FRANK SWERTLOW
Now that “Shakespeare in Love” has been named best picture, will there be a sequel?
“Nobody has asked me, really,” said Tom Stoppard, who co-wrote the Oscar-winning screenplay.
Trust us, somebody will.
In the meantime, Hollywood has fallen in love with the bard from Stratford-on-Avon. Among the upcoming productions based on Shakespeare works are “Titus Andronicus,” starring Anthony Hopkins; “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” starring Calista Flockhart and Michelle Pfeiffer; and a musical adaptation of “Love’s Labour’s Lost,” starring Alicia Silverstone.
Why the fascination with Shakespeare?
“It is called lack of innovation,” said Steve Cesinger, an investment banker who specializes in the entertainment industry at Greif & Co. “When you don’t have a new idea, plunder the past.”
Producer Leonard Goldberg is thisclose to signing Drew Barrymore for the starring role in a big-screen version of the old ABC series, “Charlie’s Angels.” Shooting would get underway this summer for a planned release in the summer of 2000. Goldberg said the new angels would bear no resemblance to originals Farrah Fawcett, Jaclyn Smith and Kate Jackson.
“They are new characters written by Ed Solomon,” said Goldberg, who co-produced the original series with Aaron Spelling from 1976 to 1981. “These characters will be different.”
Like the original, however, the theatrical production will focus on the action adventures of the women detectives with a mysterious boss named Charlie.
“It will be a high-style adventure, but with a lot more comedy than the series,” Goldberg said. “It will have (the year) 2000 sensibilities.”
Goldberg, the former head of production at Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp., approached Columbia TriStar about making a theatrical version of “Charlie’s Angels.” Spelling and Goldberg sold the rights to Columbia more than a decade ago.
While the project percolates, Goldberg is moving ahead in the TV movie-of-the-week arena. His “Love Letters,” based on A.R. Gurney’s long-playing stage production, rolls on ABC on April 12. The film marks Stanley Donen’s TV debut. In addition, he is producing a thriller “Millennium Plague” for ABC, scheduled for the fall. Goldberg returns to the big screen this summer for a Paramount thriller, “Double Jeopardy,” starring Tommy Lee Jones and Ashley Judd.
How is Telemundo, the country’s No. 2 Spanish-language network, faring with the injection of a couple of re-programmed English-language series, “Starsky & Hutch” and “Charlie’s Angels,” respectively renamed “Reyes y Reyes” and “Angeles”? Not that great. Both shows averaged an anemic 2 rating in the February sweeps. Year to date, the Sony Entertainment-owned Telemundo dropped 2 points in prime time to a 7 percent share compared to its more successful rival, Univision, which grabbed a whopping 93 percent of the Spanish-speaking audience. Telemundo has been trying to improve its distant also-ran status by adding retreads from English-language programming that Sony owns. The move, so far, has made little impact on the ratings.
Christie’s auction house in Beverly Hills pulled in $786,120 for AIDS research from the sale of 56 dresses worn at the Oscars over the years.
The top seller was Elizabeth Taylor’s periwinkle blue and violet faille crepe gown designed by Edith Head for the 1969 Oscars. El Segundo-based Mattel Inc. bought the dress for $167,500 (as a charitable donation). Taylor wore it when she presented the best picture award for “Midnight Cowboy.”
