News & Notes

FLY HARDER
Don't expect Die Hard 2 to show up as the in-flight movie any time soon. ''Considering the hijacking and the planes blowing up, (the film) probably has zero chance of being played on the airlines,'' says a representative from Sony Trans Com's entertainment programming service, which acts as a liaison between 70 major airlines and the movie studios. ''As a matter of fact,'' he says, ''the distributor probably won't even waste time making it available to them.'' A spokesperson for Twentieth Century Fox, the film's distributor, disagrees, claiming Die Hard 2 will go through the same process as any other movie for in-flight consideration. Not surprisingly, airlines are nervous about showing any scenes that depict the downside of plane travel and sually insist on editing the offending material, as they did in Midnight run and Rain Man. After such cutting, Die Hard 2 would be the shortest film anyone has ever seen at 30,000 feet.

BUSY BALDWIN
Hunt for Red October star Alec Baldwin just may be the new hardest-working man in show biz. As soon as he wraps up The Marrying Man (which also stars his new best friend, Kim Basinger), he is set to begin production on The Fugitive, a suspense drama based on the popular 1960s TV series that starred David Janssen. Baldwin will play Dr. Richard Kimble, an innocent man who escapes after being wrongly convicted of killing his wife. He moves from town to town, staying one step ahead of the detective committed to tracking him down. Action auteur Walter Hill (Another 48 HRS.) is set to direct. No word yet on who will play the mysterious one-armed man.

GHOST WITH THE MOST
Vincent Schiavelli has a face that can politely be described as, well, memorable. The veteran actor, who is best known as one of Jack Nicholson's asylum buddies in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, turns in a terrific performance as a surly subway-dwelling spirit who first terrorizes, then instructs afterlife novice Patrick Swayze in the recently released Ghost. ''I found out that (my character) had jumped in front of the train,'' Schiavelli says. ''So I saw him as an utterly, utterly tortured soul. But I also saw him in very classical terms as the teacher. In spite of himself he had to fulfill his role.'' Schiavelli flirts with the supernatural once again in his next movie, Waiting for the Light, starring Shirley MacLaine and Teri Garr. In the drama, due out this September, he plays a crotchety old man who creates complete chaos in his small town when he believes that he's seen an angel.

RAIN GERE
At $345 a pop, those bright banana yellow Dick Tracydesigner raincoats weren't exactly jumping off the racks at New York's Bloomingdale's department store. That is, until actor Richard Gere ordered 10 of the trendy trenches as party favors for his guests at an intimate bash he recently hosted. Tracy star Warren Beatty may get a cut of the merchandising booty for the togs, but it looks as if Gere will have the last laugh when they tally up the box-office winners for 1990. His Pretty Woman seems a sure bet to best Beatty's comicstrip.