Evans’ Problems Go Beyond Bad Publicity : Film: Producer says he’s been unfairly named in alleged Hollywood madam flap.

Problems continue to mount for Paramount Pictures’ producer Robert Evans, who in the last week surfaced in the news as an acquaintance of alleged Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss.

Evans on Thursday commented publicly for the first time on Fleiss, saying he’s been unfairly named in connection with her.

“I’m the one guy in town who’s never touched her and never seen any of her girls,” Evans said. “And yet I’m the only one mentioned. Why, I don’t know.”

Sources say, however, that Evans’ difficulties don’t end there. Aside from embarrassment over the Fleiss publicity--and an unrelated class-action fraud lawsuit in which Evans has been named--Paramount is angry that the producer hasn’t moved faster on two high-priority film projects pledged to the studio, “The Saint” and “The Phantom,” sources say.

Evans was summoned to a “serious career talk” this week by Stanley Jaffe, a longtime friend and the president of the studio’s parent company, Paramount Communications.

As a result of the meeting, Evans was told that Paramount has assigned veteran producer David Brown to be his partner on “The Saint.” Brown, whose credits include “The Sting” and “The Player,” has been asked to help accelerate development and production on the film. Paramount also plans to find a producing partner for Evans on “The Phantom,” sources at the studio confirmed.

While Paramount executives say it’s premature to speculate on Evans’ future, they confirm that there is concern over his ability to fulfill his obligations because of personal conflicts, including efforts to complete his autobiography, “The Kid Stays In the Picture.” Until recently, Evans had been holed up in Palm Springs for months trying to complete the book.

According to a highly placed source, Jaffe and Paramount Pictures Chairman Sherry Lansing “knew they had to take actions to protect these pictures. . . . They are very valuable projects and they weren’t getting proper attention.”

Paramount also is worried about possible further fallout from an ongoing civil suit and investigation centered on two men who allegedly worked out of Evans office on the Paramount lot at one time. Evans is one of more than 200 defendants in the class-action lawsuit.

In a telephone interview Thursday, Evans denied there’s any concern at Paramount over the publicity he’s recently received. He said that the studio remains totally supportive of him, even though his autobiography admittedly caused him to fall behind on his films.

“Everything couldn’t be on a more go level than it is now,” Evans said. “My relationship with Paramount has never been better.”

Evans added that he’s thrilled to be working with Brown, a friend of 40 years whom he met with for more than two hours Thursday morning, and hopes to do more projects with him.

Evans also strenuously denied any wrongdoing in the fraud suit, which alleges that his Axiom Entertainment was one of many companies involved in a broad-based scheme to defraud private investors. He called it a non-issue, saying he has never been served papers in the case.

There have been no allegations by the press or police of improprieties involving the producer and Fleiss.

Fleiss was arrested in June on felony pimping, pandering and narcotics charges, triggering massive anxiety in Hollywood. Evans said it’s typical of his bad luck that he’s been publicly identified with her.

Evans has a long and colorful history in Hollywood. He was one of the industry’s most successful executives in the 1970s--when he supervised such films as “The Godfather” and “Love Story” as production chief at Paramount--but ran into personal problems in the 1980s, including a cocaine conviction.

The producer has hoped for a career comeback since Jaffe returned him to the Paramount lot two years ago, but his first attempt failed when he produced the disappointing “Sliver.”

Revelations of the lawsuit involving Axiom Entertainment came just as “Sliver” started its precipitous box office slide in June.

A Los Angeles Superior Court case alleges that Evans received $1.2 million in private funds raised for Axiom, as part of a massive fraud case involving more than two dozen companies and some $200 million.

Front Page, a Fox network news show, subsequently reported that the main defendants in the case, David H. Bryant and David C. Knight, briefly worked out of Evans’ office on the Paramount lot. Evans denies that, saying that they only visited an associate of his there.

Paramount Communications on Thursday confirmed that its senior legal counsel, Donald Oresman, led an in-house investigation of the affair earlier this year. A Paramount spokesman would not reveal the findings of the investigation, which he said had been concluded.

Meanwhile, sources say that the state Department of Corporations and the Los Angeles district attorney continue to investigate the allegations. The probe is said to be primarily focused on Knight and Bryant.

Nonetheless, Paramount executives are openly edgy about the case. Sources say that the studio also feels it must jump-start Evans’ projects to strengthen its slate.

Paramount views both “The Saint” and “Phantom” as potential movie franchises. Oscar nominated writer James Dearden (“Fatal Attraction”) has been hired to script “The Saint,” based on the well-known book and TV show.

Paramount hopes to receive a first draft of the script by year-end and would like to have the picture as its big 1994 Christmas release.

Screenwriter Jeffrey Baum of “Lethal Weapon 3” has been brought in to work on the script for “The Phantom,” which is based on the well-known comic book character.