Hunting Holly

Holly Hunter’s hot, what with winning best-actress awards from the NY Film Critics and LA Film Critics for “Broadcast News,” plus Oscar buzz. But she’s been nixing all recent interview requests--including one from KABC’s Gary Franklin, even after “I went on and on in my review, raving about her performance,” he told us, miffed.

A 20th Century Fox rep admitted Hunter’s not available. The reason: She’s in rehearsal for the Sam Shepard play “Lie of the Mind,” which opens Jan. 21 at the Mark Taper Forum.

“She’s not doing a Brat Pack number,” said the Fox rep. “She’s not thumbing her nose at the press. This is our second time working with her (first was “Raising Arizona”), and she’s been extremely cooperative both times. It’s just that right now she doesn’t want to break her concentration.”

When Hunter was available earlier, added a spokesperson for PMK, which is helping hype “News,” she “did more press than anyone else connected with the film.” (Co-stars Albert Brooks and William Hurt tend to be press-shy.)

Besides sharing a Newsweek cover with her male co-stars, she’s been featured in Time, the NY Times, New York mag, USA Today and on the “Today” show, MTV, CNN and “Entertainment Tonight.” Also in the Fort Lauderdale News-Sentinel, Toronto Sun, Boston Herald, NY Daily News, Rolling Stone, People, Glamour, Savvy, Details (an East Coast pub) and New York Woman. Whew!

Meanwhile, Franklin’s cooled off and he’s thinking about running clips from a studio-provided taped interview with Hunter.