Keoghan Glad 'The Amazing Race' Counters Negative World View

"The Amazing Race" host Phil Keoghan has been to all parts of the world, so it's interesting to learn that the place he felt the most danger is "probably JFK Airport. I'm not even kidding. Immediately after 9/11, major airports in the U.S. felt dangerous.
 
"But you see," he adds quickly, "people's perception is that the world is dangerous -- and that's not necessarily a reality. What we see in the news is war, disasters, and civil unrest. The more news strives to look for controversy and conflict to get the big headlines, the more Americans view the world as negative and dangerous. The perception is that America is the safest place in the world, but statistics show that just isn't true. Think about it: When was the last time you saw a positive image of another country on television?"
 
Why, that would probably have been on "The Amazing Race," Phil.
 
The top-rated, three-time Emmy-winning CBS show returns Feb. 29, with 11 pairs of contestants on a world trek with stops in Africa and The Middle East. Keoghan says that after past "Amazing Race" installments gave viewers a look at everyday folks in other lands helping travelers, "I was asked by people in e-mails and on the street, 'Were those Muslim people really like that?'

This is where our show has become more than just an entertainment show," he says, adding that none of the team anticipated the program would become so huge -- it's a hit in some 80 countries -- and have such an impact. "If we show a Muslim person giving money and help and showing concern for the racers that is very genuine, we're letting viewers see a reality they're not usually seeing."
 
Keoghan's writing a book called "52 Reasons to Own a Passport."
 
BLOODY UPSIDE DOWN ADVENTURE:

If you're among the Super Bowl viewers who caught the spot for Warner Bros.' upcoming remake of "Poseidon," you won't be surprised to learn that filming of the disaster epic -- about an ocean liner that capsizes -- "got hairy," as Freddy Rodriguez puts it. "The hairiest scenes to do were when the boat flipped over and another scene where we had to go up an elevator shaft." Rodriguez, who co-stars in the film with Richard Dreyfuss, Kurt Russell, Josh Lucas and Andre Braugher, adds, "Everyone in the film was always walking around with (stage) blood on our bodies and our faces. You'd walk into the commissary and there would be 100 or 200 extras and everybody's bloody. It was funny."
 
"Poseidon" is set to be released May 12, then Rodriguez will be back on the big-screen in July in M. Night Shyamalan's latest thriller, "The Lady in the Water." "The whole story is based on a bedtime story Night would tell his daughters," he says. "Paul Giamatti plays the manager of this apartment building who discovers this creature (played by Bryce Dallas Howard) who accidentally stumbles into our world."
 
TV TRAUMAS:

"ER's" Goran Visnjic says he not only hasn't asked the show's writers about the fate the baby-in-jeopardy his Dr. Kovac character is expecting with Abby (Maura Tierney) on the show -- he doesn't want to be told what's ahead. "If they tell you what they have in mind for the future and you really love the storyline and then they have to change it, then you're disappointed," he points out "If they tell me it's going to be great and then they kill the baby, I'm going to be p---ed off."
 
With Noah Wyle and Mekhi Pfifer shooting two special "ER" episodes in Africa (the first, "Darfur," airs March 2), Visnjic says that the Stateside team will be wrapping for the season a bit earlier than usual -- with 22 new episodes this season planned in all, plus the first two for next season. That would be season 13.
 
GOLDEN COUPLE:

With the Academy Awards Nominees' Luncheon taking place today (2/13), many have already whipped out their research books and figured out the identities of the man and the woman featured in this year's two stylish, torso view Academy Awards posters. Don't read on if you want to keep guessing. Those hands belong to Cary Grant and Julie Andrews.
 
WORDS THAT COUNT:

However the Academy Awards go, nominees Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener and the rest of the "Capote" team certainly have kudos to treasure -- including an endorsement from 94-year-old, reclusive "To Kill a Mockingbird" author Harper Lee, who is portrayed by Keener in the movie. According to Lee, "The film told the truth about Truman, and Philip Seymour Hoffman's performance is a work of art in itself."

(With reports by Stephanie DuBois and Emily Feimster)

The Beck/Smith syndicated newspaper column includes exclusive in-depth, behind-the-scenes reports on the stars, on the business of television and movie-making, and on the recording, publishing and media beats.

©2006 Creators Syndicate, Inc.