Jack Nicholson has the title role in...

Jack Nicholson has the title role in “The Murder of Napoleon,” being developed by producer Thom Mount at Warner Bros. The Deric Washburn (“The Deer Hunter”) script is based on Ben Weider and David Hapgood’s book of the same name, which Nicholson optioned several years ago. Their tome, a blend of history and detection, relates how a Swedish dentist discovered convincing proof that Napoleon was slowly poisoned to death with arsenic during his final years in exile on St. Helena. . . .

William Hickey (“Prizzi’s Honor”) plays an aging Mafia don, again, in the gangster comedy “Mob Boss.” When a hail of bullets sends him to the hospital, his son, Eddie Deezen--the actor who looks and acts like a young Jerry Lewis--inherits dad’s mistress, Morgan Fairchild, and his enemies. The American Independent film, which also stars Jack O’Halloran, Don Stroud, Leo Gordon and Dick Miller, began shooting last week under Fred Olen Ray’s direction. . . .

In Buenos Aires, production designer Roger Hall is building the largest set in Argentina’s history for Panzer-Davis Films’ “Highlander II.” Christopher Lambert and director Russell Mulcahy reunite for the sequel, which will require an outdoor set larger than “Batman’s” Gotham City. . . . Meanwhile, in Mexico, construction is about to get under way on an outdoor replication of Rodeo Drive for Nelson Entertainment’s “The Taking of Beverly Hills.” To start filming next March, it will pit Ken Wahl against terrorists who take over that street. . Jill Schoelen (star of the November release “Phantom of the Opera”), Don Michael Paul (“Heart of Dixie”) and Sean Kanan (“Karate Kid III”) are the leads in Films West’s “Rich Girl.” About a spoiled, rich girl who gets a job in an L.A. rock club and falls for a lead singer, it also features Willie Dixon, the legendary 73-year-old R&B; musician, plus such local bands as Darling Cruel, Precious Metal and Celebrity Skin. . . .

Deborah Rennard (“Dallas”), Lisa Pelikan (“Julia”) and Harrison Page (“Sledge Hammer”) will get their kicks with martial-arts star Jean-Claude Van Damme in Imperial Entertainment’s “The Wrong Bet.” About street fighters and gamblers, it begins production Oct. 23. . . .

Robert Forster, Lance Edwards, Robert Davi, Bert Remsen and Hilary Shepard star in Wayne Crawford and Andrew Lane’s “Peacemaker,” a contemporary sci-fi action adventure set in Los Angeles. Kevin Penney directs. . . . Pathe’s “Little Havana,” an intercultural romance starring Jimmy Smits and Greta Scacchi, gets a new title: “Fires Within.”