NIXON

Nixon may be no JFK -- instead of positing a conspiracy, it promises a sympathetic look at the 37th President -- but that doesn't mean the media won't use it as an opportunity to kick Oliver Stone around some more. Don't let Disney's eye-catchingly clever ''Nixon in '96'' buttons fool you -- the return of Tricky Dick has been anything but an easy campaign.

The first hurdle was funding. Although they'd worked together many times before, Stone and New Regency president Arnon Milchan reached an impasse when Milchan wouldn't put up the $42 million budget the director required. (Disney's Hollywood Pictures division took on the project instead.) Then came the casting problems. Possibly mindful of his last attempt at playing an unlikable character -- in 1990's The Bonfire of the Vanities -- Tom Hanks sidestepped the possibility of entering the Oval Office as Nixon; so did Robin Williams. (Not that anyone involved is complaining about landing Anthony Hopkins.) And finally, there were the leaks that occurred with a sense of skulduggery reminiscent of Watergate: An early draft of the script was faxed all over Hollywood, and early reports suggested it had Nixon organizing a hit squad to kill Kennedy. ''Ridiculous,'' snorted Stone, insisting the reports ''totally misrepresent the film we are trying to make.''

So what film are they trying to make? Stone's Nixon, shot on redecorated sets that were originally built for The American President, promises a look at the man from both political and psychological vantages -- and yes, there will be plenty of Watergate. In fact, all the President's men have been busy researching the voluminous historical record. Woods, playing H.R. Haldeman, plunged into the CD-ROM version of the former chief of staff's recently published diaries, but he declined to meet his widow, explaining, ''I held off because I didn't want to feel any obligation to paint the character in any light other than what Oliver wanted.'' Paul Sorvino did brave a meeting with Henry Kissinger, who initially growled, ''Stone has portrayed Nixon as the tragic figure he was -- of course, he makes me look like a major slimeball.'' And David Hyde Pierce hung out with John Dean: ''Most of the things I asked him were very technical,'' he says. ''Whether he picked what he wore to testify very consciously. What the temperature in the hearing room was. Oliver was very particular in adjusting tone and nuance.'' (Dec. 22)

BUZZ: Nixon remains the most controversial president in recent memory, so Nixon, no matter how nuanced, is sure to be hotly debated. It could be '95's must-see