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STRIFE WITH FATHER

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When producer Arnon Milchan walked into Los Angeles' Bel-Air Hotel for lunch recently, he didn't expect the bill of fare to include an ovation-but that's what he got. ''There were two actors, a director, and an agent at this table,'' says Milchan, owner of New Regency Pictures. ''One of them recognized me, and they started applauding.'' Milchan had better get used to the cheers. After all, he's doing something that many of his colleagues in Hollywood have been too afraid to do themselves: stand up to Kit Culkin, the notorious father-manager of Macaulay Culkin, 13. Braver yet, Milchan is going public with it, telling the media about his battles with Culkin Sr. over the upcoming Warner Bros. holiday ballet film, The Nutcracker, in which Macaulay plays the title role. According to Milchan, whose company coproduced the movie with Elektra Entertainment, the trouble crested a few weeks ago when Kit Culkin learned that narration by actor Kevin Kline had been added to the film and threatened that his son would do no publicity unless it was removed. ''I don't think it was a problem with the narration,'' says Milchan, who has produced JFK, Sommersby, and Under Siege. ''He hated (the idea) before he saw it. We had to beg him to come and see the film. The problem with Kit is that he has a vision of what The Nutcracker is or should be. He should have financed his own version. Then he could do whatever he wanted.'' When they first heard of Culkin's wrath, Elektra chairman Robert Krasnow, Milchan, and director Emile Ardolino (Sister Act) reluctantly agreed to eliminate Kline's part, even though they felt the voice-over would have made the ballet more accessible to a wide audience. But when Kit came back several days later with more demands-including that they reedit at least one scene and change the score-Milchan decided he'd had enough and opted to leave in the narration. Culkin then withdrew his other requests but still demanded that the voice-over be removed. The filmmakers stood firm. ''Culkin tried to pull a power play,'' says Krasnow. ''He became outrageous in his demands and we had to shut him down.'' Since then, there has been no communication between the producers and Culkin. Milchan is now planning a Macaulay-less publicity campaign, though trailers, which were approved before the flap, do include shots of the actor. Says the still-perplexed producer: ''Not even Oliver Stone would ask for as much control as Kit Culkin. Who is this man?'' That's the question that has increasingly plagued studio chiefs and producers since the phenomenal success of 1990's Home Alone made Macaulay Culkin Hollywood's youngest A-list star. As his son's career soared, Kit Culkin, 49, became one of the most powerful-and dreaded-negotiators in Hollywood, demanding approval of directors and, in one case, insisting that one of Macaulay's siblings (there are six) be cast in The Good Son. Milchan agrees with the industry's prevailing pop-psych analysis that Kit, a failed actor (reports that he danced The Nutcracker when he was young cannot be confirmed, though his sister Bonnie Bedelia did), is living through his successful son. ''It must be the most frustrating thing to have such false power generated by a little kid,'' says the producer. ''(Kit's) got to punish the world.'' (Culkin Sr. did not respond to Entertainment Weekly's request for an interview.) In 1991, Culkin told Fox executives he'd pull his son out of Home Alone 2 unless the studio agreed to install Macaulay as the psychotic boy in The Good Son, even though another actor had already been cast in the role. Not only did Macaulay get the part, but the production was halted for a year to accommodate his schedule, his sister Quinn got a role in the film, and director Michael Lehmann (Heathers), who had reportedly resisted casting Culkin, was replaced by Joseph Ruben (Sleeping With the Enemy). Still, from Fox's perspective, the concessions have paid off: Home Alone 2 sold more than $172 million in tickets, and The Good Son, released last September, has so far made a respectable $40 million. But Kit may have jeopardized Macaulay's chances to star in Richie Rich, a Warner Bros. comedy supposed to go into production in October. The film has been delayed until March with the lead still up for grabs. In late August, talks broke down between Kit, Warner, and producer Joel Silver after Kit reportedly rejected at least four directors, including Oscar winner John Avildsen (Rocky). (Kit may have been miffed because Avildsen's name had been linked with the movie before his approval.) In September, when Warner hired Donald Petrie to direct Richie Rich, the act was seen by many as a warning to the father: Take it or leave it. He may, in fact, take it. Some sources say talks may continue between the Culkin camp and Warner Bros. president Terry Semel. A Warner spokesperson says, ''We don't discuss films in development.'' How does all this make Petrie feel? ''It worries me to think that Kit Culkin would be calling me to tell me what close-ups or music he likes or doesn't like,'' says Petrie, who directed Warner Bros.' upcoming Grumpy Old Men. ''Sure, Sylvester Stallone may want a rewrite or even a different cut on a scene when he's doing a movie. But that's taken into account in advance. I would want Macaulay Culkin in my movie if I had some form of assurance that Kit Culkin wouldn't be making the kinds of artistic demands he's making on The Nutcracker. What's next? Are you going to give Kit Culkin final cut? Even ! studios can only be pushed so far before they'll throw up their hands and stand their ground.'' ''I don't think that all this can help Macaulay's career,'' says Milchan. ''People can accept a monopoly up to a point, then they have no choice but to invest in the competition. I would say I'd be much more motivated to create a new kid star if I knew that working with Macaulay Culkin comes with all this trouble.'' Still, in a town ruled by the bottom line, taming Culkin may not be possible until one of his son's films bites the dust at the box office. Macaulay's next movie, an MGM comedy costarring Ted Danson, arrives in the spring. Many in the industry are hoping the movie's title will prove prophetic. It's called, strangely enough, Getting Even With Dad. *