LONELY ON THE SHELF

“Let’s see, it’s a comedy. And a romance. And it’s science fiction. And it kind of resembles ‘The Road Warrior.’ And the art direction has a New Wave sensibility. . . . Not an easy film to describe.”

Oh yes--added producer Ed Pressman, describing his long-shelved Melanie Griffith-starrer, “Cherry 2000”--”It makes a statement, a positive statement, about love.”

Pressman’s the first to admit that all this makes for a “tough sell”: “No doubt about it--it’s a challenge.”

It’s such a challenge that execs at Orion Pics still don’t know when--or if--the $10-million pic, filmed in 1985, will be released.

Set in the year 2017, the story’s about a guy (David Andrews) whose female robot love-mate (a Cherry 2000 model) has an internal meltdown. So he hires a macha guide (Griffith) to take him into the lawless zone to find the necessary repair parts. It’s during this quest that he discovers there’s something to be said for a flesh-and-blood woman. Michael Almereyda scripted.

“It’s a likable film--no one who’s seen it hates it, or anything,” said director Steve DeJarnatt, who admitted, “It’s also kind of a soft film. I don’t think anyone really knows how to market it.”

DeJarnatt--who made his directorial debut with the pic--has since written and directed “Miracle Mile,” about an impending nuclear attack, for Hemdale. The film’s in post-production, “and to be honest, I’d rather talk about it than ‘Cherry 2000.’ I wouldn’t mind if that one goes away,” laughed DeJarnatt.

The film’s stars have also moved on. Griffith’s rep wasn’t thrilled about discussing this film (“Don’t you have anything better to write about?), but she relayed that since filming “Cherry,” Griffith’s done “Something Wild,” the long-in-the-works “Milagro Beanfield War” and the just-wrapped “Stormy Monday.” And she’s just been signed to star in “Working Girl” for Mike Nichols and Fox. (She’ll play a secretary who becomes a star in the advertising world.)

Meanwhile, Andrews, who debuted in “Cherry,” has just returned from a six-month TV stint in London as the star of the BBC-TV series “Pulaski,” about an actor who plays a detective in a TV series.