eyes are a handful of men and women women and men of handful a are eyes

Watching the audience with darting darting with audience the Watching cally neat and well-dressed) and the the and well-dressed) and neat cally

television television

of couples in fancy outfits welcome welcome outfits fancy in couples of

the scene (who seem uncharacteristi- seem (who scene the

the United Stales. The reporters at at reporters The Stales. United the

explodes with applause as hundreds hundreds as applause with explodes

ballroom in downtown Los Angeles Angeles Los downtown in ballroom

the arrival of a fictional President of of President fictional a of arrival the

Clint Eastwood on the set of "," the first big-budget film to have the full support of the Secret Service. Service. Secret the of support full the have to film big-budget first the Fire," of Line the "In of set the on Eastwood Clint

Clint Clint

HOLLYWOOD, Dec. 6 — The hotel hotel The — 6 Dec. HOLLYWOOD,

By BERNARD WEINRAUB WEINRAUB BERNARD By

Sperm! to The New York Times Times York New The to Sperm!

crews start to move move to start crews

Eastwood, Back on the Side of the Law Law the of Side the on Back Eastwood,

in. in.

guarding," Mr. Eastwood said. "No "No said. Eastwood Mr. guarding,"

of duty to protect the person they're they're person the protect to duty of

job to take a bullet and die in in die and bullet a take to job psychology, of knowing that it's their their it's that knowing of psychology,

know each other's histories and and histories other's each know

there's this psychology, this unusual unusual this psychology, this there's

have the total cooperation of the nor- the of cooperation total the have

mally reclusive agency. agency. reclusive mally

Fire," which is the first major film to to film major first the is which Fire,"

Eastwood, the star of "In the Line of of Line the "In of star the Eastwood,

different different

mitters on their lapels. lapels. their on mitters

with receivers in their ears and trans- and ears their in receivers with

"They all know each other, they all all they other, each know all "They

"These Secret Service people are a a are people Service Secret "These

breed," breed,"

said said

the line line the

Clint Clint

and other cities. These crowd scenes scenes crowd These cities. other and

will be shown in the film. film. the in shown be will

rallies in Atlanta, Denver, Detroit Detroit Denver, Atlanta, in rallies dent Bush and Gov. Bill Clinton at at Clinton Bill Gov. and Bush dent

and the Democrats, followed Presi- followed Democrats, the and

with the approval of the Republicans Republicans the of approval the with

reality. During the recent Presiden- recent the During reality. tial campaign, crews from the film, film, the from crews campaign, tial

port of the big-budget movie, but also also but movie, big-budget the of port

is not only the Secret Service's sup- Service's Secret the only not is

the way the movie seeks to replicate replicate to seeks movie the way the

quite like that." that." like quite

other law-enforcement agency is is agency law-enforcement other

Beyond this, Mr. Eastwood and the the and Eastwood Mr. this, Beyond

What makes the new film unusual unusual film new the makes What

could have fallen on President Ken- Ken- President on fallen have could

one agent relives, to this day, how he he how day, this to relives, agent one

mained emotionally scarred. At least least At scarred. emotionally mained

agency or turned alcoholic or re- or alcoholic turned or agency

cret Service agents, who quit the the quit who agents, Service cret

nation of President John F. Kennedy Kennedy F. John President of nation

— shattered the lives of several Se- several of lives the shattered — cret Service's history — the assassi- the — history Service's cret

people in the Secret Service. Service. Secret the in people

creators of the movie say it will seek seek will it say movie the of creators times difficult, if unknown, lives of of lives unknown, if difficult, times

to explore the often insular, some- insular, often the explore to

',I .:c.orn/Columbia Pictures for 1 he New York Times Times York New he 1 for Pictures .:c.orn/Columbia ',I

The first major trauma of the Se- the of trauma major first The

04rT 04rT Continued on Page B2 B2 Page on Continued r,astwood, as an Agent Protecting a President

Continued From Page Ell corn bread. "1 think to myself, 'Why is Wolfgang doing this?' And then 1 nedy and saved him if he had arrived catch myself and say: 'This may not a second or two earlier, said Mr. be the way I would do it, but his way Eastwood. In fact, Mr. Eastwood may be a better way. You have to plays the role of one such agent, over- have faith and trust.'" whelmed by guilt, who was with Pres- Mr. Eastwood said he researched ident Kennedy in Dallas. Asked the the film, talking to agents and watch- other day during a lunch break what ing them in action. "I've known some appealed to him about the agent, Mr. of the guys who worked in the Gerald Eastwood said with a smile, "Just Ford detail; Ford used to come to another one of my flawed charac- Carmel to play golf," he said of the ters." town where he lives in California. The film's stars include John Mal- "Because I played law-enforcement kovich, as a Presidential assassin officers, the Secret Service people who develops a taunting telephone were always enthusiastic about hang- relationship with the Eastwood char- ing out. They gave me a lot of point- acter, and Rene Russo, as an agent.. ers." Its director is , whom most famous film is "Dal 'Would You Take the Fall?' Boot." the 1981 German Movie about It Is the psychology of the agents a U-boat In World War II. The film's that fascinates the star, and seems to author. Jeff Maguire, Is a relative dominate the movie. "You have to newcomer who has worked on such take the bullet for whomever you're films as "Victory." guarding and it may not be the Presi- The film is being Produced by Cas- dent," observed Mr. Eastwood. "It tle Rock Entertainment and Is to be could be any dignitary. Would you released In the late summer. The film take the fall? My character even says makers are now completing a final that he was assigned to cover Fidel scene, In which the Malkovich char- Castro, who was considered the ene- acter seeks to assassinate the Presi- my. What would you do?" dent during a fund-raising dinner for The screenplay about the Secret wealthy contributors at the Westin Service, which is costing a hefty $40 Bonaventure Hotel In downtown Los million, partly because of the use of Angeles. thousands of extras and big crowd Watching the scene, Bob Snow, who scenes in Washington and Los Ange- retired in April as assistant director les, has been knocking around Holly- of the Secret Service after 31 years wood for more than a decade. At and who is an adviser on the film, certain points, Robert Redford, Sean said: "This is the first script about. Connery, and War- the Secret Service that, we felt, was ren Beatty expressed interest and accurate. Before this, the scripts then dropped out. were less than complimentary: the its 43-year-old producer, Jeff Ap- Secret Service people as goons. This ple, began shaping the movie after Is not a documentary; it takes liter- watching the assassination attempt ary license, but it does portray with against President Reagan on televi- honesty the concerns and problems sion. and difficulties of protecting people." "I began doing research and the (There have been a handful of films more I looked, the less f found," said and television shows about the Secret Mr. Apple, who has owned a televi- Service, including "To Live and Die sion commercial-production compa- In L.A.," In 1985, about counterfeiters, ny and made several youth films. and a recent television. series, The "The dimensions of this arena have new film "Bodyguard" stars Kevin never really been explored." Costner as a Secret Service agent Guilt and a Game who left the agency out of guilt be- cause he was at his mother's funeral After spending several years, off instead of protecting President Ron- and on, with the Secret Service, Mr. ald Reagan during the 1981 assassi- Apple won the agents' cooperation. nation attempt. The film, which was The casting of Mr. Eastwood — ma- poorly reviewed, also stars Whitney cho, taciturn and usually heroic — Houston, as a singer under threat.) left the agency flattered. Mr. Eastwood, walking to the set, Directing a 'Legend' said the guilt, complexity and vulner- Bouncing around the set, Mr. Pe- ability of the Secret Service agent in tersen, the director, acknowledged the film appealed to him. "There's that he was a bit dazzled by Mr. the cat-and-mouse game with the Eastwood. "For a German dlrector to Malkovich character, but there's also work with an American legend: that the guilt I feel about the assassina- is something," said Mr. Peterson. tion," said Mr. Eastwood. "My char- "He has done it all, he has seen It all acter keeps thinking, 'If only I had but there's no star behavior. He's done this, the assassination wouldn't precise. He works hard. He doesn't have happened.' It's the kind of thing interfere. It would be intimidating, I people go through in life on other must say, If he said, 'Let's do it this issues, but if a guy is assigned to way,' or, 'Let's put the camera here.' protect the President — and the Pres- But he doesn't. He enjoys being an ident is killed — it's something else. actor." "You know it's always appealing to Mr. Eastwood, who directed and play a character that has to over- starred in his highly successful last come himself as well as an obstacle. film, "Unforgiven," which Is almost It makes the drama so much deep- certain to be nominated for Academy er." Awards, admits that he has to catch himself, at times, from also stepping Into the role of director. "It's happened a couple of times here," he said, seated at a table with DO NOT FORGET THE NEEDIEST! the cast and crew and eating a formi- dable lung h of pasta, tuna steak and

1