Richard Dreyfuss journeys to Yugoslavia next year...

Richard Dreyfuss journeys to Yugoslavia next year to enact the Player King in “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead,” the film version of Tom Stoppard’s celebrated play, adapted and directed by the writer himself. Originally, producer Patrick Wachsberger cast Sean Connery in the role, but Connery bowed out. The delay in filling that part has meant that Robert Lindsay and Roger Rees, signed for the title roles, are no longer available. . . . But first, Dreyfuss stars opposite Holly Hunter (his co-star in Steven Spielberg’s “Always”), in Lasse (“My Life As a Dog”) Hallstrom’s first American film, “Once Around.” Shooting on the romantic comedy begins Feb. 8. Wachsberger, president of Odyssey Distributors, is also involved with that film in partnership with Griffin Dunne and Amy Robinson’s Double Play Prods. . . .

Willem Dafoe (“Platoon”) and Brad Johnson (“Always”) play Navy flyers and Danny Glover is the squadron commander in John Milius’ “Flight of the Intruder,” which starts filming in Hawaii later this month. Based on Stephen Coonts’ best-selling 1986 novel, the film recounts the exploits of those who flew the A-6 Intruder during the Vietnam War. Operating off aircraft carriers, this bomber delivered its payload without any means of defending itself from enemy flak or aircraft. . . .

Speaking of flyers, Sean Young and film newcomer Bryan Kestner have signed on as Army helicopter pilots in producer Bill Badalato’s “Wings of the Apache.” . . .

Penelope Ann Miller joins Robert DeNiro and Robin Williams in “Awakenings,” currently filming in New York under Penny Marshall’s direction. The true story, written by Dr. Oliver Sacks, concerns his experimentations in 1969 in a Bronx hospital that revived 10 catatonic patients. . . .

The destruction of the Amazon’s rain forest is Hollywood’s current hot topic. Diane Silver’s “Amazon,” starring Kari Vaananen, Rae Dawn Chong and Esai Morales, has begun in Brazil under Mika Kaurismaki’s direction. Robert Davi (“Licence to Kill”) has now joined the cast. . . . “Jaws” novelist Peter Benchley is writing an original screenplay, “Amazon Run,” for Alive Pictures and Universal. Alive president Carolyn Pfeiffer hopes to shoot the adventure story next spring between the rainy seasons. . . . Maryland-based writer-director Tera Moore (“Tusks”) and producer John Peverall (“The Deer Hunter”) are in pre-production on “Burning Passion,” which they plan to launch in February in Belem, the largest urban center of the Brazilian Amazon. The gothic romantic drama with a conservation message concerns a young woman artist who disguises herself as a man to gain a commission to paint a mural for a wealthy man. Moore says agents for Greta Scacchi and Raul Julia have expressed interest in the roles. . . .