HOLLYWOOD -- Directors Oliver Stone, Francis Ford Coppola and Tim Burton will be executive producers of a half-hour anthology series for Home Box Office titled 'Weird Tales.' The signing of the trio is a coup for HBO, which has been trying to add more A-list movie talent to its cable projects. Among HBO's successes is the award-winning 'Tales From the Crypt' series. In addition to their producing duties, Stone, Coppola and Burton each will direct one 30-minute segment of the 90-minute pilot. No start date has been set. ------ Keaton clone
HOLLYWOOD (UPI) -- Michael Keaton, star of two 'Batman' movies, 'Beetlejuice,' and 'The Paper,' will star in 'Multiplicity' for Columbia Pictures under the direction of Harold Ramis. Columbia President Lisa Henson said 'Multiplicity' is a comedy about an over-committed businessman, husband and father who clones himself in an attempt to be everywhere he needs to be at once. Principal photography is set to begin in Los Angeles on July 17 from a script by Chris Miller, Mary Hale, Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel. ------ 'Wendt' closed down
HOLLYWOOD (UPI) -- Walt Disney TV has halted production on 'The George Wendt Show' and plans to revise it for CBS's fall schedule. The sitcom, starring former 'Cheers' supporting player George Wendt and Pat Finn, is about two brothers who host a radio talk show about cars. The premise is expected to remain unchanged, but some revisions are expected in the supporting cast. The series had solid ratings for its March 8 debut, but the audience has declined since a schedule change on ABC has it competing with 'Roseanne.' ------ TV movies unveiled
HOLLYWOOD (UPI) -- Neufeld/Rehme Productions has announced seven movie projects in development or production for television networks. 'The Joshua Tree,' a film noir thriller with Mary McDonnell, Randy Quaid and Sam Elliot, has completed shooting for Viacom. The company's next project is a trio of reality-based action-adventure movies titled 'Great Escape Movies.' Neufeld/Rehme is developing the drama 'Widow's Blind' and the actioner 'Gridlock' for NBC, and for Turner Network Television it is working on a six-hour miniseries titled 'The Crips and Bloods: America's Other Civil War.' ------ German 'ET'
HOLLYWOOD (UPI) -- Paramount Television Group has announced plans to produce a German-language version of its popular 'Entertainment Tonight' TV magazine show. Proctor & Gamble will co-produce what Paramount hopes will be the first of many local adaptations of 'ET,' a syndicated show focusing on entertainment news. The German show will be produced daily in Munich by Beta Taurus, the project's third partner, and will be hosted by German anchors with German narration. (release at will)
