ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT REPORTS FROM THE TIMES, NEWS SERVICES AND THE NATION’S PRESS.

MOVIES

Aussies Upset with Hollywood Portrayal

Miramax is at it again, this time incurring the wrath of Australia’s governing officials who say Philip Noyce’s “Rabbit Proof Fence” portrays their country in an unfair light. Based on a book of the same name, the movie focuses on a period when aboriginal girls were forcibly taken from their homes by a government-sponsored program and then taught to be domestic servants. The film, which stars Kenneth Branagh, opened to modest reviews in Australia 12 weeks ago. But government officials became outraged with the American marketing campaign: “What if the government kidnapped your daughter? It happened every week in Australia from 1905 to 1971.”

On Wednesday, Australia’s Special Minister of State Eric Abetz denounced Noyce and the film, declaring that he would publish brochures about its inaccuracies. Government officials demanded that Miramax apologize for the one-sheet poster--a proposal rejected by Mark Gill, president of Miramax L.A.

Gill predicted that controversy will only help market the movie, which will be released in late fall or early next year in the U.S. “This is not Tom Cruise in ‘Minority Report,’ where everyone is rushing out to see it,” he said. “Films like this wilt on the vine.... In this world of multimedia conglomerates and mega-blockbusters, the only chance for art films to get seen is if there is publicity and noise around them.”

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POP/ROCK

Rolling Stone’s New

Man at the Top

Ending weeks of speculation, Rolling Stone founder-owner Jann Wenner has chosen a new editor: Ed Needham, who has edited both the British and American versions of FHM, a men’s magazine featuring women in bikinis on its covers.

Needham, 37, says the new job is a “massive kind of adrenaline buzz,” one of the “great jobs in magazine journalism.” Among his pledges: increased fashion coverage, “shorter and snappier articles,” and attention-grabbing design elements.

Wenner said in April that he planned to replace the current editor, Robert Love, to give the magazine a more youthful edge to bolster lagging newsstand sales. Love had served for five years as managing editor and 20 overall with the publication.

Old-Timers Head List of Money-Making Bands

The top-grossing artists in the music industry last year? The Irish band U2, which took in $61.9 million, according to the issue of Rolling Stone due out today.

Rounding out the top five were Dr. Dre ($51.9 million), the Beatles ($47.9 million), the Dave Matthews Band ($43.4 million) and Madonna ($40.8 million).

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TELEVISION

Lakers Victorious--but Soft in the Ratings

The Lakers’ trouncing of the New Jersey Nets translated into the lowest-rated NBA Finals since 1981, when the games were not televised in prime time.

NBC’s telecast of the series drew an average 15.7 million viewers, with the Lakers’ series-clinching Game 4 attracting 16.5 million viewers, according to estimates from Nielsen Media Research.

The poor showing allowed an unscripted Fox summer series, “American Idol: The Search for a Superstar,” to take a bite out of basketball’s traditionally male-skewing audience. “Idol” drew 11.2 million viewers airing against the Laker game in much of the country. “Idol” improved on its audience from the premiere the night before.

Overall, viewership of this year’s NBA Finals was down 17% from the first four games of last year’s series. Next year, the finals will move to ABC, which in January signed a six-year deal to televise the NBA.

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PEOPLE

Annan Heads West to Recruit Celebrities

Lending glamour to the United Nations, Secretary-General Kofi Annan and U.N. agencies are organizing a two-day meeting next week with some 40 Hollywood stars, athletes and other celebrities who have become advocates for the organization.

Those expected to attend the Tuesday-Wednesday forum include Peter Ustinov, Roger Moore, Vanessa Redgrave, Greek singer Nana Mouskouri, Linda Gray, Danny Glover and former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell.

“If we are to find fresh voices and a new language to reach a larger audience, they can do what we in some ways cannot,” said Gillian Sorensen, the U.N. official for external affairs. Fending off criticism that celebrities have no place in politics, she added, “These are serious people. They are serious about deepening their own expertise in the United Nations.”

Enlisting the help of celebrities is nothing new for the organization. UNICEF has recruited stars such as Danny Kaye and Audrey Hepburn to serve as goodwill ambassadors since 1953.

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QUICK TAKES

Charlton Heston will reprise his signature role in “Ben-Hur” in an animated remake, lending his voice to a feature-length video to be released by GoodTimes Home Entertainment in the fall....Bypassing a theatrical release, Miramax Films will hold the U.S. premiere of “Daddy and Them”--a tale about the impact of a murder on a poor Arkansas family, written and directed by Billy Bob Thornton--on Showtime. Thornton also stars, along with Laura Dern, Dianne Ladd, Andy Griffith and Brenda Blethyn.... Many local TV stations are planning live coverage of the Lakers’ victory parade through downtown L.A. this morning, with KABC-TV and KCAL-TV starting at 10 a.m. and others joining in as the NBA champions make their way toward Staples Center.... President Bush has nominated National Gallery of Art director Earl A. Powell III to serve on the National Council on the Arts, the advisory board to the National Endowment for the Arts. Powell is former director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.