July 23, 1999

Archived update from Cigarettes & Coffee, run by Greg Mariotti & CJ Wallis from 1999-2005

PT on the Set of Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut

Because of the nature of the material--and also because it's how Kubrick always worked--filming on Eyes was an intensely intimate affair. Kubrick himself usually manned the camera, allowing only a handful of crew on the set. One outsider permitted to watch the proceedings was 29-year-old Boogie Nights director Paul Thomas Anderson (Cruise, who'll be appearing in Anderson's follow-up, Magnolia, smuggled him past security). "Kubrick had a really small crew," recalls Anderson. "I asked him, 'Do you always work with so few people?' He gave me this look and said, 'Why? How many people do you need?' I felt like such a Hollywood a--hole."

Aimee Mann label troubles/Magnolia music

Among the most publicized dropees has been ex-'Til Tuesday singer Aimee Mann, who's become the martyred poster child for axed artists. Last January, the critically admired Geffen singer played her third solo album to her new bosses. (The record includes tracks that may be featured in Paul Thomas Anderson's December movie, Magnolia.) "At first they told us they liked [it]," says Mann's manager, Michael Hausman. "But later we found out they didn't like it so much. I met with Jimmy [Iovine, former Interscope cohead-turned-Interscope Geffen A&M cochair], and he was like, 'You'll have to excuse me, it's so crazy here--we're merging bathrooms.' I've got an artist who spent two years making a record, and this guy's telling me about bathrooms." In early May, Mann received official word she'd been let go. Adding insult to penury, to take her unreleased record elsewhere, she must first buy back the master tapes from UMG, which could run into several hundred thousand dollars. (UMG would not comment on the status of these negotiations.)