BOGDANOVICH MAY DROP ‘MASK’ SUIT

Director Peter Bogdanovich is expected to drop a breach-of-contract lawsuit against Universal Studios related to the film “Mask,” as recommended earlier this week by a committee composed of studio heads and film directors.

A spokesman for Bogdanovich confirmed Wednesday that the director has stated he would “abide by the committee’s recommendations,” one of which is that he and Universal agree to arbitrate the dispute under the Directors Guild’s collective bargaining agreement with the studio. The recommendations were made by the guild’s professional standards committee, formed last year during contract negotiations to make recommendations on ethics and behavior issues but not contract disputes.

Universal requested a committee hearing after Bogdanovich filed his suit. The director had charged that the studio had prevented him from having his contractual “final cut” on “Mask,” the real-life story of a deformed boy.

Serving on the Professional Standards Committee for this case were co-chairmen Barry Diller, chairman of 20th Century Fox and director Elliot Silverstein; producer Marvin Mirisch; Robert Daly, chairman, and Terry Semel, president, of Warner Bros.; Jeffrey Katzenberg, chairman for motion pictures and TV for Walt Disney Productions; and directors Milos Forman, Paul Stanley, Jeremy Paul Kagan and Arthur Hiller.