One of the stars of "Housesitter," aside from Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn, is a very attractive little house built by Martin's character, a Boston architect named Newton Davis.
The 1,800 square-foot, three-bedroom home was actually designed by Jonathan Lanman and Debra Wassman of Trumbull Architects in New York City, and the original is in upstate New York. It was named by the House Beautiful-American Wood Council as the "Best Small House of 1990."The house for the film was built in Concord, Mass., after production designer Ida Random saw the original, which she felt was innovative and photogenic enough to convince a movie audience that it was built as a gift of love for Newton's girlfriend. Hence, the huge red ribbon that was wrapped around the entire house in the film's opening scene.
Since the original house was finished two years ago, some 60 homes using the same Lanman-Wassman plans have been built, or are in some stage of construction, in 25 states.
No, there are none in Utah. At least not yet.
But if you want to be the first on your block, the plans are available for $150 by phoning Princeton Plans Press and asking for information about purchasing the plans to the "Best Small House of 1990," 1-800-826-4244.
If you should decide to build this house, however, you are advised to avoid becoming friendly with a waitress who looks like Goldie Hawn.
She may decide to move in without telling you.
- WAS IT OR WASN'T IT? People are asking about Dottie, the Geena Davis character in "A League of Their Own" - specifically the older Dottie who appears in the film's opening and closing sequences.
Is it Davis in makeup, a la Winona Ryder in "Edward Scissorhands" or Melanie Griffith and Michael Douglas in "Shining Through" or Bette Midler in "For the Boys"? If so, it's a much better makeup job than any of those stars had.
The consensus among moviegoers is that it must be Davis, since the character not only looks like her but because she sounds like her.
But looks - and sounds - can be deceiving.
In "A League of Their Own" the older Dottie is played by actress Lynn Cartwright, who is certainly a ringer for Davis.
The voice, however, was Davis' own, dubbed over Cartwright's.
Ah, the magic of the movies.
- THIS NEVER COMES OUT when those stories about record-setting box office grosses show up in the media, but the number of theaters in which a movie is playing has quite an impact.
For example, "Unlawful Entry," which opened a week ago, is playing on some 1,500 screens, while "Sister Act" and "Housesitter" are closer to 2,000 screens each. "Patriot Games" is on nearly 2,300 screens.
This past week, those four films followed, in that order, "Batman Returns" on the list of top-grossing movies nationwide.
But "Batman Returns" is playing on a record 3,700 screens in 2,644 theaters, according to the show-biz trade journal Variety. The difference between screens and theaters, of course, is that many theaters are playing the film on more than one screen. For example, the Cineplex Odeon Trolley Corners Cinemas in Salt Lake City is playing "Batman Returns" in all three of its auditoriums.
Meanwhile, farther down the box office hit list, at No. 13, is "Howards End," a British period drama by the makers of "A Room With a View."
"Howards End" is playing at a measly 124 theaters, so, naturally, its total grosses are not that impressive. But if the list were compiled according to per-screen earnings, "Howards End" would be No. 3, right after "Unlawful Entry."
Just another example of how numbers can be adjusted to make them work for you.
- SPEAKING OF NUMBERS, returning for a moment to the record books, "Batman Returns" has topped the $100 million mark, which it earned in 12 days.
That's notable, but it still doesn't beat the record set by "Batman" in 1989, which earned $100 million in 11 days.
- WELL, HOLLYWOOD'S sequelitis has reached a zenith (or nadir) of some sort with the announcement that Sean Cunningham has mounted yet another "Friday the 13th" movie - "Friday the 13th, Part IX."
What's next? A slasher version of "That's Entertainment"?
It could feature clips from all the "Friday the 13th" movies and the other clones of "Halloween."
The title? What else? "That's Splatter"!
- QUOTE OF THE WEEK: Roger Ebert, reflecting on 25 years of reviewing movies for the Chicago Sun-Times:
"The big difference between today's dialogue and the dialogue of years ago is that the characters have grown stupid. They say what is needed to advance the plot, to get their laughs by their delivery of four-letter words. Hollywood dialogue was once witty, intelligent, ironic, poetic, musical. Today it is flat."