NEWS & NOTES : TRAVOLTA ON `THE DOUBLE'.

Byline: Daily News Wire Services

Going on the record for the first time since exiting rehearsals for Mandalay Entertainment's ``The Double'' on June 2, John Travolta placed the blame on Mandalay.

In a statement released Thursday, Travolta maintained ``I wanted to do this picture very much and still do.''

Saying that he was ``disappointed'' that Mandalay had sued him, he backed up an earlier statement by his attorney, Bert Fields, stating that ``we never reached an agreement with (Peter) Guber's company.''

While the two parties had agreed on salary and Travolta's right of script approval, Travolta said, ``Mr. Guber's company proceeded to make highly significant changes in the screenplay without my approval. Those changes were very extensive. Twenty-five pages were materially altered and 12 other pages were actually deleted.''

Mandalay then asked Travolta to defer part of his salary (a previously reported $1 million), he said. Later, when Travolta arrived in Paris for rehearsals, his conflict with director Roman Polanski over the interpretation of his character led him to attempt to get Polanski replaced with either producer Lili Fini Zanuck or writer Jeremy Leven. Travolta even offered to pay Polanski's salary, he said.

After Mandalay agreed to compromise with him, representatives for the company did not to appear at a meeting to document that agreement, he said.

``I kept trying, with no success,'' Travolta said. ``This is not a situation in which an actor walks off a picture. Certainly we had our differences, but they did not result in my walking off the picture. They resulted in my trying to solve those differences and find a way to do the picture, not to get out of it.''

``Movie stars must understand that they have the same legal obligations as everyone else,'' Louis Meisinger, an attorney representing Mandalay, said in a statement Thursday. ``Mandalay has drawn the line. It will not indulge petulant behavior that results in economic deprivation.''

Being Callas: Meryl Streep is in final negotiations to develop and star in a film version of the life of soprano Maria Callas for New Line Cinema. The film is based on Arianna Stassinopoulos Huffington's biography ``Maria Callas: The Woman Behind the Legend.'' The film will center on Callas' relationship with Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis, the man she longed to marry but who eventually wed another woman, Jacqueline Kennedy, instead. Callas has been the subject of some attention in the media since the success of the Broadway production ``Master Class,'' a Tony Award winner in several categories including best play and leading actress (Zoe Caldwell).

Schwimmer puts Hatcher in mix: Teri Hatcher has joined the cast of David Schwimmer's directorial debut ``Dogwater.'' The Miramax comedy, which will trace the antics at a 10-year high school reunion, also stars Schwimmer, Lara Flynn Boyle, Jon Stewart and Joey Slotnick.