ROCK WARS

Jack Vitek and Jerry Oppenheimer claim that their bio-in-progress (for Villard Books, a division of Random House) on Rock Hudson will be a “sympathetic and compassionate” portrait of the late star, but they’re running into opposition.

“Some people didn’t want to talk to us,” Vitek told Outtakes. “They chose to cooperate with the other book.”

The other book is by Sara Davidson (for Morrow), reportedly OKed by Hudson in his last days (a share of royalties are to benefit the Rock Hudson AIDS Research Foundation). According to Dale Olson, Hudson’s former publicist, Davidson has a signed request from Hudson asking his close friends to cooperate with her. Vitek said he and Oppenheimer have failed to break into Hudson’s inner circle, but are making progress with the “outer circle.”

“I think we’re going to be breaking news with this book,” Vitek said. “In fact, some of the stuff we’re getting may be too hot to handle.” He insisted his book would deal with Hudson’s “romances (with men) in the same manner that someone doing a bio of, say, Clark Gable, would discuss his romances with the ladies. We just want to tell an honest story.”