NAMES IN THE NEWS : Willis Wants Billy Phelan Role

Bruce Willis wants to play in “Billy Phelan’s Greatest Game.” Willis, who has been shooting a role in “Bonfire of the Vanities,” says he’s interested in the role of Billy, a small-time hustler who gets caught up in a kidnaping, if someone makes a movie of the book, one of William Kennedy’s stories about his hometown of Albany, N.Y.

Kennedy told the Albany Times Union he is “happy that Willis is on record as wanting to do it” but said Willis probably won’t be available until late fall or next spring. “He’s a very fine man and a good actor, and I’m delighted that he even looks a little like Billy Phelan in my imagination,” Kennedy said.