MORNING REPORT - News from June 1, 2000

Batter Up: Billy Crystal will direct Thomas Jane (“Deep Blue Sea”) and Barry Pepper (“The Green Mile”) in the HBO Films production “61,” which begins shooting June 28 in and around Los Angeles and Detroit. The drama will follow the true story of the pursuit in 1961 of Babe Ruth’s home run record by New York Yankees sluggers Roger Maris (Pepper) and Mickey Mantle (Jane). Crystal will also serve as executive producer with Ross Greenburg (HBO’s “When It Was a Game”). The film is scheduled to debut on HBO next year--the 40th anniversary of Maris breaking the record.

Something Different: A German television station is currently making a comedy about the Holocaust. “Goebbels and Geduldig” deals with a Jewish man named Harry Geduldig, who manages to infiltrate the Nazi Party and masquerades as propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels so he can free the woman he loves. The film is scheduled to be shown in the fall of 2001 on Germany’s Suedwestrundfunk public station.

THEATER

Local Kudos: Actress Amy Brenneman will present her “Judging Amy” co-star Tyne Daly with the Actors’ Fund of America/AID for AIDS Julie Harris Award Sunday at the seventh annual Los Angeles Tony Awards celebration, which raises funds for both charities. While the Tony Awards are handed out in New York that night, the local ceremony also will recognize playwright Jerome Lawrence, who will receive the Actors’ Fund Nedda Harrigan Logan Award for Lifetime Achievement, to be presented by composer Jerry Herman.

LEGAL FILE

Out of the Slammer: Tommy Lee was released Wednesday after serving five days in Los Angeles County Jail for violating parole in a domestic violence case by drinking alcohol. Malibu Superior Court Judge Lawrence Mira ordered the rocker to return to court for a progress report in September and warned: “[If you] do not commit to sobriety, then you’re going to come back to this court and it’ll be a very unhappy experience for you.” His probation violation occurred when he and estranged wife Pamela Anderson celebrated this past New Year’s Eve. The former Motley Crue drummer originally was charged in February 1998 with spousal abuse, child abuse and a firearms violation after Anderson called police to report she had been assaulted during an argument.

QUICK TAKES

Artisan Entertainment will release “T2-The Ultimate Edition DVD” on Aug. 29. The DVD ($40) will feature three versions of James Cameron’s “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” and more than 40 special features, including never-before-seen footage and audio commentary from Cameron and star Arnold Schwarzenegger. . . . Fox Television Pictures has optioned Wendy Leigh’s bestseller, “Prince Charming: The John F. Kennedy Jr. Story,” to be produced as a two-hour movie for Fox. The drama will air sometimes in the winter of 2001. . . . George Clooney, Halle Berry, Mark Wahlberg, Ryan Phillippe, Tom Green and Nicolas Cage have been added to the list of presenters of the “2000 MTV Movie Awards,” to be seen June 8 on MTV.