The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • 260

CALENDAR MOVIES 13 Would this not narrow rather than broaden the film's appeal? The Landaus were empathic about their intentions for an audience. "We're not making this picture for Jews; if you depend on your relatives, you'll go broke," said the plain-spoken male producing partner. "This isn't a picture about Hasidem; it's about two boys, their relationships with their fathers, and the lives they're selecting for themselves." "They both happen to be from Williamsburg (this section of Brooklyn was being substituted in the film by Park Slope, which retained more of the 1940s flavor), but they could be a Beverly Hills and an Iranian kid; it's really a story about people," said Edie Landau, credited by her husband as the force behind the film project. The Landaus said they first were approached with a completed script for "The Chosen" two years ago. Both Potok's book and the screenplay by Gordon then were owned by a New Orleans stockbroker and his mother, said to be Southern Baptists who had not previously been able to raise money to make a fUm.

"We said, 'Thanks, but no thank recalled Ely Landau. "We'd already paid our dues (Landau was referring to his production of "The Pawnbroker," starring Steiger, and the "Man in the Glass Booth," which starred Schell) and we didn't want to do something with such a strong ethnic background." But Landau said he was "hooked" by the screenplay; he and his wife then purchased the package and commissioned Kagan to write a new version of the script as well as to direct Kagan, who said he understood the limitations imposed upon him by the limited budget and the firm seven-week shooting schedule, was speedy on the set, but the youthful director, nearly hidden by a full, rich, dark beard, also seemed well prepared: He was carefully armed with play-by-play diagrams of the baseball shots. "You can make a fine film within limit-' ed resources if you have the interest and will of the cast and crew," said Kagan, whose father was both a rabbi and a psychologista past similar to the one chosen for Benson's character, both in Potok's novel and Kagan's screenplay. "Success depends on power and honesty, not money." For the honesty, the production company was counting in large degree on cooperation from the "more liberated" Lubovitch sect of Hasidem, and on one of its members, hired as a consultant for the film. "Let's put it this way," said Yisrael Lifshutz, the bit player, consultant and himself a film maker, "if I were given $3 million I wouldn't make this film.

And if they'd said the film couldn't be made without me, I wouldn't have worked on it. But as they'd make it anyway, I might as well help make it accurate." Kagan seemed to see the film's potential power in the bridging of the gap. "This film is about people who are totally different from the rest of us," said the director and writer. "What makes it approachable is a human element, their relationships, and in this they are just like us. If the film's to have any value, it will be to show that these differences are to be tolerated and understood." Benson, in Yarmulke and side locks, was asked whether his teen-aged fans lining the fence around the playground would line up at the box office: "Who cares if they come? You make movies to appeal to morals and senses.

People treat this kind of movie lightly or they make fun of it and it should be the opposite," said Benson, in a show of his usual sincerity, "they should have respect for this kind of film." Benson said he had agreed to take on the role at about a fifth his usual fee-as soon as it was offered: "Sure, at first, I had trouble relating (to the culture), but when I threw away my defenses I could see this as a beautiful life style." Several of the principals involved in the film grew up in the shadows of orthodox Judaism; but while both Benson and Miller were born of Jewish backgrounds, neither was raised along strict Jewish tradition: "I was bar mitzvahed on a Broadway stage," said Benson, referring to his theatrical roots in the Broadway musical "The Rothchilds." Miller is an L.A. native and a graduate of Fairfax High. The Hasidic set of the film was, like Robby Benson, left, and Barry Miller duel on the baseball diamond in film version of the best seller "The Chosen." that described in the book, a composite of the various sects some more liberal than others of Hasidism, but Potok said no excessive liberties for the film had been taken at the expense of his story; there would be, for instance, little romance. Potok insisted that the integrity of his original story be maintained in the screenplay that he approved by Jeremy Paul Kagan and Edwin Gordon. All of this was confirmed by Kagan, who also was undertaking his third directorial assignment on "The Chosen" (Kagan had directed "Heroes" and "The Bix while this was his first feature screenplay credit, he previously wrote four TV movies).

Kagan said that the joyful aspects of Hasidic life perhaps would be highlighted in the screen version, but there would be an even stronger national flavor to the film. "We'll see more on the efforts made to establish a Jewish homeland (the state of Israel) than there were in the book." 'THE CHOSEN' ALMOST WASN'T BY CLARKE TAYLOR NEW YORK The score was tied. Robby Benson was up at the plate, Barry Miller was on the pitcher's mound. It was a killer ball game, being fought by a team of street kids from Brooklyn and a team of young Hasidic Jews, cultures apart, but by the time the game was over, a bridge was to be built between Benson, the Hasid, and Miller, an Orthodox Jew. The beginnings of this relationship, now being played out on a Brooklyn playground but set in the year 1941, were being recounted for the screen from Chaim Potok's 1967 best seller, "The Chosen." The film, also starring Rod Steiger and Maximilian Schell and one of the few productions still under way in New York, finally was being produced independently by Ely and Edie Landau.

Potok's novel sold more than 400,000 hard-cover copies and 3 million paperbacks, but there was no evidence to suggest that in the 13 years since its publication there has been strong interest from any major film studio; until now, there has not even been a serious chance for an independent film version of the property. "Everyone loved the book, but I think everyone wondered what kind of movie it would make in terms of commercial appeal," Potok reflected recently. The question was, what made the film makers think the novel now stood sufficient chance of gaining a wide movie audience to risk private investment of $3 to $4 million? A visit to the location and talks with the principals failed to produce evidence of any specific attempts to make more' commercially viable this rather severe story of struggle between two differing Jewish cultures. 3 can Corp. until all funds advanced for the project have been recouped by the company.

Thereafter, 100 of all proceeds will be retained by beneficiary organizations, which also include American Friends of Haifa and Hebrew Universities, in Jerusalem. Rapid-American Corp. became involved in the project through its chairman Meshulam Riklis, a native Israeli and longtime benefactor of the United Jewish Appeal. Henry Plitt, chairman and chief executive officer of Plitt Theaters reportedly the nation's third-largest chain has been made chairman of a motion picture theater committee which will enlist theater chains to cooperate with the venture. PREMIERE TO BE ISRAELI BENEFIT In an apparent effort to find a film audience for "The Chosen," producers Ely and Edie Landau plan to premiere the film next May 11 at benefit performances celebrating the 33rd anniversary of the state of Israel.

The film, which has no U.S. or foreign distributor, will be shown in 1,000 theaters in the United States and 13 other countries. Thousands of seats at $100 each will be sold by a worldwide work force of Jewish organizations, including 2,000 local chapters of Hadassah. Each organization will benefit from its own sales, retaining 80 of each ticket sold and remitting 20 to the Rapid-Ameri pa 3.