People in the News for December 18, 1997

Thursday, Dec. 18, 1997 | 9:14 a.m.

Pity the poor paparazzo. A regular joe simply doing his job, he must frequently absorb punches from Alec Baldwin, wipe away Sean Penn's spittle, suffer the condescension of Fran Drescher and be upbraided by George Clooney, as if that haircut didn't undermine his credibility. Few are the fabulous celebrities who treat the paparazzo as the persistently annoying but still-human being that he is. Jack Nicholson is one of those few. In New York this week for the opening of his new film, "As Good As It Gets," Nicholson stopped his limo and bolted into a Queens liquor store. Along with the four bottles of vodka and bourbon he purchased for his own use -- no doubt stocking up after last week's report that a daily swig is actually good for you -- he also bought a pint of Jim Beam, which he passed among the photographers trailing him. "Let's drink to a great life and friendship," he toasted them. One of the photogs later told USA Today that the shutterbugs tried to pay for the booze, but Nicholson declined. "We wanted to prove we like him," the photographer said. "He's a sweetheart, he'll pose for you, not like these snobby young people who put their heads down and give you a hard time." The store's owner claims Jack didn't really drink -- why, it's against the law in New York to drink on the premises of a liquor store. And that front-page picture in the New York Daily News of Nicholson in mid-nip? Jack's pretending, the owner says: "Just a joke."

Sales pitch

Show Orrin the escape Hatch! "That was nerve-racking," Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch says of his appearance the other day on the Home Shopping Network. "That was worse than 'Meet the Press."' Terrible indeed! He was taking a break from the relentless shilling that is government in order to relentlessly shill his two albums. While network officials wouldn't say how many copies of "Freedom's Light" and "My God is Love" (for which Hatch wrote the lyrics) were moved during the senator's three live appearances, they did say "he exceeded our expectations." Later, Hatch explained the opportunistic multitasking required for dual careers in government and show biz: "Some of the songs I wrote during boring committee hearings."

Not black and white

Quentin Tarantino, white Negro? Having counted 38 uses of the "N word" in Tarantino's new film, "Jackie Brown," Spike Lee has a question: "What does (Tarantino) want to be -- an honorary black man?" The epithet is common currency among blacks, but Lee says that Tarantino's scripts go overboard (he counted 28 instances in "Pulp Fiction"). "I'm not against the word, and I use it," Lee says, "but not excessively. ... But Quentin is infatuated with that word. I want Quentin to know that all African-Americans do not think that word is trendy or slick." Actor Samuel L. Jackson, who mouths the word most often in "Jackie Brown," says Tarantino has an affinity for black culture. He compared the director to the white hip-hop friends of his children. "They're basically black kids with white skin." This is the sort of gray area that makes this black-white business even more nerve-racking than "Meet the Press."

Compiled by Scott Dickensheets