A look inside Hollywood and the movies. : READER BEWARE : Madonna’s ‘Body’ Isn’t Cornwell’s

Screen credits on movies have reached ridiculous proportions--everyone from assistant parking coordinator to the star’s personal trainer--but a credit on Madonna’s upcoming movie “Body of Evidence” is a new one on us.

In tiny type at the bottom of advertisements for “Body of Evidence, “ after credits for the actors, director, producers, screenwriter and musical scorer, is a cryptic disclaimer: “Not based on the novel by Patricia Cornwell.”

As the titles are the same, Cornwell was clearly not amused to realize that her second best-selling novel featuring the brilliant detective work of pathologist Dr. Kay Scarpetta might be confused with the upcoming sexually explicit thriller starring the singer-actress in a role where she’s accused of killing her lover while making love. The screenplay is by Brad Mirman.

“I’m very opposed to the exploitation of sexual violence. It’s like the dark side of the moon compared to what I write about,” Cornwell said. “I don’t want to sound like a saint, but people would be making an error if they went to the movie thinking it had anything to do with my books.”

Instead of undergoing a costly legal claim to try and force a title change--which they might not have won--Cornwell’s New York attorney Neil Rosini said an amicable resolution was agreed to by producers Dino De Laurentiis and distributor MGM on behalf of his client to run a one-line clarification on ads. The novelization of the movie tie-in book from Harper has been retitled “Deadly Evidence.”

Cornwell’s “Body of Evidence,” published in early 1991, follows medical examiner Scarpetta as she solves the grisly murder of an aspiring novelist who had asked, but did not receive, police protection from an unknown assailant. Cornwell’s writing has been praised for its strong, clever writing style; her protagonist Dr. Scarpetta is “increasingly a woman of sensibility and deep concerns, able to be tough-minded, independent and soft-hearted at the same time,” according to Charles Champlin in a Los Angeles Times’ book review.

“Body of Evidence,” the movie, is described in the press materials with this come-on line: “Did Rebecca Carlson (Madonna) use her body as a weapon for murder or an instrument for love?”

In the film, Madonna’s character hires hot-shot attorney Willem Dafoe to defend her against a murder rap--and he has a hard time resisting her “deviant” sexual attractions.

The movie initially received an NC-17 rating, but was trimmed down to an R. It has yet to be reviewed by critics.

What’s unusual about this credit contretemps is how Cornwell has publicly called attention to herself for not wanting to be associated with a production rather than preferring to keep a low profile.

Arbitration over such things as who gets what credit on a particular movie keeps a lot of entertainment lawyers, agents and guild officials in business. In this case, Cornwall had additional motives. She, too, has a Hollywood career.

She is now busy adapting to the screen her fourth Scarpetta novel, “Cruel and Unusual,” to be published in June, for Columbia Pictures. Demi Moore will play the title role.

The author is in town for Friday’s premiere of “Body of Evidence”--an occasion in which she said she’ll have the opportunity to meet Madonna and give her a “Body of Evidence” book-promotion T-shirt on which she (good-naturedly) intends to scrawl the words “Not based on the Madonna movie” across the bottom.