A look inside Hollywood and the movies. : CASTING COUCH : Free Ideas Here! We’ve Got Eyes Out for Mr. Magoo

Nobody gives ideas for free in Hollywood. Especially when they could lead to a job.

So when Film Clips decided to ask casting directors who they could see playing crotchety and near-sighted cartoon character Mr. Magoo in the recently announced Steven Spielberg movie, some were a little crotchety themselves, and declined to participate.

“What? And give away an idea to Mr. Spielberg?” laughed one casting director who preferred anonymity.

But others took a good-natured plunge. The consensus? Bob Hoskins, followed by Danny DeVito, who is said to have an inside track on the role.

The Mr. Magoo project will be a production of Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros., which secured the rights to the character created in 1949 by animators John Hubley and Millard Kaufman. The late Jim Backus provided the distinctive voice for the short-in-stature, often bumbling character who is not widely familiar to today’s audiences, but who was popular in the ‘50s in movie shorts.

“That character really has to be bigger than life . . . because we think of the animated look of it and Backus’ voice,” said Michael Fenton, casting director for the upcoming “Honeymoon in Vegas” and “Chaplin.”

“Robin Williams could play it, but he isn’t my personal image of Magoo . . . John Goodman, Joe Pesci and Danny DeVito, could all do it, too,” Fenton said. “But the person would would play the bejiminies out of it is Bob Hoskins.”

Howard Feuer, who cast “The Silence of the Lambs” and the current “Single White Female,” described Magoo as “always being the male version of (character actresses) Marion Lorne and Zasu Pitts. . . . He’s a lovable innocent . . . a very Ed Wynn-ish type.”

Jeff Greenberg, the casting director for TV’s “Cheers” and the movie “Look Who’s Talking,” said: “When you think of Magoo you think of bumbling, older guys who are great with comedy.” He suggested Mel Brooks, Hume Cronyn, Buck Henry and Peter Falk.

“Woody Allen is not a bad idea,” offered Bob Morones, who cast “Platoon” and “American Me.” “Obviously, you need someone with a wry sense of humor.”

But Morones said the first name who came to mind is Hoskins. “Of course, he’d have to lose a little weight, just like Robert De Niro had to gain weight for ‘Raging Bull.’ But Hoskins could pull it off, he’s an excellent actor. Robin Williams, who played (in the movie) ‘Popeye,’ is not bad, either.”

Hoskins also carried weight with Pam Dixon, the casting director for “City Slickers” and the upcoming “Mr. Saturday Night.” But Dixon also sees Jack Lemmon in the role.

In one variation, “China Beach” casting director John Levey said he could see “Saturday Night Live’s” Dana Carvey in the role.

Among other suggestions: Michael J. Pollard or the befuddled mascot of the David Letterman TV show, Larry (Bud) Melman. There was even a posthumous candidate: the late William Frawley, of “I Love Lucy” and “My Three Sons.”