People talke 3/26/02

Foster's choices differ depending on the job

BOSTON --The actress inside Jodie Foster might disagree with her inner director.

"I just have different taste as a director than as an actor," she told the Boston Sunday Globe.

"I'm much more of a popcorn-movie actress," said the star of "Taxi Driver," "The Accused," "The Silence of the Lambs" and "Anna and the King."

"The movies I act in are more about the questions I have about life, much more working out emotional questions I have," the 39-year-old said.

As a director ("Little Man Tate" and "Home for the Holidays"), Foster said she prefers movies about relationships, "about the music I've heard and the people I know and the things I have to say."

Foster stars in "Panic Room," which opens Friday.

Bono character witness for R.E.M. guitarist

LONDON -- U2's Bono appeared as a character witness at the "air-rage" trial of Peter Buck, telling a British court the R.E.M. guitarist is a quiet family man not known for drinking or taking drugs.

Buck is accused of going on a drunken rampage aboard a trans-Atlantic British Airways flight last April. Bono, whose real name is Paul Hewson, said Monday that prosecutors' description of a man who grappled with crew members did not sound like the Buck he has known for 17 years.

"I have never ever seen him drunk. I have absolutely never seen him taking drugs," Bono said.

Prosecutors say Buck acted like a "drunken lout" after consuming 15 glasses of wine on the Seattle-to-London flight. Buck lives in Seattle.

Buck, 45, denies charges of being drunk on an aircraft, assault and damaging British Airways crockery.

Last week, he testified that he took a powerful sleeping pill at the start of the flight and cannot remember his alleged behavior.

'N Sync member readying for space flight

MOSCOW -- 'N Sync's Lance Bass has undergone a series of health tests in preparation for the flight he hopes to take aboard a Russian rocket.

Further examinations would be required, as would approval from the Russian space agency, which told Interfax news agency Monday that it has not received an official application from Bass. The 22-year-old arrived in Moscow on Friday for an initial medical examination. He left Russia on Monday.

"I'm looking forward to completing this lifelong dream," Bass said last month. He attended space camp near Titusville, Fla., when he was 12.

It was reported last month that a Los Angeles TV production company, Destiny Productions, was one of several corporations offering to sponsor Bass' journey.

"We're going for it," David Krieff, president of Destiny Productions, told AP Radio. Krieff estimated the cost at $25 million.

California investment banker Dennis Tito reportedly paid $20 million to visit the International Space Station last year.

Prince Andrew listening to a lot of business tips

LONDON -- Prince Andrew, who now travels the world promoting British interests, says he's happy to take business tips from his former wife, the Duchess of York.

"I am taking advice from a huge number of people, including my family," he said in a recent interview in The Times newspaper.

Asked whether that included the Duchess of York, he added: "Of course."

The former Sarah Ferguson was deeply in debt following her 1996 divorce from Andrew. But she has since taken several high-profile jobs, among them as a spokeswoman for Weight Watchers.

After quitting the Royal Navy, where he served for 22 years, Andrew last year joined British Trade International, a government body set up to promote British business.

Andrew said he would be focusing on promoting the country's 3.7 million small and medium-sized companies.

The government says Britain exported goods and services worth about $400 billion last year.

Celine Dion's infant son not a fan of her voice

RADNOR, Pa. -- Celine Dion's voice may have earned her five Grammy Awards and sales approaching 140 million albums, but it isn't music to the ears of her 14-month-old son, Rene-Charles.

"When I sing," Dion told TV Guide for its March 30 issue, "he cries."

The lack of appreciation has not put a damper on motherhood -- in fact, she and husband, Rene Angelil, are planning a sequel. "We have a little baby waiting for us," she said. "A frozen embryo. For sure we're going to go for it."

The taping of her TV special, "Celine Dion: A New Day Has Come," to be broadcast April 7 on CBS, had technical problems, but Dion took it all in stride.

"What are you going to do?" she asks. "Are you going to scream? No. You have to wring the best out of those moments."

Sizzling album cover drawing criticism

BALTIMORE -- The cover of jazz singer Diana Krall's new album is sizzling -- and Krall is perfectly happy about it.

The glamorous photo on "The Look of Love" has drawn comments and some in the jazz community feel she's trading too heavily on her model-like looks.

The CD's cover features Krall in a slinky black dress and strappy high heels. Regardless, Krall wants people to know that those shots were her decision -- not label executives.

"I knew before it came out that I was going to get flak," she told The Sun on Saturday. "But if I'm going to put out pictures of myself like that, then you can't go, 'Oh, poor me.'"

-- From wire reports.