For Immediate Release on Entertainment Drive
Released by Beck/Smith

Landau Says New 'Pinocchio' a Must See
Hollywood -- June 17, 1996 -- Martin Landau wants us to know that his portrayal of Geppetto in New Line Cinema's live-action version of "Pinocchio" will be unlike any we've ever seen. Instead of the kindly Geppetto we've come to know and love in Disney's treatment of the story, Landau is playing him, "Like a curmudgeon, a man who's afraid of intimacy, who goes home and plays with marionettes because he's afraid of relationships with people." Genevieve Bujold plays the long-suffering girlfriend who keeps waiting unsuccessfully for Geppetto to loosen up. "It's an amazing, wonderful film," says Landau. "Great as Disney's Pinocchio' was, this film is about a wooden puppet and real people. I did hands-on work with the puppet. This is a film that's going to be around for a long time. It's a work of art that wouldn't have been possible a few years ago when the technology wasn't there." Rob Schneider, who plays Volpe the Fox in the film, says of Pinocchio, "It's remarkable what his face can do. He can watch you with his eyes, he can smile and be sad or happy. It's like working with a person." As for Landau, at 68 he's at a high point in his career. He's currently making "B.A.P.s" with Halle Berry and will soon be announcing a list of productions that will be made by Silver Street Pictures, the major production company he recently founded with four partners. With $100 million in backing, the company is gearing up to make several pictures, including "Whatever Happened to Eddie" -- a project Landau's been trying to bring to screen for close to 20 years. He wrote and will direct the drama about an Italian movie star who commits suicide. Co-starring will be Gretchen Wilder -- the young beauty who, until recently, was Landau's love.

Larroquette Show More Fun Next Season
Hollywood -- June 18, 1996 -- John Larroquette, already laying plans for next season's "John Larroquette Show," lets us know we can expect the series to be "more fun and less angst-ridden next season than in the last three years." We're also going to see Larroquette take on "a patriarchal role" with his on-camera coworkers. He explains, "Look at Cheers.' Sam Malone was the lead character of the show, and yet, over time you got to know everybody else there. You got to know their lives as well as Sam's. It's important to the duration of a series that the audience has an investment in the rest of the cast of characters, that they know they're likeable and loveable." The same was true of his old "Night Court," which was "a level playing field when we began. By the time I walked into Larroquette,' I had a large profile already...But now, viewers have chosen up sides. There are people who tune in to see Daryl Chill' Mitchell, or Liz Torres. I happen to think we have one of, if not the best ensembles in television." Larroquette is a coexecutive producer of the show, by the way. "Larroquette" has a full-season pickup for 96-97, which means "we'll get to 99 episodes this coming season," says the star. And that means "Larroquette" is hitting the golden zone -- enough episodes to run well in syndication.

Courage & Gulf War Realism
Hollywood -- June 19, 1996 -- The Denzel Washington-Meg Ryan "Courage Under Fire" film, which is due from Fox July 12, has already won the National Patriot's Award from the Congressional Medal of Honor Society for its accurate portrayal of the Gulf War. The "Courage" battle scenes are so tangible, you practically taste the desert dust. Filmmaker Ed Zwick ("Glory," "Legends of the Fall") went to great lengths to get that versimillitude into his feature. "To me, the accuracy of details provide the foundation on which the performances rest," he says. "...Maybe there's a flow back and forth, between the truth of the circumstances and the truth of the acting." With all that in mind, it's interesting to hear Zwick discuss what he learned about the Gulf War in the process of making "Courage Under Fire." "I think there was a lot that we [the public] did not know about the war. I think we were given a lot of very artfully and beautifully choreographed sound bites and photo ops on CNN, but as it turns out, that Patriot missile may or may not have shot down that SCUD. And those Smart bombs may not have been as Smart as we were told. And the damage wasn't all collateral," he says. Even in the 90s, when we think we know it all...we don't, Zwick acknowledges. Though the "Courage Under Fire" stories are fictional, they easily could have happened, he notes. "There were large numbers of friendly fire incidents in the Gulf War -- I chose not to use any one specifically -- but there was one that there were senate subcommittee hearings about...There was a woman named Rhonda Corman shot down -- she was actually taken prisoner by the Iraquis, and she wrote a book about it. So everything we show is quite plausible." The movie, by the way, is gripping and inventive all the way, an absolute winner.

Knight, Chaka on 'Set it Off'
Hollywood -- June 20, 1996 -- Gladys Knight heads into the studio this week to shoot the video for the the theme song to New Line s upcoming big-screen "Set it Off" starring Blair Underwood, Queen Latifah and Jada Pinkett. "I did the theme along with Chaka Khan, Brandy and (Quincy Jones' latest discovery) Tamia," reports Knight. "I'm really excited about it." The legendary singer says she requested that all the singers appear together in the video, instead of being shot separately because "It'd be nice if we could really touch each other....I'm just that touchy, feely kind of person." Knight, who duetted with Boys II Men on the !! "End of the Road" hit, says she enjoys working with today's younger artists because she believes in passing on what she's learned about the music business. "We've gotten away from networking," says Knight about her generation of musical artists. "The fact we're not passing on the information we have is something that needs to be brought out. Our young artists are becoming only recording artists and you know how long that lasts...There's no such thing as building a career anymore. It's a sad thing. If you've opted to be in this industry and be passionate about it and you're going to put that much time into something, it needs to be a career for you." Knight says if today's new artists want to attain the longevity she's had, "There's certain things you have to know, certain things you have to do and certain ways you have to go like we did. But we're not sharing. There's a big gap there." Studying one's craft she says is all important. While performing at last weekend's 18th annual Playboy Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl, Knight says "I was thinking about Ella Fitzgerald when I was on stage. She was the one I studied when I was in high school. I sang with a jazz band in high school and my musical director said These are the people I want you to listen to.' I didn't know that much about jazz at the time so he started to educate me. Ella was so crisp and precise. I've always appreciated and respected any artist with an ear who's not singing flat and all over the place." Something she notes, many of today's young singers seem to be doing. "People dont' regard that anymore...it's no big deal to sing on pitch. But to me it still has merit. You may not realize when a song ain't rubbin' you quite right, but when you hear someone sing on pitch you know it makes you feel something."

Brenda Russell Writes To Please Herself
Hollywood -- June 21, 1996 -- The works of popular singer/songwriter Brenda Russell ("Piano in the Dark," "Get Here") have been recorded by everyone from Luther Vandross and Ray Charles to Oleta Adams and Aretha Franklin. And she has a new tune on Tina Turner's latest "Wildest Dreams" CD. But Russell says she rarely writes with a specific person in mind. "I find it never works that way...it works better if I'm writing for me and they like what I do." And that's something she says she "had to learn the hard way." She recalls when Aretha Franklin asked her to write a song for her a few years back. "I was so thrilled...I started writing like Aretha. But when she got the song she said Brenda, I wanted a Brenda Russell Song' and I was like Oh!' It was very funny, but it was a good lesson." Russell's rep as a songwriter has gotten to the point in her career that she says, "I get calls every day to collaborate on or record a song, which is something that's always been a dream of mine. That's the good thing about visualization and positive thinking. When I was younger I used to visualize what I wanted to happen. I would visualize these great singers I loved recording my songs one day and it's happening."

Copyright (c) 1996 Beck/Smith Ent.


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