Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Laurence Fishburne is more than pleased with his big-screen "Armored" that gets released today (12/4). The thriller, in which he shares the screen with Matt Dillon, Skeet Ulrich, Jean Reno, Amaury Nolasco, Fred Willard and Milo Ventimiglia, is led by hot 27-year-old actor-choreographer Columbus Short.

"Twenty years ago, he wouldn't have been the lead. Milo Ventimiglia would have been the lead," Fishburne says.

"It's obvious, you know. Columbus is an African-American male, and 20 years ago, things were different," adds the esteemed Tony- and Emmy-winning, and Oscar-nominated, star. "There was Denzel's career — he was way out in front doing the leading male roles — but it wasn't until the 1990s that it became where there were more than just his face. It's a great thing that Columbus has been given this opportunity, and I think he's more than up to the task. I think he carries the movie really, really well."

"Armored," in which a disparate group of armored car drivers conspire to pull off the perfect heist, was actually shot before Fishburne took on his starring role as Dr. Ray Langston on "CSI" last season.

"It's kind of been sitting in the can for a while," he notes. So a prime December release "is lucky for us."

As for why he was attracted to "Armored," Fishburne says with a laugh, "I didn't have a heist movie on my resume. And, you know, the character I play is not something I've done — certainly in recent years, I haven't done this kind of character and I thought this would be a good opportunity." His character seems fine, at first.

Fishburne shrugs off an Internet report on the movie, tagged "Pass On 'Armored,'" that's gotten attention despite the fact that it turns out all the blogger really has to say is that he plans to skip the film because he's not a fan of Matt Dillon. It's a shame that someone who hasn't even seen the movie can cast aspersions on it thanks to an Internet platform. "Yes, but we're just going to keep on moving," Fishburne says smoothly, "and if he doesn't like Matt Dillon, that's his problem."

STAYING IN STEP: Carrie Ann Inaba of "Dancing With the Stars" tells us there is more than enough room for numerous dance shows on television — and as far as she is concerned, there should be no competition among them.

"It's a small community so we really have to support each other. I'm really against any kind of competition between the shows," says Inaba, who has even started the charity organization Dizzy Feet Foundation, with "So You Think You Can Dance" judges Nigel Lythgoe and Adam Shankman. "Our shows were up against each other a couple of nights this season and I think that's too bad because people love to watch dance, and our shows bring completely different aspects of dance."

MULTI-TASKING: Anthony Edwards has been keeping busy in front of the cameras these days, but he tells us he's also trying to be more involved in the creative side of the business as far as producing his own projects.

"We're developing things right now. I have a deal with CBS/Paramount to develop stuff for them. Everybody seems to have a couple of film projects in their back pocket that they're trying to get together," notes Edwards, who can next be seen in Rob Reiner's movie "Flipped."

"I'm trying to do a little bit of everything. I think anytime you can avoid boredom and keep yourself inspired, you're doing the right thing. If I had any talent painting, maybe that would be doing it for me, but all I kind of know is the movie business. I've spent my whole life in it so it's the medium that I keep dancing around with," he says. As far as what he'd like to do next, Edwards responds with a laugh, "I would say a pirate movie in the Bahamas but it never seems to come my way. I could be the old, bald pirate." Well, you never know!

THE BIG-SCREEN SCENE: Andrew Stanton, the Oscar-winning filmmaker of "Finding Nemo" and "Wall-E" fame, is busy casting subsidiary characters for his planned live-action feature of Edgar Rice Burroughs' "John Carter of Mars" — though the film isn't due to start production until April. Casting forces are filling such roles as that of a young stable boy, a storekeeper and some rowdies for the movie starring 28-year-old Canadian actor Taylor Kitsch of "Friday Night Lights" and "X-Men Origins: Wolverine." Kitsch plays a shell-shocked Civil War veteran who finds himself mysteriously transported to Mars, where the inhabitants are at war.

With reports by Emily-Fortune 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.

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