Dustin Hoffman still is hoping for a January start for ”The Rainman”-
from which Steven Spielberg resigned as director-and to immediately follow that with Ivan Reitman`s ”Random Hearts.” But according to Reitman, ”It`s still uncertain how everything will fall in place-if `Rainman` can get done in time for me to have time to do `Random Hearts` before I start `Ghostbusters II` next year. The one part of the equation that`s definite-or as definite as things get in the moviemaking business-is that `Ghostbusters II` will roll next fall, for summer `89 release.”
– Bob Dylan is spending the week in Manhattan checking out musicians and theaters for a Broadway stand he wants to make in early 1988. He hopes to play Broadway for at least a month, with just a backup band.
Why the decision to play on Broadway?
”Why shouldn`t I play on Broadway?” Dylan said.
– As soon as Charlie Sheen completes ”Eight Men Out” production in Indianapolis next month, he`ll race back back to Hollywood to star in ”Johnny Utah,” Ridley Scott`s FBI adventure tale for Columbia.
That will make four movies this year for the 22-year-old Brat Packer, who now commands more than $1 million a film. His father, Martin, would like him to take to the stage as ”Hamlet,” but Charlie said, ”That`s something I have to come to grips with in my own time.”
He added that New York Public Theatre`s esteemed Joseph Papp ”has told my dad that if there is any project I`d like to do, he`d be wide open for me to do it. That`s nice, but I just don`t think I`m ready for the stage.”
– Mia Farrow has informed producers Dick and Lili Zanuck and David Brown that she`s definitely still interested in starring in ”Woman Wanted,” the project she had to bow out of because of the baby she`s expecting by Woody Allen. But now it`s no longer simply a matter of Farrow`s interest or availability.
MGM has ended its involvement with the project, and Zanuck/Brown are hustling to find independent financing. Said Brown, ”MGM felt the budget was too high; we disagreed.” He added, ”Whenever we get financing for the film, we`ll look around and see who`s available to star at the time.”
Zanuck and Brown do have ”Blue Lightning” barreling through pre-production at MGM and expect to have the action/adventure about drug-running cast and before cameras in early `88. They also have projects going at several other studios, including 20th Century-Fox, where they`ll make
”Cocoon II” next spring.
– Shelley Long will follow up Touchstone`s ”Hello Again” with ”My Stepmother is an Alien” for the Jerry Weintraub organization. ”Stepmother” is scheduled for early `88 production with Dan Aykroyd co-starring and Dick Benjamin-who directed Shelley`s ”The Money Pit” hit-at the helm.
– Among the stars who`ve requested (and received) prints of Patrick Swayze-Jennifer Grey`s` ”Dirty Dancing” for at-home screening: Barbra Streisand, Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly and Hugh Hefner. Plus Michael Jackson-twice.
– The hot rock group Yes will start a long-awaited U.S. tour Nov. 14. in Omaha. The last Yes LP, ”90125,” went triple platinum, and their newest album, ”Big Generator,” already has generated gold-selling numbers. The group plans to hit numerous U.S. cities before going to overseas dates. Just before they start, Yes guitarist Trevor Rabin plans to attend the Nov. 5 L.A. premiere of Universal`s ”Cry Freedom” film about martyred South African activist Steven Biko. Rabin, a South African native, is cousin to Donald Woods, the former South African newspaper editor who wrote the book on which
”Freedom” is based.
– Martin Short observed that ”Between AIDS and `Fatal Attraction,` the days of casual sex are definitely over.” Universal`s coming ”Cross My Heart” movie has Short and Annette O`Toole costarring as a couple on a third date. And though the couple do become intimate, ”first we discuss, as the movie puts it, `the burning question of the day,` ” Short said.
”Cross My Heart” marks the third movie for the veteran of ”Saturday Night Live” (he made his big-screen debut beside Steve Martin and Chevy Chase in ”Three Amigos!” and starred in Steven Spielberg`s ”Innerspace”). For his next film he will costar with Nick Nolte in ”The Fugitives,” a Disney adaptation of the French hit that begins shooting in early 1988. He won`t costar with Steve Martin in David Lynch`s ”One Saliva Bubble” as planned.
”It was a very funny script, but there were problems with financing, and it has been put on hold,” Short said.
– Brigitte Nielsen isn`t wasting time mourning her short marriage to Sylvester Stallone. She`ll join Carol Alt and Jason Connery (son of Sean) in the big-screen comedy ”Bye Bye Baby,” currently shooting in Italy. She`ll portray a female billiards champ who comes between a husband and wife. The blond-haired actress also plans to come to the United States in January to promote the domestic release of her ”Every Body Tells a Story” LP.
– Jim Henson is taking a break from his ”Muppets” to make a movie based on Roald Dahl`s ”The Witches” fairy tale.
”Witches” will be made in England, where the story is set and where Henson has his Creature Shop (which makes puppets and Muppets and creates cinematic special effects). The prolific writer/producer/cre ator said he plans to follow ”Witches” with another Muppet feature. Besides that, he has a ”Muppet Christmas” special airing on ABC-TV in December.
– Filming of Carolco Pictures` ”Red Heat” goes on-and on and on. Peter Boyle said the cameras on the action adventure caper started rolling Aug. 26 and will remain in operation on Los Angeles street locations until the Christmas holidays. ”Then in January, they first start shooting sequences in Budapest.”
Boyle costars with Jim Belushi and Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Walter Hill production that has, Boyle said, involved ”long, hard hours and a lot of action stuff, lots of things hurtling through the air: fists, buses, cars.”
Boyle isn`t doing his own stunts. ”I`m smarter than that,” he said.
Boyle hopes he`ll be doing ”Citizen Joe” next. The sequel to his 1970
”Joe” originally was scheduled for shooting in fall of `86, until director John Avildsen decided he wanted a complete rewrite of the screenplay. ”A brand new script has been completed,” Boyle said of the latest project about archetypal hard-hat Joe, ”and we should be starting it for Cannon very soon.”
– New Line Cinema is trying to buy the Chris Penn-Lori Singer-Adrian Pasdar ”Made in the U.S.A.” film from Hemdale. If those attempts fail, Pasdar said, he and director Ken Friedman will try to have their names removed from the credits.
According to the actor, ”Made” has been the center of an ongoing war between director Friedman and Hemdale Films President John Daly. ”Daly gave the go-ahead on the film last year-if it weren`t for him, the picture never would have been made. But he didn`t like the final picture and recut it himself,” Pasdar said.
”Ken showed his version of the film at Cannes, where it received a standing ovation. But Daly threatened to have him arrested if Ken showed his cut publicly again.”
The adventure film, Pasdar said, ”is a real art-house film, with an environmental message; Daly has tried to make it sort of a teen exploit film, but it doesn`t work.”
Daly hasn`t been available for comment. And as things stand, his is the cut Hemdale will release in February.
– Director John Irvin has given up finding a major leading man quickly for ”Philip Marlowe Gets Married” and is setting that project aside while he heads ”Next of Kin” for Lorimar. ”Kin,” a drama about a Chicago cop divided between love of family and responsibility to job, will roll in Chicago in February.
”I`m not looking forward to Chicago in the winter,” Irvin said. ”I`d have much preferred spending that time in Palm Springs making my Philip Marlowe movie for United Artists.” Irvin flies to New York from his London home this weekend to start casting ”Next of Kin.”
– Maureen Stapleton, who moved from New York to Lenox, Mass., to be close to her daughter`s two toddlers, said she hasn`t landed a film assignment in a year. That situation would make her ”the happiest person in the world-if money were coming in,” she noted. After the hectic pace of a 40-year career, she feels fulfilled in leading a life that involves ”playing with my grandchildren.”
Stapleton does have one long-pending film assignment: ”Cocoon II,”
which is to roll next spring.
