A look inside Hollywood and the movies : MAZURSKY’S COOL AS A CUKE : Think ‘The Pickle’ Is Far-Fetched? You Haven’t Worked in Hollywood

Is writer/director Paul Mazursky getting himself into a pickle with Hollywood?

“I’m in showbiz. That’s the same thing,” was Mazursky’s wry assessment, when asked about his upcoming movie “The Pickle,” a satiric barb at the film business.

In the film, opening April 30, a famous director named Harry Stone (Danny Aiello), known for his artistic films, has a major commercial movie about to debut. A lot is riding on it--especially since he’s just had three artistic flops in a row.

Under pressure, Stone accepts the assignment to direct a film called “The Pickle”--a sci-fi tale about a giant pickle that grows in Kansas and takes off like a spaceship, heading for the mythical, meat-eating land of “Cleveland.” But Stone takes the job only after lambasting the pretentious, whimsical studio executive, half his age, who makes the offer.

With a plot like that, no wonder Aiello’s character has nightmares about his reputation as a director. On the other hand, a plot like that is entirely possible, if you ask Mazursky.

“This one is about a flying cucumber. I know that’s ridiculous . . . but look at the movies we’ve been seeing . . . look at the film where Robert Redford offers someone a million dollars to spend the night with him (“Indecent Proposal”). I know people who’ll do it for nothing.”

Mazursky believes “The Pickle” does have a lot to say about current affairs in Hollywood. The business has gotten so unimaginative and preposterous, says Mazursky, 62, that he has been offered to direct American versions of European movies “even before those versions have been released.”

The director of such highly regarded films as “Enemies, a Love Story” and “Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice,” as well as the not-so-highly regarded “Scenes From a Mall,” says he wrote “The Pickle” long before “The Player” was seen. “The Player” was last year’s satire on Hollywood’s way of doing business, directed by Robert Altman.

But there are similarities in the two films, besides their initials.

Both feature many star performances and cameos. “The Pickle” bills Shelley Winters, Jerry Stiller, Chris Penn, Dyan Cannon, Clotilde Courau, Barry Miller, Spalding Gray, Ally Sheedy, Griffin Dunne, Little Richard, Isabella Rossellini and Dudley Moore.

Both films also depict a Hollywood that is “younger,” Mazursky says, noting the character of the studio executive that Miller plays. “This film doesn’t target any one person. But it’s reflective of a lot of the meetings I’ve taken.”

When the characters in the movie are talking about “The Pickle” and say “We tested it in the mall. How bad can it be?,” that’s the kind of “crazy, funny roulette wheel” the movie-making mentality is all about, Mazursky says.

“But Hollywood doesn’t really care how it looks,” the director believes. “It just wants to make money.”

He himself is currently at work on a film about that very topic. “It’s called ‘Poor’ for Morgan Creek Productions. It’s a social comedy about a rich person who loses his money.”

In the meantime, there’s “The Pickle.” Is its storyline biographical in any way? Is it Mazursky’s way of countering any adverse reaction to “The Pickle” when it opens?

“When I do things, there’s always some of me in it,” Mazursky says. “Of course, I haven’t had three bombs in a row.”