Will "Meat-head" be a movie mogul? Word is that if Castle Rock Entertainment, largely owned by Japan's Sony Corp., successfully completes ongoing takeover talks with Orion Pictures, Castle Rock partner Rob Reiner may run the studio.
"Meathead" was Carroll O'Connor's favorite epithet for Reiner on the 1970s sitcom "All in the Family."- The opening line on the Oscars has some surprise picks. Oddsmakers at the Las Vegas Hilton list these favorites: Best actor, Robert de Niro for "Awakenings"; best actress, Joanne Woodward for "Mr. & Mrs. Bridge"; best supporting actor, either Bruce Davison for "Longtime Companion" or Al Pacino for "Dick Tracy"; best supporting actress, Whoopie Goldberg for "Ghost"; best picture, "Dances With Wolves."
- Just a regular movie, not a folk-culture phenomenon. That's what Tim Burton wants from the "Batman" sequel he'll start filming this summer.
The title is still uncertain, but the followup to the record-setting 1989 box office hit will star Michael Keaton again, and won't be called "Batman 2."
Danny DeVito will join the cast as the villainous Penguin.
- Still spry and self-critical at 78, Katharine Hepburn keeps making movies but adamantly refuses to see any of the recent ones.
Her explanation: "When I see some of my old movies, like `Morning Glory,' which I made more than half a century ago, I look at that young girl on the screen and say, `My, she is so pretty and so talented,' but I don't have any sort of connection with her. That girl isn't me at all.
"I stopped going to see my films when I began to watch what was bad about my face, my neck, my body, my voice. I didn't like to look at myself in a sort of decay."