STONE'S SUCK-UP TO FIDEL FLICK
OLIVER Stone's flattering documentary on Fidel Castro will finally hit U.S. television on April 14, but "Looking for Fidel" is quite different from the first version he tried to foist on the American public last year, "Commandante."
That project was shelved by HBO after Castro executed three men who tried to hijack their way to freedom and jailed 75 others as political prisoners. Stone went back to Cuba and got more footage to try to balance the documentary. But he didn't succeed.
Stone, who directed the conspiracy-fantasy "JFK," swallows Castro's propaganda without protest, even when the tyrant repeatedly calls would-be emigrants "terrorists."
"If the situation arose again, I would do the same," Castro swears. "Until the very end they held guns to two tourists' heads . . . These people were marginal and [killing them] was the only way to deter them."
As for the quickie seven-day trial and execution without letting the men speak to their familes, Castro sneers, "How many visits have those people in Guantanamo Bay had? And they have been there two years."
Perhaps the most upsetting scene is when Stone "interviews" eight men - in front of Castro - who were charged with plotting a hijacking. All eight have the same answers to questions, noting their only reason for emigrating was "economic," they have all "been treated well in prison," and acknowledging the "seriousness" of their crimes. Castro is impressed and says he hopes the judges will give them lenient sentences.
Castro rants about President Bush, claiming he was "handed the [2000] election by Batista supporters in Florida." Finally, he hooks himself up to heart monitor to prove he is "as healthy as a 30-year-old."
Sadly, the best scenes from the original "Commandante" have been deleted from "Looking" - where Stone continually asks Castro if he has ever seen a psychiatrist, and Castro, to Stone's disbelief, repeatedly answers no. Also lost is a segment where Stone tries to get Castro talking about Viagra.
The film has not impressed many journalists so far. After a screening Monday night, former New York Times editor Abe Rosenthal told Variety the "documentary" was hardly a good piece of journalism and that nothing Castro said was to be believed.
LIAR'S CORNER
WE'RE so fed up with public relations professionals lying to us, we've decided to regularly highlight the most egregious prevaricators in the business. Our first featured fibber is Troy Nankin of the giant Baker, Winokur, Ryder firm. When we asked Nankin last week why his client, Hilary Swank, was training at Gleason's boxing gym in Brooklyn, he said he'd find out. The next day, Nankin said, "She thought it would be fun . . . This is her new workout." However, the truth is that Swank is playing a female boxer mentored by Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman in "Million Dollar Baby." The movie, based on two short stories by F.X. O'Toole, starts filming in June in L.A.
JUST ASKING
WHICH plucky pop tart lived up to her bad-girl image with some X-rated action at the recent World Music Awards in Monaco? We're told that the songbird was invited to an orgy by a certain sex-obsessed aristocrat, who ended up with a royal pain after the singer used a sex toy on him. Our heroine coyly referred to the unprintable incident by telling reporters she had a "strapping good time in Monaco."
WE HEAR . . .
THAT property-mad former Sony honcho Tommy Mottola and his singer-wife Thalia checked out a stunning 180-acre Shekomeko Valley Farm (only $3.8 million) not far from the horsy, tony upstate town of Millbrook . . . THAT Sean Connery will be wearing his kilt Monday at Sotheby's, as will Kyle MacLachlan, Marcus Schenkenberg, Rocco DiSpirito, Jimmy Rodriguez, Vikram Chatwal and Antony Todd. The Dress to Kilt event promotes Connery's native Scotland . . . THAT party planner Jon Gabel will unveil a new invention in his first restaurant, Vela on West 21st Street - hydraulic tables that convert from 30-inch dining tables to 22-inch cocktail tables at the touch of a button. Gabel was inspired by a design for disabled diners needing wheelchair access.
BUBBLY BUFFER
BEING in the hot seat doesn't agree with Sofia Coppola (above). Despite quaffing copious amounts of Sofia's Champagne - made by her family's winery - the "Lost in Translation" director admitted to being nervous as she was honored by a Museum of Modern Art panel at the Gramercy Theater the other night. Moderator Jim Jarmusch had it much easier. "I was drunk," he told a PAGE SIX spy. Speaking on Coppola's behalf were Bill Murray (via tape) and Kirsten Dunst, who broke down in tears as she explained how much she loved her director in "The Virgin Suicides."
TIMES REVIEW LEAVES BAD TASTE
FOODIES were abuzz yesterday over the public spanking the Times administered to temporary restaurant critic Amanda Hesser. The "Editor's Note" on Page 2 was prompted by Hesser's rave last week for Spice Market, Jean-Georges Vongerichten's new Meatpacking District eatery with a menu supposedly inspired by the street vendors of Asia. Hesser - the only reviewer to award Spice Market three stars - "should have disclosed" previous associations with Vongerichten, who wrote a fawning jacket blurb for her book, "Cooking for Mr. Latte." Vongerichten gushed: "Amanda Hesser's charming personality shines as the reader experiences the life and loves of a New York City gourmet. 'Cooking for Mr. Latte' is perfectly seasoned with sensuality and superb recipes." The Times didn't mention that Hesser, in reviewing Asiate earlier this year, slipped in a plug for Vongerichten's flagship eatery, Jean-Georges. After bashing Asiate, Hesser praised the view from the Mandarin Oriental Hotel at the Time Warner Center. "The pressures of city life ease a little," she wrote. "And for that alone, I might order a glass of sake, stay for the gougeres, then feign illness and steal across Columbus Circle to Jean Georges for a meal that never disappoints."
TALKING SHOP
JOHN Roberts' colleagues at CBS News had some fun with the anchorman after reading our item about his new romance with a leggy blond news producer who was on his arm at Spice Market, Hudson Bar and Prohibition. Insiders say Dan Rather told his heir apparent: "I have two words for you: room service." And network CEO Les Moonves allegedly told Roberts, "At least I'm not the only one around here having fun." Moonves has been keeping company with anchorbabe Julie Chen.
STAR PIGS OUT
STAR Jones' diet took a dive at her engagement party to Al Reynolds the other night at Supper Club. The chubby chatterbox (above) snacked on a lip-smacking menu - whipped up by Food Network chef Tyler Florence - of bleu cheese-stuffed fried chicken, BBQ ribs, sweet potato chips and Snickers truffles. Sen. Hillary Clinton joined Star at her trough, as did Natalie Cole, Ashford and Simpson, and her co-stars from "The View," Barbara Walters, Meredith Vieira, Joy Behar and Elisabeth Hasselback.
DISCO DIVE
DISCO balls fell from the ceiling and bonked two men on their heads at Spider Club early Sunday morning. The glittering globes struck Jeffrey Donovan, star of "Touching Evil" on USA, and party promoter Keith Collins. "They just literally fell out of the blue," said Collins, who later underwent a CAT scan at a nearby hospital. "It was the size of a 27-inch TV set. They gave me an ice pack. I'm still a little shaken up about it. I'm just lucky it didn't snap my neck." A Spider Club spokeswoman said girls dancing on banquettes must have bumped the balls off the ceiling. "They took all the balls down and they're either going to make sure they're more secure or redesign the room," she said. "The ceilings aren't that high, and from what I gather no one was hurt."
BUTTER UP!
DONALD Trump is putting the full-court press on Alex Rodriguez's real estate agent in the hope of luring the Yankee slugger into buying an apartment in one of his buildings. Sources tell The Post's Braden Keil that The Donald recently flew A-Rod's rep, Adam Modlin, down to Florida on his private Boeing 707 jet, then put him up at Trump's swanky Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, after the two visited with Rodriguez in Tampa during spring training. Brokers say Rodriguez is looking to spend about $20 million for a pad. Modlin had no com- ment.
THEY ALL STILL COME TO ELAINE'S
Celebrities glowed and booze flowed at Elaine's last night as the famed East Side saloon saluted a new book about its 40-year history as the home away from home for movie stars and models, politicians and powerbrokers.
Beloved proprietor Elaine Kaufman seemed speechless as she sat at a table signing copies of "Everyone Comes to Elaine's," by acclaimed author and longtime customer A.E. Hotchner.
Among the celebs packing the watering hole to the rafters were Joan Rivers, Dr. Ruth Westheimer, Mary Higgins Clark, Malachy McCourt and Post columnists Liz Smith, Steve Dunleavy and Linda Stasi.
Rivers last night said her favorite Elaine's recollection was sitting between Robert De Niro and Woody Allen one night and discovering that "Woody had the best table manners."
SIGHTINGS . . . SIGHTINGS . . . SIGHTINGS
BARBARA Walters and Shimon Peres at the surprise 60th birthday bash for Israeli ambassador Daniel Gillerman at his Upper East Side apartment . . . MIAMI nightlife queen Ingrid Casares screaming at her assistant that she needed a "third [bleeping] front-row seat" for the Gen Art "Fresh Faces in Fashion Show" at the Raleigh Hotel attended by Alyssa Milano and Stephen Dorff . . . WOLFGANG Puck sampling the signature Fois Gras BLT at uber-chef's Laurent Tourondel's BLT Steak on East 57th Street . . . PAULA Abdul shopping for shoes for herself and "American Idol" contestant Jennifer Hudson at Beverly Feldman on West 56th Street . . . JAMES Gandolfini tooling around the Meatpacking District in a black BMW X5.
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