NOW THE BAD NEWS

Michael Jackson likes to work with famous directors (like Francis Coppola on “Captain EO” and John Landis on “Thriller”). And now add Martin Scorsese’s name to the list. He’s finishing up work on “Bad,” currently scheduled to be the first video from Jackson’s loooooooong-awaited follow-up LP to “Thriller.”

As usual, details are shrouded in secrecy. The record is due out “sometime early next year,” according to a spokesman at Jackson’s label, Epic. But no one’s saying when the video will surface.

Much of the filming for the clip, which will be both in color and black-and-white, has taken place at a subway station in Brooklyn. According to one participant in the project, Scorsese spent much of his pre-production time auditioning “mugger-type” actors for bit parts in the video. “After all,” the source said, “what’s a subway without a few muggers hanging around?”