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GLORIA'S GAINS Her ER character's job may be in jeopardy, but in real life, Gloria Reuben, who plays HIV-positive physician assistant Jeanie Boulet, is hard at work on a second career — as a femme fatale. After four weeks of shooting during her ER off-hours, she just wrapped the indie drama Indiscreet, opposite Luke Perry. ''I needed to do something where I could wear something other than a lab coat,'' says Reuben. For the actress, turning nasty meant exchanging her hospital scrubs for glamour-puss makeup. ''It was nice to be able to turn a few more heads.''
YEAR OF THE RAT PACK Director Martin Scorsese and writer
Nicholas Pileggi (GoodFellas), currently collaborating on the
script for a Rat Pack flick based on Nick Tosches' 1992 Dean
Martin bio, Dino: Living High in the Dirty Business of Dreams,
are reportedly eyeing a high-rolling roster that includes Tom
Hanks as Martin, John Travolta as Frank Sinatra, Wesley Snipes
as Sammy Davis Jr., Hugh Grant as Peter Lawford, Adam Sandler as
Joey Bishop, and Jim Carrey as Jerry Lewis. While Scorsese's
spokesperson says, ''It's much too early to think about casting''
and that rundown is ''probably just a wish list,'' the actors'
reps say they are aware of rumors but haven't been approached
with offers. HBO has a Rat Pack movie of its own in development,
likely to be directed by Rob Cohen (Dragonheart).
— Chris
Nashawaty
REMAKIN' WHOOPEE MGM/UA didn't walk away with a barrelful of
cash from its lukewarm stock offering on Nov. 13. While the IPO
brought the embattled studio approximately $180 million (with
chief investor Kirk Kerkorian kicking in another $75 million),
UA president Lindsay Doran has been riffling through the
company's library to find movies to remake or sequelize: Doran
has asked Ivan Reitman to revive the Pink Panther series (Robin
Williams has been mentioned as a successor to the late Peter
Sellers), and Pierce Brosnan will star as a bank-robbing
millionaire in a remake of 1968's The Thomas Crown Affair.
There's also talk of sequels to Basic Instinct and The Birdcage as well as remakes of the 1974 oceanic thriller Juggernaut (this
time set in outer space) and 1975's Rollerball. Though Doran
has denied that the strategy is dictated by frugality, she
declined to comment on the deja vu lineup.
— Gregg Kilday
DEALS ON MEALS For a first-time producer, Peter Morton has one thing most fledgling filmmakers would die for: a guaranteed table at his restaurant, Mortons. Though he's been surrounded by the movie biz for years, Morton wasn't tempted to jump in until his godson, Matthew Vaughn, told him of a screenplay, Guy Ritchie's Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels, he wanted to produce. Morton passed it on to his friend, producer Steve Tisch (Forrest Gump), who liked the English crime comedy and agreed to coexecutive-produce the $2.5 million project with Morton. Sting is heading the primarily British cast, currently shooting in London with music-video director Ritchie at the helm. Morton has yet to visit the location, for unlike most of the Hollywood elite he feeds, when it comes to making movies, he says, ''I know nothing.''
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