‘Benjamin Button’ stuck to the script

November 28, 2008 at 12:00a.m.

NEW YORK — David Fincher spent five years making the soon-to-be released, Oscar-hyped film “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” but he had little use for the F. Scott Fitzgerald short story on which it is based.

In a question and answer session after an advance screening of the film at the Museum of Modern Art, the director said he didn’t even read Fitzgerald’s 1922 story until two years into working on the film.

“I started out with a 240-page script, so it wasn’t like we were looking for new ideas,” Fincher said, referring to Eric Roth’s screenplay. “I just read a script and thought it was really moving.”

“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” a highly anticipated release expected to draw several Academy Awards nominations, still weighs in at 167 minutes in length and cost an estimated $150 million to make.

It stars Brad Pitt as Benjamin Button, a man who ages backward: born as an old man and dying as an infant. Cate Blanchett stars as the love of his life, the two reaching the same age only halfway through their lives.

The 46-year-old Fincher is the much-respected director of “Se7en,” “Fight Club” and last year’s “Zodiac.” “Benjamin Button” opens Dec. 25.

Skull of late pianist is used in ‘Hamlet‘

LONDON — A Polish pianist has made his stage debut in Britain, 26 years after his death.

Andr Tchaikowsky’s skull was featured in performances of “Hamlet” by the Royal Shakespeare Company between July and November, company spokeswoman Nada Zakula said Wednesday.

It was the first time the skull was used in a performance — his expressed wish — though the company had used in rehearsals since it was donated in 1982.

Tchaikowsky’s 1979 will had asked that his skull be offered to the Royal Shakespeare Company “for use in theatrical performance.”

“We hope that he would have been pleased that his final wish has been realized,” company curator David Howells said.

It was unclear if the skull would be used when the company’s production moves from its base in Stratford-upon-Avon to London on Wednesday, Zakula said.

Tchaikowsky, a fan of William Shakespeare’s plays, had finished orchestrating all but 24 bars of his operatic adaptation of “The Merchant of Venice” when he died from stomach cancer on June 26, 1982.

Judge orders Gibson to answer questions

LOS ANGELES — A judge says Mel Gibson must answer questions about planning and filming “The Passion of the Christ” in response to a screenwriter’s lawsuit.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Gregory Alarcon on Tuesday ordered Gibson to appear for a deposition by mid-January.

Screenwriter Benedict Fitzgerald claims he was underpaid for his work on “Passion.”

His attorneys say Gibson spent tens of thousands of dollars on his children’s education while filming in Italy and paid a chiropractor $78,000. They contend those expenses lowered payments to Fitzgerald.

Today’s birthdays

Motown Records founder Berry Gordy Jr. is 79. Singer Randy Newman is 65. Musician Paul Shaffer (“Late Show With David Letterman”) is 59. Actor Judd Nelson is 49. Comedian Jon Stewart (“The Daily Show”) is 46. Musician apl.de.ap of Black Eyed Peas is 34. Rapper Chamillionaire is 29.