Cinefile

Beastie Boy Adam Horovitz makes his screen debut as a young man committed to a mental institution in producer-director Hugh Hudson’s yet-to-be-titled movie (it was called “Lunatics” and “Wall Time”--neither acceptable to Orion) set to go this month in San Antonio. Donald Sutherland portrays a doctor. . . . The role of Mel Gibson’s larcenous buddy and romantic rival in Robert Towne’s “Tequila Sunrise” (filming in February) goes to Kurt Russell, following the departure of Kevin Kline.. . . Robert Downey Jr. is a young activist lawyer who teams up with one-time ‘60s firebrand James Woods in Paramount’s “True Believers.” Joe Ruben (“Stepfather”) directs in S.F. the end of January.

Writer Dale Launer (“Ruthless People”) adds producing (with David Permut) to his resume when he puts “The Beverly Hillbillies” on screen for Warners in May, promising it will be “more contemporary, more plausible” than the vintage series. . . .

The news report that Dustin Hoffman was cast as Capt. Hook in the Lasse Halstrom-directed “Peter Pan” (March start) is premature, per a rep for the actor: “He loves the idea of playing the role,” we’re told, “but there have been no serious discussions or negotiations yet.” Hoffman is scheduled to start “Rainman” in late April, so squeezing in Hook won’t be easy. . . .

Director Monte Hellman (“Two Lane Blacktop”) is back behind the camera for “Iguana,” a true-life 18th-Century yarn now filming abroad about a physically deformed man who set up a colony on a remote island off South America. Hellman’s calling it his “Last Tango in Paradise.”