Horse Trading

Writer-director Christopher Coppola--nephew of Francis Ford--hopes to get his “Black Stallion III” under way this fall in Northern Nevada, he told us. He’s just returned from North Dakota, where he found a new black Arabian to star in the latest film installment based on the series of Walter Farley young adult books.

The original Black--seen in the first two films (1979 and 1983)--”was too old to be in the movie--and he’d lost an eye in an accident,” Christopher explained.

Kelly Reno, now 22, who starred in the two previous films, is also over the hill. His character--a young boy who tames a stallion--is in his mid-teens in “III,” coping with the Black becoming wild again, against a ‘50s American west backdrop.

Mickey Rooney is expected back as the trainer, but casting is under way for the plum role of the boy.

Uncle Francis is exec producer.