GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

MARCH 26, 1999

Evenings Out

Ellen's back o the big screen

Don't worry--you won't be the only one experiencing a sense of déjà vu watching Ron Howard's new comedy EDtv, which opens nationwide March 26.

It's hard not to compare it to last year's Jim Carrey-driven vehicle The Truman Show, which earned Carrey a "best actor" Golden Globe, but no Academy Award nomination. EDtv, not unlike Truman, is about a regular guy (Matthew McConaughey as Ed) whose life is broadcast on television for all of America to see-unscripted, unedited, unrehearsed and unpredictable. In other words, "all Ed, all the time."

In this most recent look at the role of television in American culture, überlesbian Ellen DeGeneres plays the role of the mastermind behind the show. In Truman, it was Ed Harris in a similar role as the svengali-like Christof (a role that earned him an Academy Award nomination as "best supporting actor.")

The idea for the 24/7 look into Ed's life comes when the fictional NorthWest Broad-" casting Company's (NBC for short, of course) flagship cable channel, True TV, suffers a catastrophic slide in their ratings in the two years they have been on the air. Renowned for their documentary programming, they have now lost ground, as program director Cynthia Topping (DeGeneres) bluntly states, to something called "The Gardening Channel."

In a desperate attempt to boost the station's ratings while saving her own career in the process, Topping cultivates a novel idea, a new concept in the history of broadcasting-putting one ordinary person's life on cable TV 24 hours a day, with no script, no actors, no editing. According to Topping, America will sit in front of

Ellen Degeneres as Cynthia Topping.

their TVs and watch this person live ...live!

Once the network suits reluctantly okay the idea, Topping and her staff set out to find the ideal candidate. After numerous auditions, the settle on Ed Pekurny (McConaughey) a boyish, goofy, thirtysomething underacheiver from San Francisco. Within a week, this unambitious video store clerk becomes the hit of the TV season, and True TV's ratings soar.

"I think the film portrays a lot of people's personal fantasies," said director Howard, recalling his own life growing up in the spotlight (beginning with his role as Opie

on the Andy Griffith Show). “What would it be like to be famous? What would it be like to be the person on a magazine cover, or starring in a TV show? We deal with those questions both semi-seriously and comedically throughout the movie."

Certainly, DeGeneres, whose name became synonymous with lesbian after she came out both in real life and on her television show, can relate to that concept.

"There are a lot of people who become celebrities just because they're on television," DeGeneres said. "Kato Kaelin became one because he was a witness in the

Ed (Matthew McConaughey) and his brother Ray (Woody Harrelson) try

out for a new show.

O.J. Simpson thing. Our weather man [in Los Angeles] is a celebrity. It's weird because celebrity does not have anything to do with talent...nothing to do with longevity, with any kind of substance."

That was the point that DeGeneres says attracted her to the film, "that you can have no talent whatsoever, but if you're on television, and people see you on television, they get caught up in your life, and feel like they know you. In this case. they do know Ed because they're watching his life on this television show."

DeGeneres said she based her character. Cynthia Topping, on "people that I have met in this industry

who appear to be your friend and pretend to really care about you when it's basically just about the ratings." As soon as they no longer need you, they toss you aside. I didn't even have to do any research," she said with a chuckle. "But unlike those people, my character actually has a conscience."

The Emmy-award winning actress and comic noted that Americans seem fascinated by watching other people's lives.

"Sort of what's happening with talk shows right now, like Jerry Springer," she said. "We love to watch tragedy. It's like the more screwed up somebody's life is, the more interesting it is for us to watch."

But she emphasizes the un-realness of that situation.

"They appear to be real and then they create these dramas between these supposed people on stage who are telling their darkest secrets on national television. It is interesting to watch human nature."

At the beginning of the film, as screenwriter Lowell Ganz points out, "one of the characters says: 'It's supposed to be an examination of someone's real life, but once it gets on TV, it's not real anymore."

Also appearing in EDtv are Jenna Elfman (TV's Dharma) as Shari, the endearing UPS driver who becomes Ed's love interest, and Woody Harrelson as Ed's brother Ray. He and McConaughey could easily pass for brothers in real life. Sally Kirkland, Adam Goldberg, Martin Landau Rob Reiner, Dennis Hopper and Brit actress Elizabeth Hurley also share screen time in the film.

Next up for DeGeneres is The Love Letter. in which she will star with Kate Capshaw (Mrs. Stephen Spielberg) and Titanic's Gloria Stewart. The Love Letter is scheduled for release later this year. ♡

Compiled by Doreen Cudnik with press materials from Universal Pictures.