A look inside Hollywood and the movies : A WILD AND WACO GUY : <i> Excuuuse Me</i> , Says Steve Martin: My Movie Didn’t Torpedo Tartikoff

Has there been a leap to judgment about “Leap of Faith”?

Steve Martin, among others, believes so.

The actor admitted being puzzled about why his upcoming movie has been linked to the unexpected resignation of Brandon Tartikoff as chairman of Paramount Pictures. One has nothing to do with the other, he said.

He even says he’s “ecstatic” with the near-final cut of the movie, in which he stars in a rare, fully dramatic role (“Pennies From Heaven” in 1981 is the only other one) as a charlatan evangelist who tours the rural South promising miracles to the infirm. The movie co-stars Debra Winger, Lolita Davidovich, Liam Neeson and Lukas Haas.

But the fact is, reports on the movie have painted it solely in terms of its rushed production--less than six months from start to finish--and that it is Paramount’s one and only Christmas release, scheduled to open Dec. 18. This has been given as an example of Tartikoff’s less-than-stellar tenure running a major Hollywood movie studio--considering they usually have at least two films to open during the critical holiday box-office season.

A Paramount source said: “That (the movie has) been tied in to Brandon’s departure is ridiculous.”

Separately, Martin said the picture’s success or failure is irrelevant to Paramount’s woes and that he knew it would be a Christmas release before it went before the cameras in July. “From the first time I signed on to do the movie, I knew we’d have to get it done in time for Christmas,” he said. As to its public perception, he added: “Nobody can say anything without seeing it first.”

Martin was born in Waco, Tex., and said he witnessed the power of evangelical ministry over the rural South while growing up. He has sought a role as evangelist for 20 years, he said.

Winger co-stars as his manager, who begins to question what she’s doing; Neeson is the local sheriff who is suspicious of his ministry; Davidovich plays a waitress and Haas her handicapped brother who asks Martin to heal him. Through them, the con-artist minister witnesses his own miracle and undergoes a change of conviction. Ten gospel songs featuring the Edwin Hawkins Singers are integrated throughout the drama.

Since it’s not yet finished, only a select audience can weigh in with their assessment. Paramount sources, admittedly biased, consider this an Oscar-caliber performance from Martin and a departure from his previous screen personae. Martin, a taciturn interview at best, wouldn’t assess his own performance or how audiences will take to him when he’s not playing a funnyman.

While “Leap of Faith” has, in his words, “no gags, no one-liners,” it is not without humor.

“There are laughs,” he says. But a Steve Martin comedy--no.