PAINFUL ASSIGNMENT

Wasn’t it last year that Cannon Films announced a comedy called “Who’s in the Closet?� to be directed by Mel Frank, with George Segal as the father of a gay son in his 20s? Since we hadn’t heard much since, we got to wondering if the AIDS issue had derailed the project.

Frank, readying MGM’s “Bobo� with Howie Mandel for March release, wouldn’t discuss the “Closet� storyline, but said that the AIDS issue “makes the main point of our story more poignant and topical each passing day. The word AIDS will never be in it. (But) I think there’s tremendous importance to this (subject)--our script treats homosexuality with great compassion, as something as other than reeking of illness.�

Script discussions continue and he fully expects “to be making this picture within 18 months.�