ACTRESS FACES TRIPLE TROUBLE IN `OLD MAN'.

Byline: Jay Bobbin Tribune Media Services 

Jeanne Tripplehorn has multiple dilemmas in CBS ``Hallmark'' drama.

Her new TV movie is set largely on water, as was one of her major feature films ... but she insists that's not her career motif.

Having gotten quite wet by starring with Kevin Costner in ``Waterworld,'' Tripplehorn is challenged by the elements again Sunday on CBS in ``Old Man,'' the new ``Hallmark Hall of Fame'' version of a novella by the celebrated William Faulkner. She plays a pregnant woman, a victim of domestic abuse who is trapped by a 1927 flood along the Mississippi - the river known as ``The Old Man'' - and several convicts are released long enough to help rescue people from the rushing waters. The expectant woman is assisted by a prisoner (portrayed by ``The Man Who Captured Eichmann'' star Arliss Howard, the new husband of actress Debra Winger) who finds a certain salvation in her, while she also rediscovers herself through the qualities he exhibits as they make their way downstream in a small boat.

The Faulkner source material behind ``Old Man'' was a major lure for Tripplehorn, whose other high-profile movies have included ``Basic Instinct'' and ``The Firm.'' So was the adaptation by Oscar winner Horton Foote (``Tender Mercies,'' ``The Trip to Bountiful''), which she deems ``really simple and understated, unlike a lot of TV. I go where the stories are, and I like to be involved in a movie or a theater production or anything that has a great story to tell. That's what acting is all about, and dealing with the elements head-on in this actually made the job a lot easier.

``We filmed in Louisiana in bayous with alligators, very marshy and very wet locations,'' Tripplehorn reports, ``and that helped. It was the middle of August, when it was extremely hot there, and that helped as well. We didn't have to act out the conditions, because we were living in them.''

Asked about her apparent fondness for working in watery environs, Tripplehorn laughs, ``I have only done two movies that way. It's so ironic that the first thing of mine that's coming out after `Waterworld' is another water movie. People on the set started calling me `Waterella': `You have water? She'll be there

' ''

Tripplehorn maintains there's much more to ``Old Man'' than the atmosphere, stressing that ``The flood is just the backdrop, though it certainly influences what happens, since it brings these two people together. It forces them into a situation where they have to be with each other and show compassion; it's a life-changing element for both of them. I didn't really think about filming under those conditions until I got there, then I thought, `I must be crazy.' Water is beautiful, though, and the film is beautiful because of it.''

In Tripplehorn's view, ``Old Man'' is ``not a conventional love story. In fact, if you read the Faulkner work, it's not a love story at all. He wrote it much more obliquely, and Arliss and (director) John Kent Harrison and I rehearsed for a week and pared the script down even more. We all agreed that the simpler this was, the better, since keeping our words sparse was probably the best way to do this ... without hitting the audience over the head with words about what clearly was going on. Also, with the era these two lived in and the types of people they were, they weren't great communicators anyway.''

Despite that, Tripplehorn describes her ``Old Man'' character Addie as ``very talkative, but it was out of nerves. Being scared was the real reason she talked as much as she did, and that was one of her characteristics, while (co-star Howard's alter ego) didn't talk enough. They certainly didn't talk about matters of the heart at all, but to make the audience understand every little thing that was going on wasn't appealing to us. I was really pleased that Hallmark allowed us to do the story this way, because it's an unusual approach.''

Though Tripplehorn also appeared on her longtime beau Ben Stiller's former Fox series and HBO's ``Mr. Show,'' she doesn't see TV ever becoming her professional focus. ``There's so much money involved,'' she reasons, ``and the corporations you're dealing with have so much control, the creativity is really stifled. It's one more battle that I don't want to fight.'' Old Man When: 9 p.m. Feb. 9

Network: CBS

Starring: Jeanne Tripplehorn, Arliss Howard, Leo Burmester

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2 Photos

Photo: (1--Cover--Color) CBS' `Old Man'

`Hallmark' drama explores unlikely relationship amid watery setting

(2) Jeanne Tripplehorn plays Addie, a victim of a flood who finds help from an unlikely source.