Debra Winger, John Malkovich and Dennis Quaid...

Debra Winger, John Malkovich and Dennis Quaid join the Oscar-winning “Last Emperor” team of director Bernardo Bertolucci, writer Mark Teploe and producer Jeremy Thomas for Warner Bros.’ “The Sheltering Sky” in September. The adaptation of Paul Vowles’ novel centers on the bizarre political and sexual adventures of three Americans traveling in North Africa in the 1940s. It films in Morocco and Tunisia. . . .

Melanie Griffith literally mothers John Cusack in Cineplex Odeon’s “The Grifters,” to film in November. The Jim Thompson novel, adapted by Donald Westlake, focuses on a compulsive scam artist whose efforts to go straight are thwarted by both his mother and his lover. Geena Davis completes the triangle in the Martin Scorsese production, to be directed by Stephen Frears. . . .

Bruce Willis heads to Europe this fall to star in the lighthearted caper, “Hudson Hawk” for Tri-Star and producer Joel Silver. Steven DeSouza’s script casts Willis as a master safecracker blackmailed into a scheme to steal priceless Leonardo da Vinci designs. Michael Lehman directs. . . . The same team of Willis, Silver and DeSouza revive the aborted “Sgt. Rock,” which was to have starred Arnold Schwarzenegger. . . .

Film maker Philip Kaufman is negotiating with Willem Dafoe to portray author Henry Miller in his adaptation (with Rose Kaufman) of Henry and June for Universal. The story, set in Paris in the ‘30s, deals with the artistic-sexual liaison between Miller, his wife and Anais Nin. Isabelle Adjani is set for the latter role when the cameras roll this fall. . . .

Demi Moore plays “the late” Patrick Swayze’s girlfriend in Paramount’s “Ghost,” filming in July. Swayze’s title character attempts to keep her out of danger in the fantasy-comedy directed by Jerry Zucker. . . . Bonnie Bedelia is attorney Harrison Ford’s wife and Greta Scacchi his mistress in Warner Bros.’ “Presumed Innocent,” another July start, in Detroit and New York City. Alan Pakula directs the whodunit, based on Scott Turow’s best-seller. . . . Nicolas Cage stars opposite Laura Dern in David Lynch’s “Wild at Heart,” filming next month in Louisiana and Texas. The couple-on-the-run drama is produced by Monty Montgomery, Joni Sighvatsson and Steve Golin. . . . Morris Day and Wayne Newton are the latest musical stars to sign aboard Fox’s “Ford Fairlane.” Andrew Dice Clay stars in the murder mystery next month for director Renny Harlin.