That’s <i> Mister</i> Player to You : Now Tim Robbins signs a major deal with Polygram, which will finance at least two movies he’ll develop, produce, direct and/or star in

If Tim Robbins had any clout before, now he’s really a “player.”

The 34-year-old actor-neophyte filmmaker has made a three-year deal with Polygram Filmed Entertainment and its subsidiary Working Title Films to independently finance movies he will develop, produce, direct and may star in under his newly formed company, Chaos Productions.

This is the second such deal Polygram has made with a well-known Hollywood star, the first being last year’s three-year financing arrangement with Oscar-winning actress and director Jodie Foster and her L.A.-based Egg Pictures.

Working Title co-chairs Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner have set up a discretionary fund that Robbins can use for project development and has earmarked production dollars for at least two movies over the next three years. According to Polygram President Michael Kuhn, the deal stipulates that Robbins can make one low-budget film for $8 million to $12 million, and another for up to $20 million.

And like Foster, Robbins is guaranteed complete autonomy and creative control over his projects--essentially having the ability to pick those he wants to develop, greenlight projects and have final cut on movies in collaboration with Working Title, provided the budgets meet the Polygram model.

As Kuhn explains it: “There are rules laid down where movies get greenlit and that is, estimated income must exceed estimated expenditure.” Robbins’ camp must submit projected revenues for how much they believe a film will bring in at the box office both in the U.S. and abroad.

The Robbins and Foster deals appear to be ideal because of the creative latitude and independent financing they provide filmmakers wanting to make movies outside the studio system. The studios can still be tapped for marketing and distribution purposes.

Whether these kind of deals are the wave of the future for a select group of high-powered Hollywood talent wanting to do it their way is not clear. In these recessionary times, studios are making fewer and fewer so-called “vanity deals” with actors, where they foot the bill for overhead and development. While scores of these kinds of deals were made with such stars as Cher, Goldie Hawn, Patrick Swayze, Meg Ryan and Rob Lowe, the studios have discovered that most of them don’t bear fruit--that is, movies--and therefore are a waste of good money. There are exceptions, including Mel Gibson’s Icon Productions, Kevin Costner’s Tig Productions and Bette Midler’s All Girl Productions.

Robbins’ agent, Elaine Goldsmith of ICM, said the fact that Polygram doesn’t make “meaningless ‘vanity deals’ was a major factor in our decision” to set up Robbins’ company there. “The interesting deals of the future depend upon vision: looking beyond what is and trying to foresee what will be.”

Robbins, who won last year’s best actor award at the Cannes Film Festival for his role as sleazy studio executive Griffin Mill in Robert Altman’s “The Player,” had his first outing as writer, director and star of the 1992 political satire “Bob Roberts.” He’s also still very much involved with the Actors Gang theater troupe, which he launched about 12 years ago when he was still a student at UCLA Film School.

Robbins’ movies, like Foster’s, will either be distributed by Gramercy Pictures--Polygram’s joint-venture distribution company with Universal--or by a major studio. Unlike Foster’s Egg--which functions as an independent movie label under the Polygram banner--Robbins’ company is directly affiliated with Working Title, the London-based company that co-financed “Bob Roberts” and produced such films as “Posse,” “My Beautiful Laundrette” and currently “The Hudsucker Proxy” in which Robbins stars.

While Working Title has the exclusive right to finance any project that is owned, originated or controlled by Robbins, he is still free to accept outside movie assignments and is free to take his ideas elsewhere if Polygram passes on them.

Robbins is currently setting up offices for his new company in Los Angeles and New York.

In a phone interview from the set of Castle Rock’s “Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption” in Mansfield, Ohio, Robbins said he is looking at the new arrangement with Polygram/Working Title “as a way to develop ideas I have and to work with other talented writers and directors and bring their work to the public’s attention.”

He noted that this “was something I’ve been thinking about doing for quite a while and I didn’t want a development deal that simply keeps people working on ideas and not having anything happen.” When he met with Kuhn, Robbins said the one key point they both agreed on was the arrangement was “geared toward actual production and not toward endless development.”

While Robbins was reluctant to discuss the specifics of how far his creative control extends, he noted, “Let’s just say I feel comfortable with the deal and based on my previous experience with Working Title on ‘Bob Roberts,’ this won’t even be an issue.” He went one step further to say, “I was allowed to cut the movie the way I wanted to cut it. After we took it to Cannes, it was relatively untouched--I only had to cut 20 seconds.”

Fellner, who teamed with Bevan 14 months ago in Working Title, said, “We’re making our resources available because we believe Tim will be a major supplier of unique quality films. He’s seen how we worked with him on ‘Bob Roberts’ and with (filmmaking brothers) Joel and Ethan Coen on ‘Hudsucker’ (which WT is producing with Joel Silver’s company for Warner Bros. release next year) and he respects the fact that we respect filmmakers.”

ICM agent Bart Walker, who along with Goldsmith and agency chairman Jeff Berg, brokered the deal, said “it’s tailored specifically for Tim’s needs. He wanted an autonomous environment in which he could function without a lot of interference, but with the support of people whose opinions he values.”

Kuhn said PolyGram has no master plan to pursue these kind of deals. “We much prefer to make straightforward producer deals. But when you come across exceptional talent, it’s very hard to say no.”

The Polygram chief said the difference between his company’s deals and the more typical vanity deal is that “it’s easy to make a $2-million decision to cover overhead and development for a year. It’s different making a $30-million commitment to produce movies.” Robbins said he’s currently researching and writing what he calls “a very complicated” movie. He says it’s premature to discuss the project because “I can’t tell if it’s great or if it needs a couple of years.”

What kind of film is he looking to make? “I’m interested in all kinds of entertainment from movies like ‘Bob Roberts’ to family entertainment that doesn’t pander to children and rely on violence or obscenity.” In addition to “Hudsucker” and finishing “Rita Hayworth,” Robbins will be seen on the big screen in October in Robert Altman’s new film “Short Cuts.”