'Champ' Rings True

Before the screening of “Resurrecting the Champ” at the Academy in Beverly Hills on Wednesday, director Rod Lurie made a few honest remarks. “So I look out here and should see a thousand people who are showing their love and loyalty,” he said. “But what I really see is 1000 people who are now not gonna pay to see this movie.”

It was all in good fun though, as pic's stars Samuel L. Jackson, Kathryn Morris and Teri Hatcher laughed along with the crowd. “I’ve wanted to make this movie since I read the story in the Los Angeles Times ten years ago,” producer Mike Medavoy told On the Town. As for star Josh Hartnett, he couldn’t attend the premiere because he was filming a movie in China, but Lurie had another take, “I just think he ran out of girls in the United States.” (B. Perry)