Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

With the success of his latest autobiographical book, "With God in My Corner: A Spiritual Memoir," heavyweight boxing champ-turned-entrepreneur/TV personality/preacher George Foreman acknowledges there's interest in turning his hugely dramatic life story into a movie. In fact, he's come close to doing it before.

"It was almost done as an HBO movie, then I talked about doing it as a made-for-television movie with NBC," says Foreman, who is currently serving as a judge on ABC's "American Inventor" show. "You want to do the best one you can while you're alive, but after you're gone — that's when the greatest one will happen. When you're still alive, people tend to be a little bit too careful. It's like having the artist on stage with you, watching."

Foreman says he hasn't been crazy about the way he's been represented in any films so far, but acknowledges, "It wasn't my story they were telling. I haven't liked any movies done on Muhammad Ali yet, either," he adds pointedly. His favorite boxing film, by far, "was 'Raging Bull.' I jumped out of my seat with that one. When Robert DeNiro walked to his corner with that arrogant boxer's look, he got it."

If and when his story gets the movie treatment, he envisions getting "a young up-and-coming actor off the New York stage and turning him into George. The story has to be acted. The actor would have to have a whole range to make it ring true."

That's for sure. Foreman, who's sold more than 55,000,000 of his famous grills, writes of having undergone a transforming near-death experience that put an end to his rage and led to his becoming a minister. He preaches regularly at his church in Houston and has been compiling a series of sermons that he's been asked to make into another book.

HAVING HIS CAKE: "The 4400" lead Joel Gretsch ping-ponged between big and small screen work when the hit USA Network show's producers made it possible for him to shoot the upcoming sequel "National Treasure: Book of Secrets." "I got the role on my hiatus," explains Gretsch, "but because of Nicolas Cage's schedule they postponed the starting date, and we were already into filming the new season of '4400.' The producers were so terrific. They let me fly down to Los Angeles. I'd film all day, then I'd fly back to be on the set the next day in Vancouver."

In the sequel, which has Cage's intrepid treasure hunter Benjamin Franklin Gates investigating the assassination of President Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth, "I play Nicolas' great-grandfather in flashbacks," says Gretsch.

"There's a possibility that I'm involved in the assassination plot, so he's trying to clear his great-grandfather's name. It's a wonderful story."

Gretsch — who plays National Threat Assessment Center agent Tom Baldwin on the USA Network's hit "The 4400" — says the troupe is close to wrapping the new season. Fans of the show know that the fictional Promicin — the drug responsible for the 4400's special abilities — is being given out randomly to the public with a 50-50 chance of either developing a talent or dying. He says the 50-50 plotline is posing "a great moral question. We've all had down times. Would you take the risk if you don't even know what ability, or if an ability will develop, or you could die?"

AHEAD OF THE GAME: Jansen Panettiere says he has a distinct advantage on the currently shooting baseball film "The Perfect Game" with Clifton Collins Jr., Cheech Marin and Lou Gossett Jr. "I've been playing third base and second base in a baseball league for five years," says the 13-year-old brother of "Heroes" actress Hayden Panettiere. The film chronicles the true-life story of a group of boys from Monterrey, Mexico, who become the first non-U.S. team to win the Little League World Series. However, Panettierre says since baseball experience wasn't a prerequisite to be hired, the whole troupe went through baseball camp. "We had two weeks of training, and some of the kids had never really picked up a baseball ever, so that was really interesting to watch them transform themselves into looking really incredible and being able to throw and run the bases." The film is scheduled to wrap this month.

Meanwhile, Panettiere stars in Nickelodeon's TV movie "The Last Day of Summer," airing July 20. In the comedy fantasy he plays tween-aged Luke Malloy, who's dreading going to middle school so much he wishes Labor Day would last forever — and gets his wish. One of the fears his character must overcome is performing onstage with his band, the Steel Monkey, and Panettierre says he got to rock out in the grand musical finale. "I'm able to pick up instruments pretty fast, and I play the guitar pretty well," he says.

MOSSAD TO MOUSSE: With production set to get underway before month's end in Israel, New York and Los Angeles, casting forces have been busy filling subsidiary roles on the Adam Sandler-Mariah Carey big screen "You Don't Mess With the Zohan" comedy — in which Sandler plays an Israeli super spy described as "hornier than James Bond ever was," who gives it all up to become a Manhattan hairstylist. Among the parts are elderly clients of Sandler's from the West Side, who find our studly, blow dryer-wielding hero charming indeed. Well, at least we can say it's not a plot we've heard before.

(With reports by Stephanie DuBois and 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 2007 MARILYN BECK AND STACY JENEL SMITH

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