MOVIESMcAnuff to Direct Jimmy Dean Film: La...

MOVIES

McAnuff to Direct Jimmy Dean Film: La Jolla Playhouse artistic director Des McAnuff will make his feature film directing debut on Warner Bros.’ high-profile James Dean biography, industry sources confirmed Thursday. Leonardo DeCaprio, Johnny Depp and Ethan Hawke are the actors most frequently mentioned as contenders to play Dean in the film, which will be produced by Marvin Worth (“Malcolm X”) and may begin production as early as November. The next theatrical project for McAnuff, who won a Tony for directing “The Who’s Tommy,” is “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” which will star Matthew Broderick and play in La Jolla Oct. 30-Dec. 4 before moving to Broadway. McAnuff also has another film project on tap with Worth, an untitled Disney musical with Oscar-winning composer Alan Menken (“Beauty and the Beast”).

STAGE

Close’s Departing Gift: KCAL-TV’s “Live in L.A.” will auction off Glenn Close’s personal pair of her Shubert Theatre house seats to her June 26 “Sunset Boulevard” performance--the actress’s final night in Los Angeles before moving on to Broadway in November. The on-air auction begins on Monday with a minimum telephone bid of $500, and will continue for two weeks, with the tickets going to the highest bidder. Proceeds will benefit the L.A. County Bar Barristers’ Domestic Violence Project, which provides free legal services for victims of domestic abuse.

* ‘Jelly’ Jams Again: “Jelly’s Last Jam,” which premiered at the Mark Taper Forum in 1991 before a revised version opened on Broadway in 1992, will return to the Southland in the Broadway touring version for at least four stops. The tentative schedule: Orange County Performing Arts Center, Nov. 29-Dec. 4; San Diego Civic Auditorium, Dec. 6-11; Palm Desert’s McCallum Theatre, Jan. 20-22; and Pasadena Civic Auditorium, Jan. 24-29. Maurice Hines will star as Jelly Roll Morton, the same role his brother, actor Gregory Hines, played on Broadway.

TV & VIDEO

Hicks Tribute: Cable’s Comedy Central pays tribute to the late comedian Bill Hicks with “It’s Just a Ride,” an hourlong retrospective, premiering June 19 at 11 p.m. The special features performance footage ranging from Hicks’ early stand-up days to his recent specials for HBO and England’s Channel 4, plus home movies, photographs and testimonials from his family members and fellow comics including Jay Leno, David Letterman, Eric Bogosian, Brett Butler, Richard Jeni and Richard Belzer. Hicks died last February of pancreatic cancer at the age of 32.

* More ‘Mommies’: “The Mommies” was thought to have been canceled when it didn’t show up on NBC’s fall schedule, but the network confirmed Thursday that the first-year comedy will be back as a midseason entry. The show centers around the suburban-housewife humor of stars Marilyn Kentz and Caryl Kristensen, joined by comedy veterans Jere Burns and Julia Duffy.

* Explaining the Paranormal: Fans of “The X Files” may want to tune into another Fox series, “Encounters: The Hidden Truth,” which starts a limited prime-time run on June 24. Described as an “investigative series exploring strange and unexplained phenomena” ranging from UFOs to demonic possession, the magazine-style show grew out of Fox’s February special, “Encounters: The UFO Conspiracy.”

* ‘Flints’ ‘toons on Video: Columbia House Video Library is joining the current Stone Age family mania with the release of a video series, “The Flintstones: The Collector’s Edition.” The first volume includes the show’s original TV pilot short, “The Flagstones,” plus four classic 1960 episodes. Subsequent volumes will each include four “Flintstones” shows.

* ‘Remington’ Redux: For those who want a glimpse of the new James Bond, Pierce Brosnan, in his earlier days, cable’s A&E; will begin showing reruns of his 1980s TV series, “Remington Steele,” on Oct. 5. The program will air Wednesdays through Fridays at 1 p.m., with repeats Thursdays, Fridays and Mondays at 8 a.m.

THE ARTS

Local Honorees: Two local folk artists are among 11 National Heritage Fellows named this week by the National Endowment for the Arts. Los Angeles resident Sosei Shizuye Matsumoto, a master of the Japanese tea ceremony, and Lily Vorperian, an Armenian Marash-style embroiderer from Glendale, will join nine other honorees. Each fellow also gets a $10,000 stipend.

QUICK TAKES

Game-show host Bob Barker on Wednesday announced plans to file a malicious prosecution countersuit against former “Price Is Right” model Dian Parkinson, who earlier this week sued Barker for sexual harassment. . . . Actors Susan Sarandon and Joan Plowright, screenwriter Nora Ephron and producer Polly Platt will be honored by Women in Film tonight at the group’s annual Crystal Awards ceremonies. In addition, actor Danny Glover will receive the group’s special humanitarian award. . . . “Love & War” TV star and former Los Angeles radio personality Jay Thomas has landed his first major feature film role in Interscope Productions’ “Mr. Holland’s Opus,” opposite Richard Dreyfuss.