Scoop

The Show Must Go On

As divorce nears, Tom and Nicole will reunite for a movie premiere

Focus

Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman won’t be spending the eve of their divorce sobbing alone over bowls of Ben & Jerry’s. They’re going out with a bash, attending the Aug. 7 Los Angeles premiere of their last joint project, The Others, a thriller produced by Cruise, 39, and starring Kidman, 34. Judging from what their attorneys are saying, though, they likely won’t be smiling side by side on the red carpet. In the words of Cruise’s attorney Dennis Wasser, “Tom wants to get on with his life, and he knows that Nicole wants to get on with her life.” The couple’s divorce officially takes effect Aug. 8, exactly six months and a day after Cruise filed for divorce, in keeping with California’s minimum waiting period. The divorce was granted by a Los Angeles judge in a seven-minute hearing on July 31. (The couple did not attend.) But the complications surrounding the property split and how they’ll share custody of kids Isabella, 8, and Connor, 6, will likely cause their settlement trial, the date of which will be determined at an Oct. 4 hearing, to drag on. “Our position,” said Wasser, “is we’d like to move this case along and get to trial as soon as possible.” On the other hand, Kidman’s attorney Sorrell Trope requested two months of preparation time and expects the trial to last two to three weeks—not the five days estimated in court papers. “I’ve tried numerous cases with Mr. Wasser,” he said. “It takes us a couple of days to clear our throats.”

Way More Than a Grand Time

Michael Jackson’s brother Jermaine was upset when the King of Pop decided to charge a king’s ransom for his upcoming Madison Square Garden shows featuring the likes of Marlon Brando, Liza Minnelli and, among others, a partially reunited Jackson 5. Tickets topped out at $2,500. The prices “will prevent some of our most loyal and true fans from attending,” complained Jermaine, who will not appear. Perhaps not. By 3 p.m. July 31, the first day of sales, promoters were crowing that the shows were “virtually” sold out. A quick check with Ticketmaster’s Web site that evening showed that while the cheapest seats, at $45 and $95, were gone, $2,500, $1,500 and $800 seats remained.

LeAnn Rimes, Suddenly Single

Breaking up is hard to do—especially when your ex takes a few ungentlemanly swipes at you on Entertainment Tonight. Andrew Keegan, 22, who recently split with LeAnn Rimes after three years, told the show that the 18-year-old country star “is still growing up,” and that “I pray for her every day and hope that she figures stuff out.” (A friend of Rimes’s dismisses Keegan with a curt “good riddance. He was a jackass—conceited and arrogant.”) Rimes reportedly ended things with Party of Five‘s Keegan after growing jealous of his close relationship with Piper Perabo, with whom he recently shot an upcoming film. Rimes “thought he hung the moon,” says her pal. “That was young love. We all make mistakes.” Rimes herself was recently seen holding hands with a spiky-haired guy at a Manhattan restaurant. “I’m happy for her,” says her pal. “I hope she makes a better choice this time.”

Sex & the Phantom Calories

A cheeseburger, fries and a strawberry shake. Bacon, eggs and home fries. Moo Shu pork. Almost an entire Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Devil’s Food cake. For four notoriously svelte women, the characters on HBO’s Sex and the City sure pack it away onscreen. Which begs the question (as Sex‘s Carrie might muse): Could anyone actually eat like that and look like that? Impossible, “unless the food portrayed was the only meal they ate for two days,” says Donna Cyrus of Crunch Fitness in New York City. If Sex‘s Miranda were ever to eat a box of her favorite éclairs following a relationship crisis, Cyrus says she’d have to run about 10 miles to burn off the treat.

• Clinton’s New Chairman
• It’s not the White House, but Madonna‘s brother Christopher Ciccone was thrilled to learn that former President Clinton’s new office in Harlem will be decorated with two $1,500 arm-chairs and a $2,800 sofa from the furniture designer’s Prague collection. “I was extremely flattered,” says Ciccone. Clinton, who was shown the collection at Manhattan’s Bernhardt Design showroom by his office architect Navid Maqami, had no idea the Material Girl’s brother designed the goods. He simply “said it Was firm and that people wouldn’t sink into it,” says Maqami of the seating. Ciccone admits “it’s a little bit surreal” to have the ex-Prez plopping down on his sofa. “You don’t go through life expecting to have your name connected to the President.”

The Luke of Love Is in Your Eyes…

Though her rep won’t comment, it sure looks as though Gwyneth’s got a new guy. Spotted this spring with Legally Blonde‘s Luke Wilson at New York City’s Tribeca Grand Hotel, an MTV Unplugged R.E.M. concert and, on a not-so-glam rendezvous, at a Manhattan post-office-box rental store, Paltrow, 28, who earlier this year dated ketchup-company heir Chris Heinz and film executive Jason Blum, just returned from a much-photographed holiday in Spain with the actor. Wilson, 29, who ended an 18-month relationship with Charlie’s Angels costar Drew Barrymore in 1999, met Paltrow on the set of The Royal Tenenbaums (a comedy about a family of geniuses), due in December. He’s also appearing in The Third Wheel with Paltrow’s pal and former big-time beau Ben Affleck.

What’s New, Pussycats?

Gladiator‘s Russell Crowe has moved on, but some cats stick with what they know best. Which is why a tiger, four lions and a hyena named Buffy, all of whom performed in Gladiator, are working in a theme-park production of a Roman epic at the Le Grand Parc Puy du Fou in France this summer, replete with dueling gladiators. So far, they have shown no concern about being typecast. “They like to work,” says Thierry Le Portier, trainer for the animals. “It’s a game.” But not one to be taken lightly. “If they had gotten loose on the set,” says Le Portier of his tigers, “it would have ended the careers of both Russell and them.” Somewhere, perhaps, Dennis Quaid is smiling.

In the Company of Heroes

While filming Wind-talkers, the upcoming movie about Navajo Marines who used their language to befuddle Japanese code-breakers during WWII, Nicolas Cage marveled at the real-life stories of the military men. So when President Bush recently presented Congressional Gold Medals to the Navajos and noted that their service “inspires the respect and admiration of all Americans,” Cage had a front-row seat—flanked by his girlfriend Lisa Marie Presley and Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. James L. Jones—at the Capitol in Washington, D.C. Said Cage afterward: “I couldn’t help but get somewhat emotional.”

POP QUIZ

with Heather Graham

Like many her age, Heather Graham, 31, remains single in a world filled with fragile relationships. Past loves have included James Woods, Ed Burns and, most recently, Heath Ledger. So why hasn’t she settled down? Graham spoke of the rigors of romance last week while promoting her upcoming film Sidewalks of New York. Scoop joined the reporters’ roundtable.

Does dating fellow celebrities add to relationship anxiety?

You feel like you’re more under scrutiny. I think it might be nice to date someone not in the business. Might try that.

You dated Ed Burns, director of Sidewalks of New York.

That was kinda fun, being with somebody and working with them, feeling a certain level of comfort. You support the person you’re with, and they support you.

Is monogamy history?

I think it only happens when people are really honest about who they are, and are willing to go through some bad times together. I hope that I can have a long-term, great relationship like that.

Relationships, in general?

I think you learn a lot about yourself in them. It’s good to have sex.

In the upcoming film From Hell you kiss Johnny Depp.

It’s good to be a leading lady, to be a romantic lead, to play opposite people who are talented and “charismatic. “But I’m not really looking at it as my personal dating service.

What do you watch?

I am obsessed with Sex and the City. I love that it’s from the girl’s point of view. Guys don’t realize that girls are similar. They think we’re these pure little things who never feel lustful or attracted to other people.

ON THE BLOCK

CRANE’S NEST

Kelsey Grammer and his wife, Camille Donatacci, must be spending so much time at their five-acre spread in Malibu that they’re putting their “city” house in the Hollywood Hills on the market. The 2,100-sq.-ft. pied-à-terre has three bedrooms, high ceilings and two adjacent terraces with great views of Los Angeles and the Pacific Ocean. Grammer, who paid $599,000 for the place in 2000, is asking for $750,000. And since his Frasier salary recently jumped to about $35 million a year, television’s Dr. Crane shouldn’t be too concerned if the place doesn’t sell immediately.