The Record from Hackensack, New Jersey • 63

new on tape THE RECORD Tuesday December 16,1997 Videos scheduled for release today: "Contact, "A Simple Wish; "Cosi," and "How to Be a Player." 7 http:www.bergen.com Entertainment and leisure every day ujJJJi ii Jjyy ByJIMBECKERMAN Start Writer Musical Bonding moments Ms) it i With "Tomorrow Never Dies," the theme song from the newest James Bond flick of the same name that opens Friday, Sheryl Crow becomes the latest 7r 3 pop star to ensure i) a place for herself in the trivia-packed Bond pantheon. But will Crow have a hit single with the song? Probably not. Can you even remember who recorded the last three Bond tunes? I can't. And I collect this stuff. The last theme I do remember was 1989's "License to Kill," recorded by a Pip-less Gladys Knight.

It did well on the English charts, hitting No. 6 there, but it didn't fare nearly as well in the United States. In fact, the last Bond song to crack the American Top 10 was Duran Duran's "A View to a Kill," released way back in 1985. It reached the No. 2 spot here, but that was primarily on the strength of the group's own powerhouse following at the time.

You could also dance to it, if push came to shove. (The chorus, "Dance into the fire," was kind of catchy.) A great song it wasn't, although it did work well over the opening credits a requisite for the job and on Duran Duran's eye-popping video. Good? Maybe. But not good enough. Bond is, after of the most successful franchises in film history, and its music recorded by the likes of Tom Jones, Paul McCartney, Carly Sij-mon, and, of course, Shirley Bassey has always been a vital piece of the package, commanding a significant, almost culty afterlife.

Bassey can't escape "Goldfinger" or "Diamonds Are Forever." They're integral parts of her stage show, even though one senses she's sick to death of both of them. Jones still belts out Thunderbair when he's on tour. Ditto for Simon and "Nobody Does It Better." And, in one trendy East Village bar, hardly a night goes by without someone playing Nancy Sinatra's "You Only Live Twice" on the jukebox. In the liner notes of EMI's 1992 anthology "The Best of James Bond: 30th See ERVOLINO Page YT-8 profile As sidekick to Lucy Lawless in "Xena: Warrior Princess," Renee O'Connor, right, has cried, fought, and vaulted her way to stardom. jFwmr CD 'i i 1 Nathan Lane biting the mouse that feeds him? The Lion King" made him a movie star in 1994.

but that hasn't stopped the comedian from taking a few friendly swipes at Disney in his new comedy, "Mouse Hunt." All in good fun, he says. "It was just a little improv," says Lane, who co-stars with Lee Evans in this new slapstick farce about two do-it-yourselfers pitting brains and brawn against a diabolical mouse. The film opens Friday. Sheer coincidence, he says, that "Mouse Hunt" ends with his character negotiating to use the mouse as a corporate mascot. "I heard there's another company that did that and did quite well," he deadpans in the film.

Sheer coincidence that "Mouse Hunt" contains several in-joke references to "The Lion King," in which Lane was the voice of Timon the meerkat. Sheer coincidence, too, that "Mouse Hunt" is produced by DreamWorks SKG, co-founded by Jeffrey Katzenberg the former Disney executive who recently settled a $250 million lawsuit against his ex-Disney colleague Michael Eisner. "Jeffrey Katzenberg called me, and he's kind of the Don Corleone of DreamWorks," Lane recalls. "He said, Marlon Brando voice, Tou know, I think you should do this In "Mouse Hunt" there are scenes that pair Lane with his former "Lion King" buddy Ernie Sabella (the voice of Pumbaa the Warthog). At one point, Lane starts to sing his big "Lion King" song, "Hakuna Matata." "Ernie is my good luck charm," he says.

"I asked if Ernie could play a part, and they said sure, and that was that. The little 'Hakuna Matata' thing I just threw in." Improv is clearly Lane's heart and soul he improvs in films, improvs in plays, improvs during interviews when the questions are too dull or difficult See LANE Page YT-11 tonight at Mabel's door. And he can cook, too. Nathan Lane discovers that the mouse who lives In the mansion he and his brother have Inherited is no ordinary rodent In "Mouse Hunt." Page YT-9 Paul and Jamie spend a lot of time 4 thHI ym i 'it Li: I) 'J Small is By VIRGINIA ROHAN Staff Writer 13 abv Mabel Buchman eets her beautiful for 'Mad About You' first i ilnta8te karsh reality tonight. 1 a Jr And it nearly kills her parents.

Thats the gist of ihe Conversation, tonight's highly unusual and very "Mad About You." It was done in "Mad About You, 8 tonight, NBC during a recent telephone chat with critics. "We did a show the first season where we were locked in the bathroom, and it made us find comedy in six square feet If the story is compelling enough, you could put an entire episode in an elevator." But they could never find a story compelling enough to justify a completely claustrophobic handling until this season. In tonight's episode, directed, coinciden-tally, by Gordon Hunt Helen Hunt's father, Jamie decides it's time to enforce a popular parental philosophy and let Mabel during the sweeps last May) cry herself to sleep at night one take, shot with one camera, and run straight through, without interrup tion. Commercials will be clustered fore and after the 22-minute episode. Although attention-getting gimmicks are all the rage in prime time nowadays, Paul Reiser claims this format is something "Mad About will be from See SMALL 1 I 1 I 1 i 1 You" has wanted to try out the beginning.

"Sometimes, we really just the ability that we enjoyed have to get really small," Reiser says,.