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multiple cameos, including one by 60s
author (and former Merry Prankster) Ken
Kesey. (Fine Line, Nov. 3)
Carlito'S Way
Gilbert Grape
Al Pacino and Brian De Raima re-team
johnny Depp seems to be making a habit
for the first time since "Scarface," with
Df playing offbeat characters with wacky
Pacino again cast as a Latino gangster.
names. First came his delightful performance
Pacino is Carlito Brigante, a Harlemborn
Puerto Rican gangster attempting
as the man-made Edward Scissorhands in Tim
Burton's satiric fantasy of the same name.
Now Depp is slated to play the title character to go straight after a prison stretch. Sean
in "Gilbert Crape," a big-screen version of the Penn (De Palma's "Casualties of War"),
novel "What's Eating Gilbert Grape?" to be v^ho renounced acting in favor of directing
just before his directorial debut "The
directed by Sweden's Lasse Hallstrom ("My
Life as a Dog") from a script by Peter Hedges, Indian Runner" opened and bombed a
who wrote the original book. Set in Iowa,
few years back, returns to the screen as
"Crape" is the bittersweet story of a maladjusted
boy's relationship to his chronically
Pacino's sleazy lawyer. After "Bonfire of
the Vanities" and "Raising Cain," De
overweight mom. The recent off-beat Depp
weepie "Benny and Joon" did surprisingly Raima sure could use a hit; with the
well, so perhaps the former "21 lump Street" added cache Pacino brings in the wake
star may be developing a following for this of his 1992 Oscar for "Scent of a
type of performance. (Paramount, Dec.) Woman," perhaps he'll get it here.
Based on the novels Carlito's Way and
Beethoven's 2nd
Every dog may have his day, but
Universal's $57 million dollar St. Bernard
Beethoven is that rare cinema canine who
gets a second run at the nation's boxoffice.
Rod Daniel ("Teen Wolf," "The Super") directs,
with original star Charles Crodin reprising
his role as the Felix Unger-ish George
Newton, and Bonnie Hunt returning as
Crodin's wife. Success has it's perks for animal
superstars, too; in this one, Beethoven
reportedly finds love and becomes a family
man. Filmmaker Ivan Reitman ("Twins") executive
produced the original "Beethoven,"
and also served in that capacity on the sequel;
the script is by Len Blum. "Beethoven's 2nd"
is yet another Christmas present to the
nation's exhibitors. (Universal, Dec: 17)
After Hours by Edwin Torres, Carlito's
way was scripted by David Koepp, who
recently co-wrote another adaptation
for a little number called "Jurassic Park."
(Universal, mid-November 1993)
Wayne's World 2
Despite it's fluke success at the boxoffice,
"Wayne's World" was a trouble-plagued feature,
with director Penelope Spheeris ("The
Beverly Hillbillies") refusing to return for the
sequel as a resultof her clashes with star Mike
Myers on the original film. In this supplement
to the $121 million comedy, Wayne (Myers)
and Garth (Dana Carvey) have to deal with it
when Wayne's favorite babe (Tia Carrere)
Heaven and Earth
For years, director Oliver Stone has
promised to round out his two Vietnam
epics "Platoon" and "Born on the Fourth
of July" with a look at the conflict which
shaped so much of his thinking from the
vantage point of the other side. With
"Heaven and Earth," Stone makes good
on that promise, creating a based-on-fact
account of the life and times of Le Ly
Hayslip, a Vietnamese woman whose
experiences spanned the French and
American occupations of Vietnam. Newcomer
Hiep Thi Le plays Hayslip, with
Joan Chen ("The Last Emperor") as her
mother. Dr. Haing S. Ngor as her father,
and Tommy Lee Jones ("Under Siege") as
the American military man who married
Hayslip and eventually brought her to the
United States, screenplay is by Stone,
based on Hayslip's autobiographical
memoirs "When Heaven and Earth
Changed Places" and "Child of War,
Woman of Reace." (Warner, Dec.)
comes under the influence of a slimy record
mogul (Christopher Walken). The eclectic
supporting cast includes Charlton Heston,
Drew Barrymore and Kim Basinger; "Saturday
Night Live" producer Lome Michaels is giving
Stephen Surjik of Michaels' HBO series "The
Kids in the Hall" his feature directing break
here. The success of "Wayne's World" was
widely regarded as freakish, and the failure of
Myers' Wayne-less "So I Married an Axe Murderer"
at the summer boxoffice indicates the
character (rather than the actor) was the principle
draw. If "WW2" tanks, Myers may wish
he'd been a bit more cautious before deserting
"Saturday Night Live" to become a big-time
movie star. (Paramount, Dec. 10)
We're Back: A Dinosaur's Story
Sometimes it's scary how carefully structured
Steven Spielberg's relationship with
Universal has become. When "Jurassic Park"
was released with a PG-1 3 rating last summer,
a lot of people wondered why Universal cut
themselves off from the under-age boxoffice
a PC would have fostered. Here's the answer:
an animated "children's" dino pic, targeted
for the kids who never got to visit
"Jurassic
Park." In "We're Back," a pack of revived
dinosaurs return to their old stomping
grounds— in modern day New York. Script by
John Patrick Shanley ("Alive"). With a live-action
"Flintstones" flick in the Amblin pipeline,
expect Universal's Studio Tour to devolve into
Dino World over the next few years via
Spielberg tie-ins. (Universal, Nov. 24)
M. Butterfly
former horror specialist David Cronenberg
follows up the critical success of his bizarro
adaptation of William Burroughs' "Naked
Lunch" with this screen version of David
Henry Hwang's award-winning dramatic
November, 1993 27