ROTH HAS ‘8 MILLION’ REASONS TO LOVE L.A.

Film producer Steve Roth, like singer Randy Newman, loves L.A. He loves it.

“I love L.A.,” Roth says, his expansive gesture trapped in the garden courtyard of his rented Benedict Canyon manse. “I was born and raised here; it’s a great city.”

Roth, whose “8 Million Ways to Die” has been filming in locations all over Los Angeles, likes the city for many of the same reasons Newman mentioned--sardonically, some thought--in the lyrics of “I Love L.A.,” which has become the unofficial city song.

Roth likes the freeways, he likes the surface cheeriness, he even likes the way those huge oil refineries blend in with the landscape in El Segundo, where the main character in “8 Million Ways to Die” lives.

“There is this nice little community in El Segundo with a lot of trees and parks, and right behind them, there is this 600,000 barrel-a-day refinery. Right next to that is the sewage plant. Then there’s the beach and planes coming down to land at LAX. You’ve got a lot going on.”

Los Angeles, in its many masks, plays a major role in “8 Million Ways to Die.” The $15-million action film is a mostly outdoor affair, and the company has trucked its equipment to dozens of locations over the last two months. It has been in Granada Hills, Malibu, El Segundo, Long Beach, Culver City and downtown Los Angeles, and on all freeways in between.

“8 Million Ways to Die,” being directed by Hal Ashby, stars Jeff Bridges as a troubled ex-sheriff’s detective who gets involved with a call girl (Rosanna Arquette) while trying to solve a murder case and win his job back.

Ironically, when Roth got the go-ahead to make the film, Oliver Stone’s script was set in New York. Roth says he made the switch (with the help of his friend screenwriter Robert Towne, who made the locale adjustments on Stone’s script), because of the difficulty and expense of doing a film with so many locations in New York.

Roth says the move saved him about $2 million, $600,000 in transportation costs alone.

You’d love L.A., too.

Roth says he’s a beneficiary of a new spirit of cooperation between Hollywood and local government officials who, responding to pleas from both Mayor Tom Bradley and Gov. George Deukmejian, are trying to staunch the flow of runaway production.

“We’ve had an incredibly smooth time with this film,” Roth says. “It’s much easier to get permits (for location filming) now, and where it would have taken a week to get equipment six months ago, we’re now getting it overnight.”

Roth says he has also had the cooperation of county sheriffs, something rarely given in the past. He has two veteran sheriff’s detectives--one from homicide, one from narcotics--on the payroll as full-time technical advisers, and has hired sheriff’s deputies for security at every location they’ve worked.

Capt. William Hinkle, of the sheriff’s information bureau, says the attitude of cooperation with film makers “is pervasive throughout the county,” but “8 Million Ways to Die” would have gotten Sheriff’s Department cooperation anyway.

“There are some messages within the film that we think are important,” Capt. Hinkle says. “Sheriff (Sherman) Block agreed because of the benefits he feels can be derived from having this movie shown.”

The movie deals in part, Hinkle says, with the stress, fatigue and pressure that sometime overwhelm law enforcement people and how they can overcome them. Of course, it’s also an urban action film, with all that implies.

“If you don’t have sex, blood and a lot of red sirens, you don’t have much of a story,” Hinkle says. “Our technical advisers tried to keep accuracy at a high level.”

“8 Million Ways to Die,” set for a May release by Tri-Star Pictures, is Roth’s third film since he left Creative Artists, an agency he helped form. His first film was “Secret Admirer,” a $5-million comedy that got buried in the early summer. His second, “Miracles,” will be released by Orion Pictures in February.

Roth has two more films coming up that will feature Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies, one about about Frank Salerno and Pete Finnegan, the homicide detectives who headed the investigation of the Hillside Strangler killings.

Then, he has two set for, ahem, New York.

“Sometimes,” he says, “you just have to go where the story takes you.”

GREAT EXPECTATIONS: The “world’s most comfortable theater seating.” “State of the art presentation.” “The best of American and International movies.” “Unlimited free parking.” “Los Angeles’ best popcorn.”

The newspaper ads heralding last week’s opening of the Samuel Goldwyn Pavilion Cinemas promised everything but a parade, and got a parade anyway.

Outside the theater, on the narrow second level terrace of the Westside Pavilion, a sextet of picketers supporting striking projectionists paraded around in tiny circles, pausing occasionally to try to talk someone out of buying a ticket.

At $6, the ticket speaks for itself. It says what an outrageous price to ask for admission to a mall fourplex, even if it does come with free parking and designer seats imported from France.

Let’s take the claims one at a time:

Best Seats: Well, they are comfortable, but not quite on a par with those at the Plitt Century Plaza, and leg room is zilch.

Best Presentation: Maybe when the regular projectionists return to work. On one random visit, the first reel of a badly worn print of “Dance With a Stranger” started off the sprocket holes and continued out of sync.

Best Movies: You be the judge. Landmark Theatres, which is operating the Pavilion Cinemas, normally does well by foreign and specialty film fans. The Pavilion opened with two new films, “Dim Sum” and “The Quiet Earth,” and two others, “Dance With a Stranger” and “American Flyers,” that had already been around.

Best Popcorn: The butter is real, the popcorn is fresh, the portions are small, and we’ve tasted better.

NOTES: Only 34 votes separated winner Melvin Shavelson (911 votes) from Richard M. Powell (877) after the stormy campaign for presidency of the Writers Guild of America, West.