil' from his name, told the Philadelphia Inquirer last week. "I had a lot of fun doing it, having the opportunity to work with many actors and NBA stars."

-- From wire reports

"Like Mike" debuted in third place at the box office this weekend, earning about $20 million since its Wednesday opening.

-- From wire reports