‘CHANNELS’ A SWITCH ON TV NEWSCASTERS

Kathleen Turner was breaking up on camera . . . just like she was supposed to in her latest role as a television anchorwoman who can’t take the absurdity of reporting silly, pseudo-news stories anymore.

“We’re doing a story about a horse who died of food poisoning and who needs a memorial service?” the incredulous newswoman asked from behind her high-tech anchor desk at the fictitious Satellite News Network. “What’s going on here?”

Turner was playing Christy Colleran in “Switching Channels,” an updated version of Howard Hawks’ 1940 film “His Girl Friday.” The film, like Hawks’ comedy, is based on “The Front Page,” the classic Ben Hecht-Charles MacArthur play about newspaper reporters in Chicago who go to almost any lengths to get a good story.

However, under the direction of Ted Kotcheff, from a screenplay by playwright Jonathan Reynolds, the updated version takes a more caustic look at today’s highly competitive, fast-paced television news business.

“The story elements are the same, and we’re going for a high-level, stylized farce, as opposed to the kind of comedy you usually see in films today,” Kotcheff said. “But the characters are very different, very modern, and although we’re definitely making a comedy, we’re also taking a more serious look at the (news) business.

“This is a tough romantic comedy about a man trying to get back his woman; it’s a re-lampooning of the kinds of superficialities and distortions the media are capable of, and it’s also a black comedy on the subject of capital punishment,” continued the director.

In the film, Turner is re-creating the role played by Rosalind Russell in the Hawks’ version of the story; Burt Reynolds plays Colleran’s ex-husband and news director, Sully, the character portrayed by Cary Grant in the 1940 film. Christopher Reeve plays her suitor, Blaine Bingham, played in the earlier film by Ralph Bellamy.

The action follows Sully’s attempts to keep Colleran on the job in order to lure her back to him, and Colleran’s growing compassion for the subject of her “one last story”--an accused criminal condemned to death.

“All good comedy has a solid base, and I think here, as in ‘His Girl Friday,’ it’s a sort of social commentary,” said Turner, relaxing with a book in her trailer during a break in filming. Like the character she is playing, she was cool, relaxed and prepared; unlike the character, she was also several months pregnant with what will be her first child.

“In ‘The Front Page,’ corruption was taken for granted, but it was not dealt with as a social issue,” the actress continued. “Here, I think we’re reporting, via comedy, on what we see to be the issues of the day. I wouldn’t want to comment on the current state of the news media--that’s too heavy for a comedy. But I think we’re making a valid statement about capital punishment--that it’s not the answer. Perhaps this is the true power of the news media--not merely to report, but to motivate public reaction toward an end.

“I think Christy is part of a generation that has grown up exclusively with television, and understands the power of the media and uses it well. She also has her own, definite consciousness (about the media), that places more emphasis on content than on surface. You can deal with all this in a film and not lose the comedy,” Turner said.

With the exception of two days in the 10-week shooting schedule that were done on Chicago locations, the film was being shot here on a sound stage because of what were said to be lower production costs and, in the words of one production source, “the youth and enthusiasm” of Canadian film crews.

Nearly all of the cast and crew are Canadian, including Kotcheff. The cast does include three other Americans, however: Ned Beatty, Henry Gibson and a 23-year-old newcomer, George Newbern. According to the film’s Canadian executive producer, Don Carmody, the project was conceived by veteran producer Martin Ransohoff, who has joined forces with the Entertainment Business Sector of the Coca-Cola Co. and Nelson Entertainment Inc. to finance and produce the film. The completed film is to be released in this country by Columbia Pictures.

Carmody acknowledged problems caused by the last-minute substitution of Burt Reynolds for the role originally assigned to Michael Caine. “It’s caused us some added expense and considerable mayhem,” he said, seated in his trailer during a brief break.

The film’s other principals had rehearsed with Caine in New York before the April 20 start of production, Carmody said. But then the British actor was delayed in reporting to Toronto because of the delay in completion of the latest “Jaws” film, in which he stars.

After “shooting around (Caine) for four weeks,” Carmody said, it became clear that Caine would not become available in time to complete “Switching Channels” by the deadline that the financial backers had imposed.