LEGAL FILENo Charges Filed: No charges will...

LEGAL FILE

No Charges Filed: No charges will be brought against crew members in the March 31 shooting death of actor Brandon Lee on the North Carolina movie set of “The Crow.” But, Dist. Atty. Jerry Spivey said he has not yet ruled out criminal negligence charges against the film production company, Crowvision. The 28-year-old son of martial arts star Bruce Lee was killed during filming by a gun that was supposed to hold a blank but is believed to have instead fired part of a dummy bullet that apparently had been inserted for an earlier, close-up scene. Spivey told the Wilmington (N.C.) Morning Star that crew members were apparently negligent but not enough to warrant charges. He said no one intended to harm Lee. Spivey is waiting to interview Bruce Merlin, the film’s lead special effects person, before deciding whether Crowvision showed a disregard for safety. A conviction on such charges is punishable with an unlimited fine, Spivey said.

*’Sidekicks’ Suit: A Louisiana kung fu instructor is taking on martial arts star Chuck Norris in federal court over the making of Norris’ film “Sidekicks.” Instructor Louis Illar, who is credited as the film’s associate producer and story author, says the movie distorts his screenplay “The Gift of the Iron Crutch” by glorifying violence. The suit also says that Norris and California-based Iron Crutch Productions Inc. broke contracts with Illar in producing the movie, including a stipulation that a charity for disabled children would share in the movie’s profits (it received $10,000). The suit does not specify the amount of monetary damages sought.

*Kostabi Forgeries: A former salesman for pop artist Mark Kostabi was indicted on five counts of conspiracy and wire fraud in Brooklyn Thursday for his alleged role in a scheme to forge work from the painter’s studio. Each count carries a penalty of up to five years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine. According to the indictment, Andrew Behrman worked out of Kostabi’s New York Kostabiworld studio in 1990 and 1991. The studio hired artists to paint under the supervision of Kostabi, who then approved and signed certain works for public distribution. The indictment alleged that Behrman secretly arranged for one of the Kostabiworld artists to create paintings in Kostabi’s style without his knowledge, then forged Kostabi’s signature and sold about 30 of them to Tokyo art galleries that were regular Kostabi customers. The galleries unwittingly sold the paintings to their customers.

TELEVISION

They Made Him an Offer: Film director Francis Ford Coppola will launch a “new television form” on VH-1 this fall when he produces a series of six 23-minute music films, to be called “Francis Ford Coppola Presents VH-1 Music Films.” “It’s his vision--he’s really going to invent new ideas and concepts and video forms,” said a spokeswoman. Although few details were available, she said the films would be “music-oriented stuff (but) really experimental” and would “combine the talents of music, film and television.”

*Cheech and Cisco?: A new version of the 1950s Western “The Cisco Kid” is riding back to the airwaves, courtesy of TNT and director Luis Valdez. The new movie, which will start shooting this summer, will star Jimmy Smits as the Kid and Cheech Marin as Poncho. The film will air this fall.

*New TNN Plans: In what the network calls “the most ambitious programming changes TNN has made since the launch of the network 10 years ago,” the Nashville Network will introduce four new weeknight series starting the week of Sept. 27. The new programs are “Music City Tonight,” a 90-minute live nightly prime-time entertainment series; “Country News,” a 30-minute nightly entertainment news report; “Dance Line,” a 30-minute nightly dance instruction series, and “Video Countdown,” a weekly one-hour show on the week’s top country music videos. In addition, “Hee Haw,” which had its last telecast in syndication on June 26, will be added to the cable network’s Saturday night schedule, featuring episodes from the mid-’70s through the series’ end.

THE ARTS

Playhouse Benefit: Rocker Pete Townshend will play an Aug. 4 concert to benefit the La Jolla Playhouse, which a year ago staged the new theatrical version of the Who’s “Tommy,” currently playing on Broadway. The concert, “Psychoderelict Unplugged,” will be performed in UC San Diego’s 500-seat Mandell Weiss Theatre, where the Playhouse production of “Tommy” was born.

*New Leaders: New presidents were named Thursday for two of Orange County’s leading performing arts organizations. Dean Corey, director of development at the San Diego Symphony, will replace Erich Vollmer as executive director of the Orange County Philharmonic Society, which presents major orchestras and chamber music at the Orange County Performing Arts Center and the Irvine Barclay Theatre. Vollmer left the Society in January to head the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. Tom Tomlinson, head of the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts, will become executive director of the Orange County Performing Arts Center, replacing Thomas Kendrick, out-going president. Kendrick, who booked ballet and Broadway musicals into the building and supervised its overall operation, announced his retirement last month.