People.com Archive Scoop By People Staff Published on March 29, 2004 12:00 PM Share Tweet Pin Email Gibson and the Profits With The Passion setting box office records, Mel Gibson gathers riches—and contemplates another film based on ancient scriptures After the stunning success of The Passion of the Christ the big Hollywood question has been: What will Mel Gibson do now? With the money, that is. Gibson produced the film—which some industry sources estimate may reap over $1 billion worldwide from ticket sales, plus more from eventual DVD and video revenue and merchandising—with about $30 million of his own money and a friendly distributor. So he is estimated to eventually net more than $500 million. Says Paul Dergarabedian of Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc., which tracks box office numbers: “He’s in for one heck of a payday.” Gibson isn’t revealing how he plans to spend the money, but a friend says that “Mel is generous to a fault.” He cites a gift Gibson made but never disclosed to the public: a donation (of more than $1.5 million, according to another source) to underwrite medical and transportation costs of Maria de Jesus and Maria Teresa Quiej-Alvarez, Guatemalan conjoined twins who were surgically separated at the UCLA Medical Center in 2002. Gibson also quietly contributes to local charities when he’s on location. Gibson may plow some of his Passion profits into another religious-themed film. He told syndicated radio host Sean Hannity that the story of the Maccabees, Jews who fought for religious freedoms about two centuries prior to the birth of Christ, might make a good movie. “They stuck by their guns, and they came out winning,” said Gibson. The Actor and the PopeJim Caviezel, who portrays Jesus in The Passion of the Christ, and his wife, Kerri, met with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican on March 15. “I got to play Christ,” said Caviezel. ‘This man has lived him.” After a brief conversation, the pope blessed the actor and gave him an undisclosed gift. BRITNEY REWINDS A VIDEO Britney Spears changed her mind. Again. This time she canceled plans to include what appeared to be a simulated suicide in her upcoming music video “Everytime.” Director David LaChapelle’s original script called for a scene in which, after a fight with her boyfriend, Spears is found submerged in a bathtub full of water with an open bottle of pills by her side. MTV put that treatment on its Web site, prompting alarmed reaction from suicide-prevention groups. Spears cut the scene before it was filmed, issuing a statement on March 12 saying she was “uncomfortable with…the potential for a fictional, accidental occurrence to be misinterpreted as a suicide.” So far, though, Spears is still committed to another project she recently lined up: a deal with Elizabeth Arden to develop a fragrance, skin care and cosmetics line, due this fall. Eau de Britney, anyone? Life Goes on for MarthaShe maybe facing jail time, but Martha Stewart seemed upbeat just five days after she was convicted of lying about a stock sale. On March 10 Stewart met three friends for dinner at the Manhattan restaurant Annisa, where she ate lobster, drank champagne and “was laughing and having a good time,” according to an onlooker. “She didn’t look like someone whose life was falling apart.” The following weekend Stewart, Barbara Walters and another companion stopped for espressos at an Upper East Side cafe. “There was not a stitch of embarrassment,” says a customer. “They were all chatting at the end of the bar.” Despite her brave face, Stewart is “disappointed over feeling like her life was wasted,” her daughter Alexis, 38, told CNN’s Larry King in a taped interview. “Everything she did is ignored over something that trivial, that maybe didn’t happen.” On March 15 Stewart stepped down from the board of the empire—once valued at $1 billion—that she built from scratch. She told her close friend Susan Warburg, “Today is probably the toughest day of my life. Charlie’s New Angel The closest Charlie Sheen gets to parenthood on his CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men is hanging out with his TV nephew. But at home he’s all daddy, especially since the birth of daughter Sam Sheen, who arrived at 10:57 p.m. on March 9 in Los Angeles. Sam, who weighed 7 lbs. 3 oz. and measured 19 in., and her mother, Denise Richards, 33, are doing great, says his rep. Sheen, 38, also has a daughter, Cassandra, 19, from a previous relationship. heart monitor SMOOCHING:Sean Lennon & Leelee Sobieski Are Sean Lennon and Leelee Sobieski dating? “I’m not going to answer that!” Sobieski squealed when asked. But they were dancing and kissing at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame party March 15. The two sat at publisher Jann Wenner’s table, where they were joined by John Mellencamp and Mick Jagger. Lennon was attentive to Sobieski all night, introducing her to friends including Dhani Harrison, George Harrison’s son. The telling sign? Sobieski was wearing a diamond-and-emerald necklace on loan from Lennon’s mom, Yoko Ono, who sat nearby. SPLITTING: Mandy Moore & Andy Roddick The match appears over for singer Mandy Moore and tennis ace Andy Roddick. The couple, who met after a magazine picture of Roddick caught Moore’s eye, had been together for about a year and a half. A source close to the couple says Moore, 19, was willing to put Roddick, 21, ahead of her career, turning down movie roles to be with him while he played on the road. But Roddick apparently didn’t want the pressure of an everyday relationship. Moore’s rep denies the split. SURVIVING:Ethan Zohn & Jenna Morasca After hitting it off at a Playboy party last June, the two Survivor winners have finally admitted the truth: They’re a couple. Ethan Zohn (Survivor: Africa) and Jenna Morasca (Survivor: Amazon) took a break to compete in Survivor All-Stars, then resumed dating. We should have seen it coming: Morasca admitted to “chemistry” with Zohn in November. Designing Men At the invitation of his friend, noted architect Frank Gehry, Brad Pitt took part March 13 in closed-door brain-storming sessions to come up with a plan to redevelop a section of downtown Los Angeles near the Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall. Pitt then took a walking tour of the area, now largely apartment buildings and offices. Civic leaders have long wanted to jazz up downtown to attract more shopping and tourist dollars. Gehry belongs to one of five architectural teams competing for the $1.2 billion project. Pitt, an architecture buff, stressed the need for entertainment-related projects. POP QUIZ Alicia SilverstoneAlicia Silverstone returns to the big screen March 26 as a television reporter in Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed. And though her TV show Miss Match was taken off the air after 11 episodes, an NBC rep says that it is expected to return in late spring. What else is new? Silverstone, 27, clued in Scoop. You play a reporter in Scooby-Doo 2. Learn any tricks of the trade? Not a lot. But it was definitely fun to be aggressive. And journalists are so aggressive. Who would you like to interview? Meryl Streep. I would love to pick her brain and find out more about who she is. What’s the dumbest question a reporter ever asked you? What is my bra size. I was like, “What?” Another lady asked me if I was a virgin. I was so young, and it was so embarrassing. That was during Clueless press. Speaking of Clueless…gone on any Cher Horowitz shopping sprees lately? No. In fact I have to clean my closet out. I don’t like to have stuff I don’t use. Who gets the clothes? I give them to friends. I give some to Goodwill. What happened with Miss Match, your NBC show? It has been on hiatus. I don’t know that anything went wrong, really. Maybe reality television. But it’s hard when you are on Friday night. My mother is in her 60s, and she’s taping the show because she’s got busy plans on Friday night! You played a matchmaker. Any real-life dates-from-hell stories you can share? This guy that I had a huge crush on in summer school asked me out. When he picked me up, it was like Jekyll and Hyde–all of a sudden he was like a gangster. He was probably just shy and scared. Is there anyone special these days? Yes, I have a boyfriend [musician Christopher Jarecki]. And three dogs! I am always rescuing dogs. There is Samson and Lacey and Butterfly, a pit bull. She sleeps with me. So sweet. Although she took all the covers last night. ON THE BLOCK CLUB KATHYPRICE: $1.4 millionPLACE: Los Angeles, Calif.SPECS: Kathy Griffin is selling her home in the Hollywood Hills and upgrading to a larger one nearby. The 3,300-sq.-ft. house, where the comedienne and her husband, computer consultant Matt Moline, have lived for six years, has four bedrooms and features 25-ft. ceilings and terraced outdoor areas with views of the city.