SHORT TAKES : Updike Lukewarm on Hollywood

NEW YORK — Author John Updike says he has little respect for the film industry after “Rabbit, Run” flopped and “Witches of Eastwick” received mixed reviews.

But he is willing to give Hollywood another shot and thinks “Rabbit, Run” star James Caan deserves consideration if a film is ever made of Updike’s latest novel, “Rabbit at Rest,” the fourth and final “Rabbit” book.

“He wasn’t bad,” Updike said in a recent interview with the Associated Press. “He was too short, but the face is right, kind of a wistful, rabbity, face. Why not have James Caan? He’s been aging along with the rest of us.”

Updike said he had lukewarm feelings about the 1987 film adaptation of “Witches of Eastwick,” which starred Jack Nicholson, Cher, Michelle Pfeiffer and Susan Sarandon.

“It had some life and the women were fun to look at. Nicholson gives it a good shot, but you were aware he was trying to energize a script that nobody quite understood,” he said.