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LOS ANGELES TIMES
October 31, 1995, Tuesday
Part F; Page 1

by Robert W. Welkos and Judy Brennan

Despite potentially damaging disclosures that its writer/director is
a convicted child molester, the new Walt Disney film "Powder" placed
second at the nation's box office over the weekend.

The $10-million film grossed a higher-than-expected $7.1 million
despite protests from the now-20-year-old victim, who urged the
public to boycott the PG-13 movie.

As controversy swirled around filmmaker Victor Salva, who pleaded
guilty in 1988 to molesting a boy on the set of his low-budget
picture "Clownhouse," Salva's agent said that a good showing at the
box office may salvage the 37-year-old director's career.

"At least three studios are meeting with him. One has already given
Victor scripts to read," said his agent, David Gersh, who declined
to name the studios.

"If 'Powder' does well," Gersh added, "Victor will see work again.
He is a true talent. If not . . . who's to say?"

Meanwhile, a producer of "Powder" told The Times that he had been
"misled" by Salva and his handlers, and that had he known the full
extent of Salva's criminal case, he likely would not have worked
with him.

Producer Daniel Grodnik said Gersh and Salva's former manager, Mike
Levy, left him with the impression that the victim was an older
teen-ager who consented to the act and that Salva had served his
full three-year sentence and was undergoing therapy.

In fact, the victim was 12 at the time Salva molested him and the
director served only 15 months in prison before his parole. The
agent said he was unsure whether Salva is undergoing therapy at
present; Salva declined to be interviewed for this story, as did
Levy, who is now an independent producer.

"I asked questions, plenty of questions based on the information at
hand," Grodnik said late last week. "I felt kind of indemnified.
This man had a major agent, a major manager. Even though the man had
committed a crime, I was told it was an isolated incident, that it
happened once and that it involved consenting parties.

"Victor always maintained that it was consensual," Grodnik added.
"If I had known the full truth, I probably would not have done a
movie with this man."

But Gersh said he "never presented Mr. Salva in that way" to
Grodnik.

Gersh, who has represented Salva since "Clownhouse," told The Times
that he never discussed the extent of Salva's past with Grodnik
early on. Gersh noted that the producer confronted him last week
after the controversy erupted.

"He told me . . . that he was misled about Victor's past," Gersh
said. And, he added, "Victor did lose a job (in the movie business)
once before because we disclosed his past. But we have never, ever,
kept it from anyone."

Although he represented him at the time, the agent said that Salva
did not fully describe to him the nature of his acts.

"I was working with Victor prior to his going to jail. . . . One day
(Salva) called me up and said he was going to jail for a while for
something he had done. That he would see me when he got out."

Gersh said he never pressed to find out all of the details.

Salva, a former child-care worker, had made amateur films in
Northern California and came to the attention of famed director
Francis Ford Coppola, who funded "Clownhouse." Salva met Grodnik two
years ago when he approached the producer about his script "Nature
of the Beast," a psychological thriller about two men on the road.
That film was released on video last week by New Line Cinema.

"Powder's" moderate success came despite protests by the victim,
Nathan Winters of Concord, Calif., who picketed theaters and passed
out leaflets urging the public to boycott the film.

Exhibitors said that the protest, widely reported in the media, may
have sparked turmoil inside Disney but didn't seem to cause a ripple
effect across the country.

"In the hinterlands, (the controversy) didn't seen to make a
difference," said John Krier, president of Exhibitor Relations Inc.,
a firm that tracks box-office results.

Krier said some exhibitors were nervous entering the weekend, not
knowing how the controversy might impact attendance, but by Monday
he described it as a "tempest in a teapot." He said the "movie sold
itself."

The film, which stars Mary Steenburgen, Jeff Goldblum and Sean
Patrick Flanery, in the title role, is about a young man with
extremely pale skin who has telekinetic powers.

"Powder" is the second film Salva has directed since he was released
on parole after pleading guilty to charges of lewd and lascivious
conduct, oral copulation with a person under 14 and procuring a
child for pornography.

While producers of "Powder" assert that no minors were used in the
film, children of cast and crew members were present on the set,
several crew members said in interviews. The producers acknowledged
that they did not notify the parents that Salva was a convicted
child molester, but sources close to the production say Caravan
executive Roger Birnbaum told Salva to advise the cast of his past.

"You can look at everything in hindsight," Grodnik said. "If there
is a burden of disclosure with cast and crew, it should rest with
the person who committed the crime."

The producers say they were unaware of the extent of Salva's crime
until midway through the production, but rumors circulated among
some crew members before filming even began.

Debra Dotts, who worked second assistant camera, said she first
heard the rumors during makeup testing a week before shooting
started.

"I was prepping camera equipment when an assistant said, 'If you
have kids, don't come to the set. I worked with him on movie a
couple years ago and he was convicted of molesting a child in the
movie,' " Dotts recalled.

Brian LeGrady, first assistant camera, said he heard the news from
another camera assistant who had worked in the past with Salva.


Disney has issued a flat "no comment" on the controversy, saying
neither Disney Chairman Michael Eisner nor studio chief Joe Roth
will discuss the matter.

Executives at Caravan Pictures, which produced "Powder," said Salva
won the directing job because they had been impressed by his
original script.

Welkos is a Times staff writer; Brennan is a free-lance writer.

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