‘JADE’-ED INDUSTRY : Is It Too Early to Talk About a Comeback?

It doesn’t take a gumshoe to figure out what has happened to David Caruso’s career.

Caruso, the rising star of ABC’s hit detective series “NYPD Blue,” bolted from the show last year for his shot at big-screen stardom. His move left audiences and critics cold. And the films? “Kiss of Death” and “Jade” were both disappointing at the box office, with some critics picking “Jade” as the worst picture of 1995.

But now that the dust has settled, Caruso says he considers the two films to be high points in his career.

“I feel I’ve been extremely successful,” Caruso says. “I got to work with some of the best people in the business last year. Nick [Cage, his co-star in ‘Kiss’] will probably win the Oscar for best actor [for ‘Leaving Las Vegas’]. And I got to work with [‘Jade’ director] Billy Friedkin, a legend in this business. You’ll see. ‘Jade’ will be rediscovered by audiences in the future. In fact, I will make a prediction that this film will have a resurgence.”

The rest of Hollywood isn’t so sure. “Caruso wasn’t a big enough TV star that America cared about him as a feature star, yet,” says one source at Paramount, the studio that produced “Jade.” “You can’t lay all the blame on his shoulders for how those two pictures performed. But he was a guy who was just starting to bloom, who was only beginning his identity as a TV actor. And the way he left that show reflected an attitude of arrogance and ungratefulness, something the public won’t tolerate and the critics won’t let him forget.”

Nor, apparently, will some studio types. One high-ranking Warner Bros. executive privately slammed the actor’s talents and attitude. “He thought he was hot [stuff]. Well, guess what? He wasn’t.”

Says one 20th Century Fox executive: “I don’t know if anybody would not make a movie with him if he is right for the part. But after these two films, I don’t think they would make a movie because of him.”

Tom Sherak, a Fox senior executive vice president, says Caruso may be being judged too harshly for his career choices. “Look, it is his life and he did what he wanted to do. He took a very big chance and gave up a sure thing. But he is a very good actor and eventually he’ll find his right place. If his next movie breaks, he’ll be hot again.”

Caruso also doesn’t buy the notion that his public has written him off. He says he still receives mail from fans all over the world, that his public knew he had a struggling film career before “NYPD Blue” with bit roles dating back to 1982’s “An Officer and a Gentleman.”

“What people forget is that when I got the part for the TV show, I was already a movie actor and had just filmed [1993’s] ‘Mad Dog and Glory’ with Robert De Niro,” he says.

“I read where people were upset about me leaving the show, but what they need to understand is that the show was bigger than me,” he says. “If I could have had my way I would have done both.”

So what’s next? Caruso says he has three feature projects in the works: “The Insider” about two spies, a man and a woman with a past relationship (he plans to star and possibly direct); a black comedy called “Eddie and Don Go Public”; and “Tatum’s Bluff,” which Caruso says he will direct.

“I don’t want to sound arrogant about any of this because that is not how I feel,” Caruso adds. “I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I’d like to think that things aren’t so desperate that the door is closed on me. I still have things to offer--and I hope people will give me a chance.”*