People talk 8/5/03

Rapper Eminem sued by former classmate

DETROIT -- Eminem wants a Macomb County judge to dismiss a $1 million lawsuit that a former schoolmate filed against him.

The Grammy-winning rapper, born Marshall Mathers III, is scheduled to appear Aug. 18 in Macomb County Circuit Court to ask Judge Deborah Servitto to dismiss the case, The Detroit News reported Monday.

DeAngelo Bailey of Roseville sued Eminem in 2001. He claimed the 30-year-old rapper's song "Brain Damage," which named Bailey as a bully, damaged his reputation and his own ability to launch a music career.

Eminem's lawyer, Peter Peacock, filed a motion for dismissal last week, claiming Bailey is trying to cash in on his client's fame. Peacock also said the song is true because Bailey beat up Eminem when they were in the fourth and sixth grades at Roseville's Dort Elementary School.

Country act Dixie Chicks receive warm welcome

NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- The backlash the Dixie Chicks received earlier this year for comments about President Bush seemed like ancient history during a weekend concert.

The Alltel Arena packed in its biggest audience ever -- 17,065 people -- for a concert Saturday night by the Texas trio, arena marketing director Betty Baxter said.

Security was strict for the show, with fans subjected to pat-down searches and bag checks.

The country stars endured criticism after singer Natalie Maines made a remark about President Bush at a London concert shortly before the Iraq war. Maines said she was ashamed that the President is from her home state of Texas.

Many country stations, including some in Arkansas, refused to play the band's music and chastised Maines for criticizing the President while on foreign soil.

But the enthusiastic Arkansas crowd cheered wildly through the 110-minute set, which included the hits "Travelin' Soldier," "Long Time Gone" and a cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide."

'Buffalo Soldiers' star discusses cynicism

BOSTON -- America might be at war, but Joaquin Phoenix doesn't think his latest movie, "Buffalo Soldiers," has anything to do with the conflict in Iraq.

The film was made long before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks; Miramax actually acquired it at the Toronto Film Festival on Sept. 10, 2001.

"When I first read this script, I wasn't thinking this is a critique of the U.S. military. I don't really think the movie is critical of anything," Phoenix told the Boston Globe for Sunday's editions.

"Buffalo Soldiers" stars Phoenix as Ray Elwood, a battalion supply clerk stationed in Germany at the close of the Cold War. He runs every racket at the base, from black-marketing Mop & Glo to cooking dope.

The movie, by director and writer Gregor Jordan and adapted from the 1992 Robert O'Connor novel, opened last month in New York and Los Angeles and expands to more theaters Friday.

"It's more of a statement film and kind of a cynical statement at that," the 28-year-old actor said. "It explores the idea that war is inherent in man, and there's a seeming desire for conflict. It could be applied to any situation and any military."

Actress now chooses film projects with care

SAN FRANCISCO -- Naomi Watts is making up for lost time -- and on her terms.

The 33-year-old Australian actress has made nine movies in the past two years and has four films in the can, including "21 Grams" opposite Sean Penn and Benicio Del Toro, David O. Russell's "I Heart Huckabee's" and "The Assassination of Richard Nixon."

Her latest, "Le Divorce" with Kate Hudson, opens Friday in New York and Los Angeles and goes wider later.

The pace is a far cry from when she struggled in her 20s making small films of varying quality while Nicole Kidman, her best friend, ascended the ranks. Then came "Mulholland Drive" and last year's hit thriller "The Ring."

"I think I have better taste now than I did then," Watts told the San Francisco Chronicle for Sunday's issues.

"I've done movies almost back to back for the past year and a half, and I'm not getting talked into anything for anyone -- it has to be my decision.

"That's one of the lucky things about getting the success later on. I know how I want to dress, I know what kind of house I want to live in, I just know more about myself, and that's true about the roles I want to play and what parts of myself I want to express. You're just more in touch with yourself."