With Special Effects, It’s a Real (or Fake) Blood Bath

Extras who broke out in an ugly rash of pimples after being soaked in fake blood while filming Wesley Snipes’ latest--a summer vampire flick called “Blade”--are suing New Line Cinema over their allegedly toxic blood bath.

Carol Yvonne Smith, Resa Michelle Hall and Cleveland Williams contend in their Los Angeles Superior Court suit that their rashes are chronic and have sharply limited their opportunities for future employment. They claim they were doused in faux gore a year ago during a bloody vampire disco scene.

The suit also names the film’s producers and Reel Creations Inc., the makers of the stage blood. A New Line spokesman had no comment, and the others couldn’t be reached.

The suit charges that the stage blood was used more than once, against the manufacturer’s instructions.

According to the court papers, the extras had been told they would be able to shower between scenes to wash off the bloody goo, but were forced to wear it for at least eight hours. The glop was sprayed on them from above, and they sometimes stood in it up to their ankles, according to their lawyers, Al Gopin and Peter Levine. The suit seeks unspecified damages for negligence, product liability, battery and fraud.

“These people are suffering permanent skin blemishes,” Gopin said. “For somebody in their business, it’s a curse.”

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Rx FOR LITIGATION: Dr. Charles Kivowitz’s life has never been the same since he unwittingly became entangled in the battle over tobacco heiress Doris Duke’s estate, his lawyers say. He was dragged into the fray when a lawyer for two of Duke’s servants suggested in court papers contesting her final will that she was murdered.

Never mind that the source of that information, a nurse, later went to jail for stealing from wealthy clients.

Kivowitz became tabloid fodder. And now, he charges, the stuff of screenplays as well.

So Kivowitz has turned to the Los Angeles Superior Court to clear his name, filing a $25-million libel suit against two producers and a writer he says have suggested in a screenplay that he is Duke’s killer.

“The principal characters in the screenplay are realistic characterizations of people who actually inhabited Duke’s world,” his lawsuit alleges. “One prominent character in the screenplay, however, is fictitiously named: the character who plays the role of Duke’s physician at the time of her death.”

The doctor’s lawyers, Barry Langberg and Deborah Drooz, claim that the fictional doctor is closely based on their client. The screenplay, they charge, is libelous because it falsely suggests that Kivowitz hastened Duke’s death because he owed her money and was being blackmailed by her butler, the late Bernard Lafferty. The butler, by the way, inherited a handsome sum from Duke.

“[Dist. Atty.] Gil Garcetti investigated the death of Doris Duke and found there was no homicide, there was no criminal conduct at all,” said Drooz. “That should have removed all suspicion. That should have vindicated Dr. Kivowitz.”

The film company had no comment, and the writer could not be reached. The court papers quote liberally from the screenplay--including one scene in which the Lafferty character tells the doctor:

“Ms. Duke loaned you that money in good faith. And now I have power of attorney and can have that note called in at any time. Or I can have it forgiven. . . . The hearse is double-parked and its motor is running.”

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THE EX FILES: The marriage of Steven Bochco, the Emmy-winning creative force behind “Hill Street Blues,” “L.A. Law” and “NYPD Blue,” and his actress wife Barbara Bosson now appears to have been canceled after a 27-year run.

Bochco’s divorce papers filed against Bosson in Los Angeles Superior Court claim that the couple have been separated almost a year. He cited irreconcilable differences and asked the court not to award alimony.

Bosson, a former Playboy bunny in New York, has appeared in some Bochco productions, including “Hill Street Blues,” “Cop Rock” and “Murder One.” She also is the author of “The Bunny Years.” What next? “The Bochco Years”?

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SPOOF OR DARE?: If those posters promoting Michael Moore’s new mockumentary “The Big One” look familiar, you’re not imagining things. Columbia Pictures claims in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles that they are copycats of the promo posters for its 1997 blockbuster film “Men in Black.”

Columbia is suing Miramax Films, claiming copyright infringement and unfair competition. Also named as a defendant is Moore’s production company, Mayfair Entertainment International Inc.

The “MIB” posters feature Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, dressed in black, wearing sunglasses and carrying oversized weapons, in front of the New York City skyline. The caption reads: “Protecting the Earth from the scum of the universe.”

Posters for “The Big One” feature Moore in a black suit and sunglasses in front of the same New York skyline, carrying an oversized microphone, according to the lawsuit. The caption reads: “Protecting the Earth from the scum of corporate America.”

Moore’s film is billed as a documentary of the 1996 book tour for his corporation-bashing “Downsize This!” Just as in his 1989 film “Roger & Me,” Moore attempts to talk in person with corporate suits.

Columbia’s lawyers had no comment; neither did Miramax’s.

Maybe we should get a book and movie deal.

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Times staff writer Paul Lieberman contributed to this column.