TV/VIDEOMinority Directors Sought: The first industry program...

TV/VIDEO

Minority Directors Sought: The first industry program to develop minority directing talent was announced Monday by Directors Guild of America President Gene Reynolds and Walt Disney Network Television Division President Dean Valentine. The annual eight-week course for one or two selected candidates may lead to a directing assignment on half-hour multi-camera tape and filmed comedies. Applications will be accepted between Aug. 15 and Sept. 22, with the program starting in 1996. Participants will be paid. “I am thrilled at the prospect that this program will be as successful as the Disney Writing Fellowship Program, which has made a serious commitment in recruiting and hiring minority writers over the past five years,” Valentine said.

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Her So-Called Desire?: Did Claire Danes help kill “My So-Called Life”? Is it possible that the 16-year-old star of ABC’s much-celebrated but little-viewed drama pulled the plug on her own show in the final, critical moment so she could pursue a movie career? That speculation was rampant among the show’s hard-core followers following ABC’s cancellation last week of the highly praised examination of teen Angst --the latest from “thirtysome-thing” producers Marshall Herskovitz and Ed Zwick. “The sense I have is that we were contenders right up to the very end but [were done in by] some combination of Claire’s lack of desire to come back and ABC’s own feeling that the show was not popular,” Herskovitz told the Hartford Courant’s James Endrst. “My understanding,” he continued, “is that her agent called the network three weeks ago and told them that she didn’t want to come back.” Danes’ representatives insisted only that she would have come back if asked. Meanwhile, Danes, who recently co-starred opposite Winona Ryder in “Little Women,” was busy making a movie called “I Love You, I Love You Not,” in which she plays granddaughter to a Holocaust survivor (played by Jeanne Moreau); she was not available for comment.

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Soon, Cinderella’s Prints Will Come: Walt Disney’s 1950 animated feature “Cinderella” goes on sale as a home video Oct. 4. The limited-time re-release will be available on VHS and laser disc at $26.99 and $29.99, respectively, accompanied by up to $15 in mail-in rebates. Seven million copies of “Cinderella” were first released on video in 1988 but the Walt Disney Co. points out that none remain on the market while the home video audience has increased to more than 50 million households.

MOVIES

Gay Defamation Charged: Citing “negative stereotyping,” the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation plans a nationwide informational protest against the adventure film “Braveheart,” which opens Wednesday. The film is directed by and stars Mel Gibson, who infuriated gay groups with inflammatory remarks made in a published interview a few years ago. GLAAD objects to the Paramount film’s depiction of the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward II, and his lover in the film as “typical homophobic caricature,” executive director Ellen Carton said last week. While agreeing that Edward II was historically believed to be gay, she said the problem is one of depiction. “I don’t care that he’s [Edward II] portrayed as effeminate,” Carton says, “but that he’s portrayed as a foolish, passive man who whimpers, a stupid villain. This ridiculous character typifies the negative stereotypes of gays that had started to diminish in recent years and is now back with a vengeance.” Gibson and Paramount declined to comment on GLAAD’s complaints.

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Memorial for Godunov: Memorial services for dancer-turned-actor Alexander Godunov will be held Thursday at 11 a.m. at the Gates Kingsley & Gates Mortuary, 1925 Arizona Ave., Santa Monica. Godunov, 45, a Bolshoi Ballet principal who defected from the Soviet Union in 1979 and later became a featured movie actor, was found dead in his West Hollywood apartment Thursday. He had recently completed filming his latest movie, “The Zone,” in Budapest and then traveled to Riga, Latvia, for the first time since his defection to visit his mother and other relatives. His publicist, Evelyn Shriver of Nashville, said he had been in a good mood recently, but suffered from alcoholism. Shriver said acute alcoholism was the cause of death. Memorial donations may be made to any struggling ballet company or alcoholism treatment organization.

STAGE

New York Winners: The revival of “Show Boat” beat “Sunset Boulevard” in the Drama Desk competition for best musical production of the New York theater season. Terrence McNally’s “Love! Valour! Compassion!” was named best new play and “The Heiress” took best play revival honors. Acting awards went to Glenn Close of “Sunset Boulevard,” Matthew Broderick of “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” Ralph Fiennes of “Hamlet” and Cherry Jones of “The Heiress.”

POP/ROCK

Not a Bolt From the Blue: “I’ve always gotten a kick out of being referred to as an overnight success. I believe the correct figure is over 7,260 nights,” Michael Bolton said during a commencement address Saturday at the University of Connecticut. “The first record I recorded for them [CBS Records] arrived with my name spelled Michael Bolotkin on the label, with the wrong version of the wrong song.” About a year later, CBS sent Bolton a letter saying he was free to sign a deal with other labels. “That would be the equivalent to receiving a letter from your girlfriend saying that you’re now free to date other people,” Bolton said.