Ring My Chimes!

The UC Board of Regents has turned thumbs down on Bruinville filming for Vestron’s Jeremy Kagan-directed spoof, “The Hunchback of UCLA.” So it’s now lensing at . . . USC!

Producer Scott Rosenfelt told Outtakes, “Let’s just say we went to shoot at USC because of the look of the campus, not because UCLA rejected us. It’s a very tricky issue.”

Could the storyline have anything to do it? A Vestron rep tells us “Hunchback” is about “a wise-cracking underachiever from Jersey who considers (UCLA) something akin to a country club--and finds comic inspiration from the unlikely source of a modern-day Quasimodo” who lives in the campus bell tower.

Darlene Skeels, UCLA director of public information, said attorneys have been haggling over a film permit since 1985: “The film was judged inappropriate. . . . The main reason ‘Hunchback’ was denied permission was that the subject matter was all about the campus.” Now they’re debating the title.

Tentative release is next spring. Stars are Tom Skerritt, Cindy Williams, Jessica Harper and screenwriter Allan Katz--in the title role.

--From Craig Modderno