MOVIES - Sept. 25, 1988

Jean-Claude Van Damme will be cloning around when he takes on the dual leads in Cannon Entertainment’s updating of “The Corsican Brothers,” to film in Paris and Corsica next January. Van Damme’s co-writer, Sheldon Lettich (“Bloodsport,” “Rambo III”), makes his directing debut. The script pits brothers, separated at birth, against each other--this version features martial arts in a climactic death struggle; if you saw Van Damme in “Bloodsport,” you know martial arts are his specialty . . . .

Start your engines! “Cannonball Run III” emerges from the pit in mid-October with John Candy in the driver’s seat. The covert cross-country race will shoot in Montreal and L.A. for producers Murray Shostack and Vivienne Leebosh. Jim Clark (“Police Academy V”) directs and Al Ruddy and Andre Morgan are exec producers . . . . Brazilian director Bruno Barreto makes his English-language debut with Golden Harvest’s “Show of Force,” to film in Puerto Rico in early 1989. Sigourney Weaver and Ruben Blades will star in the adaptation of Anne Nelson’s novel, “Murder Under Two Flags,” which centers on the real-life, politically engineered murder of two Puerto Rican students that leaves a woman (Weaver) with a shattered perspective of American justice.

Rocky Road: Warner Bros’ “Sgt. Rock”--the WW II action saga starring Arnold Schwarzenneger, scheduled to film next month--may not get under way until fall 1989. The Joel Silver production has been stalled because the Writer’s Guild strike delayed revisions from writer Steven De Souza. Now, Schwarzenegger’s schedule, which has him starting the sci-fi thriller “Total Recall” in March, will mean a further postponement. With the “Rock” slide, there’s also an opportunity for the muscleman to produce Tri-Star’s fantasy-comedy, “Duke and Fluffy,” in which he’ll star come November . . .

Nancy Larson’s been signed to do the screenplay for Tri-Star’s “The Isabel Eberhardt Story,” described as the true story of a female “Lawrence of Arabia.” Wolfgang Petersen will direct Debra Winger on location in North Africa next summer . . .

Jerry Belson and the late Diane Thomas (“Romancing the Stone”) will share writing credit on MGM/Steven Spielberg’s “Always” . . . . Billy Dee Williams has reportedly just been cast in Warner Bros.’ “Batman,” with Michael Keaton title role-ing.

Imagine’s “Doors’ Project” is now partnered with Carolco with Bol Dolman (“Willow”) writing the screenplay for a possible mid-1989 start . . . . Producer-director Philippe Mora has acquired the screen right to Charles Higham’s “Duchess of Windsor” tome to be made next summer. The film will encompass the mid-1920s to the end of the WWII.