Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Eriq La Salle, who directed and stars in the Hallmark Channel film "Relative Stranger," debuting March 14, was moved by the story of a man returning to the family he'd left behind years before. He was delighted to work with Cicely Tyson and his one-time "ER" compatriots Michael Michele and Michael Beach. He's very proud of the way the movie turned out.

However …

"'Relative Stranger' was written as a feature film, but because it deals with an African-American family, and because of the way things are in Hollywood, there was no real possibility that it would ever get made as a feature," protests La Salle.

Agree or not, his indictment of the Hollywood movie factory in regards to minority images — still — is an attention grabber. The industry, he finds, turns out "so many stories of white families in all kinds of different situations, with all kinds of different conflicts, but there's no balance for minorities. Asian families, Hispanic families, African-American families — you don't see the simple sorts of subject matter getting done. There has to be some angle they feel comfortable with," he says, referring to industry powers. "If it's a 'hood movie, or a hip-hop movie — if you fit into certain categories, then you're valid. Then you're viable.

"I saw a trailer the other day for a movie about a guy who is getting married but hasn't developed many male friendships, so the story is about his trying to find a male friend. 'Wow,' I thought, 'you could never do that with a minority cast.'"

As far as whether the fact an African-American man is now president of the United States will make an impact, La Salle believes, "That's a wait and see. We have to take responsibility ourselves and stop dubbing Barack Obama as a superman. He is a human being who has accomplished amazing things. But this is about this industry and the fact that it's 2009 and we're still having this conversation.

"There are so many important stories in the African-American community that have been ignored — historical events, poignant stories, across the board. Hollywood says that our culture is not viable doing normal things," he blasts. "That's an indictment against our culture in general."

ANOTHER COUNTRY HEARD FROM: Country music star John Rich, who is currently hosting the third season of CMT's "Gone Country," says he's been blown away with the amount of hip-hop artists who have become fans of country music thanks to the show.

"I walked into a nightclub in New York City in a Stetson hat and a western suit. On stage it was Method Man, John Legend, Will.i.am — some of the biggest urban artists — and every single one of them made a point to come up to me and say they love the Big & Rich music and country music, and they say how much they love 'Gone Country,'" Rich tells us. "I have people come up to me and say, 'I don't listen to country music, but I love 'Gone Country,' and that it perks their interest toward country music."

Rich admits he's glad to get the mainstream recognition because he feels the genre is relatable to everyone. "Country music speaks to the people. We can talk about everything in country music. We can be religious, patriotic, we can party, we can cry, fall in love — anything that happens in life is represented in country music."

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING DIFFERENT: Cybill Shepherd, who's been busy with "The L Word," tells us she enjoys changing things up so her next project is a lot less scandalous than her part on the Showtime series. "I have a movie I did for Hallmark called 'Mrs. Washington Goes to Smith.' I play a woman who dropped out of Smith before her senior year to support her husband in dental school. Then when the kids are grown up he dumps her for a younger woman, so I thought I could go back to college at my age. I end up with a roommate who is 20 years old and is a biker chick," she explains of the project. "It was just a great situation and a lot of fun."

BUT IT LOOKS LIKE SUCH FUN: Rob Dyrdek may be living out an unresolved childhood wish list on his MTV show "Fantasy Factory," but he admits his life is not always fun and games. At the end of the day, there's a lot of work to do. "The show is almost a backdrop to my true busyness," says the pro skateboarder. "I wrote, produced, financed and starred in the first true-to-our-culture skateboard feature film called 'Street Dreams.' It comes out in the spring," he adds. "I've got a toy line and cartoon I'm developing about little kid skaters. I own a clothing line with Travis Barker called Status. I do a lot of stuff with my foundation where we work with local communities to take small parts in parks and build places to skate. Basically, I'm a busy dude."

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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