Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Whether "Smallville's" Superman (Tom Welling) has a catastrophe in store for him versus super villain Doomsday (Sam Witwer) — in the tradition of Superman lore — remains to be seen. Witwer, however, says, "I have to believe they've got to throw down. Doomsday is known as the only one to ever kill Superman."

Witwer says that the intensity of his storyline — as kindly paramedic Davis Bloome, who morphs into the horrific Doomsday against his will — gets more intense as of Jan. 15.

Witwer considers himself lucky to nab the showcase part, and lucky in general — "the kind of luck where I could help a woman across the street and wind up with a movie role," he says. And he's not kidding about that.

A couple years ago, Witwer tells us, he saw a woman accidentally drop a bag of supplies while crossing the street ahead. "I see cars coming, and nobody's helping her. One of the guys near me actually laughs, like, snickers," he recounts. So Witwer went and helped collect the woman's spilled items and offered to carry her bags. They ended up in her office, chatting, and she asked if he was an actor — then offered him the chance to read for something. "There were three extremely different flavors in the material she handed me — a romantic scene, an argument and a freaking out crying scene. After 15 minutes of preparing, I did it, and then she wanted to put it on tape. And then she said, 'Frank is going to love this. This is so exciting.'"

The woman turned out to be one of Hollywood's premiere casting directors, "Frank" turned out to be director Frank Darabont, and the movie turned out to be Stephen King's "The Mist" — in which Witwer ended up being cast. It pays to be nice.

RIPE FOR THE PICKING ON: Rob Corddry, who rose to fame as a correspondent on "The Daily Show," says with the current antics on dramas like "Grey's Anatomy," he had plenty of material for his new web comedy, "Children's Hospital." "'Grey's Anatomy' I sort of watch with one eye open in that my wife loves it, and I'm on the computer behind her. I look up when my wife gasps, so I only see the really crazy moments. I assume there's some sort of emotional thread running through that show that ties together these bonkers, jump-the-shark bull—— crazy moments, but I don't see them. All I see is some kid completely incased in cement for the love of a woman or Katherine Heigl [having sex with] a ghost."

As can be expected, Corddry brings an irreverent style of comedy to the Internet with help from such actors as "SNL's" Jason Sudeikis, Lake Bell, Rob Huebel, Ed Helms and Megan Mullally.

"It turns out to be irreverent in that we can do whatever we want. We're allowed to see our comedic vision through, whereas people on TV, it's just by nature of the medium, you're compromised," he points out. "Warner Brothers is excited to do this because they didn't have to be the suits who come down with the huge pair of scissors cutting everything," he says of the series, which can be seen at www.THEWB.com until Dec. 31. "Hollywood has a reputation for these producers being totally uncreative, but it's not the case. Usually they are forced to be uncreative, and I think they kind of enjoyed spreading their wings a bit and let us get away with whatever we want."

HORRORS: Thora Birch, who rose to fame with "American Beauty," has now turned her attention to horror films, and while some serious actresses try to avoid the slasher genre, she says she had a blast. "I just finished a film called 'Deadline' with Brittany Murphy. It's a psychological thriller about a writer who has a deadline to meet so she goes away to this house to finish the story she's writing. Then she discovers that maybe the house is haunted," explains Birch of the film set to hit theaters next year.

In the meantime, she's hoping more people will get the chance to see her latest project, "Train," which is currently in the festival circuit. "It's a remake of a Jamie Lee Curtis horror film. There was a lot of action for me in this one. I got to kill a lot of people, and I've never been able to do that so it was fun," says the young actress.

THE ACTORS LIFE: Gabrielle Union is on the big screen right now in "Cadillac Records" and has a stellar credit sheet, but that's not keeping the actress from worrying about her next gig. "Unemployment is looming for the first time in years. Be careful what you wish for. There were those times when I was working crazy hours and just wished for a free minute at 1 or 2 in the morning. Then you get a lot of free minutes, and you don't like it," confesses Gabrielle, who put in a stint of working on two coasts at once when she had a recurring role on "Ugly Betty." "In that case, the tiredness worked for my crazy character," she says. As for what she'd like to do next, "I just want to work. I wish I had the luxury of saying which medium I'd like, but I'm not so prideful. I love it when the check clears and I am creatively stimulated. Sometimes, I'm just happy the check clears."

With reports by Emily Feimster.

To find out more about Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith and read their past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2008 MARILYN BECK AND STACY JENEL SMITH

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