Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, August 5, 1995 TAG: 9508080004
SECTION: SPECTATOR PAGE: S-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB THOMAS ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Medium
In ``Broken Trust,'' premiering Sunday night at 8 on Turner Network Television, Selleck plays a straight-arrow municipal judge persuaded to participate in a sting aimed at trapping crooked politicians. In the end, the ones who get stung are not the intended victims.
The mixture of politics and morality seemed ideal subject matter for the screenwriters, Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne, who adapted William F. Wood's novel ``Court of Honor.'' The cast includes Elizabeth McGovern, Marsha Mason, William Atherton and Charles Haid.
``Broken Trust'' signals a new kind of role for Selleck, long associated with action (``Magnum P.I.,'' ``High Road to China'') and comedy (``Three Men and a Baby,'' ``Her Alibi.'')
In fact, at 50, he seems bent on finding new challenges after his hiatus, which he would like people to know was self-enforced. After a dismal experience on ``Christopher Columbus,'' he decided to stay home for a year. This, he said, despite a four-picture deal at Disney for $4.1 million apiece.
``One year turned into three, quite comfortably,'' Selleck said in an interview at a westside hotel.
``To be quite honest, Disney's development wasn't too thrilling. In that time, I turned down about six ... movies at Disney and other studios. Only one of the six ever got made, and it was terrible.
``The point is that there was a choice involved, as opposed to nobody wanted to hire me. When you stay away for three years, you want to be sure the press gets it right,'' he said, adding a laugh.
Selleck left his agent after 16 years and joined the giant CAA, looking for a ``broader spectrum of choices.'' He asked the agency: ``How can I get this work? I'd like to do supporting roles, villains, little movies for a small price - for free if I like the script.''
CAA didn't get the message, he said, so Selleck switched to another giant agency, ICM. He's beginning to get results. After ``Broken Trust,'' he stars in a small-budget film called ``Ruby Jean and Joe,'' as a washed-up rodeo rider who gets involved with a 17-year-old girl.
Selleck's career began shortly after he left UCLA, where he had earned an athletic scholarship. His tall good looks won him modeling jobs, notably as a cowboy smoker at a time when cigarette commercials were OK on TV. That led to a contract at Fox and his 1970 film debut as Mae West's stud in ``Myra Breckenridge.''
He schooled on a soaper, ``The Young and the Restless,'' for two years, and landed a few featured roles in movies such as ``The Seven Minutes,'' ``Midway,'' ``Daughters of Satan'' and ``Coma.''
``Magnum P.I.,'' running from 1980 to 1988, made his fortune and brought him starring movies. Except for ``Three Men and a Baby,'' however, his films have failed to climb the box-office charts.
The ill-fated ``Folks'' with Don Ameche and the Japan-made ``Mr. Baseball'' added to Selleck's discomfort with the progress of his film career. Then came ``Christopher Columbus.''
The offer seemed enticing: ``Why don't you do this cameo? You get to work with Marlon Brando in six scenes.'' A large fee was included, and Selleck agreed.
``I got to Spain and I found out the producer had lied to me,'' he recalled. ``They had changed the script, and I had one scene where Brando was lurking in the background.
``I couldn't leave, because they would sue me. They had financed the movie with my name and Brando's. It was not a pleasant experience. But it was pleasant hanging out with Brando every night, talking about what we could do to save this awful movie. That was an experience I'll never forget.
``I'm in the movie for three minutes, and I get kicked around for it. I said, `Why did I do that?' I decided I was finally going to do what I thought I'd do when `Magnum' ended. I was secure in the movie business, having four pictures at Disney.
I said, `I'm going to have the courage to stop.' And I just did.''
by CNB