Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Jason Priestley believes, "Every young actor should have to direct something." The one-time "Beverly Hills, 90210" star — who will be at the helm of an episode of the new "90210" later this month — says he had his eyes opened by the directing experience. "Once you direct your first project, it teaches you a lot of things never to do as an actor." Such as? "Never show up late."

Priestley is back on the tube Jan. 10, starring with Teri Polo and Cheech Marin in the Hallmark Channel movie "Expecting a Miracle." He and Polo play a couple who've been trying in vain to start a family. Cheech plays a Mexican village priest.

"When I work with directors who know I direct as well, I think they appreciate the fact I understand the directing process and what they're going through," notes Priestley, who also recently directed five episodes of ABC Family Channel's "Secret Life of an American Teenager."

Making "Expecting a Miracle," "It really felt like an old school movie-of-the-week kind of schedule — we had a lot of time, not like one of those movies that have to shoot in 15 or 16 days. Anytime you have the opportunity to work with the material, it's really a pleasure."

His character "was a lot of fun to play. He was a guy who was struggling with fertility problems, which I think is a pretty common thing," says Priestley, who has a 1-year-old daughter with wife Naomi in real life. "People start to feel powerless and that can get very frustrating. His heart is in the right place, taking his wife away for a weekend to try and fix their relationship — a classic character who is absolutely trying to do the correct and honorable thing, and everything is going wrong."

THE FAMILY THAT PLAYS TOGETHER: Ted McGinley knows at least one thing the new year has in store for him: "I've got two boys, and baseball season is coming up soon." The former "Hope & Faith" and "Married, With Children" actor proudly reports that his kids play soccer and volleyball, and travel for club team baseball, and Ted participates in coaching the latter. "It takes a lot of time, but on the other side of the coin, they could be just sitting around playing video games, and being tempted into some of the negative stuff kids get into," he points out. "It's hard to get up early, but it's so much fun to be involved — and my wife and I know we have limited time with them left.

Ted does have professional activities going on as well. For one thing, his "The Note II: Taking a Chance on Love" sequel to the high-rated 2007 "The Note" with Genie Francis is heading to the tube Jan. 31. And McGinley's in talks with the Discovery Channel about a show he's hoping to host and produce. Other than that, "I'm just trying to stay out of the strike. It's tough, because it's our future they're talking about, and you get all sides of the issues and hear that everyone has a good point," he says, referring to the Screen Actors Guild, which is expected to send strike authorization ballots to more than 100,000 union members today (1/2). "But timing is just really an issue right now. The town was just coming back from the writers' strike, and then, bam!"

AND: Young star David Henrie of "The Wizards of Waverly Place" is also among the performers fervently hoping that a SAG strike can be averted — noting that it's not only an awful time for a strike in terms of the economy and the industry in general, but for him personally. "This coming hiatus is a critical one for me," says the 19-year-old — who has several movie prospects in the offing that could be scotched by a walkout. Henrie's position, of course, exemplifies that of other young up-and-comers on the show business scene.

THE BIG SCREEN SCENE: It'll be a spring or summer release for George Clooney's "Men Who Stare at Goats," the inspired-by-real-life tale of attempts to use psychic powers in the army a couple decades ago. Clooney stars and produces, his longtime collaborator Grant Heslov directs, and the cast also includes Ewan McGregor, Kevin Spacey, Jeff Bridges and Stephen Root. Root, who previously worked with Heslov and Clooney doing "Leatherheads," says he's hoping for a summer release for maximum attention for the flick, "which is the way it seems to be going." He claims that the new film contains "concrete evidence that psychic powers exist." As for his own view, "I'm certainly open to the thought that there are things you can't see, mental things that go on. I think it's just interesting that this actually happened in our armed forces. There are supposedly some things that came through this [psychic] program, but obviously they're not going to tell you." The film, adaptation of British journalist Jon Ronson's book about the U.S. Army's First Earth Battalion, a unit that was to use paranormal powers, is "done in a lighthearted manner," Root adds. The title refers to the idea that one can kill a goat by staring at it.

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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