Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Expect Disney to pull out all the stops in launching its big-screen "Hannah Montana: the Movie" starring Miley Cyrus in April. "Hannah" costar Jason Earles tells us, "I know they're planning premieres all over the place — in London, Rome, Paris and L.A.. I'm not sure how many they'll send the whole cast to, but I know Miley has to do all of them. I think there's going to be a big media frenzy leading up to it, and it's testing really, really well — as good as any movie that Walt Disney Pictures has ever had."

We caught up with Jason and his cast mates Emily Osment and Mitchel Musso at this week's Hollywood premiere for the fun, fan-pleasing "Jonas Brothers: the 3D Concert Experience," which opens today (2/27), speaking of frenzies. Musso and Osment each have their own fledgling musical careers going, and each has an album on the way — his June 2, hers sometime this year.

"I've been working on this about a year and a half now so it's a big, long project, but that's why it's going to be good, I'm spending a lot of time on it," she says. "It's sort of like a different angle of myself, so it'll be nice to put that side out there. It's a completely different arena, away from 'Hannah Montana,' away from Disney,' something I've always wanted to do."

Says Musso of his record, "I hate to say a genre, because then people think they know what it's going to sound like, but if I had to pinpoint it, I would have to be a rock-dance-hip-hop kind of sound. Really mix and match."

THE BIG SCREEN SCENE: "I'm never doing another action movie again," claims Rachael Leigh Cook, on her final couple of days' shooting on the big-screen "Kerosene Cowboys" thriller with Shane West, Troy Garity, J.C. Chasez and "Twilight's" Cam Gigadent.

We don't think the beauty of "She's All That" and "Robot Chicken" fame is entirely serious, but she complains, "I had to run on camera for the first time the other day. I was thinking 'I look really cool,' but when I saw the playback — I have a problem controlling my wrists. It's not good. I got another take."

Fortunately, she says, the guys do most of the action sequences in the movie about "out-of-work Navy fighter pilots who get sent on a secret mission to track down missing nuclear weapons."

It's a far cry from the film she has starting its release today (2/27) in Los Angeles with other cities to follow — the indie romantic comedy "Bob Funk." "Funk," which she calls a "feel-good movie," is about a booze-guzzling slacker (Michael Leydon Campbell) who gets fired from his family's business by his mom and is forced to shape up and work for a new boss with whom he is instantly smitten — Cook.

Playing an adult in a responsible position was a step she wanted to take in a career heavy with teen parts (remember "Josie and the Pussycats?"). She admits the producers initially "were concerned that I would come across too young, but that soon went out the window."

STANDING UP FOR DR. DREW: Per our interview with Jeff Conaway, who talked to our column exclusively this week about his path to sobriety, we checked in with his life coach Johnny Wimbrey, who's known for helping people all over the world.

Wimbrey acknowledges Conaway's gripes about "Celebrity Rehab," but he thinks Dr. Drew Pinsky deserves more credit than the former "Taxi" star gives him. "I love Dr. Drew. Jeff will talk the good, the bad and the ugly about Dr. Drew. The bottom line is, Dr. Drew did not fail Jeff. Jeff failed Jeff," says Wimbrey, who Conaway tells us has helped him find his mojo in life again.

"Dr. Drew may have said some things he shouldn't have said, because I don't think anybody is qualified to give somebody any permanent diagnosis on a temporary situation," he notes about Conaway's claim that Pinsky told him his back problem will never be fixed. "Although he may have said some things I don't believe in, Dr. Drew should get a lot more credit than he's been given. Dr. Drew woke up a sleeping giant in Jeff. He pissed Jeff off, and that woke him up. Jeff said, 'I'm not going to be that crooked man. I'm going to walk again.' And he has. I definitely see a different person when I look in Jeff's eyes. He's finding his way, and I'm just showing him that the way exists."

A NEW SON: They're doing an eleventh-hour pilot reshoot on ABC's March 26-debuting "In the Motherhood," starring Megan Mullally, Cheryl Hines and Jessica St. Clair. Casting forces have been at work this week filling the character of Luke, Mullally's character's 16-year-old son. The role is described as a guest star-recurring character.

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 2009 MARILYN BECK AND STACY JENEL SMITH

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