Diane Keaton finds romance and politics can...

Diane Keaton finds romance and politics can mix in Paramount’s “Running Mates,” to film in April. Keaton becomes involved in the life and fortunes of a man with presidential aspirations in Carol Eastman’s original screenplay. Negotiations are underway for John Malkovich to play the rising pol. Charles Sturridge directs for producer Marvin Worth. . . . Jeff Bridges will play an ex-con whose teen-age son tracks him down to skid row in New Orleans in Guber-Peters’ “Quarter Time,” a fall shoot for Warner Bros. Chris Menges directs the Mark Andrus screenplay centering on the attempt to find understanding and build a relationship. . . . With Fox’s “In the Night” postponed, director Roger Donaldson rushes into Orion’s “Cadillac Man,” to film in NYC in April. Ken Friedman’s script centers on a Caddy salesman whose life is turned upside down by personal and professional perils. A one-time Al Pacino vehicle, it’s been offered to Robin Williams. . . .

Malcolm McDowell and Lisa Eichhorn join Michael Pare in “Moon 44,” a deep-space thriller filming in West Germany. Roland Emmerich directs and co-wrote the screenplay with Dean Heyde. . . . Sam Neill is the latest addition to Paramount’s “Hunt for Red October,” to film locally in April. He’ll play a Russian sub captain after the title craft commanded by Klaus Maria Brandauer. . . . Sally Kirkland joins Eric Roberts and Phillip Rhee in the Movie Group’s “Best of the Best,” a tale of athletic competition filming next month by director Brad Radler. Kirkland plays a coach versed in Zen-like thinking. . . .

Robert Carradine is about to explode in Project Samson’s “Spontaneous Combustion,” an early March start in Los Angeles. The science-fact thriller is literally about people who burst into flames. Tobe Hooper directs and co-wrote the story with Howard Goldberg for producers Henry Buskin and Jim Rogers. . . . Kirstie Alley’s Tri-Star project she has developed to star in is titled “Hold on Tight.” Playwright and screenwriter Stephen Metcalfe is set to write. . . . Sam Shepard is the canny detective and J. T. Walsh the errant husband in New Vision’s “Defenseless,” the Barbara Hershey-Mary Beth Hurt starrer to be directed by Martin Campbell. . . .

Australian director Stephen Hopkins (“The Dangerous Game”) just signed for New Line’s “Nightmare on Elm Street V.” Robert Englund will be back in April and the horror will be on screen by August. . . . Steve Barnett directs Concorde’s “Hollywood Boulevard II,” described as more remake than sequel. . . .

Lightning Striking Thrice Dept.: Courtroom drama’s back with “True Believer” and “Criminal Law, and currently filming “Music Box,” from Tri-Star. “Music Box” finds lawyer Jessica Lange defending her father, accused of Nazi war crimes in Hungary. And in the wings, there is Vestron’s “The Big Thicket,” the story of a young male lawyer defending his father on a murder charge to start in April. The Turman-Foster production is to be directed by Leslie Glatter. Also scheduled for April is Interscope/Fox’s “Class Action,” the story of a woman lawyer in the D. A. department who must go up against her anti-Establishment father, a public defender. Michael Apted directs the screenplay by Christopher Ames and Carolyn Shelby.