Arts and entertainment reports from The Times, national and international news services and the nation’s press.

MOVIES & TV

Hiller Pulls a Smithee: The title of the upcoming Joe Eszterhas movie “An Alan Smithee Film” refers to what happens when a director pulls his name from a movie, forcing the Directors Guild of America to list “Alan Smithee” as director. In an unusual twist, writer Eszterhas confirmed Tuesday that the movie’s director, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Arthur Hiller, has pulled his name from the credits, meaning that “An Alan Smithee Film” will be directed by “Alan Smithee.” Although Hiller could not be reached for comment, Eszterhas said, “Our differences over the editing of the movie led him to take this action. . . . Arthur and I disagreed about the pace of the movie, the tone of the humor and the definition of the word ‘outrageous.’ ” Eszterhas denied that the move was a publicity stunt. Sources said that all the attention to Eszterhas’ film and the use of “Alan Smithee” has necessitated investigations into a new pseudonym for such situations.

Cannes Coverage: The Independent Film Channel will take its viewers to the 50th Cannes Film Festival starting today with live coverage of the opening ceremonies at 10 a.m. (with a rebroadcast at 5 p.m.), followed by the documentary, “Stars Under Palms: 50 Years of the Cannes Film Festival,” at 11:30 a.m. Other festival coverage on the cable channel includes the closing ceremonies on May 18 and the Palm Des Palmes awards on Sunday. Also, for the entire month of May, the network will broadcast only films that have been shown at Cannes.

Rosie’s Competition: Howie Mandel is poised to become the next actor-comedian to take on the daytime talk-show genre. Mandel is close to signing a deal with Paramount TV Group to host a syndicated show with a format similar to the successful daytime program hosted by Rosie O’Donnell, sources confirmed. The series is expected to premiere in 1998. Mandel has already cut his teeth in daytime, having filled in several times for a vacationing Regis Philbin on “Live! With Regis & Kathie Lee.”

A Sweet Goodbye: Fox’s “Married . . . With Children” went out with a bang Monday night, when its hourlong season finale posted the series’ highest ratings in more than two years. “Married,” which concluded its 11th season with Kelly Bundy’s aborted marriage ceremony, drew an estimated 15.2 million total viewers, narrowly edging out the ABC movie “Tidal Wave: No Escape,” which drew 15.185 million viewers during the 9-10 p.m. time slot according to the Nielsen ratings. NBC’s “Invasion” was third with 14.3 million viewers for the hour, while “Cybill” and “Ink” on CBS averaged 11.6 million viewers.

OPERA

Italian Summer Fare: The Three Tenors--Luciano Pavarotti, Jose Carreras and Placido Domingo--will unite once again, this time to raise funds for the reconstruction of two burned opera houses, Venice’s La Fenice and Barcelona’s Liceu. The trio hopes to raise $2.2 million through the June 17 concert, which will be held at a 26,000-seat soccer stadium in Modena, Italy. . . . In Rome, officials announced Tuesday that the city’s popular open-air summer opera season will be held at another soccer arena--the 85,000-seat Olympic Stadium. However, talks are underway for the Teatro dell’Opera to return to the 1,800-year-old Roman baths of Caracalla in time for millennium jubilee celebrations in 2000.

STAGE

Questioning Tonys’ Wisdom: Turning up their noses at most of the Broadway shows nominated for Tonys on Monday, the New York Drama Critics Circle has picked two off-Broadway productions, Jeanine Tesori and Brian Crawley’s “Violet” and Paula Vogel’s “How I Learned to Drive,” as best musical and play, respectively, of the New York theater season. However, Tony nominee “Skylight” was named best foreign play and Tony nominee “Chicago” received a special citation.

QUICK TAKES

Lightning will strike Burbank today, Walt Disney-style, when crews erect a 50-foot, golden lightning bolt at Disney’s Animation Building alongside the 134 Freeway. The aluminum bolt, which will look as if it’s crashing into the building’s roof, will herald the June 27 opening of Disney’s 35th animated release, “Hercules.” . . . “Twin Peaks” director David Lynch is returning to television--as director of the Sci-Fi Channel’s new “global television image campaign.” The ads will debut in July on both broadcast and cable outlets. . . . CBS said Tuesday that it expects the Sunday night staple “60 Minutes” to finish in the Top 10 programs nationwide--marking a record 20th consecutive season that it will attain that ratings status. . . . A news conference scheduled for today to announce details about this summer’s Jamizon urban music concert tour, which is being put together by Magic Johnson and Quincy Jones, has been postponed because of “scheduling conflicts” among the principals, according to a spokesman. Details about the two-month tour, including the venue for a planned July 12 date in Southern California, are now expected “shortly,” the spokesman said. . . . The English band James’ concerts Tuesday and tonight at the El Rey Theatre were postponed indefinitely after lead singer Tim Booth aggravated shoulder and neck injuries Monday in San Francisco. . . . Actor Eric Douglas, the youngest son of Kirk Douglas, was sentenced to probation and 10 days of community service on Monday in New York City after pleading guilty to accepting a package containing 1,085 antidepressant pills last year. The package of Xanax pills had been sent from France and was intercepted by customs agents.