FILM/SNEAK PEEK : `GODS AND MONSTERS' MAKER CONDON IN WESTLAKE TONIGHT.

Byline: - Bob McCarthy

For those of us on the outside looking into this fish bowl called Hollywood, the movie mecca hasn't lost any of its fascination from the days when gossip columnists Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons gave the inside dirt and heralded the next star. Only today, thanks to the likes of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, directors command equal attention, too.

Regent Westlake Theaters in Ventura County is hosting director Bill Condon of ``Gods and Monsters'' at 8:15 tonight for a screening and question-and-answer session afterward. Condon is appearing as part of an occasional film forum that brings together audiences and contemporary filmmakers for some all-too-rare interaction between creators and consumers of entertainment.

Condon was named best director at the recent Seattle Film Festival International, and his ``Gods and Monsters'' is currently playing in theaters. Its subject is famed director James Whale, whose 1931 ``Frankenstein'' motion picture led to a series of lesser imitations. ``Gods and Monsters'' stars Sir Ian McKellen, Brendan Fraser (``George of the Jungle'') and Lynn Redgrave.

Based on the novel ``Father of Frankenstein,'' the film examines the friendship between Whale and his handsome young gardener that bears a strange resemblance to the one between Dr. Frankenstein and his monster.

Director Don Roos was a guest earlier this year at the forum when his ``The Opposite of Sex'' screened at the theater.

Tickets are $7. Call [phone] or [phone] for information. The Regent Westlake Theaters are at 4711 Lakeview Canyon Drive in Westlake Village.

A Wise choice

Robert Wise was a gifted film editor with a knack for making great RKO films greater and B movies extraordinary, but he wanted more. He wanted to direct.

He got his chance in 1943, when the director of ``Curse of the Cat People'' was replaced when the film fell behind schedule. Wise took over the helm, ``Cat People'' was a success, and his reputation grew from there.

Wise, the Academy Award-winning director and producer of ``West Side Story'' and the ``Sound of Music,'' is the guest of honor at ``An Evening With Robert Wise'' at 8 p.m. Dec. 2 at the Alex Theatre in Glendale. Clips of his acclaimed films, which include ``The Set-Up,'' ``The Andromeda Strain,'' ``The Sand Pebbles'' and ``The Day the Earth Stood Still,'' will be shown, and Leonard Maltin of ``Entertainment Tonight'' and the author of the popular guide to film on video will interview Wise on stage.

Wise was a then-27-year-old film editor who had worked his way up from messenger boy at RKO when he was assigned to ``Citizen Kane.'' His skill so impressed Orson Welles that the director told the studio's bosses that he wanted Wise's talents on his next project, ``The Magnificent Ambersons.'' Ironically, when the studio ordered a recut without Welles, Wise directed the additional footage.

Tickets cost $10 and can purchased by calling [phone].

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Photo

Photo: Robert Wise

Dec. 2 in Glendale