FUNNY GODMOTHER : A Friend Offers Gilda a Valentine

Alan Zweibel, one of “Saturday Night Live’s” original writers, is understandably nervous about his upcoming first film, “North.” It’s based on his “worstseller” of the same name.

Yep, worstseller. The creator of such zany, immensely popular characters as Gilda Radner’s Roseanne Roseannadanna and John Belushi’s samurai swordsman, wrote the book 10 years ago. Only a handful sold at the time, but that didn’t dissuade Zweibel and his friend, director Rob Reiner, from adapting it into a $40-million Castle Rock movie starring Elijah Wood, set for release this summer.

While a reissue of “North” will precede the movie into bookstores by two weeks, Zweibel’s thoughts are on a more personal manuscript: a valentine to Gilda Radner.

But “Bunny Bunny, Gilda Radner: A Sort of Love Story” is no ordinary valentine. Zweibel’s tribute, which will appear in bookstores in August, is the stuff of aspiring writers’ dreams--filled with funny sketches and great dialogue, a loving farewell to a friend, colleague and comedian who died of ovarian cancer five years ago.

Zweibel misses her so much that about 18 months ago he scribbled down all of his favorite conversational memories of her and put them in a drawer. His wife, Robin Blankman, found them, read them and urged him to contact his literary agent, the same agent who pushed to get a second printing of “North” (published by Random House’s Villard Books division) on the shelves by June 24, just before the movie opens nationwide July 8.

The comedy, which Zweibel wrote and co-produced with Reiner, who is directing, is about an 11-year-old boy named North who doesn’t like his parents and sets out to find new ones, offering his services as a kid to prospective moms and dads.

Zweibel jokes that only about four hardback copies of “North” sold when it was published in 1984. In fact, you can’t even buy one today. “They’re a collector’s item,” he quips.

And it is Reiner who jokes about “North” being on the worstseller list. “But then again,” adds Reiner, “I’m not even sure if it made that!

Reiner first met Zweibel when he hosted the third show of “Saturday Night Live,” home of Zweibel’s budding friendship with Radner. It was Zweibel who was assigned to help Reiner with his opening monologue.

In addition to creating Roseannadanna and samurai swordsman, he co-developed “Not Necessarily the News,” co-created and produced “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show” and created and produced “The Boys” series.

“I remember trying to option Alan’s book after it first came out but Columbia already had the rights,” says Reiner. “Years later, when we developed Castle Rock, we decided to take on the project.” Columbia currently distributes Castle Rock’s films.

Book flop or not, Reiner says he “loved the idea behind ‘North.’ Every kid at one point or another, looks at his parents and says, ‘I could do better.’ This book tapped into those feelings. It’s about a kid searching for what he thinks are the ideal parents. But it’s done in a very hip, satirical way. The humor will be appreciated by adults, but we played it for children (in test screenings) and they got it.”

Zweibel says he wants to make more movies with Reiner, but he wants the book to first have a life of its own. He plans to donate all of the proceeds from the sale of his book to Gilda’s Club, a New York-based support group for cancer patients and their families named in Radner’s memory.

“Gilda was the godmother of my three kids. I wrote the book 1 1/2 years ago, reconstructing our relationship through dialogue. It made me feel close to her again . . . just to hear the voices come back,” says Zweibel. “I had a tough time telling my wonderful friend goodby. The book was a catharsis for me. It was my therapy.”

Zweibel waited to publish the book until her family and her husband, actor Gene Wilder, gave their blessing. Wilder’s comment for the book jacket: “After our first kiss, Gilda demanded that I meet her friend Zweibel. What a strange girl, I thought. If you want to know more about Gilda, I lovingly recommend this book.”

To Zweibel, “It’s about two people who hung onto each other and helped each other find their way through their careers and life.”

Currently in the second year of his two-year development deal at Castle Rock to create TV and movie projects, Zweibel is now working on a CBS series pilot with Reiner called “Tell Me a Story.” Reiner says the network has already ordered six episodes, which launch in September and center around a family named Canterbury whose children have all sorts of problems.