FILM / Rushes

Readers of former film producer Julia Phillips' tit-for- tat autobiography You'll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again will be salivating at the thought of her forthcoming lesbians-in-Hollywood roman-a-clef, already sending shivers through Beverly Hills. Interested parties are eager to lay manicured hands on the Random House tome (its nickname being a sexually crude play on the You'll Never Eat . . . title) especially as Vanity Fair is said to have seen the galleys and declined to publish extracts. Rumour has it that identifying the various stars involved will not tax the imagination.

Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire has spent 17 years being optioned and dropped since its purchase in 1976 as a vehicle for then-hot John Travolta. Since then Interview has been announced in the gossip sections for every director imaginable - John Landis and David Lynch to name but two - only to be consigned to the torture that is 'turnaround' (the space-time continuum separating one studio script pile from another). Excuses for passing have included budget, complex special-effects and the racy homosexual content - which didn't stop one delirious attempt to transform the property into a Broadway musical. The last try fell apart when the umpteenth screenplay was called upon to combine Interview with its sequel, The Vampire Lestat. As usual, it's taken the success of another bloodsucking opus, namely Dracula, to propel Vampire towards principal photography. The Geffen Company has signed Neil Jordan and producer Steve Woolley, fresh from The Crying Game, to direct and produce Vampire. Woolley says he's undaunted by the project's reputation, is scouting locations, about to announce casting and thinks Jordan's adaptation will surprise audiences.

They-All-Direct-The-Same-to- Me Dept: Penguin, promoting its Malcolm X biography, quite rightly mentions that the movie based on the book is produced and directed by Spike Lee. Perhaps someone should tell the august publisher that while Lee is certainly due credit for Jungle Fever, he is not the 'director of New Jack City and Boyz N the Hood'.

Despite having its current run interrupted three times, Moving Pictures quietly maintains its position as the show for the industry to watch. If British press reaction has been muted, Tinsel Town has taken the programme to its bosom. Appearing on the show is a hot thing to do - especially after Bruce Robinson's dissection of studio-think. Which may account for talks between BBC Sales, PBS and HBO about co-producing a US version, copyright clearances and US movie opening dates permitting. Series editor Paul Kerr says negotiations are at an early stage, but confirms that Moving Pictures itself has received 'an informal commitment for a new, longer run - possibly 10 weeks - later in the year.' Buffs take heed.

In answer to a reader who rang yesterday: yes, the piece of winter sports equipment Rick Moranis uncovers when searching the warehouse for his shrinking ray in Honey, I Blew Up the Kid is a sled. Yes, it's labelled Rosebud. . .