'Kill Bill' works better as 2 films, Thurman says

'Kill Bill' works betteras 2 films, Thurman says
NEW YORK -- Uma Thurman is glad "Kill Bill" turned out to be two installments. Vol. 1 of the action flick was released in October; Vol. 2 opens Friday.
The model-turned-actress wouldn't tell Newsday whether director Quentin Tarantino planned it that way all along, but the footage always felt like two movies to her.
"The first film was like a giant dance number," she said. "This one is much more focused."
Thurman sees plenty of action as an assassin out for revenge against a hit man who tried to kill her, and she credits Tarantino with letting her play the part.
"Quentin's work is kind of a genre unto itself," said Thurman, whom Tarantino also cast in his 1994 "Pulp Fiction." "And it's an amazing thing to be intrinsically a part of that."
Screen brides takecover as drag queens
LOS ANGELES -- Screen brides Nia Vardalos and Toni Collette are going undercover as drag queens.
Vardalos, who wrote and starred in 2002's surprise blockbuster "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," and Collette, whose breakout role came with the 1994 Australian hit "Muriel's Wedding," team up as pals on the run in "Connie and Carla," opening Friday.
"We certainly realized the comparison between our lives, the two wedding girls in this movie," Vardalos, 41, told The Associated Press.
"For both of us, those films kind of changed our lives," said Collette, 31, an Academy Award nominee for supporting actress for "The Sixth Sense." "I was kind of catapulted into flying around the world doing publicity, and so was she."
Written by Vardalos, "Connie and Carla" is the tale of two musical-theater performers (Vardalos and Collette) who witness a mob killing in Chicago and hit the road to stay ahead of gangsters. They end up in Los Angeles, where they pose as drag queens and become stars at a gay club. Vardalos' character finds romance with the brother (David Duchovny) of one of her new drag-queen pals.
Twisting for a record
Singer Chubby Checker wants a new record -- a Guinness World Record.
Checker, who now goes by "Chubby C" to reflect his reinvention as a rap artist, vied for the distinction in a dance event Saturday sponsored by Myrtle Beach, S.C., radio station WWXM FM. Nearly 190 people took part as Checker played his 1960 hit "The Twist."
As part of the event, at least 114 people did the electric slide, then 151 did the cha-cha. The crowd grew to 188 as dancers did the twist while Checker sang his famous song.
Guinness World Records currently does not list a record for the most people participating in a dance.
Today's birthdays
Country singer Ned Miller is 79. Actress Jane Withers is 78. Opera singer Montserrat Caballe is 71. Actor Charles Napier is 68. Jazz musician Herbie Hancock is 64. Actor Frank Bank ("Leave It to Beaver") is 62. Rock singer John Kay (Steppenwolf) is 60. Actor Ed O'Neill is 58. Author Tom Clancy is 57. Actor Dan Lauria is 57. Talk show host David Letterman is 57. Author Scott Turow is 55. Singer David Cassidy is 54. Singer Pat Travers is 50. Actor Andy Garcia is 48. Country singer Vince Gill is 47. Actress Suzzanne Douglas is 47. Rock musician Will Sergeant (Echo & amp; the Bunnymen) is 46. Rock singer Art Alexakis (Everclear) is 42. Country singer Deryl Dodd is 40. Folk-pop singer Amy Ray (Indigo Girls) is 40. Figure skater Elaine Zayak is 39. Rock singer Nicholas Hexum (311) is 34. Actor Nicholas Brendon is 33. Actress Shannen Doherty is 33. Rock musician Guy Berryman (Coldplay) is 26. Actress Claire Danes is 25.