DATE: Thursday, March 27, 1997              TAG: 9703270046

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, ENTERTAINMENT WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  132 lines

``DEVIL'S OWN'' STARS DOWNPLAY PROBLEMS

BRAD PITT! Harrison Ford!

They were together, under the same roof, in a New York hotel, but rumors persist that the devil has been in them both. ``The Devil's Own,'' their first co-starring film, and, because of their names, a bright hope for holiday weekend business, has been inflicted by delays, a budget that expanded to $95 million, re-shootings and hints that the two don't get along.

They agreed to separate interviews - a hint that damage-control would be the order of the talks.

In ``The Devil's Own,'' Pitt plays a young Irish rebel who, depending on your viewpoint, could be called a freedom fighter or a terrorist. Ford plays a New York City cop who, unsuspectingly, takes Pitt into his home. A father-son relationship develops. But Pitt is actually in the United States to secretly purchase missiles for the IRA - missiles that will change the balance of power and force the British to the peace table. It is a tale of loyalty and betrayal. The two superstars end up in conflict.

Conflict off the screen erupted when Pitt, several weeks ago, told Newsweek magazine that the film was ``the most irresponsible bit of filmmaking - if you can call it that - that I've ever seen. I couldn't believe it.''

The news also surfaced that Pitt had wanted out of the film. Mark Canton, the head of Columbia Pictures, threatened him with as $63-million lawsuit if he went through with the walkout. Pitt changed his mind. The film, originally proposed as a Christmas-holiday release, was delayed. A new ending was shot.

Reports surfaced that the two stars disagreed on which character should be the center of the film.

It is rare that such possible disagreements become public. A film professor at Boston University subsequently commented that ``truth is so uncommon in the whole publicity business that if someone ever dares veer an inch toward the truth, it makes headlines. You get this bizarre phenomenon that if Brad Pitt dares to utter a word that has some resemblance to reality, everyone runs scared and then he has to retract the whole thing.''

That's not quite the way Pitt explains it. But almost. Running damage control, he said, during our interview, that ``the quote referred to the time, early in production, when the script was a mess. We were right up to beginning filming, and we still didn't have a finished script. We worked it out. I like the finished film. I hope my comments won't do anything to harm it. We all worked so hard on it.''

As for Ford, Pitt, whose blond mane is dyed even more blond for his current work on a movie called ``Seven Years in Tibet,'' said ``I respect Harrison a lot. He's the man. He's Indiana Jones, a movie hero of mine. Harrison seems to care for common sense. I look up to him because of his integrity.''

Larry Gordon, the producer of ``Devil's Own,'' said ``I never saw the two men not getting along. The discussions were over the script, and every movie is a work in progress. Brad has been a part of this movie for eight or nine years. He was set for it way back, before he was a box-office name. It was Brad who suggested Harrison Ford for the role of the cop. We were surprised when Harrison took it. He turns down a lot of scripts.''

Pitt tries to change the subject by talking about his impending marriage to actress Gwyneth Paltrow. ``Gwennie and I will make a movie called `Duet' together, directed by her father. Then, the marriage will be in the fall.''

He was an Oscar nominee last year for ``12 Monkeys'' and is dismayed that she was not nominated this year for ``Emma,'' ``but she'll have her chance. She's such a good actress that she'll have plenty of opportunities.''

As for his tension on ``Devil's Own,'' he said, ``the political situation in Ireland has been going on since the 12th century, over 800 years, and, somehow, I felt that I represented the Irish-fighter point of view. I felt it was a real responsibility. I worked really hard on the Irish accent.''

Pitt is filming ``Seven Years in Tibet'' in the Canadian Rockies, playing a soldier who escapes from a prison camp in India in 1940, sneaks into Tibet and becomes the tutor to the young Dalai Lama. The company wanted to film in Tibet but was denied entrance.

``It's not a blockbuster movie subject,'' Pitt said. ``I really am seeking roles that are character parts.''

Since ``Thelma and Louise,'' he's been a star. Producers feel that serious films like ``Seven'' and ``Sleepers'' were commercial hits largely, and sometimes solely, because of his presence.

Ford, who has starred in six of the biggest hits of all time (the ``Star Wars'' and Indiana Jones trilogies) said he took the ``Devil's Own'' role ``because I was interested in the character. This man isn't a hero. In fact, I don't think the movie has a hero. It's about two decent men who become friends and then must turn against each other. My character is particularly vulnerable - or should be. I spent 12 nights riding in squad cars with New York cops to understand how they work.''

Ford is traditionally soft-spoken and ill-at-ease during interviews. He says that he would willingly work with Pitt again but ``I'm aware that I'm getting a lot of questions about our working relationship rather than about the film itself. That's too bad. I think Brad just dropped his guard for a few minutes and didn't realize that reporters were quoting him. There's nothing to disagree with him about. What he said was absolutely true. You can't disagree with the truth. The script was in a state of flux.''

Both actors claim that there was no pressure about which character should be the center of the film, and that actress Natascha McElhone was added at the last moment as a love interest for Pitt. Director Alan J. Pakula said the character was added ``to give Brad's character a suggestion that he wanted, and could have had, a family life, like Harrison's character, but that he was committed to the Irish cause instead - a life of terror. A love scene between Brad and Natascha was actually cut, because it slowed down the film. Brad himself agreed to that.''

Pakula, a veteran of such classics as ``All the President's Men'' and producer of ``To Kill a Mockingbird,'' admitted that he, as the director is ``the ringmaster'' of the show.

``I've worked on films before in which the stars worked differently. On `All the President's Men,' Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford were very different. Dustin wanted to do 10 or 15 different takes, just to get started. Bob wanted to get it right on the first one, and move on.''

The director said ``Brad agonizes more over a scene. He's a young man from the Midwest from a close Christian family. He's feeling his way in this business. The kind of fame that few stars ever achieve has been given to him. He's earned it. He didn't have to try the Irish accent. It was a brave choice. Harrison is much quieter. Maybe he agonizes too, but in a very subtle way. I never saw Harrison get impatient on the set.''

Pakula feels that the uncertainty came because there were seven rewrites of the script.

``This is nothing unusual. Vivien Leigh, on `Gone With the Wind,' got new pages of the script slipped under her door every morning. When they were filming `Casablanca,' no one knew how it would end.''

He admits that the cast was called together to refilm the ending three months after the film was finished ``but it wasn't to change the ending. The result is the same, but we were all in agreement that Harrison's character needed to be more vulnerable. We wanted the audience to feel that Harrison was in danger. They didn't get that in the first version.''

With ``The Devil's Own'' now in theaters, and with almost $100 million at risk, the producers are hoping that the film's best action scenes will show up on screen - not in the film's checkered back-ground. ILLUSTRATION: COLUMBIA/TRISTAR

[Color Photo]

Brad Pitt and Harrision Ford...

COLUMBIA PICTURES

Because of the popularity of stars Harrison Ford, center, and Brad

Pitt, right, director Alan J. Pakula, left, found that filming ``The

Devil's Own'' in New York City required tight security. KEYWORDS: INTERVIEW

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