Don Johnson plays an ex-CIA agent pursued...

Don Johnson plays an ex-CIA agent pursued by both his ex-bosses and the KGB in Vestron’s “Centrifuge,” filming in Toronto and Northern Ontario this summer. In the J. C. Pollack-Donald Cammell script, Johnson’s character knows the identity of a double agent from the Vietnam War--and his pursuers want to make sure he takes that info to the grave. . . immediately. James Bond veteran John Glen directs for producers Euan Lloyd and Chris Chrisafis. . . . Carrie Fisher’s novel and screenplay of “Postcards From the Edge,” retitled “Hollywood and Vine,” is shaping up as the actor’s film of 1989. Joining Meryl Streep and Shirley MacLaine in Columbia’s July starter are Richard Dreyfuss, Dennis Quaid, Gene Hackman and Jennifer Grey. Mike Nichols directs for producer Neil Machlis. . . .

Christine Lahti plays the stern doctor-professor shaping the minds of first-year med students in Touchstone’s “Gross Anatomy,” directed by Thom Eberhardt. Howard Rosenman and Debra Hill produce. . . .

Robert Downey Jr. joins Mel Gibson in Carolco/Tri-Star’s “Air America,” scheduled to film in Thailand next September. The black comedy casts them as pilots for the CIA’s covert airline operation during the heyday of the Vietnam War. Daniel Melnick, Mario Kassar and Andy Vajna produce the Richard Rush-John Eskow script now being directed by Roger Spottiswoode. . . . Kiefer Sutherland and Emily Lloyd star in Working Title’s “Chicago Joe,” filming in England next September. Based on a true story which occurred in 1944, it involves an American GI who went on a bank-robbing spree with an English woman. Tim Bevan produces and Bernard Rose directs. . . .

Christian Slater creates a pirate radio station for SC Entertainment/Island’s “Pump Up the Volume”--and inadvertently exposes a hornet’s nest of corruption. Allan Moyle directs his original screenplay in August for producers Nick Stiliadis and Sandy Stern in Toronto. . . . Oscar nominee Frances McDormand plays Liam Neeson’s girlfriend in Universal’s “Dark Man,” a yarn of a modern-day crime fighter directed and written by Sam Raimi. “L.A. Law’s” Larry Drake switches from nice guy to arch villain in the Robert Tapert production. . . . Neeson segues from “Dark Man” to “The Big Man,” a Palace/Miramax production filming in Scotland next August. He’ll play a feisty entrepreneur fighting to keep his small village alive. David Leland directs from his original script. . . .

Newcomer Clare Wren plays a woman who persuades stepson Michael Bowen to murder his sadistic father in MGM/UA’s “Season of Fear,” filming in Northern California. Michael J. Pollard, Ray Wise and Clancy Brown co-star for producer Scott Mulvaney. Doug Campbell directs the thriller from his original script. . . .

Castings Around: John Glover is a Donald Trump-style developer in Warner Bros’ “Monoliths,” the “Gremlins” sequel that director Joe Dante films next month in the Big Apple. The mayhem ensues after Glover’s character mows down Chinatown and unleashes the evil imps . . . . Diane Venora plays assistant to lawyer Alan Dershowitz in Pressman Films “Reversal of Fortune,” a late summer start. The Claus von Bulow story, written by Nicholas Kazan, stars Jeremy Irons as Von Bulow, Ron Silver as Dershowitz and Glenn Close as Sunny von Bulow. Barbet Schroeder directs. . . . Elizabeth McGovern begins to suspect co-worker Michael Caine might be behind some “accidental” deaths in Corsair’s “A Shock to the System.” Jan Egleson directs the dark-side-of-the-rat-race thriller. . . .