
DATE: Sunday, August 10, 1997               TAG: 9708080130

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: LARRY BONKO

                                            LENGTH:  120 lines

SCREAM WEAVERS ACTOR TORN INTRODUCES RIP-ROARING TALES OF HORROR

AS RIP TORN, host of a spooky new syndicated series called ``Ghost Stories,'' faced the cameras in Virginia Beach recently, Dana Delaney at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in Hollywood announced that Torn was up for his second Emmy.

``The nominations for outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series are Jason Alexander as George Costanza, `Seinfeld'; David Hyde Pierce as Dr. Niles Crane, `Frasier'; Michael Richards as Kramer, `Seinfeld'; Jeffrey Tambor as Hank Kingsley, `The Larry Sanders Show,' and Rip Torn as Arthur, `The Larry Sanders Show.' ''

That was good news for Torn, the people who produce ``The Larry Sanders Show,'' and for Tom Naughton and his colleagues at New Dominion Pictures in Virginia Beach.

Torn's Emmy nomination - he won last year for playing the prickly producer on ``The Larry Sanders Show'' - will do nothing but help New Dominion and its distributor, All American Television Inc., sell ``Ghost Stories'' in the United States and abroad.

Sales are already strong.

The series will air on at least 115 stations covering 80.5 percent of domestic TV households as well as 26 foreign countries. Bristol-Myers Squibb is aboard as a sponsor.

With the U.S. premiere a little more than six weeks away - WVBT will carry ``Ghost Stories'' Saturdays at 10 p.m. starting Sept. 27 - Naughton said his company has finished work on 11 of the 22 episodes scheduled for this season.

He is pleased with what's been done so far. ``The shows look fabulous - like wonderful little movies. The actors, our crew and everyone else involved in `Ghost Stories' should be proud.''

This locally produced series of tales beyond the grave has provided work for actors, writers, set designers, carpenters and other craftsmen in Hampton Roads as well as talent from New York City. It was a triumph for New Dominion and All American Television to land Torn, who at age 66 has never been hotter.

He won an Emmy in 1996. He appears in ``Men in Black,'' one of the summer's highest-grossing films, and can be heard doing the voice of Zeus in Disney's ``Hercules.'' Before coming to Virginia Beach to do ``Ghost Stories,'' Torn was working on Broadway.

In his time in Virginia Beach, during which Elmore Rual ``Rip'' Torn Jr. would grant no interviews, he established himself as a dedicated if not difficult professional.

``He's a real perfectionist, an artist in every sense of the word,'' said Naughton, who founded New Dominion on a shoestring and is now playing in the same league with TV's big boys.

Others may use cue cards or read from a prompter. Not Torn. He memorized and delivered 20 pages of dialogue in four days - and did it exceedlingly well, said Naughton.

``It was Rip's way or no way.''

George Back, president of All American Television's domestic distribution arm, calls Torn the ``perfect choice'' to introduce ``Ghost Stories,'' which will offer two stories in each hour.

All American Television, which distributes 96 series, including ``Baywatch,'' in 28 countries, is pitching ``Ghost Stories'' as a shocker. ``Scream if you want to, and don't worry about waking the dead - they're already up,'' says All American in its promotion of the series.

Fred Rappaport, one of the series' executive producers, left no doubt who was his inspiration when he met with TV writers in Los Angeles not long ago.

Rod Serling.

``We're attempting in this series to bring back the spirit of `Twilight Zone,' '' he said. ``I believe there's been a need for this kind of a series for the longest time. It's both scary and thrilling to try to deliver the goods on a weekly basis.''

Will Torn ever appear in an episode of ``Ghost Stories?''

Not anytime soon, said Rappaport. ``We're lucky to have him do our openings and closings. He's so busy.'' Lately, Torn's been filming ``Senseless'' with Damon Wayans.

Why did All American Television choose Virginia Beach as the setting for ``Ghost Stories,'' and a Virginia Beach-based company to produce the series?

In its brief history, New Dominion has established itself as a company that's good at making offbeat films about everything from forensics to dinosaurs. The Learning Channel and the Discovery Channel are among its clients.

Somewhere in its recently expanded offices and studios in the Lynnhaven section of Virginia Beach is a Cable Ace Award for its documentaries.

Why film in Virginia Beach?

``For one thing, it gives us the opportunity to use local and New York-based talent,'' Rappaport said, ``people from the theater, actors you've seen in commercials, the cream of the crop in New York. It's wonderful to film in Virginia Beach because it has a certain `feel' to it.

``There are lovely old homes in the area and plantations nearby. It's a place where we can get the gothic feel. The settings are perfect for doing period pieces.''

With Naughton and his staff still editing and adding the musical score to the first 11 hours of ``Ghost Stories,'' it's too early to see preview tapes.

But if you peek into the editing rooms of New Dominion, you'll get a fair idea of what's coming: The hand of a corpse leaps out from a refrigerator; a dude's on the loose with a chainsaw; a woman who survived a plane crash boards another flight years later only to (gulp) see the passengers who died on the first flight.

The good thing about having two different stories in each show is you can adjust the pace, said Rappaport.

``In one story, you can build to the climax at a slower pace. In the other story, you can move out with a bang. A good ghost story scares you, unsettles you and also makes you think.''

Sounds scary - as scary as bothering the intense Rip Torn when he's in the midst of memorizing his script. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos

NEW DOMINION PICTURES

Rip Torn, ...

Photo

L. TODD SPENCER

A house in Chesapeake is blown up during the shooting of the

syndicated series ``Ghost Stories.''

Graphic

``GHOST STORIES''

When: Saturdays at 10 p.m., beginning Sept. 27

Where: WVBT-TV, Channel 43