-t o > ~ OJ Z , By MICHAEL GILTZ TORONTO, Canada - Just a few blocks from a downtown police station in To ronto, a new poHce sta tion has sprung up in an old school administra tion building.</p><p> It's the main set for "Kojak," a TV movie cur rently shooting and scheduled to air on the red-hot USA network in January.</p><p> In a classic "Kojak" scene, the detective who i 'Kojak' return has a familiar Ving to it is always ready to break the rules is being taken to school by'a former part ner, now his boss, Frank McNeil.</p><p> The show gets all the New York authen ticity it needs from its lead actors.</p><p> Ving Rhames of Harlem is the bald, fedora-wear ing detective, and Bronx born Chazz Palminteri is McNeil.</p><p> Yep, the classic New York detective -loved by cops in the 70s for re alistically depicting po- lice work -is still bald and hands out the occasional 101- lipop_ But Rhames, an ex ecutive producer on the movie, isn't coasting on a few props and signature tag lines. "I'm really focused on the humanity of the char acter," says the 45-year-old actor, tossing his fedora on a police . desk in a corner of the set. "I'm playing a man who happens to be a de tective.</p><p> It's trying to put the camera inside the man ...</p><p> Which I think is much more interesting than doing a movie about 'cops.' "I've got two children, and it's part of my job to make this world a better place before I leave the planet -if for nothing else than for the children, for my children.</p><p> I think this is where Kojak is coming from, and he hap pens to do it through NYPD." That's why we see Kojak staying up all night, pouring over the evidence in a case in volving a serial killer who targets prostitutes with kids.</p><p> As the sun rise floods his office, Kojak's eyes are opened to a crucial bit of evidence.</p><p> But for Rhames, the concerns of Kojak are more than solving the case even if the detective will do whatever it takes to accom plish that. "He is a man who cares about the death of hookers, the death of any one," says Rhames, who shot to fame as a menac ing tough guy in "Pulp Fiction." "But he's also a guy who does something that one has to question: Do the ends justify the means? He's very imperfect.</p><p> Yet he deals with two kids who lose their mother to a crime.</p><p> He deals with their father in prison.</p><p> An<;l Kojak helps get their fatlier out of prison." From "Charlie's An gels" to "Mission: Im possible," the re-inven tion of vintage TV shows is practically a cottage in dustry now.</p><p> But when word got out last month that "Kojak" was being re made -with a black . actor in the title role -it made headlines.</p><p> For Palminteri, it's that unexpected depth to the new Kojak that will win fans to this new movie. "Ving puts a spin on it that is really his own," says Palminteri, 52. "It's that quality you see of him in movies: He can be very tough and very mean, and then he can be extremely likable, and then he can be very funny.</p><p> It's all those quali ties in an actor you want to see, especially in tele vision." Both no-nonsense guys clicked immediately.</p><p> Rhames mentions their faith as one reason (Palm interi is a serious Catho lic), while Palminteri talks about their similar roots. "Ving called me himself anq told me he really wanted me to do this," says Palminteri. "We both come from the street, very meager as far as monetary things.</p><p> We both come from the same yolk."
