Cuba Gooding Jr. Martial-arts specialist. Break-dancer. Oscar winner for ’96’s “Jerry Maguire.” Bronx-born. Now living in some foreign place called LA. Currently starring with Cicely Tyson and Vanessa Williams in “The Trip to Bountiful,” a 14-week Horton Foote revival at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre. [For a review, see Pulse.]
“Legends float around about my background,” he said. “My grandfather, a sea merchant in Cuba, came here, drove a cab, got a nickname instead of Dudley, and so, I, too, became ‘Cuba.’
“Being back in the theater re-energizes my legit juices. I was onstage in the ’80s, but this has heightened my old memories. Rehearsals began February, and it was tense. What I did, I not only learned my lines but everybody else’s.
“I told the director, by week two I’d wake up at night thinking and memorizing, and I couldn’t get a night’s rest. I’d wake up in bed saying my lines.”
Yeah, yeah, so why’s he living out there in that alien West Coast?
“Hey, not my fault. We moved to California when I was 5. Man, I love to travel here. Love the subway. Love the concrete smell. Love the aroma of chestnuts roasting. I get out West and only want to come back here. I extend each time. Come for two days, stay five, then find a reason for another day.
“My son’s looking for college here. My wife dropped hints she’s looking for an apartment here. My youngest, 7, a drama queen, wants show business, so she sure loves it here.”
Where’s the Oscar?
“Under protection. In my theater room.” THEATER ROOM? He has a theater room? And the wife’s looking for a Manhattan apartment?
“My post-Academy Award years weren’t great choices for me as an artist. It’s been a problem. Caught in the trappings, that private-jets way of life, I had to deal with my stubbornness and the fame hype. I picked low-budget films. Now I have to think of the craft and relearn, re-engage my creative juices.
“I’ve had ups and downs, but it afforded me respect. No matter if I slid or how bad those other movies I made, I can still say, ‘Yeah, but I got an Oscar.’ ”
A thought. Where did the Boston suspects get such money? To travel . . . to buy . . .
Another thought. Anthony Weiner’s skeevy — but also savvy. Survived this lousy anti-Weiner press early. Well in advance. Result? No matter what he does or when he does it, he’s already survived the slings and arrows. It’s now all behind him, which, of course, is better than what he formerly waved in front of him.
And why’s he hot for a government job? He’s fitted for nothing else. No skills, no profession. No accomplishments. No business acumen. Other than telling off the public and working off the taxpayer, he doesn’t know what kind of work he’s out of. Like Obama, the man’s never had a trade.
As for the big Weiner: God in all His wisdom gave man a brain and a penis. Unfortunately, only enough blood to run one at a time.
DAKOTA Fanning, now grown up, was in Serendipity. A longtime waiter’s greeting? “The last time I served you was years ago. You had no teeth then.” . . . Spring Street and Sixth Avenue, Yolanda Foster and daughter Gigi in workout gear. Friendly to whoever recognized, she’s a Beverly Hills surreal Housewife . . . Prowling the street, Woody Allen, usual low hat pulled low over his low face, grumpily unfriendly.
AT MacDougal and Sixth, comedian Will Arnett with an auburn-haired woman . . . Business dinner at Baoli Miami, Enrique Iglesias and music industry dudes — tuna tartare, sushi, sashimi, veal milanese, potato gratin and desert. Imagine what they inhale when it’s not business . . . Liam Neeson on sci-fi fanatics: “At one premiere I saw people with lightsabers and masks. Why don’t they go get a life?”
CHICAGO butchers have watched 1,000-pound steers slaughtered for execution to see where our food comes from. Now Muslim terrorists may watch for that Marathon suspect’s death penalty to see where our vengeance comes from.
SHOPPING: Victoria Beckham buys at Barneys in bulk?! And Daniel Craig waits like any other husband for the missus, Rachel Weisz, to try on? . . . BEAUTY: Halle Berry believes her superstar looks hinder her work. “I run up against people thinking, to look that way, you can’t ever be downtrodden. It stereotypes you. It’s a hindrance.”
LUKE Perry: “I won’t buy an iPhone, but I’m addicted to my iPad, so I can keep watching my show ‘Breaking Bad.’ ” . . . Friends knew beforehand that Mamie Gummer, Meryl Streep’s actress daughter, was breaking up her two-year marriage to actor Benjamin Walker . . . Be it known Dame Maggie Smith, frosty on “Downton Abbey,” is actually encouraging to all the young actors around her.
TWO senior ladies crossing Queens Boulevard. One: “I can’t remember the last time I wasn’t at least kind of tired.” Second one: “I totally take back all those times I didn’t want to nap when I was younger.”
Only in New York, kids, only in New York.