‘AMERIKA’S’ KRISTOFFERSON TO FILM SPOT ON U.N.

UNITED NATIONS â€”  Actor Kris Kristofferson, star of a controversial television miniseries alleged to defame the United Nations, is scheduled to shoot a 30-second film today aimed at countering this negative image, a U.N. spokesman said.

The 14-plus-hour series, “Amerika,� which premieres Sunday on ABC, is a fictional account of life in the United States 10 years after a supposed Soviet takeover.

The occupation is enforced with the help of brutal “United Nations Special Service Units,� which the U.N. calls a gross distortion of the role of its peacekeeping forces in such places as the Middle East and Cyprus.

Kristofferson, who in the series plays a former American presidential candidate recently released from a prison camp, has agreed to shoot a spot in the Security Council chamber designed to give a factual account of U.N. peace-keeping.

It is being offered free of charge, together with other U.N.-produced footage, to a number of broadcasting organizations, including ABC, according to the director of the U.N.’s Radio and Visual Services, Georges Leclere .

There was no indication yet whether ABC would use any of it, he said.

Leclere said Kristofferson would shoot the spot free.

Responding to reporters’ questions, a U.N. spokesman said he strongly doubted that Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar, who had “heard enough about the series to last a lifetime,� would watch it when it airs next week.

“The spokesman has no intention of watching it,� the spokesman added.