'Evita' finagles use of famous balcony

GOOD MORNING: Alan Parker will no longer have to cry in Argentina. He called me, having taken Monday off in Buenos Aires after shooting two nights on the famous balcony of the presidential mansion where Evita told the masses she would not run as vice president because she was dying of cancer. Parker said he wrapped at 7:30 ayem "as day was breaking -- we all hugged one another" after a 12-hour final shoot of the scene. Over 3,000 extras were used in the two nights. He used only three cameras. "I have to watch each one," he said. "It was done very traditionally." No tricks, no special effects to follow in post. "This way we will retain the vitality of the story." Parker admitted he had been talking to Argentine president Carlos Menem for nine months to try for approval. "Ten days ago, the four of us (Madonna, Jonathan Pryce and Antonio Banderas) met with Menem and government officials again to present our case, to ask to film on the balcony. I could not be discouraged by each meeting (in which he got a "no"). Madonna assured them that she was very serious -- not a pop star. Her perseverance was incredible. I promised (Menem) when I finished the picture I would show it to him. And that the movie would show the positive and negative parts of Peron at that time. Also the paradox of the woman, saint and sinner. Two days before we were to shoot, I got an absolute 'yes.' I had, of course, readied plans B and C, which would have meant re-creating the scene at Shepperton." Parker admitted, "When we first arrived, a lot of people didn't want us to be here to shoot. But the majority of people were fantastic to us." He figures the completed pic, which included three and a half months of pre-recording, will come in at $60 million. It will continue, as planned, to be "a contemporary opera" with no spoken dialog. Parker admitted the totally lip-synched pic "is a challenge for me." Andrew Lloyd Webber phoned Parker from London to congratulate him on completing the "Don't Cry For Me, Argentina" sequence, and Parker asked him, "Does this mean I'll have to do all those (your) musicals?" Despite the difficulty of this experience, Parker's enthusiasm for movie musicals is undiminished. "Something remarkable happens when image and music are together (onscreen). It was always this way, from the earliest movies -- which were musicals."

MAYBE THE PRODUCERS of "Murphy Brown" should take a look at the Robert Redford-Michelle Pfeiffer feature "Up Close and Personal" to get an inspiration for how to finale Grant Shaud's role as Miles Silverberg, news chief on "Murphy." He's departing the series at season's end, telling me, "I'm moving on. I feel like it's time. I've been very happy, and it's been great for me, but I feel that I'm running out of gas with the character." Would the producers kill him off? "I think it's safe to say they won't kill me -- this isn't like 'MASH,' " he said. As of last Friday, Shaud hadn't told his TV wife, Faith Ford (Corky Sherwood). Wha' happens to her role with Miles departing? Shaud told Candice Bergen of his decision."She was very supportive," he said ... After being surrounded by spectacular-looking drag queens in "The Birdcage," Nathan Lane, now rehearsing his B'way role as Pseudolus (originally played by Zero Mostel) in "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," will be backed (and fronted) by the most beautiful (real!) ladies ever seen on stage, promises Larry Gelbart, who went to N.Y. to check on his chef-d'oeuvre, which begins previews March 18 ... During the showing of a very emotional film (by Tony Thomas) about St. Jude's Hospital and its young patients during a Century Plaza gala, David Geffen leaned over to Marlo Thomas and asked her, "How much did you raise tonight?" She answered, "A million one hundred thousand. "Now you've got another million," contributed Geffen.

SHARON STONE AND ANTHONY HOPKINS are presenters at the Publicists Guild Luncheon March 22 at the BevHilton ... Hurd Hatfield suffered a broken leg in an auto accident near his home in County Cork, Ireland ... Ernie Borgnine, who has lived through the wild west in "The Wild Bunch," "Bad Day at Black Rock," "Vera Cruz," etc., will be inducted into the National Cowboy Hall of Fame on Saturday. Have you noted Ernie's new silhouette? He's dropped 38 pounds since starting his NBC series, "The Single Guy."