Surprise in the MakingWill “October Surprise” be...

Surprise in the Making

Will “October Surprise” be Hollywood’s next “JFK?”

Columbia Pictures and Peters Entertainment Co. in late 1991 bought the feature film rights to former National Security Council specialist Gary Sick’s book on the much-promoted theory that former President Reagan’s campaign officials delayed release of American hostages in Iran until after the 1980 election. (Some wags suggested that Reagan return to acting to play himself.)

“October Surprise,” Columbia executives said then, was “destined to be the 1990s’ equivalent of ‘All the President’s Men’ ” on “what may be the most significant political act in American history.”

But last week a bipartisan House panel sought to debunk the theory, saying that its 11-month investigation found no credible evidence. It further called some theorists “utter fabricators.” A query by the Senate last year reached a similar conclusion.

Nonetheless, the project is alive amid speculation that it could touch off the kind of film-versus-fact controversy that director Oliver Stone’s “JFK” did. Oscar-winning screenwriter Ron Bass (“Rain Man”) is said to be working on the script.

Coming to Theaters Soon?

You read the stories. Maybe you even understood them all.

Get ready for BCCI, the movie.

Producer Interscope is developing a fictionalized version of the unraveling of the Bank of Credit & Commerce International scandal, one of the most convoluted financial debacles of our time.

Needless to say, hammering out a script has not been easy. “If governments around the world can’t figure all of this out, what can you expect of a lowly screenwriter with a word processor?” asked Robb Rothman, an agent who represents screenwriter Frank Abatemarco on the project.

The film is not expected to touch on the indictment of Democratic patriarch Clark Clifford, which is probably just as well. Interscope is led by entertainment executive Ted Field, who is one of the party’s most powerful behind-the-scenes figures.

Gotta Do What You Gotta Do

Hollywood examines the Teamsters in the 20th Century Fox film “Hoffa.” Now the Teamsters are taking a look at Hollywood.

Ron Carey, the union’s reformist president, recently initiated an internal investigation of the union’s ties to Hollywood and organized crime.

Teamsters officials are keeping quiet about the inquiry, other than to confirm it.

The investigation is believed to have been triggered by a recent FBI sting involving a phony film company in Santa Monica, which resulted in five indictments for allegedly accepting bribes to guarantee labor peace on films.

Briefly. . .

Re Hoffa: One supermarket tabloid claims President-elect Bill Clinton and the still-missing Teamsters leader screened “Hoffa” together. . . . The anti-Clinton “Slick Willie Wire” in Seal Beach debuts as “the only newsletter that hopes to be out of business in four years.” . . . Both sides covered: A Big Bear real estate firm is called Bruin/Trojan Realty.