FIRST OFF . . .

Celebrated producer-directors George Lucas and Steven Spielberg will have strong words of recommendation when they testify Thursday before a U.S. Senate subcommittee considering a bill that would protect artists’ rights to protect their work, according to copies of their statements published Sunday by the Washington Post. “The recent destruction of our film heritage by colorization is only the tip of an iceberg,� says Lucas in his statement. “American law does not protect our painters, sculptors, recording artists, authors or film makers. If something is not done now to clearly state the moral rights of artists, current and future technologies will alter, mutilate and destroy for future generations the subtle human truths and highest human feeling that talented individuals within our society have created.� Says Spielberg: “The public has no right to vote on whether a black-and-white film is to be colored anymore than it has the right to vote on how the scenes should be written, whether the next angle should be a close-up or a wide shot . . . or on any of the thousands of other artistic choices made by the artist in the turbulent process of creation. The public does have a right to accept or reject the result but not to participate in its creation.�