‘Bicentennial’ Tests Its Metal

They can’t cry on cue and they certainly don’t do love scenes like their human counterparts, but robots are just as much a part of Hollywood cinema history as Scarlett O’Hara or Indiana Jones. From Robby the Robot in “Forbidden Planet” to R2D2 and C-3PO in “Star Wars” to the mighty robot Gort in “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” robots often have become screen legends in their own right. Now comes Robin Williams, who plays a robot named Arthur, the central character in the new Touchstone/Columbia film “Bicentennial Man,” which opens Friday. Arthur is an NDR-114 robot who is purchased by a well-to-do family as a household appliance programmed to perform menial tasks, but it soon becomes apparent that it has more human qualities than anyone expected. Whether the movie becomes a hit will depend largely on how audiences react to Arthur. That was the challenge facing Steve Johnson and his crew at XFX Inc., a Burbank-based animatronic creature effects and robotics facility, who spent eight months designing the suits Williams dons in the movie. “We worked with [director] Chris Columbus and the producers at Disney to come up with something that was simple and elegant that audiences could fall in love with, but it also had to look like Robin Williams,” said company owner and chief designer Johnson. XFX created some 20 robot suits for the film, he said, molding them from fiberglass and then covering each one with Vacuform plastic and other materials. “The head was the most difficult,” Johnson explained, “because it has to deal with emotions, and we knew the audience would be staring at this thing for half the movie.” Arthur’s facial expressions were controlled by puppeteers, who learned to mimic the actor’s real-life facial movements. Getting a design that everyone was happy with was the biggest hurdle, Johnson recalled. “If it didn’t work, the whole movie was going down the drain.”

Hoping to Wreak a Little Havoc on the Charts

Watch this week for rocker Tommy Lee to expose himself on the nation’s album charts. The former Motley Crue drummer has insisted for months that his new band, Methods of Mayhem, is a legitimate project that melds hip-hop, electronic dance music and rock, but the celebrated heavy metal hedonist has had a difficult time getting the new effort taken seriously. “This is what I do now,” Lee states in the publicity package sent out by MCA Records. “It’s my life. I have Methods of Mayhem tattooed on my ass cheeks.” If that’s not impressive enough, Lee--who’s been in the news in recent years mainly for the ups and downs of his on-again, off-again marriage to actress Pamela Anderson Lee--also has an eclectic lineup of guests on the disc, including Snoop Dogg, Lil’ Kim, Limp Bizkit’s Fred Durst, Kid Rock and Crystal Method. The early reviews are largely tepid, but how will the music connect with the growing ranks of rap-metal fans? The ribald video for the first single, “Get Naked,” is getting solid airplay on MTV, where Lee is also a guest veejay this month. Early word from retailers says the album will hit the charts somewhere between No. 25 and No. 50. “There’s been a fair amount of attention about the release. Tommy is good copy and the music falls into the right genre for the moment, which is the heavy sound that incorporates hip-hop,” says Gary Arnold, a senior vice president of the Best Buy chain. “What’s not clear is whether that population of fans will [seek out] the record. It fell short of our forecast for the first week, so the consumer jury is still out on this one.”

‘Buffy’ Tries Sounds of Silence

Amid all the holiday-themed episodes and specials airing this month is an offbeat (if not necessarily festive) experiment involving “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” the WB’s stake-thrusting teen hit. Written and directed by series creator Joss Whedon, Tuesday’s installment will feature 27 minutes of action--beginning after the first- act break--with absolutely no dialogue. Subtitled “Hush,” the premise involves deadly monsters who descend on Sunnydale, Buffy’s fictional town, and steal the power of speech from all its residents. “It was an interesting exercise for me and all the actors,” said Whedon, adding that he wanted to break with TV convention by “trying to do something truly visual . . . [without] falling back on any of my usual crutches.” The episode, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, is the last original “Buffy” until January, and Whedon--performing the juggling act of producing “Buffy” as well as its spinoff “Angel”--welcomes the prospect of a brief respite. “It’s much harder,” he said. “I was an idiot, but we seem to be getting through.” If the WB really feels like offering viewers a change of pace, meanwhile, how about seeing if those those chatty kids on “Dawson’s Creek” can shut up for a while?

--Compiled by Times staff writers