‘BRIGHT LIGHTS’ FILMING: A CHANGE OF DIRECTORS

Citing the possibility of a Directors Guild strike and the need for more experienced hands, United Artists has replaced Joyce Chopra as director of “Bright Lights, Big City,” with James Bridges, director of such films as “The China Syndrome” and “Urban Cowboy.”

The studio confirmed Monday that screenwriter Tom Cole and cinematographer Jim Glennon also were dismissed from the film over the weekend. Bridges has been assigned the screenplay and Academy Award-winning cinematographer Gordon Willis replaces Glennon.

In a prepared statement, the studio said only that director Chopra was “stepping aside,” and Bridges would replace her. Said producer Mark Rosenberg: “Joyce is a fine director, and what she has delivered is of excellent quality, but the studio feels that with the potential director’s strike ahead of us, and the additions and revisions in the script, that a more experienced director is needed to assure us of meeting our completion deadline of June 30.” (The Directors Guild contract expires June 30, raising the possibility of a strike, which would halt all DGA film production starting July 1).

The other two replacements were confirmed Monday by UA Chairman Anthony D. Thomopoulos. He also said production, which began April 13, is expected to be halted “for three to four days, in order to make the changeover.”

Chopra and Cole, who are married, are the director-writing team of one previous, independently made feature film, “Smooth Talk,” released in 1985 and broadcast last February on public television’s “American Playhouse.” Glennon was that film’s cinematographer.

Chopra is an experienced documentary film maker, and Cole is author of the highly acclaimed Vietnam play, “Medal of Honor Rag.”

“Bright Lights, Big City,” which stars Michael J. Fox, is adapted from Jay McInerney’s 1984 novel by the same name, about a young, aspiring New Yorker-like magazine writer who lives in the fast lane. The novel, which has attracted a cult-like following, focuses on one frenzied week of hedonistic night life in New York. It is currently due to be released in early 1988.

The film, which previously was in development at 20th Century Fox, with McInerney as screenwriter, is the first project for Mirage Productions, a company formed by Rosenberg and director Sydney Pollack. Although both men are producing the film for UA, Pollack’s name was not included on the formal statement. Neither man was available for comment Monday.

Rumors of trouble on “Bright Lights, Big City” have been circulating here in film circles and even in local gossip columns since the start of production. The film’s spokespeople have denied that there have been problems on the set.

A production source said Monday that “everyone on the production very much likes Chopra and feels very badly about what has happened.” But the source acknowledged that “inexperience” was at the root of the decision to replace the Chopra-Cole team, and added: “They (the studio and the producers) are very nervous about the strike.”

Chopra could not be reached for comment.