Arts and entertainment reports from The Times, national and international news services and the nation’s press.

MOVIES

‘Batman’s’ Next Foil?: Uma Thurman (“Pulp Fiction”) has apparently won the coveted role of female villain Poison Ivy in “Batman and Robin,” Warner Bros.’ next installment of the “Batman” saga. Industry sources said that papers are not signed yet, but that a deal is underway for Thurman to play the role that had reportedly interested Demi Moore and Julia Roberts. The Joel Schumacher film, which is expected to start production in September, brings back Val Kilmer for his second turn as the caped crusader, along with Chris O’Donnell as Robin and “Clueless” star Alicia Silverstone as Batgirl.

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Rehme to Head AFI Conservatory: Producer Robert Rehme (“The Hunt for Red October,” “Patriot Games,” TNT’s “Gettysburg”) has been named chairman of the American Film Institute’s Center for Advanced Film and Television Studies, also known as the AFI Conservatory. In his new role, Rehme, a recent president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, will work closely with Oscar-winning director-screenwriter Frank Pierson, director and master teacher at the conservatory, which boasts a prestigious list of alumni including Jon Avnet, David Lynch, Ed Zwick, Marshall Herskovitz and Amy Heckerling. Rehme succeeds Daniel Petrie, who becomes chair of the AFI’s Board Advisory Committee on Education and Training. Rehme’s producing partner, Mace Neufeld, is a current member of AFI’s Board of Trustees.

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Free Family Movies: Seeking an alternative to the Super Bowl? Walt Disney Home Video is offering a free double-feature of the children’s movies “The Big Green” and “A Kid in King Arthur’s Court” at 3 p.m. Sunday at Santa Monica’s Laemmle Monica Theater. Thomas Ian Nicholas, star of “A Kid in King Arthur’s Court,” will be on hand to greet fans and sign posters. The free tickets, limited to four per family, must be picked up at the theater today.

THE ARTS

Selling ‘Pocahontas’ Cels: Los Angeles’ Southwest Museum, which owns one of the country’s premier collections of Native American art and artifacts, will benefit from a sale of animation artwork from Disney’s movie “Pocahontas,” to be held in New York on Feb. 24. Highlights from the sale of 250 cels will be exhibited in Los Angeles Friday through Feb. 10, at Sotheby’s new Beverly Hills exhibition space. Proceeds from a $60 per person gala preview on Thursday night will go to the museum, as will half the proceeds from the sale of the artwork depicted on the cover of the “Art of Pocahontas” auction catalog. Proceeds from that sale will be split with New York’s National Museum of the American Indian.

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OCPAC Attendance Up: The Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa achieved record attendance levels in 1995, with 711,684 people attending events in the center’s Segerstrom Hall, according to preliminary year-end tabulations compiled by the center. Those numbers represent an 11% increase over 1994 attendance. In addition, the center boasts an 8.4% increase in contributions to its annual fund, the second straight year of growth for the fund, which took in $4.45 million in 1995. And the center’s Endowment Fund grew by almost $4.3 million in 1995, bringing the endowment total to about $12.3 million in cash and pledges.

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New African Art Site: The annual “Artists’ Salute to Black History Month” exhibition, believed to be the nation’s largest annual offering of fine art by artists of African descent, moves to a new location this year with two shows, Wednesday-Feb. 4 and Feb. 7-11, at the Plaza Pasadena. The show premiered in 1981 at the Fox Hills Mall in Culver City and had been housed since 1992 at the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza. This year’s exhibition, dedicated to the memory of the late Pasadena artist Charles L. Haywood, will feature paintings, graphics, masks, batiks, photography, sculpture, stained glass, dolls, wearable art and mixed-media works by more than 200 artists from 21 states. The show is split into two sessions this year because the Pasadena mall is smaller than previous locations.

QUICK TAKES

Actor-director Kevin Spacey (“The Usual Suspects”) offered a reward Friday for information that helps him recover 10 rolls of developed film stolen Thursday night from a United Airlines baggage claim area at LAX. Spacey said the film was “B” roll footage from “Albino Alligator,” a Miramax film he is directing and which stars Faye Dunaway, Matt Dillon and Gary Sinise. . . . Jim Avila, investigative reporter for KNBC-TV Channel 4, has left the station to become a Chicago-based correspondent for NBC News. Avila was Channel 4’s principal reporter on the O.J. Simpson trial, helping the station win the 1995 Golden Mike Award. . . . Former “Saturday Night Live” star and current “Mad About You” co-star Nora Dunn will perform as one of her most memorable characters, singing lounge sister Liz Sweeney, tonight at 11 at the opening of “The Big Time Jubilee,” at ACME Comedy Theatre in Hollywood. . . . “The Three Stooges” begin airing on cable’s Family Channel on Feb. 19, not Feb. 29, as reported Friday.

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Quotable: “Many people see Eva Peron as either a saint or the incarnation of Satan. That means I definitely can identify with her. . . . [My portrayal of her] won’t be scandalous. I’ve never hinted at insulting her or the Argentine people.”

--Pop star Madonna in Argentina’s Caras magazine, responding to news reports that she has received threats in Argentina over her portrayal of Peron in the upcoming movie version of “Evita.”