Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Chris Noth isn't getting worked up about the prospect of reprising his role as Mr. Big in a big-screen version of "Sex and the City."

He's heard the chatter that the film will finally be made, but says he doesn't believe it. On the other hand, if such a project does come to pass, he's sure there will be a part for him, because, he says, "Mr. Big was such a big part of the equation."

He has decidedly mixed emotions about the matter.

"Mr. Big was fun to do, but I have many more roles to play, and wouldn't want to be locked into one part. People even call me Mr. Big when they pass me on the street. I would prefer that they didn't, but they do."

He's more than pleased to be back, reprising his old "Law & Order" role as Det. Mike Logan on "Law & Order: Criminal intent" — with a schedule that has him and co-star Julianne Nicholson alternating leads with Vincent D'Onofrio and Kathryn Erbe. He does admit, though, that it's taken him a while to be happy with the show.

"That first year was difficult. The plot lines were long and complicated, and I just wasn't sparking to it. The characters were just pointing the audiences through the story, like beacons. But this year it's different. The show's provocative, the writing sharp and much improved with Warren Leight aboard as executive producer and Norberto Barba as producer."

Noth's schedule allows him squeeze in some film work, such as the upcoming drama "Frame of Mind," in which Tara Wilson is also featured.

Noth and Wilson met a few years back when she appeared in "King Lear" in New York. Then she did a "Criminal Intent" guesting in 2004 and ... They've been together ever since? "You could say that's true," says Chris.

ON THE PERSONAL SIDE: "Lost" regular Daniel Dae Kim reveals his late-in-life decision to become an actor did not sit well with his parents. In fact, the Korean-American heartthrob admits they freaked out "for a little while. I was in college and I was going to be an attorney, so this was a major career change for me. And my dad's a doctor who wanted me to follow in his footsteps, so being an actor was the furthest thing from his mind." Now that the show's a worldwide hit, "I'm happy to say they're proud of what's happened," reports Kim. "My dad even tries to give me career advice every once in a while. I'll talk to him about a potential project and that I'm in discussions for this particular role, and he'll ask me questions like 'Well, how much are they paying?' and 'What are the accommodations like?' I get a kick out of that.

Meanwhile, according to him, this season of "Lost" will finally shift the focus away from the triangle of Jack, Kate and Sawyer (Matthew Fox, Josh Holloway) to the other island habitués. "My character is going to start speaking more English, which I'm thrilled about," says Kim. "He's going to be taking some serious English lessons, and in the episodes coming up he'll start to learn quickly."

FROM THE INSIDE LOOKING OUT: Anthony Hopkins' "Slipstream" — which the Oscar-winning actor wrote and directed and in which he stars — debuted to decidedly mixed reviews at the Sundance Film Festival, being called everything from "avant-garde" to "possibly the biggest howler of the festival." But Christopher Kennedy Lawford, who is in the cast along with wife Lana Antonova, is quick to rise to its defense: "It's truly a work of art. It's not going to appeal to people who like safe, cookie-cutter things. This is a risk. It's definitely a movie that is 'out there,'" The lineup for the film — about a writer whose lines of reality blur as his characters begin appearing in his normal life — also includes Christian Slater, John Turturro, Michael Clarke Duncan and Camryn Manheim.

Lawford has known Hopkins for "about 14 years. He was a good friend of my dad's and helped my dad at the end of his life," he says, referring to the late Peter Lawford.

Since then, Hopkins has worked with Lawford (in "The World's Fastest Indian") and periodically talked shop with Lawford, including his approach to acting, in which "He reads the script out loud 100 times." They also have bounced writing projects off each other, including Lawford's best-selling "Symptoms of Withdrawal: A Memoir of Snapshots and Redemption," which is out in paperback from Harper Paperbacks.

BACK ON TRACK: "Saturday Night Live" is finally making us giggle again with newer cast members on board like Andy Samberg, who's gotten a lot of attention from his digital shorts. Then there's the funny Kristen Wiig, who hails from the Groundlings Theater in Los Angeles. However, when it comes to patting particular cast members on the back, executive producer Lorne Michaels says that's not his style. "I would never sort of single somebody out," claims Michaels, who believes the entire cast has renewed an interest in the long-running show. "You can feel it around the show that there is a real excitement."

(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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