DATE: Thursday, September 18, 1997          TAG: 9709180057

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, ENTERTAINMENT WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  128 lines

THE KISS KEVIN KLINE AND TOM SELLECK TALK ABOUT PUCKERING UP ON THE SET OF THEIR NEW FILM, "IN & OUT"

THEY'RE CALLING it the movie kiss of the year.

``The only question I had about it was `Does it belong in the movie or is it a gimmick?' '' Tom Selleck said. ``It belongs. And it's one of the funniest scripts I've ever read.''

``I didn't eat onions or garlic on the day of the shooting,'' Kevin Kline said, adding sheepishly, ``I've had worse beard burns from some women I've kissed.''

The pucker, which is more than a little smooch, is in the comedy ``In and Out.'' The film, opening Friday, was directed by Frank Oz and written by Paul Rudnick. The smoochers are Oscar winner Kevin Kline, 49, and legendary TV macho hunk Tom Selleck, 52.

The film, which is getting big laughs and rave reviews, concerns an Indiana schoolteacher's plight when a former student (now a famous movie star) identifies him as being gay while making an Oscar-acceptance speech. (The inspiration for the script is Tom Hanks' 1994 Oscar acceptance speech for ``Philadelphia'' during which he thanked his high school teacher.)

The TV ``announcement'' is news to the teacher (Kline), who is preparing to marry his long-time girlfriend (Joan Cusack). Their town goes berserk, and an aggressive network TV reporter (played by Selleck) arrives to cover the story.

While the kiss is a major plot turn, the TV show ``Entertainment Tonight'' revealed its existence weeks ago. Now, Selleck, Kline and everyone else involved is willing, sorta, to talk about it.

In New York for a preview screening, Selleck got a bit irritated when some members of the press suggested that the role was in contrast to his politically conservative stance in real life. He contributed $1,000 to the Republican presidential campaign of conservative columnist Pat Buchanan.

Selleck, noticeably irritated, countered: ``People who assume who someone is are indicted by their own bigotry. You can't assume my identity on political grounds. I contributed to each of the candidates to encourage them to speak out on the issues. I gave money to other candidates too, but that doesn't mean I support everything they say. I make faces in front of a camera. That doesn't make me Solomon. I'm an actor. Understand? An actor?''

The actor added: ``You bring a certain amount of baggage to every part. I haven't been associated with comedy as much as I would like, and that's why I bring some baggage to this film.''

Selleck, who was the macho hero of TV's ``Magnum, P.I.'' for eight hit years, says it is more ironic that he is playing an aggressive TV reporter, the same type who has hounded Selleck for much of his career.

``I sued the National Enquirer in 1983 because they wrote a story claiming that I had an affair with Victoria Principal,'' he said. ``One of those rags printed a story called

`Tom Selleck's love secrets as told by his father.' I was advised to ignore those things, but the degree of irritability is upped when you have a wife and a kid.''

This isn't his first movie comedy about sexual confusion, however. His movie debut, in a bit part, was ``Myra Breckinridge,'' starring Mae West and Raquel Welch, about a sex change. ``Mae chose me for the role,'' he said with a laugh. ``Mae didn't wake up until 2 o'clock every afternoon, and I got this summons to her dressing room. She asked how tall I was right away. I thought I'd lost the part. She was very short, and I'm very tall. She was a very funny woman. I laughed a lot when I was with her. I escorted her to a few of the premieres and things. It was my very first role. Just a walk-on.''

He appeared as a guest in several highly rated ``Friends'' episodes last season, but for the most part, he has not been in comedy.

``The comedy scripts I get are not very good,'' he said. ``This one was hilarious. I didn't hesitate to do it. This guy I play is at peace with his sexuality, but not with who he is.''

Selleck admits, though, that ``there's something uncomfortable about arriving on a set, meeting a person and then later in day, you're in bed with them half-naked. I've played that role a few times with some very gorgeous women. With Kevin, it's just another role. We're both professional actors. I didn't eat garlic, and he used breath mints.''

Is a role like this a threat to his sex symbol image? ``Who cares?'' he retorted. ``If anyone doesn't get the joke, then they'd have to be pretty dense. One of the more embarrassing things that ever happened to me was being named the `World's Sexist Man' by People magazine. Just embarrassing.''

The scene took two days and 48 takes to film.

Selleck's wife, dancer Jillie Mack (whom he met when she was in the cast of ``Cats''), was not on the set during filming. ``I don't think she sees Kevin as a threat to our marriage,'' Selleck said with a laugh.

Kline, on the other hand, is a master clown. He won an Oscar for ``A Fish Called Wanda'' and Tony Awards for both ``On the Twentieth Century'' and ``The Pirates of Penzance.''

``We rehearsed it ahead, but we never really kissed until the cameras were going,'' Kline said, laughing. ``It was like any other role, but this guy is monumental. A big guy. Tom has a wonderful sense of humor about himself.''

Kline was in theater for 10 years, an original member of John Houseman's company, before he was chosen by Alan Pakula to star with Meryl Streep in ``Sophie's Choice.'' Since then, he's starred in ``Silverado,'' ``The Big Chill,'' ``Dave,'' ``French Kiss'' and others, alternating comedies with dramas, and even ``Hamlet'' on the New York stage. ``The Ice Storm,'' a stark drama in which he co-stars with Sigourney Weaver, will open soon.

His wife, actress Phoebe Cates, was not present for filming of ``the scene'' either. ``Phoebe still looks about 15,'' he moaned. ``She probably always will look that young. Phoebe once told me that, before she met me, she thought I was gay. She said it was that I used my hands so much in `Sophie's Choice.' We laughed about it later. This movie effectively shoots down a lot of those stereotypes and suggests that you just shouldn't judge people that way. And why judge anyway? We don't live in categories. We're people.''

Director Frank Oz said that the kiss scene was carefully rehearsed. ``Comedy is a very serious thing,'' he said. ``In this scene, Kevin was a kind of Doris Day to Tom's Rock Hudson. It had to be a big kiss, and we had to cast two famous movie stars in it or it wouldn't have worked. It was filmed by a roadside, outside. These people drove by and threw on the brakes to see Tom Selleck and Kevin Kline. `What the hell kind of movie is this?' they asked. Someone waved them on and, I hope, told them to buy a ticket.''

Oz, who is the voice of Miss Piggy, had his bags packed to leave for London where he's filming the Yoda scenes for the next ``Star Wars'' film. He was careful to get a PG-13 rating for ``In and Out'' ``because I don't think it's for children, but I do think it's for everyone else. It's not a gay comedy. It's a light, romantic, screwball comedy.''

However, Kline and Selleck are the subject of joshing, even from their cast members. Take, for example, Matt Dillon, who said:

``I wasn't there the day they filmed that scene. I didn't think I wanted to see that one. The next day, I heard it was really funny. Maybe they could be the next Tracy and Hepburn. Or they could make a series of films, like Bogart and Bacall. Seriously, these guys had a good attitude about it, and more guts than most lesser actors - like me.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color Paramount photo

Kevin Kline and Tom Selleck...

PARAMOUNT PICTURES

Tom Selleck plays an agressive television reporter in the comedy

``In and Out,'' which opens Friday.

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu