Fitness guru Richard Simmons, who has been offering guidance to the out-of-shape masses on his Sirius Satellite radio program of late, reveals, "Now we're going to turn it into a television show. Right now everyone is offering me certain things, but I know the show I want to do."
As in his radio gig, he'll respond to people who write to him about their weight -- and life -- problems.
Simmons' ebullience is on hold when he soberly discusses the epidemic of obesity in America. "Bottom line, I think, is the fact that people have low self-worth right now. People are drowning their sorrows in food. There are a lot of financial problems and relationship problems out there," he notes, "people who have lost their self-confidence and self-respect."
He points out, "Now we have more than 400,000 people who weigh over 400 pounds in this country. Most of them are housebound. Then there's a whole segment of women, 200-300 pounds -- they're walking, but they hurt. There are very few rehab centers that deal with them. The government ain't gonna help. It's going to take educating people, educating families, about getting on programs they can live with."
Simmons, who often pays visits to such shut-ins at their homes and at medical facilities, admits, "I'm not saying that it sometimes doesn't destroy me. I go in clowning and sing and all that, and leave in just a mess. No matter where I go, there are overweight children and adults. Do they love themselves? Someone could have said something years ago that sticks with them for life: 'You'll never lose weight,' or 'You'll never get married.' People have to pull themselves up out of the ashes and say, 'I am made in God's image.'"
THE VIDEOLAND VIEW:
Vanessa Marcil's ambitious "Las Vegas" character, Sam Marquez, who only cares about money and has no interest in love, couldn't be further from Marcil's reality, according to the actress. "She's almost nothing like me. I don't want to work as hard as she works to have more money. I'm more interested in enjoying my life," claims Marcil. Ironically, she adds, "My character is the only one on the show who is not interested in love or kids at all, and in real life, but I'm the only one [of the cast] on the show who has a baby." She and ex-boyfriend Brian Austin Green have a 3-year-old named Kassius.
"He [Kassius] comes on set with me almost every day unless he's on set with his dad." As far as Kassius following in Mom and Dad's footsteps, it's too soon to tell. 'The actual acting part, he's pretty uninterested," she claims. "And I don't let him watch TV, so he doesn't understand that what we're doing ends up on television."
THE BIG SCREEN SCENE:
Jason Biggs is accustomed to working alongside fellow actors, but in the upcoming Disney flick "Eight Below," premiering Feb. 17, he learned the hard way about working with dogs. "My first shot of the entire movie, I came up behind a dog, and the dog turned around and bit my arm, but it was because I scared the little guy," he recalled at the movie's premiere at the El Capitan theater in Hollywood. There he was joined by fellow cast members Paul Walker, Moon Bloodgood, Bruce Greenwood, and director Frank Marshall. Despite the cold filming conditions, Biggs claimed it wasn't as uncomfortable as it looks in the picture set in Antarctica. "We're a bunch of spoiled Hollywood actors, so we had our warming tents, 19 layers of thermal, and cups of hot cocoa being brought in for us -- life wasn't too bad."
COMING UP:
Although the name Alexander Gould may not sound familiar as of yet, chances are very good that you've heard the voice of the talented 11-year-old whose credits include the title roles in "Finding Nemo" and DisneyToon Studio's DVD release "Bambi II." Of the latter, Alexander tells us, "The only real hard part was that I had to imitate the voice from the original 'Bambi,' and then keep adjusting my voice. We did it over a period of many months, and my voice changed a little bit over that time, but we didn't want it to sound different in the movie." It worked out. He's been getting excellent reviews for the flick that picks up from the 1942 classic. Patrick Stewart voices Bambi's father in the sequel, which will be taken off the market April 17.
Gould also plays the son of pot-dealing momma Mary Louise Parker on Showtime's "Weeds." And, this summer, he'll be seen in the big screen adaptation of the children's book "How to Eat Fried Worms."
(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.
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