FIRST OFF . . .

New developments surrounding the entertainment industry’s reaction to the Salman Rushdie-”Satanic Verses” controversy: French actress Isabelle Adjani read from Rushdie’s book when she accepted the Caesar award for best actress of the year in Paris on Saturday at the French equivalent of the Oscar awards ceremony. An audience including French Culture Minister Jack Lang and prominent members of the French arts world applauded when Adjani acknowledged the source of the few lines she had read. . . . And despite the hoopla surrounding “The Satanic Verses,” film industry sources have said that the novel will probably never reach the screen. “I think no one will ever make the movie,” said Russell Galen of the Scott Meredith Literary Agency, which sold the film rights for Arthur Clarke’s “2001--A Space Odyssey.” “Who would dare? The movie industry is easily cowed. You don’t look at the movies to find that kind of courage.” Rushdie’s agent, Andrew Wylie, told Reuters on Friday that the film rights were still available but refused comment on whether the movie industry was shunning the book.