Tiger wrangler David McMillan has brought big cats on photo shoots with lots of celebrities. But none, he said, has kept such nerves of steel sitting next to a snarling 600-pound snow tiger as Tiger Woods.
``His agent was terrified,'' said McMillan, of the phenom's session last week at Isleworth Country Club for an upcoming Sports Illustrated cover. ``But Tiger was unbelievably cool.''
McMillan, the head trainer for Orlando's Tiger's Eye Productions, told Woods what to do ``if something went wrong'' (do what he says), then stood by the photographer waving clumps of ground meat so the tiger would look toward the camera.
Asked what those meatballs were made of, McMillan cracked everyone up: ``Fuzzy Zoeller.''
McMillan also said Tiger was lion-hearted. Despite warnings that the golfer had 20 minutes max for the shoot, he stayed behind another 30 minutes signing autographs and talking to the crew and kids who had gathered.
Running from office
Oscar-winning actress Kim Basinger told US how she feels about hubby Alec Baldwin running for political office one day.
``When people ask, `Is Alec going to run?,' I say, `If Alec runs, I'm going to run, too. In the other direction!''
Hoffman look-alike
Guess film producer Robert Evans agrees with folks who see a bit of similarity between him and the character Dustin Hoffman plays in Wag the Dog. ``He's wearing my glasses ... That's my suit ... my haircut ... I'm magnificent in this film.''
Royal dis-Grace
Poor Princess Grace has got to be rolling in her grave. Her youngest, Princess Stephanie, is reportedly pregnant by another bodyguard - and due in August.
Her former bodyguard-turned-husband-turned-biggest-idiot-in-Monte Carlo, Daniel Ducruet, blew his chance of retiring on the royal dole when he was caught frolicking with a stripper.
According to People magazine, Jean-Raymond Gottlieb, 30, has been sharing Steph's Monaco villa since last fall.
Older, older men
Entertainment Weekly humorist Libby Gelman-Waxner not only likened Woody Allen's love life to Pappy Yokum on a rampage this week, she noted Jack Nicholson, who was paired up with much-younger Helen Hunt in As Good As It Gets, looks old enough to be starring in ``Cocoon III: The Hospice.''
Rants Lib: ``I bet they're putting in Craftmatic beds at the Playboy mansion.''
Friend trend
Los Angeles - the let's-do-lunch, have-your-girl-call-my-girl, air-kiss capital of the free world - has birthed a cozy new bonding trend. Prime example: When Hollywood agent Jeff Wald's wife, Deborah, delivered a girl recently, Daily Variety said Barbra Streisand was there in scrubs to cut the kid's umbilical cord. Her fiance James Brolin, a client of Wald's, waited down the hall.
Spielberg's newest
The bergs have it.
Steven Spielberg will direct a DreamWorks SKG movie based on A. Scott Berg's bio of Charles Lindbergh to be published this fall.
``I felt that a film about a legendary figure called for an extraordinary director,'' said Berg, who spent eight years researching the life of the first man to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.
Will Smith single
What career move would be fresh to Will Smith - the prince of TV, movies and the music industry? How about releasing a single by the end of the month: a duet with Bono called ``Black Irish.''
Later, Smith and the U2 star plan to release an album, Gettin' Jiggy, Irish Style, a takeoff on Smith's hit single ``Gettin' Jiggy Wit It.''
Barry Sonnenfeld, who directed the video for ``Black Irish,'' said that within a day of dancing lessons, Smith ``was clip-clopping all over the stage like he was born Irish.''
New `Psycho'
Good Will Hunting's Gus Van Sant plans to remake Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 thriller Psycho. And it won't just be some garbage filmed at the Bates Motel. While most remakes these days (see Lost In Space) barely resemble the original, this one will be filmed with the original script.
``No one has ever done anything like this. We're actually making essentially the same movie,'' said producer Brian Grazer - in color.
Hitch filmed his flick in black and white only because the censors were more comfortable with gray blood.
Customer's complaint
The owner of Elaine's, the venerable Upper East Side celebrity hangout, was arrested early Saturday after allegedly swapping insults with a patron and then gouging his face with her nails.
Elaine Kaufman, 69, was charged with assault and released after the 12:30 a.m. imbroglio inside the Manhattan restaurant, where regulars include George Plimpton, Woody Allen, Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger, police said.
Kaufman was charged with hitting James Sorrels, 45, of Manhattan. Sorrels said Kaufman, who was sitting nearby at the bar, apparently was angered when he bought just one drink.
According to Sorrels, the restaurant owner told him, ``You people look to me like poor white trash. I'll bet you $50 you can't afford to buy another drink.''
April Fool's Day dud
Fans of Comedy Central's South Park weren't real happy last week after the network didn't come through on its promise to reveal Cartman's father.
The network thought it would be fun on April Fools' Day to poke fun at the concept of cliffhanger TV, but the 1,800 people who called or e-mailed Comedy Central didn't agree. Viewers were ``crankier than we expected,'' spokesman Tony Fox said.
Now Comedy Central is promising that Cartman's dad will be revealed in May.
