Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Kyra Sedgwick's "The Closer" character Deputy Chief Brenda Johnson is planning a wedding when the new season debuts July 14. But will she and fiance, FBI agent Fritz Howard (Jon Tenney), make it to the altar?

"Honestly, I wouldn't tell you even if I knew, but I can tell you right now I don't know," says Sedgwick, who won a Golden Globe for her portrayal of the steel magnolia transplanted from Atlanta to L.A. on the hit TNT crime drama. The season opener finds the deputy chief and her Fritz already at loggerheads over their temporary living quarters (they're renting till the real estate market shifts). "It's frustrating for him. I think that she's a difficult character for a person to deal with." Fans of the show know that's an understatement.

And it's going to be an even bumpier ride to the altar, says Sedgwick. "In the third episode there's a very big blowup that happens between the two of them where he says, 'Your work always comes first, and I knew that going in, but ... ' And he does know that about her, and I think that's what he loves about her. But I also think the same things he loves about her, he hates about her. It's really difficult for him that she's always being dragged away and she always makes work the priority." She adds, "I think in some ways she's the male in the relationship in the sense that she's married to her work, and she doesn't have any qualms about that. She doesn't pretend to be what she isn't. But they're great together." A funny foot needs a funny shoe, as they say.

R&R PLEASE: Actors' strike or no actors' strike, David Morse says all he's thinking about is "a much-needed vacation" as soon as he wraps the currently shooting "Shanghai" overseas with John Cusack.

"We're about halfway into it," says the actor, who worked non-stop the past year in the upcoming big-screen films "Passengers" with Anne Hathaway, "The Hurt Locker" with Ralph Fiennes and Guy Pearce, as well as HBO's critically lauded "John Adams" miniseries (now out on DVD). "We're shooting 'Shanghai' in London then moving to Thailand. We'll finish the end of July."

The original choice for principal photography was reportedly China, but the movie was denied a filming permit after the filmmakers opted to not make changes to the script suggested by China's Film Bureau.

"It takes place just after the fall of Shanghai before World War II.

It's kind of the intersection of the Japanese, who have invaded Shanghai and are about to invade Pearl Harbor, the Chinese underworld and these American spies. I play the head of the spies." Morse says the period drama set in 1941 has "probably one of the most amazing international casts ever. We've got Ken Watanabe, Chow Yun Fat, Gong Li and Franka Potente(cq)." Cusack plays an American who returns to Japan to discover his friend has been murdered, and his government is hiding a much bigger secret. "He gets all the action, and I get all the talking," says Morse.

NICE PERKS IF YOU CAN GET 'EM: "Hancock" director Pete Berg is a huge fan and supporter of the New York Giants — huge enough to have thrown a lavish Super Bowl party for them in the penthouse of the Beverly Wilshire Hotel last February. This week, Berg has been in New York doing press for his July 2-opening flick, in which Will Smith plays a super hero with a difference. Make that a lot of differences. Anyway, Berg took the opportunity to visit the Giants' rookie dorm near the stadium Monday night — and surprised the rooks by giving them a sneak screening of "Hancock." We're told that the huge action picture went over "gigantically." Ouch.

FROM THE INSIDE LOOKING OUT: "My Boys" star Jamie Kaler says if there's one thing he makes sure to do when guest stars come on the show is to make them feel welcomed. The stand up comedian/actor admits he wasn't always given the same treatment before snagging a lead spot on the TBS comedy. "Being a guest star really is the worst job on the planet because you have to come in and be funny enough, but not funnier than the main cast — don't open your mouth, don't get in the way, just do your job, don't mess up any lines, and then you're gone," he explains of the process.

"My first guest starring spot was on 'Friends,' and I was so nervous all week long that I was going to get fired. Nobody would talk to you. You'd stand in the corner. Then they call for you to do your part. You do your four lines, and you better do them right and then get out of the way again," he recalls. Luckily, Kaler is now in a cast of people who also understand what it's like to be the new guy on set. "We've all done so many guest spots that we go out of our way to ask them to come have lunch with us. Most guest stars would say this is one of the better shows to work on. But this is also season two. Maybe by season five it will be different," he adds with a laugh.

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 2008 MARILYN BECK AND STACY JENEL SMITH

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