An Offer He Couldn’t Refuse

Francis Ford Coppola is getting a new directing job, albeit not the kind he normally takes.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer plans to have the director of the “Godfather” films and other major pictures such as “Apocalypse Now” join the studio’s board of directors next month.

Also joining the Santa Monica studio’s board will be entertainment lawyer Thomas M. Lewyn.

In disclosing the news, MGM cited in a statement the “creativity, credibility and business acumen of these two gentlemen.”

Business acumen hasn’t exactly been one of Coppola’s strengths previously. Over the past 10 years, he’s filed for bankruptcy three times, most recently in July, 1992.

World-Class Stumble

Ross Perot’s stature seems to be deflating with what resembles a giant sucking sound in the wake of his poor showing in the televised North American Free Trade Agreement debate last week with Vice President Al Gore.

One of several reasons cited by pundits is Gore’s dredging up of Perot’s alarmist statements about bank failures in last fall’s presidential race. Gore accused Perot of predicting on Larry King’s talk show that 100 banks would fail after last fall’s election, costing taxpayers $100 billion.

As it turns out, the number was off by only 41, but it didn’t come close to being a $100-billion problem.

According to federal officials, 59 banks have failed since the election. The banks were almost all small, with their combined assets totaling less than $15 billion.

And taxpayers haven’t been on the hook because the industry-funded insurance fund has been a sufficient safety net.

Perot first raised the issue in a presidential debate--not on Larry King’s show--and was referring to a highly controversial study that said bank failures could cost as much as $95 billion.

In fairness, he didn’t declare outright that he believed the study was true, although he did give the clear impression he thought it was credible and urged the government to be upfront about it.

“Now if that’s true, just tell me now,” Perot said at the time. “Yeah, I’m grown up. I can deal with it. I’ll pay my share.”

Hollywood Alchemy

The latest example of Hollywood spin doctoring came last week when Walt Disney Co. sent out promotional materials for two upcoming videocassette releases touted as “Two Big Hits Coming to Video This Holiday Season!”

Curiously, one of the films is “Life With Mikey” starring Michael J. Fox, one of Disney’s most conspicuous box office duds.

The description of “Life With Mikey” as a hit contrasts with Disney’s description in prior documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In those papers, the film and four others were listed as having had “poor performances.”

Briefly . . .

Hot item: “Be Prepared!!” reads an ad in Variety offering for sale an $11,000 fire engine. . . . The Starbucks chain of coffeehouses has a “mission review team” that meets quarterly. . . . A real estate ad for a Studio City hillside home boasts of having “Astounding Jetliner Views.”