Newsday (Nassau Edition) from Hempstead, New York • 12

ur A12 The latest entertainment news and morel- The Guys Who Saved about it and said and I have always wanted to work we had the good fortune of being able to call Paramount and say 'OK you have Arnold on one project and Bruce Willis on the other How about Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg? Ha said Gordon DreamWorks studio and Paramount agreed to co-finance the $65-million movie and a coin toss decided DreamWorks would handle the US release and Paramount the foreign The revenue from all sources would be pooled and split 60-50 But Gordon and Levinsohn got a flat fee and a producer credit on the hottest movie Says Gordon: we been there with the script the movie have existed So we feel very proud of Screenwriter Robert Rodat first pitched the idea for to Gordon about three years ago Gordon and executives at Paramount Pictures liked it and com? missioned him to write a script Just when he started serious about the recalled Rodat Paramount acquired two other World War II scripts One was intended for Bruce Willis to star The other Wings as was for Arnold Schwarzenegger began the screenwriter said But an agent named Carin Sage at Creative Artists Agency read script and made Spielberg and Hanks two of the clients aware of it Gordon said he called Hanks and they did lunch Gordon recounted was enormously excited LOS ANGELES TIMES The real heroes of Private are two producers who spent a year and a half developing the movie then knew enough to get out of the way when Steven Spielberg said he wanted to direct the script they nurtured Usually when producing partners Mark Gordon and Gary Levinsohn find and develop source material for a movie they also oversee the production as thqy did on and Not so when most successful producer and director enters the picture guess unspoken that when you hire Steven Spielberg you're not going to be on the set making Levinsohn said FT A I v4 News Bulletin: BBC Coming ToWLIW By Verne Gay STAFF WHITER In an unusual venture that will bring live IV news to WLIW21 this fall the station will air three separate half-hour news bulletins daily from the BBC beginning Nov 1 Ch 21 has been airing newscasts from ITN which are tape-delayed by as much as three hours The BBC feeds from BBC World News will be telecast live from the world headquarters in London at 7 am (ET) 6 pm and probably 11:30 pm (Times for the late-night telecast have not yet been determined) A Sunday program called "This will also air Terrel Cass president said yesterday that the tie with the BBC will give the station international newscast with an international viewpoint which we have anywhere Like CNN news service airs 24 hours per day but periodically provides hard-news programs BBC World can also be seen on BBC America the new digital cable service that is not widely available Ch 21 will drop the ITN broadcasts when it begins airing the BBC Tim station also secured rights to distribute the BBC feed to other public stations throughout the US and stations in Dallas Atlanta and Miami have also agreed to air the feeds Cass said if enough stations pick up the BBC "it could be quite lucrative for SAMUEL JACKSON Oscar and the Geezers Not that Samuel Jackson has to sweat about Oscar nominations for but in interviews promoting the movie which opened yesterday he offered his version of how the Academy Awards works: Ballots are sent out filled in and returned and then a few really old cigar-chomping geezers pick the winners paying no attention to the votes particularly believe anyone is sitting in a room counting the votes They just send us out ballots to keep us interested and make us pay our dues to the he tells Variety Jackson says he started to lose faith in the Oscars when he failed to get a nomination for his role as a crack addict in Spike 1991 film and lost it completely when he lost the supporting actor Oscar in 1995 (for to Martin Landau "Maybe when the eight or nine guys who rral)y make the decisions die then maybe thingB will he says A spokesman for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences denied the existence of a geezer cabal But Jackson wants to make it clear that not saying racial bias is a controlling factor: say we African-Americans should fry and make more films and make better films and as we do that things will he said IN OTHER NEWS Kiss and Tell Gim Simmons lead singer of Kiss is producing his first movie a coming-of-age story about four teenagers who will stop at nothing to scam their way into a Kiss concert in 1978 New Line Cinema announced yesterday it had bought the script for Rode from screenwriter Call Duprs Simmons and original band members AP Pinto 1MT Gena Simmons: Ha's loud he's outrageous a producer Paul Stanley Ace Frehley and Peter Crlss will play themselves Those country music folks know how to close circles with a flourish Last weekend Jeanne Pruett celebrated her 25th anniversary on the Grand Ole Opry On her first appearance she was introduced to this radio audience by the legendary duo of Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton Saturday night Wagoner introduced her and read a letter from Parton: Jeanne been 25 years proud we are all still on the Grand Ole Opry and still love it as we always have We are all so very proud of Pruett sang the hit she sang that first night in 1973 THE TV WIRE WAR TV MOVIE Two days after a blockbuster opening weekend for Steven Private DreamWorks TV has inked a mqjor deal with Stephen Ambrose the best-selling author who served as historical consultant on the war drama DreamWorks TV looking to make its first foray into TV movies has secured rights to book DreamWorks intends to turn the book which chronicles the lives of US Army troops from the day after D-Day until the end of the war in Europe into a mini-series The Hollywood Reporter cent years Glenn 77 who became the first American to orbit Earth during his 1962 mission aboard Friendship 7 will become the oldest person ever to travel in space when he serves as a payload specialist for the Discovery crew use of Cronkite frequently described as one of the most trusted journalists could boost its recently tarnished reputation The cable news network is still licking its wounds from its retracted story that charged the US military with using nerve gas during a Vietnam War mission in Laos The Hollywood Reporter THArS THE WAY IT IS ON CNN Legendary newscaster Walter Cronkite has been signed to participate in coverage of the October space shuttle mission that will include former astronaut Sen John Glenn (D-Ohio) in its crew Cronkite 82 the former anchor of the Evening handled the coverage of the space and lunar expeditions of the 1960s and He has participated in the coverage of space shuttle launches since retiring from CBS News in 1981 He has also contributed to coverage of political conventions and the 1991 Gulf War but has rarely appeared on the live news coverage in re NEWSDAY THURSDAY JULY 30 1998.