SHORT TAKES : Judge Rejects Courthouse Scene

Producer Fred Caruso wouldn’t rewrite “The Bonfire of the Vanities” to get permission to shoot a scene in a New Jersey courthouse.

New Jersey Chief Justice Robert N. Wilentz on Sunday offered to allow the filmmakers to shoot a scene in a courthouse stairwell if they cut out a part showing an actor slamming shut an iron gate to keep a “mob of blacks” at bay.

“I won’t rewrite the script for the judge, or for anyone,” Caruso said in a telephone interview.

The movie version of Tom Wolfe’s novel about a Wall Street bond salesman who gets enmeshed in the Bronx court system has been accused of unfairly portraying blacks and Latinos as criminals.

Caruso said the judge is “misinformed” about the racial overtones of the scene. He said he will meet with Essex County officials today to gain access to the courthouse.

Wilentz said in a statement Sunday: “I will not permit a New Jersey courthouse, courtroom or corridor to be used to portray blacks as having so little respect for law they would riot and threaten a judge’s life.”