Tuesday, 27 January 1998

RESHOOT!: Will Mike Nichols add an epilogue to the Clinton dramedy, Primary Colors? All the players from the film, which chronicles the "fictional" election run of a McDonald's-loving former governor, seem to be returning to Washington to lend a hand in Big Mac Daddy's time of need. And Nichols loves to reshoot. Just add one credit: "With Steve Buscemi as Matt Drudge!"

COUP DE MOUSE: In a millennium phenomenon that may prove the apocalypse is coming, Disney's copyrights are beginning to run out and Steamboat Willie will become the first major Disney to enter public domain property in 2003. Disney is busy trying to convince Congress to change the copyright law, but for a company that sued the Academy for using Snow White during the Oscar show without permission, the possibility of losing control of anything must be horrifying. The solution? Can you say President Eisner?

NECKING: Miramax Films is about to greenlight Audrey Hepburn's Neck, a film from British director Angela Pope about an adolescent Japanese artist who explores the meaning of Eastern vs. Western culture. Plans for a sequel, entitled Katherine Hepburn's Neck, are shaky.

SEVERE-IS: Wayne's World director Penelope Spheeris took home the Sundance Film Festival's Freedom of Expression Award for the third installment of her rock-n-roll trilogy, The Decline of Western Civilization. Last time Spheeris was seen expressing herself was at the junket for her Marlon Wayans starrer, Senseless, where she freely expressed herself by yelling at reporters before prematurely exiting one press roundtable. She didn't like all the questions about the wide range of racially insensitive jokes in the film. Freedom of expression is a pesky business, ain't it?

READER OF THE DAY: From A. Campbell: "Titanic isn't a movie, it isn't even another 'blockbuster', it's a spiritual experience for the masses who are too spoon-fed and not brave enough, smart enough, or knowledgeable enough to go the extra mile (quite literally, sometimes) for movies like The Sweet Hereafter or Shall We Dance."

E-MAIL PROMPT: Tomorrow, I rant. Today, you e-mail. It's just that simple.

And tomorrow, as Rough Cut reinvents itself, I ask the question, is new necessarily improved?