NEW YORK POST, MONDAY, AUGUST 29, 1988
DON’T FAINT, IT’S
The new Norris is a
the multi-
dimensional
Norris
By FRANK LOVECE
HUCK NORRIS: Quiche-eat-
'No, no, no, no. The popular star
‘of such action flicks as
Delta Force,” “Silent Rage,
Eye for an Bye" and “Missing in
‘Action” parts 1, 2 and 3 is not
turning into Alan Alda. But in his
teat pleture, the cop, thriller
“Hero ‘and the Terror,” which
opened Friday, the former world
middleweight karate champion
shows a side of his screen per-
‘Sona never before seen,
"That's right. Chuck Norris has
‘become Warm and Vulnerable.
"Tm not. going to desert the
character I've taken 12 years to
Gevelop," Norris assures over
lunch at a fancy joint on Central
Park South, where from a menu
the likes of Seafood Mimosa and
Escargot’ Pate he's chosen
grilled ham-and-cheese on whol
‘Wheat. In "Hero and the Terror
he plays police detective Danny
(O'Brien, who's haunted by night-
mares about a psychopathic
serial killer he had captured . -
ee Tee erred “INNER MAN: Chuck Norris as himself, and (inset) with Brynn Thayer in “Hero and the Terror.
porig w9q #OU TOK AAchiateist girliriend lent ready
In a soft tenor voice closer to
his reablife self than to
kick
eateeseaaee wan
Sie aR
ate eee
eens eres
way. So every film, why do you
have tobe the same type?”
For one thing, because it helps
to sell tickets As with Dirty
ee
Rags Sort
you're buyi “Hero,”
Re
2 eS
as
enscee
il
iu
i
,
f
=
:
ay
Rata Seve
peeeoee
eee ce
ee
uch fai ?
Eee
Fk
i
Sl for me to tank ne say.
‘But by take 101 was getting re
bored” And have'a fondesy te
joke around, s0 on one take T
fainted at the admitting desk,
Well the crew ture out laugh
everybody cracked up. 80
the director Bill Tannen] is edit-
{ng the film, and he calls me up
and says he'd like to leave the
fainting scene in. I go: "No way!
No way is Chuck Notris going to
faint on-screen”
“Now, Ihave final cu, 90 out of
desperation he calls my manager.
‘And my manager sees it and calls
me up and says: "You know, ft
Fealy aoe ook goo And aftr {
tee il again, {reflect to when my
first child was born 25
Dianne Holechek (to whom he's
till married), and enlisted in the
Air Force. While ‘serving with
the Military Police in Korea, he
took up karate as'a way of build:
{ng his self-confidence.
ie new Norris angle on his
steely-eyed screen image is
partly @ nod to the times. Like
“One day you're
this way, another
day you're that
way.
‘ervoK NORRIS
eS
saeaaon ects
Sree
=
Fevers oe
eee erat
Rant
faroriinanss
cemianoaeans
eter canon
ee
{alfa well as soclal winds
ae nara aay
aati it
“2
He knows, and the Industry
knows he knows. That's why in
3086 Cannon Films signed hm to
A seven-year, 4 picture deal for &
‘reported $25 million-plus. Yet as
his popularity grows, 80 does his
dissatisfaction with the deal
“Cannon's strength 1s In over-
seas distribution,” he says, and
{n fact his films do well interna:
tionally, “But they can't market
films domestically for {expletive
deleted)” Cannon was recently
bought by an Ttallan investor, #0
Norris is optimistic of change.
Yet, he notes pointedly, “con:
tracts are only worth anything If
both aldes are satisfied.”
‘Who knows? Chuck Norris
a/k/a Col. James Braddock /
Sergeant Eddie Cusack / Sheriff
Dan Stevens, ot al, may just give
ew meaning to a contract being
“shot full of holes.”