News & Notes

Trading Places
Eriq La Salle, last seen in Coming to America, will star opposite Michelle Pfeiffer in Love Field. La Salle replaces Oscar winner Denzel Washington, who dropped out citing the usual ''creative differences.'' Director Jonathan Kaplan (The Accused) will start shooting soon on the romance-drama, which takes place on the day of President John F. Kennedy's assassination in 1963.

Dear Diary
What's it like for a first-time director to get his film made? Steven Soderbergh (below) kept a diary before, during, and after the production of sex, lies, and videotape — one of last year's most talked-about movies —that has recently been published in a book also containing his original script. Initially, Soderbergh wanted to cast Elizabeth McGovern as Ann, the unhappy wife ultimately played by Andie MacDowell. He also planned to shoot the film, at first titled 46:02 (after the length of Ann's confessional video), in black-and-white.

Oil Glut
Audiences who have seen the trailer for the upcoming Tom Cruise stock-car movie Days of Thunder can be forgiven if they thought they were watching an Exxon ad. Talk about an oil spill. Shot after shot prominently features the oil company's logo. It's plastered on an oversize umbrella, on a mechanic's coveralls, on a pit-stop placard, and all over the star racing car.

Surreal Smorgasbord
Saturday-morning turtle cartoons getting you down? The 22nd International Tournee of Animation, a 110-minute compilation of 18 short animated films, may be just the alternative. Selections from 12 countries — including the U.S., Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, and the U.S.S.R. — are featured. Among the highlights: the first Soviet movie to receive an Oscar animation nomination, The Cow, and the Academy Award-winning German short Balance. Opening in New York and Los Angeles on April 27, Tournee will reach theaters across the country during the next few months.