Morning Report - News from July 31, 2002

POP/ROCK

Dylan May Inaugurate Reconstructed Wiltern

Bob Dylan is expected to be the inaugural headliner for the remodeled Wiltern Theatre, playing a multiple-night engagement in mid-October.

The historic Art Deco facility at the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Western Avenue in Los Angeles has been closed since early June for a reconfiguration. Seats on the main floor are being removed to create an open, general-admission setting, but the seats in the balcony will remain.

Clear Channel Entertainment’s Los Angeles concert promotion division, which operates the Wiltern, would not confirm the plans, but sources said that Dylan is being booked for as many as five nights during the week of Oct. 14. A series of special shows the following week is also being lined up, with Bryan Adams, Ani DiFranco and N.E.R.D. each expected to headline a night.

A Nov. 4 engagement by the Rolling Stones is the only show at the reconstructed Wiltern that has been officially announced.

MOVIES

‘Frida’ to Open Venice Film Festival

“Frida,” the long-awaited biography of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, will open the 59th Venice Film Festival, which runs Aug. 29-Sept. 8. The film, directed by Julie Taymor, stars Salma Hayek and Antonio Banderas.

The festival consists of two competitions: Venezia 59, in which 21 films expected to have wide appeal will battle for a Golden Lion; and Countercurrent, with 17 movies considered less mainstream vying for best film.

In addition to “Frida,” another key film in the Venezia 59 competition is Sam Mendes’ “Road to Perdition,” starring Tom Hanks and Paul Newman. Steven Soderbergh’s “Full Frontal” will compete in the Countercurrent section.

TELEVISION

Horowitz Sues Over Defunct PBS Series

Two of Hollywood’s leading Republicans--writer Lionel Chetwynd (the 1995 TV movie “Kissinger and Nixon”) and the Center for the Study of Popular Culture President David Horowitz--have had a falling out. Things came to a head in a lawsuit Horowitz filed July 19 in Los Angeles Superior Court.

At issue is a company, Whidbey Island Films, that won funding for a PBS series called “National Desk,” running from 1997-2000. Horowitz claims that he helped to create the company and participated in fund-raising. But after then-PBS President Ervin S. Duggan delivered an ultimatum to Chetwynd, he says, he was forced to resign. The network executive was said to be miffed at Horowitz’s criticism of PBS.

Horowitz maintains that he patched things up with PBS and that an oral agreement permitted him to return once the dispute was resolved.

The political commentator is seeking damages for what he charges was fraud and breach of fiduciary duty. He contends that Chetwynd and Norman Powell, Whidbey vice president, weren’t leveling with him when they said their company wasn’t making any money from the production of the shows for public TV.

Mark Brifman, Chetwynd’s lawyer, noted that Whidbey Island Films was a nonprofit company and maintained that the case is without merit. .”I’m confident that the allegations will prove to be unfounded if and when the case gets in front of a jury,” he said Tuesday.

Rescue of Miners Draws an Audience

The rescue of nine Pennsylvania miners drew audiences roughly six times what cable news networks CNN and Fox News Channel would expect on a sleepy weekend night.

CNN averaged 2.3 million viewers between 8 p.m. and midnight Saturday, when the miners were pulled up by jubilant rescue workers. Normally, CNN’s viewership is 319,000 at this time, according to Nielsen Media Research.

It was a similar story at Fox News Channel, whose average of 2.1 million viewers at that time was 580% higher than its average of 306,000.

CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC collectively were watched by roughly 5.2 million people between 10:30 and 11 p.m.

MUSIC

Most of ‘Mostly Mozart’ Halted by Strike

“Mostly Mozart,” the popular summer music festival presented at Lincoln Center in New York City, canceled 17 concerts in the wake of a Monday afternoon vote to strike by the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra.

Though agreement had been reached on issues such as wages, pension, health benefits and work conditions, the stumbling block proved to be a provision governing the non-renewal of tenured musicians for artistic reasons.

In a statement, Local 802--the New York City musicians union--said that the final offer didn’t give the group’s players enough protection against dismissal. The contract between the union and the venue expired in February. Though Lincoln Center was willing to implement the financial increase while discussions continued, the orchestra’s negotiating committee voted to strike instead.

QUICK TAKES

Overcoming past resistance to selling its TV movies to distributors, HBO will be releasing “Real Women Have Curves,” winner of the audience award at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, theatrically in October, in association with Newmarket Films.... John Lee Hancock (“The Rookie”) will be taking the reins of Disney’s historical epic, “The Alamo,” Variety reports. Ron Howard, the original director, is staying on as a producer.

Elaine Dutka