Quibbles & Bits

Touchstone publicity calls “Bank Job” (due this spring) the directorial debut of “Stakeout” writer Jim Kouf. Maybe they forgot Kouf directed “Miracles,” a 1984 Orion film with Tom Conti and Terri Garr that never even got a national release?

. . . Producer Michael Shamberg in American Film on distributors who turned down the chance to finance “A Fish Called Wanda”: “Dino De Laurentiis passed because he thought it wasn’t funny, and that’s why he’s out of business.”

. . . Stereotypes, anyone? A casting call for a Carl’s Jr. commercial--involving a meeting of U.N. delegates--called for Ruskies “with heavy eyebrows” and “swarthy” Turks. Oh, and Mideast-types dressed as sheiks.