Commie Come Lately
Thirty-one years after Fidel Castro seized power, Hollywood is
finally coming to terms with the Cuban revolution in two upcoming
films. Fires Within, directed by Gillian Armstrong and starring Jimmy
Smits and Greta Scacchi, deals with life in Miami's Cuban
community; Sydney Pollack's Havana, with Robert Redford and Lena
Olin, takes place during the last week of dictator Fulgencio
Batista's rule.
Harleywood
For reasons that aren't readily apparent to people who wear seat
belts, biker movies are back. Look for Harley heroes in a half-dozen
upcoming films.
Boardroom Bad Guys
It looks like '80s business excesses will provide some new
boardroom villains for the '90s. Norman Jewison will direct a film
version of the Off Broadway
drama Other People's Money, about an old company fighting off a
corporate raider.
Murray in a Hurry
Fresh from his directorial debut with Quick Change — due this
summer — Bill Murray will next star as an extremely neurotic
guy in What About Bob?, written by the very hot Tom Schulman (Dead
Poets Society and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids).
The Hunt for New Material
Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water after
this month's thriller The Hunt for Red October, another submarine
movie is about to slip out of dry dock. Dive!, a comedy about the
adventures of the USS Sub Standard starring Bill Pullman (The
Accidental Tourist) and Wendy Schaal (The 'Burbs), is on course to
surface later this year.
Inspired Marketing
How do you sell a serious picture about an American future in
which religious fundamentalists rule and women have been reduced to
neo-Stepford wives? Simple solution: Wrap a babe in a sheet. That's
victimized heroine Natasha Richardson showing enough skin to
keep you from realizing that the poster doesn't provide a clue as to
what this movie is about.
