People

By Josh Tyrangiel

A DRAGON'S BASIC INSTINCT

In the most ominous invitation since Travis Coates asked Old Yeller to join him for a walk, SHARON STONE invited her husband, San Francisco Chronicle executive editor PHIL BRONSTEIN, to take a behind-the-scenes tour of the L.A. Zoo. As part of the tour, Bronstein was induced to enter the cage of a KOMODO DRAGON and remove his white sneakers, which a keeper thought the giant lizard might mistake for white rats. The dragon promptly chomped down on Bronstein's big white toe, sending him to the hospital for major surgery. More surprising than the gullibility of a hardened newsman is the lack of sympathy Bronstein received. A Bay Area political consultant contemplated a trust fund for the dragon, which he speculated had suffered food poisoning, while San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, a target of critical Chronicle editorials, said, "I only wish the person who suggested Mr. Bronstein remove his shoes had advised him to go in naked."

FIERY ROMANCE

Some say love, it is a river that drowns the tender reed. Some say love, it is a razor that leaves your soul to bleed. ANDRE RISON and LISA ("LEFT EYE") LOPES say love is gunshots and fire, and Bette Midler be damned. After an eight-year, on-again off-again relationship that's seen Rison shoot a gun in the air after a fight with Lopes and Lopes accidentally burn down the couple's $1.5 million mansion after a fight with Rison, America's supreme fun-loving duo is finally getting hitched. Rison, a widely traveled NFL receiver, told an Atlanta radio station that he and the TLC rapper will be wed at the Atlanta Botanical Garden on July 5, when fireworks will no doubt be selling at half-price. Lopes could not be reached for comment, but a garden representative confirmed the date has been reserved for a Lopes wedding. "You know me and Andre have a bond no one will understand," Lopes explained last year. "Sometimes even I don't."

JUST PRAYING FOR AN OSCAR

"This one is very close to me," says JIM CARREY of The Majestic, the film he's making about a blacklisted writer who gets in a car accident, loses his memory and becomes a small-town hero. "I'm growing up, and there's a lot of me I haven't shown yet to people. In a way, this is the first time I'll ever reveal the wounds...Acting is always about finding out what your character wants, and this character, not unlike myself, is dying for self-respect. I grew up wanting to be this special miracle, and I've tried to prove that my whole life because of the giant black hole that is my need. As time has gone on, I've started to believe more in myself, I guess. I still have fun on the set, and I have my sense of humor. I guess I'm just not as desperate as I used to be." Taking a break from the therapy session, Carrey volunteers that he's not romancing his co-star, Laurie Holden--"She's very pretty, but no"--and he has not filed any $100 million suits against people for calling him gay. "Not quite yet. You could be the first."

THE ULTIMATE FOOT FAULT

After absorbing a clay-court ass whupping at the hands of Jennifer Capriati, MARTINA HINGIS turned the world's attention to her feet. The Swiss miss filed a $40 million suit against her former shoe sponsor, Sergio Tacchini, claiming Tacchini outfitted her with defective sneakers that forced her to withdraw from several tournaments between 1996 and 1999. According to the suit, a Manhattan doctor "confirmed the injury was a chronic one and was being caused by the shoes." The shoe company refused to comment on the case directly, preferring instead to pour salt on Hingis' competitive wounds: "The company can do no more than note that with Sergio Tacchini sneakers, Martina Hingis became the undisputed leader of women's tennis worldwide, winning her last Grand Slam dressed in Sergio Tacchini." Hingis, still ranked No. 1, hasn't won a Grand Slam event since 1999. Presumably, one cannot sue for ass whupping.