DATE: Friday, September 12, 1997            TAG: 9709120613

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: BY PAUL SOUTH, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: KILL DEVIL HILLS                  LENGTH:  106 lines

WRIGHT BROTHERS MAY SOAR TO SCREEN FRANK CAPRA JR. MAY SHOOT FILM ON FAMOUS DUO.

The story of the Wright brothers may take flight on the big screen, thanks to Wilmington-based film executive Frank Capra Jr.

Capra, president and chief executive officer of EUE Screen Gems Studios Ltd., toured the Wright Brothers National Memorial on Thursday. His studio is considering a feature-length film on the legendary pioneers of powered flight.

Although the film is not a certainty, it would be the first done on the bishop's boys from Ohio who taught the world to fly on a windswept North Carolina hill.

``I've always thought it was a wonderful story, and it would make a wonderful feature,'' Capra said by phone Thursday afternoon. ``We don't have financing or anything like that yet, but we are considering making the film.''

A script by Hollywood-based writer/director Steve Lisberger called ``First'' chronicles the story of Orville and Wilbur Wright and their quest for powered flight. Lisberger has directed a number of films, including ``Tron'' for Walt Disney Studios.

Capra gives high marks to the script, which has already undergone several revisions.

``I think it's a wonderful story of those two guys,'' Capra said. ``There's a fair amount of conflict between the brothers in terms of who would do what and when. I see it as a `Chariots of Fire' in America. This story has a lot of stuff to it.''

Thursday's visit was Capra's first to North Carolina's Outer Banks.

``If it's done, it needs to be done here,'' Capra said. ``I feel it's a North Carolina story. But more than that. It's an American story.''

Surprisingly, Capra said, no feature film has ever recounted the Wrights' miracle at Kitty Hawk.

``There have been a number of films about flight, like `Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines,' and others. But when I read Steve's script it turned out to be an excellent story. A lot will depend on financing and the ability to find two actors to play the Wright brothers.''

Capra has no ideas at this point who would play the two inventors.

``I haven't given it any thought at all at this point,'' he said. ```Chariots of Fire' featured two relatively unknown actors, and was a great success. But there's no timetable at this point. I want to look at the area and get a little bit of the historic feel of the place. I don't know when we'd be able to start.''

Capra's initial concept for the film got a solid review from Wilkinson Wright, grand-nephew of the aviation pioneers. Wright walked with Capra the historic ground where the first flight took place.

``I asked him how they were going to do a film without sex and violence. But I think the `Chariots of Fire' man against the odds idea is interesting. That's the only way to tell the story,'' Wright said.

EUE Screen Gems has provided soundstages for ``Billy Bathgate,'' with Dustin Hoffman and Nicole Kidman; ``The Hudsucker Proxy'' with Tim Robbins and ``Betsy's Wedding'' with Molly Ringwald and Alan Alda.

The studio was built in 1984 by Dino DeLaurentis. DeLaurentis came to Wilmington to shoot ``Fire-starter,'' starring a young Drew Barrymore. In 1989, Carolco Pictures - one of Hollywood's largest independent production companies and makers of ``Rambo,````Basic Instinct'' and ``Cliffhanger'' - bought the studio.

In 1996, the studio changed hands again, when the New York-based EUE Screen Gems bought the facility. It is one of America's busiest studios with 100 feature films, television shows and commercials. Recent films made at the studio include ``Virus'' with Jamie Lee Curtis.

Capra, the son of legendary producer/director Frank Capra (``It's A Wonderful Life,'' and ``Mr. Smith Goes to Washington''), has worked for decades in the TV and film industry. Among his film credits: ``Play It Again, Sam,'' ``Firestarter'' and ``Escape From New York.''

He began his career in television as associate director for ``Dennis The Menace,'' ``Hazel,'' ``The Rifleman'' and ``Gunsmoke.''

Joining Capra at the tour and reception were North Carolina Secretary of Transportation Garland Garrett; Bill Arnold, director of the North Carolina Film Office; state Secretary of Commerce Norris Tolson; Secretary of Cultural Resources Betty McCain; Tom Crouch, director of aeronautics at the Smithsonian Institution; and state Senate President pro tempore Marc Basnight.

A Wright brothers film would boost the state's tourism industry, Tolson said.

``It will be a positive force that will place an aura around North Carolina and the history of flight,'' Tolson said. ``This will draw tourists from not only across the nation, but around the world.''

Tolson, on the job for about six months, said he and Capra have discussed the possible project ``almost since day one.''

``I can't speak for Mr. Capra,'' Tolson said.

``But if anyone can get this done, he can.''

A movie would also boost the upcoming First Flight Centennial celebration, set for Dec. 17, 2003.

``From the beginning, we felt we needed something that would be a kicker for the centennial,'' said North Carolina First Flight Centennial Commission Chairman Emeritus Melvin Daniels. ``This will certainly provide this for us, and tell the wonderful story of the Wrights around the world.''

If the project comes to fruition, it won't be the first time the Wright Memorial has played a movie role. The 1983 release ``Brainstorm,'' starring Natalie Wood, Christopher Walken, Louise Fletcher and Cliff Robertson, contained scenes filmed at the memorial.

The movie, directed by Douglas Trumbull, is best-known as Natalie Wood's last film.

The Outer Banks has been featured in a number of small-screen appearances, providing a backdrop for episodes of ``Matlock,'' ``On the Road With Charles Kuralt,'' and a PBS documentary on the Wright brothers that aired last year.

Last year, the film industry generated $440 million for North Carolina's economy. In all, 52 feature films were produced in the state in 1996. ILLUSTRATION: DREW C. WILSON/The Virginian-Pilot

From left, Wilkinson Wright, grand-nephew of the aviation pioneers,

film executive Frank Capra Jr. and others tour the Wright Brothers

Memorial.

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