DEVITO, EASTWOOD ON FILM COMMISSION.

Byline: Harrison Sheppard Sacramento Bureau

SACRAMENTO - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger brought some Hollywood star power to the Capitol on Thursday, introducing Clint Eastwood and Danny DeVito as his new appointees to the California Film Commission.

Schwarzenegger also appointed producer Tom Werner, whose Studio City production company is responsible for two decades of popular television shows; actor-director Bill Duke, who appeared with Schwarzenegger in the film ``Predator''; and director Lili Zanuck, who produced the Oscar-winning ``Driving Miss Daisy.''

Tourists gathered in the Capitol corridor and screamed when the stars made the short stroll from the governor's office to his press conference room.

But Schwarzenegger said the commission will have a serious job ahead - keeping productions in California.

``The mission of this commission will be to make it easier to get permits here in California and to keep productions here. Also, what is important is to make the costs come down and make it free of charge to shoot here on some of the state properties.''

DeVito offered his own anecdotal evidence of runaway production. He recalled that when he and Schwarzenegger were filming ``Twins,'' he got a motor home and kept it on a lot in the San Fernando Valley when he wasn't using it.

``The lot was always kind of empty, sparse, a few trailers, a couple trucks,'' DeVito said. ``You go to that very lot today, it's filled with trucks - that are not working.

``I don't know exactly the statistics but I know there's a lot of people in California in our industry who are hurting because of this very thing that Arnold's trying to tame - (that) we're all going to really knuckle down and try to tame.''

Schwarzenegger has worked on films with two of his appointees - DeVito on ``Twins'' and ``Junior,'' and Duke on ``Predator.'' And he said Eastwood was a hero of his before he came to Hollywood and one of the actors who inspired him to get into the business.

Werner is co-founder of Carsey-Werner-Mandabach, which has produced such hits as ``The Cosby Show'' and ``That '70s Show.'' He is also chairman of the Boston Red Sox major league baseball team.

While their job will be to stop filming from migrating north of the border, both Eastwood and DeVito have filmed in Canada themselves. Eastwood, for example, filmed much of his Academy Award-winning ``Unforgiven'' in Alberta, and DeVito directed some of the comedy ``Death to Smoochy'' in Toronto.

Eastwood's prior political experience includes serving as mayor of Carmel in the 1980s and he is currently on the state Parks and Recreation Commission.

``I don't think any of us have the answer to inspiring productions to stay in California, but I think we can all roll up our sleeves and we can all go about trying to find a solution,'' Eastwood said.

Los Angeles City Councilwoman Wendy Greuel, a former Dreamworks SKG executive who has been a member of the California Film Commission for three years, said the panel has suffered from budget cuts in the last year or two. It has lost personnel and successful programs such as Film California First, which provided some financial reimbursements for permit costs of productions filmed here.

But she believes Schwarzenegger has already demonstrated a renewed commitment to the commission by having some top advisers attend a recent meeting and by his new appointments.

Harrison Sheppard, [phone]

harrison.sheppard(at)dailynews.com