Shooting Stars

NBC is working overtime to protect its stars--Robert Mitchum, Peter Strauss, David Morse, Connie Selleca--from local photographers while its spy thriller, “Brotherhood of the Rose,” shoots around New Zealand. The network has forbidden photos, so newspaper lensers are hiding in bushes and tailing stars off the set.

Southland Times chief photographer Barry Harcourt did manage a shot--while hiding in shrubbery--of a helicopter used in chase scenes when the 100-strong production crew moved to Invercargill, 188 kilometers south of Queenstown. But when he tried to snap Mitchum and Strauss relaxing on the set, an NBC publicist warned him, “You take that photograph and we’ll hang a lawsuit on you,” said Harcourt.

Why the blackout? Said director Marvin Chomsky, “Actors don’t like pictures going into the paper that show their double chins or pot bellies sticking out.”

A determined Harcourt finally was able to click color shots of Strauss and Morse at a restaurant that made the front page.

. . . And NBC asked the Times’ darkroom to develop some black and white film for network publicity purposes.

The answer was no.