HALMI'S `MOBY DICK' TO BE ANOTHER CABLE COUP.

Byline: Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

``Moby Dick,'' shooting in Melbourne with Patrick Stewart and Gregory Peck, is ``huge,'' says producer Robert Halmi. And it, indeed, sounds like this version of the classic will live up to its billing as a whale of a tale.

One of the largest tanks ever constructed has been built for the drama. And hear this: The four-hour production is being budgeted at $16 million - and is being made for USA Network.

``It's a whole new scene with the cable companies - the major networks had better be warned,'' says Halmi, the producer responsible for NBC's Emmy-laden ``Gulliver's Travels,'' the network's recent ``Odyssey'' - and oodles of other quality, long-form TV fare. He adds, ``The cable concerns are stepping forward to meet the competition. They want people to pay attention to them. Times are dramatically changing.''

Halmi says we'll also notice the quality level of the big-budget drama about Mother Teresa he's just finished in Sri Lanka with Geraldine Chaplin for the Family Channel. ``It has the feel of a feature film,'' he says.

New venturing

Connie Stevens, who went from Cricket on the 1959-63 ``Hawaiian Eye'' to business dynamo with her $65 million Forever Spring cosmetics company, now intends to become a filmmaker - big time.

She's already shot and is wrapping post-production on ``A Healing,'' a documentary about the heroics of women who served in the Vietnam War that will be shown at the Toronto Film Festival and is also slated for runs in Los Angeles; Newport Beach; New York; Washington, D.C.; and Houston.

And now ... Stevens has five scripts completed for feature films she intends to direct for her Shane Productions - one of the projects intended as a Val Kilmer starrer, another for Jeff Bridges. And she's putting her money on the line. ``I could afford to finance the films myself,'' she says simply. ``I will co-finance them.''

It is ``Healing'' that is especially dear to her heart. She made an unforgettable journey with a group of female Vietnam veterans back to the land where she had entertained U.S. troops some 40 years ago - and filmed stories of some of the women in the group.

``It exposes the raw nerve of the women's perspective of the Vietnam war like nothing has,'' she says.

Hello again

Janet Jackson is returning to the limelight after more than a year of leisure. Not only is she cutting an album targeted for release this fall, but also, plans are in the works for a JJ concert tour - though nothing in the latter area is firmed yet.

From screen to stage

Grammy-winning composer Mark Mancina has been so frantically wrapped up in mounting the upcoming stage production of ``The Lion King,'' he says he hasn't even seen the finished versions of ``Con Air'' or ``Speed 2'' - both of which he scored. ``For a while there, I was juggling like mad,'' says Mancina, who was at one point working on all three projects simultaneously. The composer, who also scored ``Speed'' and ``Twister,'' says ``The Lion King'' musical is ``the first theater production I've done. It's a tremendous undertaking, both musically and from a staging standpoint. We're really trying to do some unconventional things and bring a lot more African authenticity to the show.''

Mancina says in addition to the five original tunes from ``The Lion King'' movie, he and Elton John have written two new songs for the stage production, which debuts in Minneapolis in July, then heads to Broadway in November.

``It's going to be very, very emotional and uplifting when we get it up and running,'' predicts Mancina. ``I think it's going to bring people to tears.''

Filmland flair

It's not often you see Jane Fonda and Ted Turner making the Hollywood social scene. But they were part of the star-studded crowd who turned out to cheer on ``Batman & Robin'' the other night in Westwood and stayed on for the post-premiere wingding on the roof of a parking structure across from the theater. Also there: Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffith, Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman, Alan Thicke and his very pregnant wife Gina, Henry Winkler, Aaron Spelling, Quincy Jones, George Clooney's ``ER'' buddies Anthony Edwards and Noah Wyle, ``Batman'' director Joel Schumacher and the film's stars - Clooney, Chris O'Donnell and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Lots of well-deserved congratulations being passed around. A terrific movie - and bound to be another hit for Warner Bros. and Schumacher.

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

Photo: (1) Patrick Stewart

``Moby Dick'' star

(2) Connie Stevens

Now a filmmaker

(3) Jane Fonda

Seen at ``Batman'' premiere