Celebrating Our 20th Year of Dis-Honoring the WORST Achievements in Film

   
The Golden Raspberry Award Foundation presents
The (Not So) Sweet 16th Annual

Hollywood's Classiest $567 Award Show * Dis-Honoring The WORST in Film for 1995

CONTACT: John Wilson / G.R.A.F.

For IMMEDIATE RELEASE


Finally, a 'Winner' Accepts: 'SHOWGIRLS' Director
Paul Verhoeven Gets Standing Ovation at 16th RAZZIES

In a ceremony full of precedeents at The (Not So) Sweet 16th Annual RAZZIE Awards, That Breast-Baring Box Office Bust SHOWGIRLS not only broke the All-Time RAZZIE Record with an impressive 7 "wins" in eleven categories, but its director and studio were also the first ever to show up and accept Tinsel Town's Most Insulting Statuette. Paul Verhoeven, the Dutch director of such international box offcie hits as BASIC INSTINCT, TOTAL RECALL and ROBOCOP, took the Dis-Honor of winning Worst Director for SHOWGIRLS in stride. In fact, his highly amusing acceptance speech was such a hit with the audience that he received the ultimate Razzberry vote of appreoval: A Standing ovation. And when, at ceremony's end, SHOWGIRLS was inevitably crowned 1995's Worst Picture, Verhoeven shared the stage to accept the award with one of the stars of WIGSTOCK, the 300-pound Drag Queen Jackie Beat -- Officially attending The RAZZIES on behalf of MGM/UA, which is now in the process of re-marketing SHOWGIRLS as an "interactive" modern camp classic, ala that pertual midnight favorite ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW.

In addition to Worst Picture and Worst Director, SHOWGIRLS also "won" Worst Actress and Worst New Star for Head Showgirl Elizabeth Berkley, Worst Original Song for a Lame Little Ditty entitled "Walk into The Wind", Worst Screenplay for the infamous Joe Eszterhas and Worst Screen Couple (awarded to "Any Combination of Two People -- Or Two Body Parts!"). Other Less-Than-Favorites with RAZZIE votyers included self professed "comedian" Pauly Shore as Worst Actor for JURY DUTY, Dennis Hopper as Worst Supporting Actor for his literaly glass-eyed/over-the-top villian in WATERWORLD, Madonna (with her fourth RAZZIE "Win") as Worst Supporting Actress in FOUR ROOMS, and the year's Worst Remake or Sequel, Demi Moore's rendering of Natahaniel Hawthorn as a 17th Century Danielle Steel, THE SCARLET LETTER.. A Complete List of "Winners" for The 16th Annual RAZZIE Awards is attached to this release.

Those wishing to know more about The RAZZIES can now E-mail The GRAF at RAZZIEpage@aol.com or visit us on the Internet at: http://www.rasnet.com/~razzies (sponsored by Webfeet Design, an Internet provider for the arts). In addition to information on becoming a RAZZIE Member, the website features a complete list of 16th Annual RAZZIES Nominations (with "Hot Links" to the websites for SHOWGIRLS, WATERWORLD, CONGO, CUTTHROAT ISLAND and several other nominated films) and, available on-line for the first time, the complete 15-year history of Previous Worst Achievement in Film "Winners".

A light-hearted spoof of Award Shows in General (and The Oscars in Particular) The RAZZIES were created in 1980 by John Wilson, the author of the just-published EVERYTHING I KNOW I LEARNED AT THE MOVIES, a humorous compilation of more than 100 cinematic cliches, illustrated with film stills from The Silent Era up thru (appropriately enough) SHOWGIRLS. This year's RAZZIE results were determined by mailing ballots to more than 460 Foundation members (film professionals, journalists and movie fans) throughout 33 U.S. states and seven foreign countries. If a winner requests their award, they will receive a gold-spray-painted, golf ball sized plastic raspberry atop a reel of Super-8 film. The RAZZIE Award has a current inflation-adjusted street value of about $2.17.

For more information, to Interview John Wilson or to arrange to send a correspondent and/or crew to The 16th Annual RAZZIES, please contact The G.R.A.F . at RazziePage@aol.com

16th Annual Golden Raspberry (RAZZIE) Nominations
  
Worst Picture
CONGO (Paramount) Produced by Kathleen Kennedy# and Sam Mercer
IT'S PAT! (Touchstone) Produced by Charles B. Wessler
THE SCARLET LETTER (Hollywood Pictures) Produced by Roland Joffe# and Andrew G. Vajna
SHOWGIRLS (MGM/UA) Produced by Alan Marshall and Charles Evans
WATERWORLD (Universal) Produced by Charles Gordon, John Davis and Kevin Costner#
  
Worst Re-Make or Sequel
ACE VENTURA: WHEN NATURE CALLS (Warner Bros.) Produced by James G. Robinson
DR. JEKYLL AND MS. HYDE (Savoy Pictures)Produced by Robert Shapiro and Jerry Leider
THE SCARLET LETTER
SHOWGIRLS (Re-Make of both ALL ABOUT EVE and THE LONELY LADY)
VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED (Universal) Michael Preger and Sandy King
  
Worst Actor
Kevin Costner#, WATERWORLD
Kyle MacLachlan, SHOWGIRLS
Keanu Reeves*, JOHNNY MNEMONIC (Tri-Star) and A WALK IN THE CLOUDS (20th Century-Fox)
Pauly Shore, JURY DUTY (Tri-Star)
Sylvester Stallone#, ASSASSINS (Warner Bros.) and JUDGE DREDD (Hollywood Pictures)
  
Worst Actress
Elizabeth Berkley, SHOWGIRLS
Cindy Crawford, FAIR GAME (Warner Bros.)
Demi Moore*, THE SCARLET LETTER
Julia Sweeney, IT'S PAT!
Sean Young, DR. JEKYLL & MS. HYDE
  
Worst Screen Couple
Any Combination of Two People (or Two Body Parts!) SHOWGIRLS
Billy Baldwin* & Cindy Crawford, FAIR GAME
Tim Daly & Sean Young, DR. JEKYLL & MS. HYDE
David Foley & Julia Sweeney, IT'S PAT!
Demi Moore and EITHER Robert Duvall* or Gary Oldman, THE SCARLET LETTER
  
Worst Supporting Actor
Tim Curry, CONGO
Robert Davi, SHOWGIRLS
Robert Duvall#, THE SCARLET LETTER
Dennis Hopper#, WATERWORLD
Alan Rachins, SHOWGIRLS
  
Worst Supporting Actress
Amy The Talking Gorilla, CONGO
Bo Derek, TOMMY BOY (Paramount)
Gina Gershon, SHOWGIRLS
Madonna, FOUR ROOMS (Miramax)
Lin Tucci (Henrietta Bazoom), SHOWGIRLS
  
Worst Director
Renny Harlin*, CUT-THROAT ISLAND (MGM/UA)
Roland Joffe#, THE SCARLET LETTER
Frank Marshall, CONGO
Kevin Reynolds (with More Than a Little Un-Asked Assistance from Kevin Costner) WATERWORLD
Paul Verhoeven, SHOWGIRLS
  
The Joe Eszterhas Dis-Honorarial Worst Screenplay Award
CONGO, Screenplay by John Patrick Shanley#, from The Novel by Michael Chrichton
IT'S PAT! Written by Jim Emerson & Stephen Hibbert & Julia Sweeney, Based on Characters Created by Sweeney
JADE, Written by Joe Eszterhas* (Paramount)
THE SCARLET LETTER, Screenplay by Douglas Day Stewart#, "Freely Adapted" (sic)
from The Novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne
SHOWGIRLS, Written by Joe Eszterhas*

Worst New Star
Amy The Talking Gorilla, CONGO
Elizabeth Berkley, SHOWGIRLS
David Caruso, KISS OF DEATH (20th Century-Fox) and JADE
Cindy Crawford, FAIR GAME
Julia Sweeney, IT'S PAT! and STUART SAVES HIS FAMILY (Paramount)
  
Worst "Original" Song
"(Feel The) Spirit of Africa" from CONGO, Music by Jerry Goldsmith# Lyrics by Lebo M
"Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" from BATMAN FOREVER (Warner Bros.) By U2, Lyrics by Bono
"Walk Into The Wind (a.k.a. Love Theme from The Rape Scene) " from SHOWGIRLS,
Written by David A. Stewart and Terry Hall.

Nominations per Picture Studio Tally
SHOWGIRLS - 13 (A New RAZZIE Record!) Disney (All Divisions) and MGM/UA - 14 Each
CONGO, SCARLET LETTER - 7 Each Paramount - 11
IT'S PAT! - 5 Universal and Warner Bros. - 5 Each
WATERWORLD - 4

KEY: Names in Italics = Previous RAZZIE "Winners" Names with ( * ) = Previous RAZZIE Nominees
Names with # = Previous Oscar Winners and/or Nominees
© 1996, The Golden Raspberry Award Foundation.