WHOSE MOVIE? Will Oliver Stone’s “Nixon,” due...

WHOSE MOVIE? Will Oliver Stone’s “Nixon,” due out next month, be the hatchet job on the former President that some Nixon fans expect? Premiere magazine reports that “the script, on balance, is sympathetic.” . . . Look for James Woods, who plays chief of staff H.R. (Bob) Haldeman, to steal a scene or two. Woods told Premiere: “It’s basically a movie about a guy with a crew cut who ran the presidency for a guy who’s not very interesting.”

BARBIE BOOM: Barbara Peterson explains why several hundred Barbie dolls decorate her Fullerton home: “It always brings back a piece of your childhood.” Another reason: Big bucks. . . . Peterson is the promoter for the Barbie convention at the Disneyland Hotel today. More than 100 Barbie vendors--from as far away as Australia--will sell and display the whole Barbie family. Says Peterson: “Barbie is the biggest toy in history. As an investment, she’s better than Orange County real estate.”

FREE-FOR-ALL: It won’t make a ripple of news here when Lithuania’s parliament votes next month on the country’s new media laws. But Cal State Fullerton communications chairman Robert Picard will watch closely. . . . Picard recently returned from the former Soviet republic where he helped lawmakers straighten out some kinks on the road to its first free press. . . . Says Picard: “They almost want to provide too much freedom--going from one politically polar side to the other.” Example: a proposed law to make individual income tax records public documents.

STAR SEATS: “Raised in Captivity,” which closes tonight at South Coast Repertory after a successful monthlong run, has seen as many stars in the audience as on stage. Most of the staff of NBC-TV’s “Frasier” showed up one night. Last Tuesday, actor Brad Pitt and his girlfriend were seen kissing in the audience during the play. . . . Pitt is close friends with “Captivity” actor Matt McGrath.