Don’t Touch the Star!

When Tri-Star’s “The Freshman” opens Friday, the third lead--behind Marlon Brando and Matthew Broderick--won’t be just another pretty face. The pivotal role is that of a giant Komodo dragon, which has lots of action: swimming in a shopping-mall pool, crawling around on a kitchen table, even riding in a stunt car.

The storyline has young Broderick delivering a Komodo to the Mob. When he discovers that the reptile is an endangered species--and faces a doomed fate with the gangsters--he sets out to save it, with comical results.

Since Komodos--which can grow to 10 feet and 300 pounds--really are an endangered species, animal trainers Jules Sylvester and Jim Brockett cast somewhat smaller but similar-looking monitor lizards.

“We fattened them up to look more like Komodos--they love fresh meat,” Sylvester says. “Especially rats and chicken necks, two pounds a day each.”

When filming began, he adds, “we had to be very, very careful. They use their tails like whips, and their tails are a third of their bodies (they also bite). We’d put little harnesses on them, and walk them on to the set from their lizard trailer.”

Broderick’s first response upon seeing his snappy co-star was “Oh, my God,” says Brockett, but eventually he developed a cozy relationship with Brutus, one of the gentler monitors. But Brando was generally “indifferent” to them.

Likewise, they weren’t impressed by Brando. “They’re 100% predators--little dinosaurs,” notes Sylvester. “They haven’t changed in thousands of years, and they’re not changing now. They don’t care about being stars.”