Cinefile

Comic relief: That rough, tough battling war hero of D.C. comics, Sgt. Rock, will get the movie treatment in “Sgt. Rock” this fall with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Schwarzenegger told us that the character’s success in the story stems in part from the fact that his father is a German-American and Rock speaks that language fluently and can sneak inside enemy lines. John McTiernan (“Predator”) directs for producer Joel Silver at Warners. . . .

Sissy Spacek joins Sally Field and Dolly Parton in Rastar and Tri-Star’s “Steel Magnolias.” Herb Ross directs Robert Harling’s Broadway play (which he also adapted), centering on three Southern beauticians. . . . James Cameron’s “The Abyss,” a psycho thriller set on a remote oil rig, will shoot in an abandoned North Carolina nuclear plant this summer. Jason Patrick’s been cast in a lead role in the Gale Anne Hurd production for Fox.

Edd (Kookie) Byrnes joins the cast of Weintraub Entertainment’s “Be Prepared” as an out-of-work Bev Hills movie star. Shelley Long stars as a recent divorcee leading her Scout pack through the rigors of opulent life. . . .

Letter perfect: “K-9,” a yarn about a cop who’s partner is literally a dog, will go for Universal this summer. Jim Belushi stars (but not in the title role) for director Rod Daniel. . . . Meanwhile, Atlantic’s “K-2,” a drama of mountain climbing that comes via Broadway, has been postponed until spring (second-unit work on the real K-2 in Pakistan has already been done). Al Pacino is attached to the project, which will be produced by Hal Weiner.

Director Wolfgang Petersen (“Das Boat”) has signed Maurice Jarre to do the music for “Phantom” (opera variety), which he’s readapted to Paris under the Nazi occupation. He’ll shoot at the Paris Opera and in Munich in September for Lorimar. . . . “Wired,” which starts filming this week, opens with John Belushi (Michael Chiklis) rising from the morgue and hailing a taxi for a ride through his life conducted by cabbie Ray Sharkey. Along the road he meets Dan Aykroyd (Gary Groomes), Patty Smith (Patti D’Arbanville), even Bob Woodward (J.T.Walsh).