Wanted: Someone Who Understands, Appreciates Human Frailty

Anita Addison, who left CBS’ executive ranks last spring, is where she wants to be, spreading her wings in the arena where she feels most free and creative. Her latest project brings her back to the network as the director of Sunday’s emotional drama “Deep in My Heart.”

“This is where I am and what I want to be doing now,” said Addison, who is still getting used to her new bare-bones office at Paramount Studios where she has just set up shop.

Left behind are the years she spent as a top honcho at Warner Bros. Television, one of the biggest television studios. Gone too are the days as vice president of drama development at CBS, a job she took on in part as a favor to her friend and mentor CBS Television President Leslie Moonves.

Even without a plush office, Addison is more than pleased with her post-CBS career. She is currently producing three dramatic pilots for CBS--a female law series, a drama set during World War II, and a series set at a combination police and fire-paramedic department that is based on a real-life facility in Burbank--any of which could land on the network’s fall schedule.

“It’s not that I feel more fulfilled doing this--that comes from within,” said Addison. “But I want to take advantage of every opportunity.”

“Deep in My Heart” marks Addison’s return to directing after several years. Her previous directorial projects included episodes of “E.R.,” “Quantum Leap,” “Homefront” and “Sisters,” which she developed.

As she talks, Addison barely sits down, and when she does, her hands and arms are almost constantly in motion.

She is a bit anxious--about “Deep in My Heart,” which stars Anne Bancroft, Lynn Whitfield and Gloria Reuben of “E.R.” The movie on Sunday will do battle against ABC’s highly publicized “Storm of the Century.”

Not only is it hard to define and categorize “Deep in My Heart” in a single line, but the rhythm and pacing of the film, which is set partially against the backdrop of the civil rights movement of the 1960s, is much more controlled and deliberate than most movies made for television.

The film, based on a true story, begins with the rape of a white Boston woman by a black man, an act that results in her pregnancy. The baby is put up for adoption, and the movie follows the child from her time with her black foster mother to her adoption by a middle class white woman. When the daughter grows into an adult, she feels the need to reunite with her birth mother, a decision that has emotional consequences.

Said Frank Konigsberg, executive producer of the film: “We were looking for someone that would understand the problems between the races, particularly from a woman’s point of view.”

There are violent and turbulent scenes in “Deep in My Heart” that Addison conveys with a disquieting calm. The rape is not graphically shown, but the chilling subtext is there when the victim’s umbrella is whisked away by the wind to the sound of a mournful wail.

Reuben said she appreciated Addison’s style, which she called “subtle and gripping, without going over the top. It was very refreshing.”

Still, Addison is figuratively, if not literally, biting her fingernails.

“The movie doesn’t have major stars, and it takes a very special approach. It’s a softer piece,” said Addison. “I want to deliver a hit for Leslie.”

As far as Moonves is concerned, Addison should not have any concerns about what the network thinks of “Deep in My Heart.”

“She has directed one of the finest movies of the week that has ever been on this network,” said Moonves. “We believe in the quality of the movie and that’s why we’re putting it on when we are--during sweeps. Everyone who’s seen it has been bowled over.”

Addison said she was first bitten by the directing bug when she was 21 and attending UCLA film school: “Directing seemed like a natural. It takes a certain degree of diplomacy and also an ability in part to understand human frailty and appreciate it.”

Soon after graduation, Addison became director of dramatic development at Paramount Studios. From there, she eventually landed at Lorimar Telepictures, where she was senior vice president of dramatic series development and later became executive producer-director at Warner Bros. under Moonves. When Moonves moved to CBS in 1995, he eventually brought Addison over with him.

“She is one of my best friends and colleagues,” said Moonves. “Anita has amazing stamina and energy. When I came over to CBS, she was one of the first calls I made, even though I knew this was not the direction she was going in. She did it particularly as a favor to me. We were in trouble and I needed help big time. I needed people I was comfortable with, and I knew Anita would kill to get the job done.”

When Addison decided to leave, Moonves said he didn’t try to change her mind: “It was an agreement that she would work for me for three or four years. . . . I could see she had that burning desire to get back to what she loved.”

Addison said she is glad to be in business with CBS on so many of her future projects--many of which she hopes will represent less traditional television fare.

“I want to live a great life, and that means I never want to do the same thing twice,” Addison said. “I don’t want to slide backward.”

* “Deep in My Heart” airs Sunday at 9 p.m. on CBS. The network has rated it TV-PG (may be unsuitable for young children).