People in the news

Members of the children’s chorus who sang on Pink Floyd’s anti-authoritarian 1979 hit,… Members of the children’s chorus who sang on Pink Floyd’s anti-authoritarian 1979 hit, “Another Brick in the Wall,” are owed thousands of dollars in payment, a royalties agent said.

Peter Rowan, who said he was representing one of the group in a bid for unpaid royalties, said he hoped other members of the group would join the claim for royalties from a fund set up in 1997 to compensate session musicians.

Two dozen students from Islington Green School in north London sang on the chart-topping track from the album “The Wall,” which was recorded at a nearby studio in 1979.

The song attracted controversy for the chorus sung by the children: “We don’t need no education / We don’t need no thought control / No dark sarcasm in the classroom / Teachers, leave them kids alone.”

“The Wall” has sold more than 23 million copies and is the third best-selling album of all time, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.

The school received a platinum disc and a payment in return for the children’s efforts, but the pupils weren’t paid.

“It’s a legal right and the money is building up,” Rowan said Friday.

ROBERTS HAS TWINS

It’s a girl – and a boy – for actress Julia Roberts and her husband, cinematographer Danny Moder, reports the Associated Press.

Roberts gave birth to twins Hazel Patricia Moder and Phinnaeus Walter Moder on Sunday morning at a Southern California hospital, publicist Marcy Engelman said Sunday.

Roberts, 37, was confined to bed last month after experiencing a series of early contractions and wasn’t due until early January. Engelman said Sunday in a phone interview that “mother and babies are doing great,” but didn’t release the twins’ weights or other details.

Roberts, who skyrocketed to fame with “Pretty Woman” in 1990, has two films coming out in early December – Mike Nichols’ “Closer” and “Ocean’s Twelve,” the Steven Soderbergh-directed sequel to 2001’s star-studded heist caper.

Roberts married Moder in July 2002 at her home in Taos, N.M. The twins are the first children for Roberts, who won the best actress Oscar in 2001 for “Erin Brockovich.”

REDGRAVE GETS POLITICAL

Actress Vanessa Redgrave, her brother and the father of a Guantanamo detainee have launched a new political party in Britain devoted to human rights, reported The Associated Press.

The Peace and Progress Party says it will field candidates and endorse politicians with strong human rights records in the next general election.

Organizers discussed the party’s platform and strategies at a conference that drew several hundred people Saturday.

“Our goal is to ring the alarm bells about the human rights abuses our government is sanctioning, and to act as a focus for people who want to stand up against them,” said Vanessa Redgrave’s brother, political activist Corin Redgrave.

Redgrave suggested four British prisoners at Guantanamo Bay could run as party candidates, as a means of protesting against their detention and the alleged human rights abuses at the prison on a U.S. naval base in Cuba.

Working for the release or fair trial of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay will be a focus for the group, said Azmat Begg, whose son, Moazzam Begg, is one of four Britons held at the prison in Guantanamo Bay.

“The mainstream political parties have shown no interest in the human rights abuses going at Guantanamo Bay and in Iraq,” Begg said. “That’s why a party based on human rights as its central issue is so vital.”

MARTHA’S GOT A LUNCH PAL

The food at the Federal Corrections Camp in Alderson, W.Va., apparently is nothing to write home about – unless one is eating it with Martha Stewart.

Roman Catholic nun Carol Gilbert, 57, who is serving time in the same prison as the famous homemaker, says she enjoys eating with Stewart, although the setting could be better.

“We’re not talking about a tea party,” Gilbert’s attorney, Sue Tyburski, told the Rocky Mountain News for a story in Saturday’s editions. “We’re talking about a big cafeteria setting with the terrible food.”

Gilbert is serving 33 months on convictions of obstructing the national defense and damaging government property for her role in an antiwar protest at a missile silo in 2002.

Stewart was convicted on obstruction of justice in May and began serving her five-month sentence at the women’s federal prison Oct. 8.

Stewart, 63, is getting “kid-glove” treatment from the guards, Tyburski said.

“She’s in great demand for people to visit with at lunchtime,” she said.

SAWYER WON’T PLAY HUBBY’S `CLOSER’ GAME

Director Mike Nichols likes to talk about what’s floating around in his head, but longtime partner Diane Sawyer won’t always play that game.

Sawyer “doesn’t answer the infamous question, `Honey, what are you thinking?”’ says the 73-year-old director.

Nichols said Sawyer told him his new movie “Closer” is about the importance of lying, “or maybe I should say withholding what’s in a relationship.”

“That’s why she doesn’t answer the `what are you thinking’ question. She wonders, `Do you have the right to know what’s in the other person’s head even if you love them?”’

In “Closer,” Julia Roberts stars as a photographer who is cheating on her not-so-nice doctor husband, played by Clive Owen. Roberts’ character is having a fling with an obit writer played by Jude Law, who is lying to his much younger muse of a girlfriend, who works in a strip club that Owen’s character frequents.

“We’ve all heard those fatal words in a relationship where someone says, `Just tell me. I promise I won’t be mad. I just want the answer,”’ Nichols says. “Clive Owen asks his wife that question in `Closer,’ but he really doesn’t want the answer because it’s just a slide into great pain.”

`NATIONAL TREASURE’ STILL ON TOP

“National Treasure” continued to strike box-office gold, taking in $33.1 million from Friday to Sunday to retain the No. 1 slot over the busy Thanksgiving weekend.

“The Incredibles” remained in second place with $24.1 million, while Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis’ holiday comedy “Christmas With the Kranks” debuted at No. 3 with $22.7 million over the three-day weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The weekend’s other new wide release, Oliver Stone’s historical epic “Alexander,” had a so-so debut of $13.4 million, coming in sixth behind two holdovers, “The Polar Express” (No. 4 with $20.1 million) and “The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie” (No. 5 with $17.8 million).

In limited release, the French-language film “A Very Long Engagement” opened strongly with $106,000 in four theaters. A love story set in World War I and its aftermath, the film stars Audrey Tautou, reuniting with her “Amelie” director Jean-Pierre Jeunet.

It was a healthy holiday for Hollywood, with the top 12 movies grossing $215 million from Wednesday to Sunday, the second-best Thanksgiving period ever behind 2000’s haul of $232.2 million.

Starring Nicolas Cage as an adventurer who steals the Declaration of Independence to uncover clues to a hidden fortune, “National Treasure” raised its 10-day total to $87.9 million.

The cartoon superhero tale “The Incredibles,” from “Finding Nemo” creator Pixar Animation, pushed its total since debuting Nov. 5 to $214.7 million, the fifth movie released in 2004 to top $200 million.

Action-packed but carrying family-friendly PG ratings, “National Treasure” and “The Incredibles” have drawn broad audiences.

With six of the top 10 movies rated PG or G, competition for the family crowd was fierce, but the movies all managed to find a solid slice of the audience.

“Christmas With the Kranks” succeeded despite poor reviews, and distributor Sony and producer Revolution Studios expect its holiday theme will sustain the movie through the end of the year. The movie benefited from the family appeal of Allen, who starred in the holiday hit “The Santa Clause” and its sequel, and Curtis, fresh off last year’s comic romp “Freaky Friday.”

“Alexander,” starring Colin Farrell as the Greek conqueror, also got bad reviews, but the R-rated movie served as counterprogramming over a weekend dominated by family flicks.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at North American theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.:

1. “National Treasure,” $33.1 million.

2. “The Incredibles,” $24.1 million.

3. “Christmas With the Kranks,” $22.7 million.

4. “The Polar Express,” $20.1 million.

5. “The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie,” $17.8 million.

6. “Alexander,” $13.4 million.

7. “Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason,” $6.8 million.

8. “Finding Neverland,” $4.7 million.

9. “Ray,” $3.9 million.

10. “After the Sunset,” $3.3 million.

MONDAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Blues musician John Mayall is 71. Actor-comedian Howie Mandel is 49. Actress Kim Delaney is 43. Actor Tom Sizemore is 43. Singer Jonathan Knight is 36. Actress Anna Faris is 28.

(Compiled by Monica Roos from staff and wire reports.)

(c) 2004, The Miami Herald.

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