BURBANK, CA., April 24, 1996 -- Kim Basinger, Danny DeVito and James Cromwell will join Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce in New Regency Productions' "L.A. Confidential," a filmed adaptation of the seminal James Ellroy crime novel, set to begin principal photography in May under the direction of Curtis Hanson. The announcement was made today by Michael Nathanson, Chairman and CEO of New Regency.

The producers of "L.A. Confidential" are New Regency's Arnon Milchan and Hanson. Michael Nathanson, David L. Wolper and Dan Kolsrud are the executive producers. Brian Helgeland adapted the book for the screenplay, and Warner Bros. will distribute the film worldwide.

"L.A. Confidential" is a hard-boiled tale of crime and corruption that takes place when Los Angeles was being vigorously transformed into the metropolis of the future through a combination of hype and promotion, the pervasive reach of television and the resultant population explosion.

During this heady era in the booming '50s, a cast of gritty, colorful characters on both sides of the law intersect in a web of corruption and deceit. Basinger portrays the mystery woman at the center of two separate but intersecting lines of investigation being pursued by L.A.P.D. officers played by Crowe and Pearce. Cromwell appears as the police captain in charge of the two detectives. DeVito stars as the innovative, sleaze-monger editor of the most exploitative of the show-business tabloids of the time. Kim Basinger counts among her feature-film credits "The Getaway," "Ready to Wear," "The Real McCoy," "Cool World," "Final Analysis," "The Marrying Man" and the original "Batman." Earlier in her career, she starred in "My Stepmother Is An Alien," "Nadine, " "Blind Date," "No Mercy," "9 1/2 Weeks," "Fool for Love," "The Natural," "The Man Who Loved Women," "Never Say Never Again," "Mother Lode" and "Hard Country."

James Cromwell recently earned an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his work in "Babe." He has just completed a role as financier Charles Keating in the upcoming "The People vs. Larry Flynt" for director Milos Forman, which he followed with the next installment in the "Star Trek" series of films. He will also be seen this summer in the action-thriller "Eraser," starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Cromwell has successfully interspersed acclaimed stage and television roles with his film career, in which he counts credits such as "Murder by Death" and "The Babe."

Russell Crowe forged a successful Australian film career, featuring three successive notices from the Australian Film Institute -- a nomination for "The Crossing" and awards for "Proof" and the controversial "Romper Stomper" -- before breaking into American films with "The Quick and the Dead" and "Virtuosity." His upcoming film projects include "Breaking Up," opposite Salma Hayek; "Rough Magic," with Bridget Fonda; and "No Way Back." Crowe's other features include "The Sum of Us," "Prisoners of the Sun," "Hammers over the Anvil," "The Efficiency Expert," "Love in Limbo," "For the Moment" and "The Silver Brumby."

Danny DeVito has become a multi-faceted filmmaker with acclaimed successes as an actor, director and producer. Among his most renowned acting credits are starring roles in "Junior," "Renaissance Man," "Batman Returns," "Other People's Money," "Twins," "Ruthless People," "Romancing the Stone," "Terms of Endearment" and "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." As a director and actor, DeVito counts "Hoffa," "The War of the Roses," "Throw Momma From the Train" and the upcoming fantasy "Matilda," which he also is producing. Under his Jersey Films banner, he has produced such acclaimed films as "Get Shorty" (in which he also starred), the Oscar-nominated "Pulp Fiction," "Reality Bites" and the upcoming "Sunset Park," "Feeling Minnesota" and "Fierce Creatures," which reunintes the cast of "A Fish Called Wanda."

Guy Pearce made an international impression as one of the stars of "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen ofthe Desert." His other feature-film credits include "Snowy River: The McGregor Saga," "My Forgotten Man," "Hunting" and "Heaven Tonight."

Director/producer Curtis Hanson's most recent feature was the whitewater thriller "The River Wild," which transformed Meryl Streep into an action hero, and also starred Kevin Bacon and David Straithairn. Previously, he directed the box-office smash, "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle" and the slightly twisted "Bad Influence." Hanson wrote the screenplay for and directed "The Bedroom Window." His other screenplay credits include "The Silent Partner," "White Dog" and "Never Cry Wolf." Producer ARNON MILCHAN is an international entrepreneur who heads Regency Enterprises, one ofthe motion-picture industry's most prominent production entities.

Milchan began his entertainment industry career producing such films as "The King of Comedy," "Brazil" "Once Upon a Time in America," "Pretty Woman" and "The War ofthe Roses." Since forming New Regency Productions and establishing a distribution agreement with Warner Bros., his productions have included "JFK," "Heaven and Earth," "Natural Born Killers," "Falling Down," "Guilty by Suspicion," "The Mambo Kings," "Under Siege," "Sommersby," "Made in America," "Free Willy," "The Client," "Cobb," " Boys on the Side," "Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home," "Under Siege 2: Dark Territory," "Copycat" and "Heat." New Regency's upcoming releases include "A Time to Kill," "Tin Cup," "Sunchaser," "Bogus" and "Carpool."

Executive producer Michael Nathanson is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of New Regency Productions. In that capacity he has overseen production on such motion pictures as "The Client," "Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home," "Copycat," "Heat" and the upcoming "Bogus," "Carpool," "A Time to Kill" and "Tin Cup."

Previously, Nathanson was President of Worldwide Production for Columbia Pictures, and during his tenure there, was responsible for bringing to the screen such critical and commercial successes as "Bram Stoker's Dracula," "Groundhog Day," "In the Line of Fire," "A River Runs Through It," "Boyz N the Hood," "The Prince of Tides," "A League of Their Own" and "Awakenings," among many others.

Executive producer David L. Wolper has made more than 500 films and television programs which have won more than 150 awards, including two Oscars, 40 Emmys, seven Golden Globes and five Peabodys. He won an Oscar for Best Documentary Film for "The Hellstrom Chronicle" and has received the Academy's most honored Oscar, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.

Wolper launched the television mini-series and has produced some of the highest- rated and most-honored to date, including "Roots," "The Thorn Birds," "Sandburg's Lincoln," "Roots: The Next Generation" and "North and South," as well as the enormously successful Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. His producing work for the small screen has earned him an induction into the Television Hall of Fame.

As a film producer, his credits include "If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium," "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory," "The Bridge at Remagen," "The Devil's Brigade," "Victory at Entebbe!," "This is Elvis," and "Imagine: John Lennon."

Executive producer Dan Kolsrud was recently a co-producer of "Seven" and executive producer of "Richie Rich" and "Grumpy Old Men." His credits as producer include "Memoirs of an Invisible Man," and he was co-producer of "Falling Down." His other feature-film credits include "Impulse" (as executive producer/unit production manager); "Something Wicked Ths Way Comes" (as line producer/assistant director); and assistant director on "Men Don't Leave," "Like Father, Like Son," "Spaceballs," "Howard the Duck," "Top Gun, " "Th e Goonies," "Gorky Park," "Ghost Story," "Xanadu" and "Coal Miner's Daughter."

Screenwriter Brian Helgeland was recently one of the writers on the action thriller "Assassins." A former commercial fisherman from New Bedford, Massachusetts, Helgeland moved to Los Angeles in 1 986. His credits include the hit horror film "Nightmare on Elm Street IV" and another chiller, "Highway to Hell."