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New York Monthly Herald. May 2006 Issue P. 4   Cont'd from Page 3                                                                                                          Continues on page 5

New York Scene

New York's Tribeca festival opens with the premiere of United 93, set on a hijacked plane on 11 September.

De Niro, who created the festival to help revitalise lower Manhattan after the events of 2001, said "it would seem strange" not to show the movie. Several of the festival's 275 films also tackle the impact of that day. These include documentaries about a fire department chaplain killed at the World Trade Center - entitled Saint of 9/11 - and also The Heart of Steel, about volunteers who helped victims of the attacks.

Festival creator Robert De Niro said it was right to show United 93.

Writer-director Paul Greengrass, who made United 93, said Tribeca was "the most appropriate place for the film to play first". He added it was "an honour and a privilege to bring this film there. It's daunting and it's humbling, but I know in my heart we all did our best to honour this subject".

Photo: A remake of disaster movie Poseidon is among the premieres.

'Right thing': De Niro acknowledged that "some will be ready, and some will not be ready" for United 93. "Not everyone is going to feel good, of course. But after four and a half years, it feels like the right thing to do," he said.  Some cinemas in the US have already pulled trailers for United 93 after audiences became upset. Among the 90 premieres at the festival is the first US screening of Mission: Impossible 3, which sees Tom Cruise travelling across Manhattan by helicopter, speedboat, sports car and underground train. Other major movies include the disaster remake Poseidon, with Kurt Russell and Josh Lucas, and Lonely Hearts, which stars John Travolta and James Gandolfini as detectives tracking down two killers. More than 4,000 productions were submitted.

Elton's vampire musical to open on Broadway

Photo: Sir Elton John's musical credits include The Lion King.

Sir Elton John's musical Lestat, based on the bloodsucking character in Anne Rice's book Interview with the Vampire, is to open on Broadway.

Neiman MarcusThe show, co-written by Bernie Taupin, will open at New York's Palace Theatre following a short run in San Francisco. Actor Hugh Panaro will play Lestat de Lioncourt, an 18th Century French nobleman who is made into a vampire. Tom Cruise took the role in the 1994 film version, which also starred Brad Pitt and Christian Slater. Author Rice's Vampire series has sold more than 50 million copies worldwide. Sir Elton's stage credits include Billy Elliot but this is the first time he has written a musical with songwriting partner Taupin. During its pre-Broadway run, The San Francisco Chronicle called the show "didactic, disjointed, oddly miscast, confusingly designed and floundering in an almost unrelenting saccharine score by Elton John". Co-writer Taupin recently said up to 70% of the show had been changed since the original run. Speaking in 2003, Sir Elton said he and his songwriting partner had been "huge fans of Anne Rice's books for a long, long time". Lestat will face competition at the box office from Tarzan, the Phil Collins musical of the 1999 Disney cartoon film, which opens on 10 May. Previous vampire musicals have had short runs on Broadway. Dance of the Vampires lasted just a month in 2003 while Dracula, the Musical survived five months in 2004.

Blaine: "New Yorkers are cool about this kind of thing."

Magician David Blaine has announced plans to spend seven days submerged in a water-filled container in New York. The illusionist, who spent 44 days in a glass box for a starvation stunt in London in 2003, will use lines giving nutrition and air to stay alive. After one week, he will remove his air supply and attempt to break the world record for holding breath. Blaine, 33, endured a 62-hour stint sealed in an ice block in New York's Times Square in 2003. The magician will enter an 8ft (2.5m) high water-filled sphere on 1 May and remain submerged for a week. Organizers say they want fans and well-wishers "to visit, touch the sphere and offer words of support". Before climbing out of the tank, located at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Blaine will try to break the record for holding breath, currently set at eight minutes 58 seconds.

Photo: Blaine has been in training in the Cayman Islands.

Blaine's London stunt, in which he was suspended in a glass box by the river Thames, saw him heckled by crowds. His box was also hit by missiles including golf balls and eggs. Blaine's spokesman Pat Smith said the magician did not expect to receive similar attacks in the star's "home town". He said: "Anytime he's done anything in New York, the reaction has been overwhelmingly positive. "New Yorkers are cool about this kind of thing." Blaine is to get a two-way audio link, allowing the media to interview him during the challenge.