04-15-05 Giving Back

Review / Film Duchovny Does Directing: ‘House of D’ Puts Big Ideas Inside In Cramped, Airless Quarters 7 iii 7 Prison, Death and Jittery Camera Hollywood Report Make Movie FeelConfined; ‘Palindromes’: Dumb Mud 7 7

—By JOE MORGENSTERN— OUSE OF D” is a debut feature written ‘ and directed by David Duchovny, of H“The X-Files” fame. (The title refers to the Women’s House of Detention, a Greenwich Village landmark until it was closed in the 1970s.) In this coming-of-age fable, set in the early ’70s, a prisoner named Lady, who’s doing Homeland insecurity. How U.N. time in solitary confinement, serves as a guardian angel for the young hero, Tommy; she dis- politics and sensitivity over penses life lessons from the window of her cell, terrorism interrupted high above the city streets. But then every- ‘The Interpreter.’ W3 one in the film seems to be in solitary, thanks to Mr. Duchovny’s stultify- ing style. If there was a single moment of sponta- neity, it escaped me. Giving Back Ditto for frivolity, though bogus poetry abounds. It’s always dangerous to make assumptions about how and why bad movies come into being. (Good ones can be a mys- David Duchovny tery too.) Still, the evi- Growing Celebrity dence on screen points to an overabundance of literary ambition and an underabundance of self-irony, or maybe just a Striped grass. Shark tanks. A new crop of landscape lack of common sense about how many earnest themes and meaningful moments can be stuffed designers is using edgy projects to attract fame and high fees. into one slender story. This one starts in Paris with Tom, an Ameri- A financier funds the first round can artist played by Mr. Duchovny, recalling his Troy McMullen on how they weed it—and reap. life in the Village at the age of 14. His recollec- of $50,000 awards to tions include a tortured relationship with his wid- IM CLARK, the founder of Netscape, wanted to layed his minimalist designs into a high profile on the study racial issues. Plus, a Gift owed mother (“Don’t do this to me,” she cries after learning that he went to a dance); a legacy hire a professional for a big home-design job on Hamptons benefit circuit and an art-collector client of the Week to Duke. W2 of death and loss; a loved one in a persistent his six-acre estate in Palm Beach, Fla. So he list. In Los Angeles, Mia Lehrer has attracted business vegetative state (a communicable disease in this case); a French expatriate named Simone who, canvassed friends on both coasts for someone from Dustin Hoffman, Jamie Lee Curtis and Santa Mon- poor woman, must have arrived in New York with top credentials, lots of buzz and a reputation ica’s Viceroy hotel. Meanwhile, Mario Nievera of Palm with only one expression (cigarette-puffing hau- teur), and a holy fool named Pappas (Robin Will- for doing unusual work—and picked a man whose client Beach is almost a brand name: His terraced gardens Sports iams, yet again), who is retarded when it’s con- list includes Mick Jagger and Quincy Jones. are selling points in real-estate listings, venient, and who provides supplementary inspi- Plus ration as Tommy’s co-worker and sidekick. “I Mr. Clark wasn’t looking for an archi- and he has launched the “Mario Niev- was supposed to be normal,” Pappas explains tect or an interior decorator: He Getting the star- era Collection” of handmade terra- helpfully, “but I didn’t get enough oxygen when I landscape look yourself. W10 was born.” wanted someone to do his yard. His ALSO: Our new gardening cotta planters from Italy. (They start Well, there isn’t enough oxygen to go round in choice, Robert Truskowski of Beverly at $500.) this airless universe; even the cinematography, column, by Bart Ziegler. by the estimable Michael Chapman, suffers from Hills, Calif., was flown in to launch a W4 Of course, famous landscape designers a suffocating predilection for the picturesque, four-year project that included installing a have been around since before Frederick Law plus sporadic attacks of the handheld jitters. Maybe the underlying problem is a defective 100-tree coconut grove, digging a koi pond and planting a Olmsted dreamed up Central Park. But while traditional- banality detector, but Mr. Duchovny also seems six-story-tall ficus that was shipped in on a barge. “The ists have tended toward English gardens and box shrubs, to have brought to his first big-screen venture some of the attitudes that inform, and afflict, budget was absurd,” Mr. Clark says, but “I got some- the new crop is expanding the definition of outdoor space— episodic TV—an emphasis on behavior writ large thing really unique.” (He would disclose only that its much the way celebrity chefs attracted attention by re- as a substitute for the subtleties of character, a Wheels of fire. At next week’s fondness for fitting every scene with a dramatic total cost was “several million dollars.”) packaging classic cooking with deconstructed food or Boston Marathon, the fastest button, however predictable it may be. (Clairvoy- From the compost heap to the cocktail circuit, some science-project-like preparations. Among the landscap- ance isn’t required to know that a resounding hit racer will roll across the finish in a game of stickball will result in a broken landscape designers are achieving celebrity with edgy ers’ high concepts: multicolored stripes of grass, outdoor line. Here’s why. W6 window.) or off-kilter looks. In New York, Perry Guillot has par- shark tanks and sculptures, (Please Turn to Page W10) The cast includes Anton Yelchin as the young Tommy; Téa Leoni as his mother (his voice has a striking similarity to hers, along with overtones of June Allyson); Erykah Badu as the guardian angel, Lady, and Frank Langella as the headmas- ter of Tommy’s school. Only Mr. Langella man- ILLUSTRATION BY ROGER ROTH Books ages to refrain from strenuous acting. It’s a pretty nice performance. Please Turn to Page W3

Collecting Tastings The Score for Scandal He wrote lyrics and verse that made lots of cash. Do Tarnished Sports Figures We review a new book Suffer in Memorabilia Mart? about Ogden Nash. W7 Pete Rose’s Stack of Photos

By CONOR DOUGHERTY Plus: NVESTOR DAVID REEL thinks it might be time to start buying up Bonds. FUTURES & OPTIONS: A look at Mr. Reel, a tech-company sales manager I the great indoors ...... W2 and a self-described baseball-card speculator, sold a collection of Barry Bonds cards after recent ste- THE JOURNAL CROSSWORD: roid allegations and news the San Francisco Giant ‘Red Flags at the IRS’...... W4 would sit on the bench after knee surgeries. But THEATER: Jeff Goldbum returns to now, as a recuperating Mr. Bonds prepares to re- Broadway in a dark new drama .. W9 new his bid for the sport’s career home-run record, Mr. Reel is thinking of buying. “He always bounces PRIVATE PROPERTIES: Vampire back,” says Mr. Reel. Chronicler sells house ...... W10 Now that baseball season is a couple of weeks Lelands.com (ball) HOUSE OF THE WEEK: A pricey old, Congress’s preseason steroids hearings have home with high-end neighbors ..W10 receded into the rear-view mirror. Jason Giambi, Pennants and dirty laundry: How much does scandal affect memorabilia prices? whose offseason was marked by news reports that CATALOG CRITIC: How to keep he told a grand jury he’d used steroids, was greeted cozy on long flights...... W11C Does vintage matter? We with cheers at his Yankee Stadium season opener, That meant assembling our own Hall of Fame balls and baseball cards. REVIEW/TV: An eerie tale with a while Giants’ fans welcomed Mr. Bonds with a for disgraced sports stars, including those with es- It turns out that in many cases, scandal doesn’t spiritual twist ...... W12 try 15 years from one minute-long ovation. It’s enough to make you think tablished misbehavior and others who’ve come un- sink prices—in fact, it may buoy them. Take the that when it comes to scandal, fans are forgiv- der suspicion of breaking the rules of their sport or case of Pete Rose. In 1979 Mr. Rose was in his 17th TASTE: Judith Regan heads to Los winery—and find a surprise ing—or else they never cared much to begin with. criminal law. We looked at stars from baseball’s big-league season, he was in the process of reach- Angeles. What a concept ...... W13 That got us to wondering: How have sports scan- “Shoeless” Joe Jackson—a member a Chicago ing the difficult 200-hits-in-a-season mark for the REVIEW & OUTLOOK: A flap over dals affected players’ stock? And we do mean White Sox team that threw the 1919 World Se- 10th time and he already owned two World Series at the top of the list. W6 making films ‘family friendly’ ..W13 stock. To gauge fan enthusiasm for scandalized ries—to recent scandal-dogged figures including rings from his days with the Cincinnati Reds—and stars, we examined sales on the sports memora- Kobe Bryant and O.J. Simpson. We pored through his 1963 Topps rookie card was trading at $5, accord- bilia market, asking: Does bad behavior trade at a memorabilia-sales results, looking at how compro- ing to Beckett Baseball Card Price Guide. By 1985, Phil Bray/Universal Studios (Hollywood Report); Tyler Ladner (Giving); Elise Amendola/AP (Sports); Ericka Burchett (Books). Natalie Ascencios discount—or a premium? mising news affected the value of jerseys, game Please Turn to Page W5 over please Reprinted from THEWALLSTREETJOURNAL. FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 2005 © 2005 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Giving Back / By Elizabeth Bernstein

First Class WHAT DO Brandeis Professor Anita Hill, essayist Stanley Crouch and anthropologist Nina Jablonski have in common? They are among the first group of Fletcher Fellows, funded by Alphonse Fletcher Jr., chairman and CEO of Fletcher Asset Management.

Each of the 12 fellows an- Bebeto Matthews/AP nounced today will receive a Alphonse Fletcher Jr. (left) $50,000 stipend to fund and Henry Louis Gates Jr. work on race relations or African-American culture. The program, administered by Har- tute and chairman of the independent vard’s W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for Fletcher selection committee, referring African and African American Re- to the famed fellowships for artists and search, is the first initiative funded by scholars, which averaged $38,000 each a $50 million pledge Mr. Fletcher made this year. The Fletcher Fellows, last May to mark the 50th anniversary chosen from more than 250 appli- of Brown v. Board of Education, the cants, don’t have to be African- Supreme Court decision legally ending American. school segregation. The program is Mr. Crouch’s stipend will support his named for his father. “Our parents worked hard to invest in us,” he says. writing; Ms. Hill will study educational “I wanted to make a similar contri- disparities. Other fellows include bution.” Dance Theatre of Harlem artistic “We think of these as Guggenheims director Arthur Mitchell, Harvard for race issues,” says Henry Louis economist Roland Fryer and artist Gates Jr., director of the Du Bois insti- Glenn Ligon.

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