Pic tackles public taste for celeb violence

GOOD MORNING: Don't think Hollywood is ignoring Washington's violence brickbats. Thursday morning, at the Planet Hollywood location of New Line's big-budget "Fifteen Minutes," producer-writer-director John Herzfeld admitted to me, "It (the Congressional accusations) gave me a chance to think." Keith Addis, who also produces with partner Nick Wechsler, says the movie (which stars Robert De Niro and Edward Burns) points up "the public's voracious appetite for celebrity violence." And the movie "will illustrate that the country has to wrestle with its own responsibility." It tries to answer the question: how far across the line does TV news go? "Does the public have the right to see everything?" The scene to be filmed Thursday was a fight in which actors Karel Roden and Oleg Taktarov cleared out the diners as they fought and crashed through a protective glass shield around the life-sized statue of Planet Hollywood co-owner Sylvester Stallone! Sly loaned the statue to pal Herzfeld; the life-size statue of another Planet Hollywood partner, Arnold Schwarzenegger, had been moved to make room for Stallone. The BevHills eatery has been closed for the past three days for the film troupe; it doubles for the N.Y. Planet Hollywood, which will be used for exteriors in the Gotham-set movie. As for the action in the rest of the film, Herzfeld promises it will be "classy -- there's no blood spurting." De Niro who took on a daring comedy role in "Analyze This," has another challenge in this pic, in which he's a celeb-like homicide detective (he makes the cover of People mag) ... The fickleness of today's society is pointed up by Herzfeld and producer David Blocker, as they had on "Don King: Only in America." Pointing up the realism in "15 Minutes" are cameos by Roseanne, CNN alumnus Peter Arnett and former John Gotti attorney Bruce Cutler, who plays himself. (When "60 Minutes," doing an update on its Cutler-Gotti story, heard that Cutler was in the movie, they asked "Has he gone Hollywood?") An arson investigator in L.A. and another in N.Y. play themselves, as do three immigration officers ... Charlize Theron, to whom Herzfeld gave her first bigscreen role in "2 Days in the Valley," will cameo as a madam. Kelsey Grammer plays a crime reporter who has his own TV show, "Top Story." When he read for the role, Kelsey says he played it with more "credibility, more depth -- less of a scumbag ... He's streetwise, an old-style crime reporter -- more legit than the tabloid types." The filmmakers loved Grammer's take on the role and Herzfeld changed the script to play it Grammer's way.

ADDIS AND WECHSLER, while constantly on the set, continuously work two phones to their outside activities: Industry Entertainment and management. Their work includes three features in post-production, five pix shooting and another five readying to start, including "Quills" with Michael Caine, Geoffrey Rush and Kate Winslet; "Requiem for a Dream" in N.Y.; "Invisible Circus," with Cameron Diaz in Paris, and "The Rains in Spain" in Spain and Portugal. They've financed two-thirds of the development of their pix -- thus their production slate equals (or surpasses) the majors.

IN THE YEAR 2000, the Shrine Auditorium will be the site for a spectacular celebration of Calif.'s famed Jr. Philharmonic's 63rd anniversary. The concert spectacular will feature more than 1,000 on stage (125 musicians, plus singers, dancers, etc.) The orch brought out, as usual, an SRO crowd of over 6,500 at Wednesday night's concert, at which guest soloist Pat Boone announced he and the orch are completing the first CD made by the group. Net profits will go to the Al Malaikah Shrine, which has hosted the orch for the past two years. Boone previewed some of the CD, backed by the orch at this concert: "April Love," "The Story of My Life" and "Momma Don't Allow." In return, Boone was serenaded with "Happy Birthday" by the audience on his 65th (!). The evening was m.c.'d by Connie Stevens; Ken Minyard narrated background of tunes by the Philharmonic's honorary composer members: Jerome Kern, Oscar Straus, Jimmy McHugh, Frederick Loewe, Meredith Willson, Ernest Gold, Richard and Robert Sherman, and Andrew Lloyd Webber. The "Battle of the Batons" contestants were Wink Martindale, Trina McGee Davis, Gordon Clapp, Stefanie Powers and Rip Taylor. In a laugh-filled finale contest, emceed by yours truly, Powers was judged the winner on a confetti-filled stage ... In advance of the June 24 auction (Christie's, N.Y.) of Eric Clapton's historical guitars (100), Giorgio Armani will party pal Clapton June 12 at L.A.'s Quixote Studios with a preview of 40 of his guitars. Proceeds of the auction benefits Crossroads Center at Antigua, a rehab founded by Clapton on the Caribbean island. This is Giorgio Armani's first visit to L.A. since the 1994 Fire and Ice Ball, which he sponsored ... The So. Calif. Multiple Sclerosis Society honors 20th's Bill Mechanic Sept. 9 at the Century Plaza. Steven Spielberg makes the presentation. Penny Marshall makes a special presentation to David Landers (Squiggy of "Laverne & Shirley"), who reveals he suffers from Multiple Sclerosis. ... At the Las Vegas Fest preem of "The Hiding Place," about Alzheimer's, "General Hospital's" Stella Stevens spoke about the disease; her mom is a victim. Stevens has written her first novel, "Razzle Dazzle," and one of the lead characters, Johnnie Gault, is based on Elvis Presley with whom Stella starred in "Girls(3)".