The world is abuzz about last week's Michael Jackson interview by British journalist Martin Bashir.

First aired in London, then in the United States, "Living with Michael Jackson" was promoted as a documentary by a British production company, Granada Television.

Jackson was skewered and baked, while host-journalist Bashir used dramatic effect throughout to tell his viewers he was "becoming increasingly worried" as his exclusive interview chugged along like a runaway train. Bashir was himself guilty of crimes such as allowing his own opinions to sway viewers and not allowing them to make their own assessments of Jackson's eccentric behavior.

But who among us ever heard of Bashir before he trotted around behind Jackson acting wide-eyed when the manchild told him he should climb a tree? Bashir, 39, while sometimes condescending in his judgments of Jackson's Peter Pan existence, certainly appeared to get quite of hoot jumping in a go-cart and racing Jackson around Neverland.

Bashir is now coming off as the hero who exposed the wild rantings of an alleged madman. His documentary has also given much fodder for the press who haven't had a good celebrity story since Winona Ryder's shoplifting trial.

But, Jackson has a smoking gun, he believes. While Bashir's camera crew followed the musician and his family for eight months, Jackson claims he had his own personal cameraman filming at the same time.

Jackson said in a statement Sunday that he would produce his own video excerpts to prove that Bashir's portrayal was slanted.

The footage Jackson has shows "scenes of Bashir praising the way Michael treats children and commenting on how good a father he is." The footage also shows Bashir making statements about how he feels it is a pity that the world is so quick to criticize Michael Jackson."

In another statement released immediately after the broadcast, Jackson said:

"Michael believes that what was eventually broadcast was a salacious ratings chaser, designed to celebrate Martin Bashir, and which was indifferent to the effect on Michael personally, his family and his close friends," Jackson said.

Jackson also has his lawyers investigating what kind of violations Bashir committed. In the statement, Jackson said that Bashir told him footage of the children would not be shown.

As for the masks, Jackson's children are hunted by paparazzi. Jackson, as do most celebrities, has a fear that if the children are recognized in public, they could be scrutinized for possible kidnapping. Many celebrities do not allow their children to be filmed or photographed for the exact same reason, yet Bashir and his documentary failed to point out why the children were masks, but allowed the cameras and his documentary to show the children masked as some sort of bizarre ritual.

In home video footage we have seen of Jackson with his children, Paris and Prince were unmask, and only were required to wear masks when going out in public.

So why would Jackson allow Bashir into his home? The journalist has a decent track record. He has interviewed Princess Diana and the famous au pair Louise Woodward.

In Jackson's own words, this was his idea for allowing the film to be made:

"Michael originally consented to grant Bashir extended access to the Neverland Valley Ranch, his family and Michael himself, because he wanted to give the world a faithful representation of the truth about his life," he said in a statement.

Jackson's days as the King of Pop are somewhat behind him.

He hasn't had a hit record in the past few years. Like a modern-day Elvis Presley, Jackson wants to remain the King of Pop.

Perhaps by agreeing to the documentary and having the public see that there are still many people around the world who adore him, he could keep his throne. This was most likely one of the reasons he ageed to interview.

"Martin Bashir persuaded me to trust him that his would be an honest and fair portrayal of my life and told me that he was `the man that turned Diana's life around.' "

Meanwhile, the documentary has opened up old wounds for the pop star. The deposition in the case brought against Jackson in 1993 from a 13-year-old boy has been made public.

Authorities in Santa Barbara County, where Jackson lives on his Neverland Ranch, are coming under pressure to reopen files on Jackson and interview the minors he has most frequent contact with, his own children and a 12-year-old cancer sufferer Gavin Arvezo.

California District Attorney Thomas W. Sneddon, Jr., condemned the "media circus" around the documentary and called Jackson's admission that he has allowed children to share his bed "much ado about nothing."

"Sleeping in bed with a kid is not a crime that I know of," Sneddon told the Santa Barbara News-Press.

Kidman's Personal Turmoil

Speaking to a group at the Berlin Film Festival, Nicole Kidman said the end of her 10-year marriage, a miscarriage, and being stalked by a fan, helped her create the character of the suicidal, depressed Virginia Woolf in "The Hours."

Kidman will most likely receive an Oscar nomination Tuesday for her portrayal.

"I think things come along at times in your life for a reason," she said. "I was lucky to have this role at this time," she said.

Reuters reported that Kidman said she didn't meet her co-stars Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore until after the film was finished.

The three never appear in a scene together in the movie.

Speaking Of Oscar

A shoo-in at the Oscar nominations Tuesday is sure to be the cast and the movie musical "Chicago." Meanwhile, the Broadway musical has been attracting some big names to the Great White Way's Ziegfeld theater because of the renewed interest in the stage show since the Hollywood film version.

Barbara Walters, Regis Philbin, Joy Behar, Joan Collins, Elaine Kaufman, Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw, have been spotted in the audience at various times at the Ziegfeld recently.

Wait until the show gets its many Oscars!

My Hairy Valentine

A group called The Beard Liberation Front has named Russell Crowe and George Michael frontrunners to receive the award of My Hairy Valentine.

Organizers of the awards said they look for a beard that is "soft, silky and sexy." The group said it was founded to fight the prejudice against people with facial hair, according to the Web site ananova.com.

The award will be announced on Feb. 14.

Michelle Solomon's gossip column, Celebrity Chatter, appears each Monday. Got a question? E-mail us (please include your first name, city and state): Michelle Solomon@Celebrity Chatter. Personal replies cannot be sent.