Friedkin Signing Keeps ‘Jade’ in Lansing Family : Movies: Selection of Paramount chief’s husband as director raises eyebrows, even in an industry known for nepotism.

Nepotism isn’t a dirty word in Hollywood. In fact, quite often in the industry, it’s not just who you know, but who you’re related to.

Still, more than a few eyebrows were raised around town last week when it was learned that Paramount Pictures has signed William Friedkin to direct “Jade,” a high-profile Joe Eszterhas thriller that has yet to be cast. Friedkin, whose recent basketball movie, “Blue Chips,” was a costly disappointment for Paramount, happens to be married to studio head Sherry Lansing.

“I picked up the trades, saw (the Friedkin signing), and said, ‘Oh, geez,’ ” remarked a producer with ties to the studio.

Friedkin, an Academy Award-winning director for 1971’s “The French Connection” and a onetime industry powerhouse, has not had a hit movie in more than two decades. Nevertheless, Friedkin was the only director to see the Eszterhas script when it was completed April 7, and he immediately “jumped” at the chance to make the picture, according to the screenwriter.

Eszterhas, also the film’s executive producer, maintains that Friedkin had long been his first choice to direct “Jade.” He vehemently objects to the insinuation of nepotism.

“Nobody raises that issue with (Nicole) Kidman and (Tom) Cruise, or (Alec) Baldwin and (Kim) Basinger,” he said. “I think it’s unfair. Billy Friedkin has made as much money and is as successful in his own right as any of those people are.”

The project had attracted some attention in November, 1992, when Lansing, in her first acquisition after becoming chairman of Paramount’s Motion Picture Group, agreed to pay a hefty $2.5 million for the script (provided that the movie gets made) based on a four-page outline.

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As another sign that a large budget is envisioned, Craig Baumgarten, who is producing the movie along with Robert Evans and Gary Adelson, said the team is urging the studio to go after Cruise for a starring role. (Snaring Cruise is unlikely, however, since the actor has already committed to Paramount’s “Mission: Impossible” as his next film, acknowledged a senior studio executive who wished to remain anonymous.)

Evans said Friedkin was on his short list of three directors when he first presented the project to Lansing’s predecessor, Brandon Tartikoff, more than two years ago. “There isn’t a good actor I know who wouldn’t want to work with Billy,” Evans said.

Said Eszterhas: “What (Friedkin) brings to the party is a kind of spooky, dark energy, which fits perfectly into ‘Jade.’ He has a great sense of visual style.”

Eszterhas said he was also impressed when Friedkin “told me he doesn’t want to change a comma.”

But more skeptical observers say that Friedkin would never have been given this opportunity if not for his marriage to Lansing.

“You don’t take a piece like this without going to the top 10 directors in town,” said a veteran agent who is not among Friedkin’s admirers. “You don’t go to him exclusively. . . . At another studio, he wouldn’t have a prayer to get this project.”

Jonathan Dolgen, the new head of Paramount’s parent company, Viacom Entertainment Group, was traveling last week and could not be reached. Lansing declined to comment publicly on “Jade.”

Baumgarten said he hopes to begin production of “Jade” by July 15.

But the senior Paramount official said: “That’s nice, but he’d better have a cast. What Jonathan signed off on was a desire to make the movie with Friedkin as director, subject to the appropriate budget and cast.”

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Nepotism in Hollywood dates to the industry’s earliest days and is certainly nothing new at Paramount. In the 1980s, for example, Paul Bluhdorn was senior vice president of acquisitions for Paramount Pictures while his father, Charles, was chairman of the parent Gulf & Western Corp. Bob Jaffe became vice president of production while his father, Stanley, was president of the studio’s parent company.

The Lansing-Friedkin relationship has drawn criticism before. After the director made several deals to develop pictures at Paramount, Lansing said that to avoid any conflict of interest, she would leave all business matters involving her husband to Stanley Jaffe, who personally oversaw the making of “Blue Chips.”

That role has apparently now fallen to Jaffe’s replacement, Dolgen, who reportedly gave a green light to “Jade” last week during his first two days on the job. Dolgen, known as a hard-nosed cost-cutter, is widely expected to curtail some of the budgetary excesses for which Jaffe was known. Cost control is said to be a priority, given the debt pressures that Viacom Inc. will be under in the wake of its recent merger with Paramount.

The Paramount executive said “Blue Chip” was completed for about $20 million, but other knowledgeable sources estimate the movie cost at least $35 million to make and another $20 million to market. The picture, which received mixed reviews, has so far grossed less than $23 million.

Some in the industry rise to Lansing’s defense.

“There’s obviously some political element to the whole thing, but that’s not to say he’s not the right director for the movie,” said a prominent young agent. “She (Lansing) believes so tremendously in the talents of her husband that I don’t think it occurs to her that there’s any favoritism or anything but good for her company in giving him a job.”

Eszterhas said he is enamored not only of Friedkin’s biggest hits--the Academy Award-winning “The French Connection” and the Oscar-nominated “The Exorcist” (1973)--but also with “Cruising” (1980) and “To Live and Die in L.A.” (1985).

“ ‘Jade’ is dark, but at the same time it’s a roller-coaster ride and it has a certain kind of humor to it . . . and I think Billy can do that,” Eszterhas said.

The plot line of “Jade” is a closely guarded secret, although the screenplay is said to revolve around three upscale San Franciscans.

“It’s a story about how everyone has their dark side, and you never quite know who your husband, your wife, your lover or your partner really is,” Evans said.

Evans, who produced Eszterhas’ steamy “Sliver,” described the new work as “sensual rather than sexual.”