HOLLYWOOD

By Tony Rizzo
HOLLYWOOD — Doris Day is back. The tabloids couldn’t wait to scream headlines that “Doris Day is broke!” and “Doris Day makes a comeback at 86 because she has to!” Nothing could be further from the truth. The truth is, Doris was approached by Sony to allow it to release tracks she recorded back in 1985. At first she declined, but when she heard the totally re-mastered tracks, she reconsidered. She decided to move forward with the project as a tribute to her late son, Terry Melcher, who died in 2004 from cancer. The Beach Boys’ Bruce Johnston worked with Terry on producing the tracks, which include “Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries,” “You Are So Beautiful,” “Disney Girls” and “I’ll See You In My Dreams.”

Doris is still among the all-time top-10-grossing actresses in film and was Oscar-nominated for “Pillow Talk” (1959), in which she starred with her friend Rock Hudson. Doris often has been mentioned for an honorary Oscar, but has refused to agree to accept the award on the show. Now that she’s posed for photos to accompany the new album, called “My Heart,” maybe it will lead to recording a new album and appearing in public again. She currently lives in Carmel-by-the-Sea, Calif.
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Jennifer Aniston will direct and star in “The Goree Girls,” a musical drama set in the early 1940s. Based on a true story, it’s about a group of Texas women who form a country-western band in prison. The cast includes Jennifer Landon (Michael Landon’s daughter), former Destiny’s Child member and two-time Grammy winner Kelly Rowland, Pam Tillis (daughter of country legend Mel Tillis) and “Grey’s Anatomy” stars Ellen Pompeo and Sandra O. Aniston will unveil her singing pipes in the film.
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Can you believe a remake of the classic 1964 Audrey Hepburn/Rex Harrison film “My Fair Lady”? Originally, Keira Knightly was to star, but she’s out in favor of the new “it girl,” Carey Mulligan. The screenplay, by Oscar-winning “Sense and Sensibility” screenwriter Emma Thompson, is an update that will reveal more of Eliza Doolittle’s past.

Why Carey Mulligan as Eliza? She was Oscar nominated for “An Education” (2009), has “Drive” with Ryan Gosling making the film-fest rounds, and just completed “Shame” with Michael Fassbender. Mulligan is now shooting “The Great Gatsby,” in 3D, in Sydney, Australia. She plays Daisy Buchanan to Leonardo Di Caprio”s Jay Gatsby (in 1974 it was Mia Farrow and Robert Redford). Directed by “Moulin Rouge’s” Baz Luhrmann, the film also stars Tobey Maguire.

“My Fair Lady” won eight Oscars, including best actor and best picture. Why remake it? If the new version doesn’t measure up, will they rename it “My Spare Lady.”

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