Quick Cuts

THORN IN ROSE CITY

Laemmle Theatres raised the ire of the Pasadena City Council when it scheduled the 1977 porno flick “Hard Candy” as a weekend midnight feature at its Playhouse 7 venue. The controversy arose last week when several residents and business owners complained to the council after seeing a newspaper ad for the movie, which stars the late porn star John Holmes. The City Council approved the plan for the Playhouse 7, which opened just under a year ago, because it saw the complex as a positive cultural contribution toward revitalization of the historic Playhouse district. The Playhouse 7, like the other theaters in the family-owned Laemmle chain, specializes in independent, art-house and foreign fare.

Occasionally, though, the Laemmles will deliberately showcase a “bad” movie--like the recent “Terror Firmer” (from Troma Films) and “The Underground Comedy Movie” (which starred Joey Buttafuoco and Angelyne)--for camp value.

But what the Laemmles see as a lark, many in Pasadena see as offensive. The situation was defused when the chain agreed to move “Hard Candy” to the older Colorado Theater, further east on Colorado Boulevard and--notes Councilman Steve Haderlein, whose district includes the Colorado Theater--further from the city’s tony Old Town. Haderlein told the Pasadena Star News, if “it was bad for the Playhouse district, it’s bad for East Colorado.”

ACTION!

“Enemy at the Gates,” a romance set during the fall of St. Petersburg, has begun filming in Berlin. Directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud (“Seven Years in Tibet”), it stars Jude Law, Joseph Fiennes, Ed Harris and Rachel Weisz. . . . After attending the Golden Globe Awards today, and the National Broadcast Film Critics luncheon Monday, Angelina Jolie will head to Mexico City to begin production on “Dancing in the Dark,” a thriller that also stars Antonio Banderas, Thomas Jane and Viggo Mortensen. Michael Christofer, who directed Jolie in the award-winning cable bio-pic “Gia,” is the writer-director.