Entertainment news for March 13, 1992
Movies
Turning down an offer to do The Count of Monte Cristo, Arnold Schwarzenegger is pocketing $13 million to $15 million to play Arno Slater in Columbia’s The Last Action Hero, set to shoot this summer. Arno is the action-adventure movie idol of a 15-year-old boy who magically joins him on the big screen. In the morality tale, Arno/Arnold ”will learn to become kinder, less violent,” says a studio source. But not as kind as he might have been: The producers of the comedy Sweet Tooth tried to hire the big guy to play the Tooth Fairy.
Michael J. Fox plays the hypotenuse of a love triangle (the other two leads have not yet been named) in Universal’s The Concierge, a comedy-drama directed by Barry Sonnenfeld (The Addams Family). The movie, which starts filming March 30 in New York’s Hotel Pierre, is ”in the vein of The Apartment and Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” says Sonnenfeld.
TV
Beverly Hills, 90210 heartthrobs Dylan (Luke Perry) and Brenda (Shannen Doherty) will get busted when her parents find out they’ve spent all day-and all night-together in Baja California. By coincidence, this will happen during May ratings sweeps. The same two-parter introduces new character Jake (Lucky‘s Grant Show), Dylan’s mentor. ”He taught him everything he knows about being cool, surfing, cars,” says the show’s spokeswoman. Big kahuna Jake is destined to spin off into a new Fox series, Melrose Place.
Simpsons creator Matt Groening vows he will no longer let guest stars like Michael Jackson and Dustin Hoffman perform without their names appearing in the credits. ”People kept wanting to know, ‘Was it really Michael Jackson?”’ says a Fox insider. ”Matt is tired of not being able to say anything.”
Music
Those daunting ”Parental Advisory-Explicit Lyrics” stickers are de rigueur for racy rap and metal albums, but MCA startled blues fans by slapping one on its reissue of Sonny Boy Williamson’s 1962 album, Bummer Road. The track ”Little Village” contains some salty studio banter, and MCA’s Andy McKaie says he’s ”just living up to the letter of the law.” Notes Frank Scott, owner of the blues mail-order house Down Home Music, ”It’s the climate of the times, I guess. Either that, or a smart marketing move.”
Video
On that note, Teldec Video confesses that the warning label on its new laserdisc of Richard Strauss’ opera Salome is a ”responsible tongue-in-cheek marketing strategy.” The label reads, ”This production of SALOME contains both nudity and graphic violence. Viewer discretion advised.” Don’t lose your heads, folks!
Written by: Pat H. Broeske, Leonard Klady, Jne Frances, David Browne, Nisid Hajari
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