Look for a surprise return engagement from Rocky's late, beloved trainer Mickey - as played by Burgess Meredith - when "Rocky V" comes to the screen via MGM-UA around Thanksgiving.
Robert Chartoff - who is producing with Irwin Winkler - says that Mickey will appear in two newly filmed dream sequences to "impart wisdom and inspiration" when Rocky most needs it.It was star-writer Sylvester Stallone who came up with the idea to bring back Mickey - who died dramatically of a heart attack in "Rocky III," while the champ was in the ring taking a beating from mean Clubber Lang (Mr. T).
Says Chartoff: "Burgess Meredith thought he'd seen the last of Rocky."
Does this mean that the late Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) may also be putting in a special heavenly appearance?
"Not this time," says Chartoff, laughing. "But don't discount anything when it comes to the `Rocky' films." - PAT H. BROESKE
- Oscar Going Global:
HOLLYWOOD - This year's Academy Award ceremonies, to be telecast live from Los Angeles
March 26, will be even more international than usual - Oscar winners in four categories will be announced via satellite from four cities on three other continents.
But how will the top-secret Oscar results get to Moscow, London, Buenos Aires and Sydney? Who will pass along that famed envelope ... please?
Oscar spokesman Bob Werden says that four special representatives of the accounting firm of Price Waterhouse - the firm that counts the ballots amid high-level security - will carry five envelopes for each category, each envelope bearing a nominee's name, to the four destinations.
On the night of the awards, a Price Waterhouse representative in Los Angeles will telephone each courier about five minutes before the scheduled announcement, disclosing which envelope holds the name of the winner.
In Moscow, Jack Lemmon and Soviet actress Natalia Niegoda ("Little Vera") will announce the best foreign-language film winner. Elsewhere, Glenn Close will be stationed in London, Norma Aleandro in Buenos Aires and Rachel Ward and Bryan Brown in Sydney (categories yet to be determined for the latter three cities).
"If the satellite goes down," Werden adds, "we can always do it the old-fashioned way . . . live on stage in L.A." - DAVID J. FOX
- Battling Lambadas:
HOLLYWOOD - It's Golan vs. Globus as Columbia and Warner Bros. firmed plans last week to open separate lambada-themed films nationwide March 16. That is some deadline, especially for Warner's "Lambada - Set the Night on Fire," which wrapped production only Mar. 5. Columbia's "The Forbidden Dance" finished shooting "way back" on Feb. 17.
Produced by 21st Century Film Corp. and Cannon Films - the companies owned by ex-partners Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, respectively - the two movies were originally planned for April and May releases. But, says one source, "It's become the lambada wars, and the most important thing is who can beat who."
Globus, who's partnered with Dino De Laurentiis in "Fire" - the Warners release - apparently beat Golan on title registration. Because of a Globus-De Laurentiis complaint filed with the MPAA, Columbia has dropped the word "lambada" from its title. But sources say that an arbitration hearing by the Motion Picture Association of America over use of the word in Columbia's ad copy is still on for Tuesday.
Columbia's "Forbidden" is expected to open in around 500 theaters, while Warners' "Fire" ignites in over 1,000.
As for storyline distinctions: "Fire" is about a mild-mannered Beverly Hills high school teacher who moonlights as an East Los Angeles dance club lambada king by night. Idolized for his dance prowess, he inspires barrio kids to do their schoolwork - leading to an East L.A. vs. Bev Hills academic showdown.
"Forbidden" focuses on a Brazilian beauty fighting to save her village and the rain forest from developers. She gains media attention by jetting to Los Angeles and doing . . . the lambada! - STACY JENEL SMITH
- The Boz Roars Onto the Screen:
HOLLYWOOD - Pro linebacker Brian Bosworth - aka The Boz - may have been on injured reserve in the NFL last season, but he'll be doing many of his own stunts when he stars in "The Brotherhood." The $10 million action film about outlaw bikers, tailored especially for The Boz, is set for an April start.
The flamboyant Bosworth, known for his free spirit and macho bluster, damaged a shoulder in the second game last season and remained out of action with the Seattle Seahawks, with his career in question.
But producer Yoram Ben Ami - who was instrumental in putting Chuck Norris in "Lone Wolf McQuade" - thinks The Boz, who is only 25, can fill "the vacuum" in an action arena dominated by aging stars. Waxes Ben Ami: "He has a hipness and charisma. Kids know him and love him and will grow with him."
Director Bruce Malmuth ("Hard to Kill") adds: "There's a little bit of Gary Cooper in him, and a lot of principles."
Set in the Midwest, the script casts The Boz as a married cop who infiltrates a biker gang and finds that the wild life has its attractions ... including a particular woman. Look for Bosworth's trademark Mohawk haircut and earrings to become part of his biker get-up.
Ben Ami says that The Boz' big screen training regimen has included acting lessons - and lots of riding on his new Harley-Davidson. The producer believes Bosworth's gridiron injuries won't hold him back, because stunts can be carefully planned.
Michael Douglas' Stone Group Inc. will produce "The Brotherhood," with Douglas and Mace Neufeld as the film's "presenters." - PAT H. BROESKE
- Cinefile:
Tom Hanks is set to star as a low-life boxing promoter who stages neighborhood matches in Fox's "Night and the City," a remake of Jules Dassin's 1950 film. No director is set, but Richard Price ("Sea of Love") is at work writing the drama - with comic undertones - specifically for Hanks. It's for down the road, after other commitments.
Elsewhere on the development trail: Warner Bros. has "Doc Hollywood" in the works as a starring vehicle for Michael J. Fox. The comedy, being written by Jeffrey Price and Peter Seaman, concerns a plastic surgeon, heading for Beverly Hills and its lucrative clientele, who gets waylaid in a small Georgia town.
Disney-Touchstone hopes to star Bette Midler in "Widows," currently being written by Richard Lagravenese. The Divine Miss M would play one of three women who decide to finish a heist - after their husbands are killed the first time around. Midler's interested, sources say, but first she's set for Touchstone's "Scenes From a Mall," opposite Woody Allen, then "For Our Boys," which her company, All-Girl Prods., has developed for Fox.
Geena Davis is expected to star in "Hello, Stranger," a comedy A&M Films has set up at Morgan Creek, Calif. The actress awaits rewrites by authors Topper Lillien and Carroll Cartwright. . . . Meanwhile, producer Lawrence Gordon is currently developing "Mrs. California," a comedy about 1950s homemaker contests, for Davis and Melanie Griffith. Sara Parriott and Josann McGibbon are the writers.
Diahann Carroll will co-star in director-writer-star Robert Townsend's "The Five Heartbeats," a film about the rise and fall of a black singing group in the 1960s. Carroll plays the wife of the group's manager, running a modeling school who teaches the guys how to walk, dress and act with class. Dancer Harold Nicholas, of the legendary Nicholas Brothers, handles the choreography. Cameras roll March 19. Fox distributes.
Karen Black plays a woman who murders elderly boarders for their Social Security checks and buries her victims in the backyard in Grand Am Ltd's "Evil Spirits," which begins shooting in Los Angeles on Thursday. Joan Caulfield (one of Paramount's top stars of the '40s), Bert Remsen, Michael Berryman and Arte Johnson are also set in this black comedy inspired by a recent news story. Gary Graver, Orson Welles' longtime cinematographer, directs from a script by Mikel Angel (who will also act in the film). Sidney Niekerk produces.
Raymond Burr is into the John Candy comedy "Delirious," which rolls Wednesday in Los Angeles and New York for MGM-UA. Tom Mankiewicz directs this tale of a soap opera writer who awakens from an accident to discover his characters have come to life. Emma Samms, Jerry Orbach, Renee Taylor also star. - KIRK HONEYCUTT
- The Movie Chart:
Films going into production:
NOT WITHOUT MY DAUGHTER (Pathe). Shooting in Israel. Starring Sally Field, this true event-inspired story centers on a woman held prisoner by her Iranian husband during a trip back to his native Tehran. A full 18 months pass before she and her child are able to flee Iranian borders. Producers Harry and Mary Jane Ufland. Director-screenwriter Brian Gilbert. Also stars Alfred Molina and Sheila Rosenthal.
THE RECRUIT (Warner Bros.). Shooting in Yugoslavia. John Stamos and John Stockwell lead the pack in this 1939 wartime story of motorcycle racer Stamos who is enlisted by the U.S. Army to instruct our boys in the ways of two-wheelers in combat. Producer Fred Weintraub. Director Graham Baker. Screenwriters Janice Hickey and Michael Pardridge.
TINSEL (White Lion Pictograph). Shooting in New Mexico, Arizona, Texas and Los Angeles. A feature documentary concerning itself with America's fascination, bordering on an obsession, with the movies. Executive producer Wendell Moody. Producers Marge Moody and Michael Moody. Director-screenwriter James F. Robinson.