People talk 9/18/03

Ladies take lead at London Film Festival

LONDON -- "In the Cut," a thriller about a serial killer in Manhattan starring Meg Ryan and directed by Oscar-winner Jane Campion, will open the London Film Festival on Oct. 22.

Organizers said Wednesday that another film by a female director from New Zealand -- "Sylvia," starring Gwyneth Paltrow as doomed poet Sylvia Plath and directed by Christine Jeffs -- will be the closing night film on Nov. 6.

Both films are due for a commercial release in the United States next month. "In the Cut" already generated attention, and some controversy, at the recent Toronto Film Festival, both for its subject matter and Ryan's daring performance.

DreamWorks gets rights to gangland slaying story

BOSTON -- Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks movie studio has bought the rights to produce a film about Joseph Salvati, who spent 30 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted in a 1965 gangland slaying.

Salvati was convicted after an FBI informant told authorities he was involved in the murder of Edward "Teddy" Deegan in 1965, even though the FBI had evidence of Salvati's innocence. His sentence was commuted in 1997 and he was exonerated in 2001.

Walter Parkes, the DreamWorks producer who will lead the project, told WBZ-TV Tuesday he was struck by the relationship between Salvati and his lawyer, Victor Garo.

Hitmaker records first solo CD at 81

LOS ANGELES -- Vic Mizzy, best known for writing the melodies for television shows including "The Addams Family" and "Mister Ed" and hits for Dean Martin, Doris Day and Perry Como, has recorded his first solo CD, at 81.

Mizzy's "Songs for the Jogging Crowd" is set for release next month. The Brooklyn, N.Y., native learned to play the piano at age 4 by mimicking the songs he heard on the family's $200 player piano, he said Tuesday.

"Because you had some damned good pianists playing on those rolls, including George Gershwin, I fell into that and learned how to play," he said.

Hearing his talent, his parents got him piano and accordion lessons and Mizzy became a professional musician at 14.

-- From wire reports