Entertainment news for January 11, 1991
Movies
Who wrote ''To be or not to be?'' That is the question many
moviegoers may ask when the credits roll in Franco Zeffirelli's Mel
Gibson-ized adaptation of Hamlet. Although every word spoken
in the 135-minute film is the Bard's, Hamlet's screenplay is
mysteriously credited to Zeffirelli and Christopher De Vore, ''adapted
from the play by William Shakespeare.'' Something may seem rotten in
Hollywood, but according to the Writers Guild of America, the billing
is appropriate. ''Oftentimes, screenplays include a lot of material
aside from dialogue,'' says WGA spokeswoman Cheryl Rhoden. ''There are
stage directions and action scenes.'' So is Hamlet's screenplay
eligible for awards? ''Sure,'' says Rhoden, ''but Shakespeare (plays
have) lost before. We try to joke about it. What else can you do?''
Icons, Deran Sarafian's romantic thriller set in the Moscow underworld, is the first American feature to be filmed entirely in the Soviet capital. The glasnost-era love story stars Frank Whaley (The Freshman) as an American student caught up with a mysterious Muscovite (Natalya Negoda) and Polish filmmaker Roman Polanski as a ruthless Soviet smuggler. Polanski hasn't acted since a 1974 cameo in his own Chinatown. ''I was forced to learn (Russian) at school,'' he says. ''Who'd have thought it could be so useful?''
Video
How do U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia like to relax? By
watching sports, the Pentagon says, and so HBO Video shipped 1,000
copies of Mike Tyson and History's Greatest Knockouts overseas last
month. How about a Dorf golf video to help with those sand traps?
