Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Andy Garcia shoots down reports that have him starring in "The Last Testament of Lucky Luciano."

"Never believe what's on the Internet," advises Garcia, who is, for real, enjoying the success of Disney's "Beverly Hills Chihuahua," in which he provides the voice of the heroic German Shepherd at the center of the action.

In fact, Garcia's been completely occupied with his own film project. He notes, "I just finished a movie I produced, 'City Island,' in New York with Julianna Margulies, Emily Mortimer and Alan Arkin … and my daughter Dominik (Garcia-Lorido) is in it. She's great, we've worked together before."

He tells us he's been involved with the project that wrapped last month for "close to two years. The writer (Raymond De Felitta) had it for six to seven years. I thought it was a charming script, about a dysfunctional family in City Island in the Bronx — just one of those scripts that touches you on an emotional, human level, but with a lot of dysfunctional humor at the same time."

As far as taking on producing chores, Garcia points out, "When you're producing an independent movie and acting in it at the same time, you're working with a lot of financial parameters. You work very long hours in a very short period of time. You do whatever you need to do. When you have films you want to do, you have to be proactive about it. Sometimes you have to do it outside the system."

ON THE WAY UP: Owen Benjamin reports that Christina Ricci is "the best. She's great. She's been really, really helpful" as the two of them are filming "All's Faire in Love" in Michigan — his first starring movie role. The comedy once reportedly had Lindsay Lohan and Jack Black attached. Now it's Ricci and the comic actor who is best known for his funny short videos on the Internet — especially his Sony Pictures Entertainment web show, "Gaytown," seen on the company's Crackle.com site, YouTube and elsewhere.

In "All's Faire," which also has Cedric the Entertainer and Bill Engvall in the cast, Benjamin plays "a college quarterback who fails Renaissance History.

This very intense professor makes him work a Renaissance Faire, or he can't play football. He falls in love with a girl. He has a nemesis. It's a classic story. Renaissance Faires are a hotbed for comedy, an alternate reality, like Gaytown," he adds, referring to his make-believe land where most everyone goes for same-sex relationships and his character faces job losses and derision for being straight.

Benjamin, who's been seen in "The House Bunny," "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" and "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry" notes that film work "comes pretty naturally to me. Granted, I have a lot to learn about acting on traditional sets. But the experience and confidence you get from making your own stuff is invaluable because you understand what the people around you are doing all the time."

PROPERTY MASTER: Tough economic times are in the news, but let's not forget there are still plenty of people out there being successful. Like the hilariously neurotic Jeff Lewis of Bravo's hit reality show "Flipping Out." He tells us the show, Season 2 repeats of which are currently airing, has helped his house flipping business, "especially now because the market has slowed down, so I've had to do more client remodels. The show has brought so many people to my website — inquiries of people who want to remodel. We've been able to pick and choose our clients." As for the future of "Flipping Out," he says, "Our new season won't air until June of '09, because we don't start shooting again until January."

OFF TRACK: Spencer Pratt, who has become enemy No. 1 for Lauren Conrad on "The Hills," says he's been ambitious ever since he was a little kid. He's always felt like there was nothing he couldn't accomplish. However, he recently learned there's one thing he'll be crossing off the list. "I actually wanted to be a race car diver, so I went to a Nascar race not too long ago. The whole day I was saying, 'Oh, I could do this.' Then we stood above the track and waved the flag, and I was like, 'I could never do this!'"

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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