MOVIES’Waterworld’ Director Completes Cut: Kevin Reynolds has...

MOVIES

‘Waterworld’ Director Completes Cut: Kevin Reynolds has completed his director’s cut on the Kevin Costner summer action movie “Waterworld” and departed the project, but the question now is how much control of the final editing will be placed in the hands of Costner. Under Reynolds’ contract, reported April 9 in The Times, Costner was specifically prohibited from having final cut on the movie after the two previously clashed on the set of “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.” Reynolds was angry because Costner strong-armed editing that film. When Reynolds agreed to direct “Waterworld,” they worked out a truce, but it didn’t last during the filming. A Universal spokesman said Tuesday that because Costner is also a producer of “Waterworld,” along with Charles Gordon and John Davis, the studio has asked the actor to participate in the post-production process. “Costner is one of the producers and, at the studio’s behest, in his role of producer, he is helping to finish the film along with the other producers,” a studio spokesman said. “Reynold’s contract has nothing to do with it because the studio has final cut.”

POP/JAZZ

Honoring the Duke: New York City remembered a jazz great Monday with a ceremony naming Duke Ellington Circle at the gateway to Harlem where his 25-foot bronze statue will be erected this fall. Several of the late Ellington’s relatives, city officials, jazz singer Bobby Short, former Mayor David Dinkins and about 50 autograph-collecting schoolchildren applauded the unveiling of street signs at the soon-to-be reconfigured intersection at the northeast corner of Central Park. A band played “Take the A Train,” the Billy Strayhorn tune that was one of the most famous songs associated with the band leader and composer. Designed by Los Angeles sculptor Robert Graham, the statue will show a life-size Ellington standing by a grand piano on a circular platform supported by three 10-foot columns.

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A Real Star: The radio personality known as “The Real Don Steele” will get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame today at 11:30 a.m. with some of the ‘60s rock stars he boosted looking on. Mike Love, Mickey Dolenz and Bobby Sherman are among those expected to attend the star ceremony at Hollywood Boulevard and La Brea Avenue. That’s the same corner where Steele once sold newspapers before attending Hollywood High School. The school’s marching band will participate in the festivities, too. Steele, who launched “Boss Radio Top 40” on 93-KHJ in 1963, now appears daily on K-EARTH 101.

THE ARTS

Planning at Ahmanson: The next season at the renovated Ahmanson Theatre is beginning to take shape, with tentative dates for previously announced shows and names of other possible selections. The list so far: August Wilson’s “Seven Guitars,” Jan. 13-March 10; a bonus option of “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” March 14-April 21; and the touring version of the recent London revival of “Carousel,” July 6-August 25. Subscribers are being notified that two other slots will be filled from a list of four candidates: a Gordon Davidson-directed revival of “Candide,” Brecht’s “Galileo,” “Henry V” and “The Merry Wives of Windsor.”

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UCLA Event Moved: “Dancers of the Dreaming,” authentic Aboriginal clansmen from Australia who perform ceremonial dances and songs, will appear tonight at 8 p.m. in the Veterans Wadsworth Theatre. The event had been scheduled for UCLA’s Sunset Canyon Recreation Center but was shifted to the indoor venue on the Veterans Administration grounds in Brentwood because of a forecast of threatening weather.

QUICK TAKES

Dee Dee Myers, former White House press secretary for President Clinton, is expected to be named co-host with Mary Matalin on CNBC’s “Equal Time” talk show. Matalin formerly was a Republican campaign strategist under President Bush. . . . Veteran British rock artist David Bowie inked a recording and distribution agreement with Virgin Music Group Worldwide, which said his first release on the label--written and produced with Brian Eno--is due this fall. . . . Richard J. Stern, a Chicago entrepreneur, patron of the arts and Democratic activist, will be nominated to the National Council on the Arts by President Clinton, the White House announced Monday. The 26-member art council advises the chairperson of the National Endowment for the Arts on such delicate matters as arts grants. . . . Public relations executive Jerry G. Velasco has become president of Nosotros, a position he held in 1979-1980. Velasco was named by the group’s board of trustees after Gil Avila left to become national affirmative action executive director of the Screen Actors Guild. Nosotros, which seeks to improve the role and image of Latinos in the entertainment industry, was founded in 1970 by Ricardo Montalban, who continues as board chairman. . . . Microsoft chairman Bill Gates will be interviewed by Tom Brokaw for an hourlong documentary, “Tycoon,” airing on May 26. Gates, one of the richest guys anywhere, rarely gives interviews.