Northwest has movies at Sundance

Northwest has movies at Sundance

The Sundance Film Festival will showcase three movies from directors with Northwest connections.

They are: Former Seattleite Sara St. Onge's short film "The Funeral," about a young woman in her 30s confronting her own mortality; Northwest native Calvin Reeder's filmed-in-Washington short "The Rambler," about a traveling guitarist; and Carlos Brooks' feature-length "Quid Pro Quo," about a paraplegic reporter. "Quid Pro Quo" was partially shot in the La Conner tulip fields; it will be screened as part of Sundance's Spectrum series — a noncompetitive category designed to introduce new and creative voices in film.

The festival takes place Thursday through Jan. 27 in Park City, Utah. More info: www.sundance.org/festival.

Marian Liu, Seattle Times staff reporter

Oprah's getting her own TV network

NEW YORK — Oprah Winfrey is getting her own TV network.

Discovery Communications and Winfrey announced a deal Tuesday where the Discovery Health network will be turned over to Winfrey next year, becoming OWN — the Oprah Winfrey Network.

The cash-free transaction involved Winfrey turning over her Web site to Discovery, while the communications company makes her chairman of OWN, said David Zaslav, Discovery Communications chief.

Some of Winfrey's stable of regular contributors could be expected to be part of the programming, he said.

Cruise book sure to raise eyebrows

NEW YORK — After best-selling biographies of Princess Diana, Monica Lewinsky and Madonna, why did Andrew Morton take on Tom Cruise?

"He's the quintessential global celebrity," Morton says of "Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography," released Tuesday. The book is under attack by Cruise's lawyer and Church of Scientology leaders.

Morton's interest was stirred after Cruise famously jumped on Oprah's couch and lectured "Today's" Matt Lauer on the evils of psychiatry. "I wondered, what's going on here?"

His short answer: Cruise's faith in Scientology, which was founded in the '50s by science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard and which makes a concerted effort to attract celebrities.

Two paragraphs in Morton's book are getting the most attention: a suggestion that Suri, Cruise's daughter with Katie Holmes, was conceived using frozen sperm from Hubbard, who died in 1986.

"It's a grotesque lie," says Cruise lawyer Bert Fields. "I know she's Tom's child. DNA could prove whose child it is. It could come to that."

In two years working on the Cruise bio, Morton says, he was asked one question repeatedly: "Is he gay?"

"I'm absolutely convinced he's not," Morton says.

Roger Moore to write memoir

NEW YORK — Sir Roger Moore, the handsome British actor known for playing James Bond in such films as "Live and Let Die" and "The Spy Who Loved Me," has a memoir coming out in the fall.

"The time is right to tell my story," the 80-year-old Moore, whose book is called "My Word Is My Bond," said in a statement released Tuesday by publisher HarperCollins.

Moore will not only write about his work on the Bond films, but his friendship with Audrey Hepburn, his encounters with Cary Grant, Frank Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor and other stars, and his struggles with his health.

The Associated Press and USA Today