Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Oscar Nunez Laughs As Ideas for Replacing Steve Carell Get Crazy/'Last Exorcist' Star Thrilled with Back-Bending Breakthrough

Ideas for replacements for the departing Steve Carell on "The Office" have gone completely wild — with pundits, fans and producers coming up with all sorts of off-the-wall thoughts. (Mel Gibson?!) Show producer Paul Lieberstein told E! Online that he wants to get Harvey Keitel to run the Dunder Mifflin paper company.

"Harvey Keitel is a crazy pick," says the show's Oscar Nunez with a laugh.

His preference? "I'd like to see them promote from within, either Melora Hardin or David Denman," says the actor known as accountant Oscar Martinez. "But of course, it's not up to us. We're just as excited as anyone to see what they're going to do."

With four episodes of "The Office" already in the can for Season 7, Nunez says that there's no sign of the farewell blues creeping in on set as yet. "The Emmys were a big, big party, and we had a great time. We just shot an episode with Timothy Olyphant of 'Ed Wood' and 'Justified.'"

That's a pretty tough guy for Dunder Mifflin.

"Well, he doesn't have a Glock or any guns in the episode, as far as I know. Nothing like that. He's just a regular office worker," Nunez says.

Also, the team has its Season 6 coming out Tuesday (9/7) on DVD and Blu-ray high-def. The collection includes deleted scenes, bloopers and, of course, such favorite episodes as Jim and Pam's (John Krasinski and Jenna Fischer) wedding.

As for what's ahead for his character in Season 7, "I don't know," Nunez says. "He's a conservative gay man, and I think he plays it very close to the vest. I don't think he wants the camera on him as much as Michael Scott (Carell) does. I feel that way, too. As long as they keep writing funny episodes, that's what counts."

Nunez admits that when Carell announced his exit at the end of this season, "At first, I thought it was the end of the show. But I think NBC would like to keep it going if the numbers are what they are, if it's funny."

And then Carell could come back as a guest? "Could you imagine? He could stay in that world. It would be wild."

NEW GIRL WITH A TWIST: Critics may have quibbled with the ending of "The Last Exorcism," but nobody is complaining about Ashley Bell, who has drawn across-the-board raves for her performance as the problem-riddled girl at the heart of the film. In London for the U.K. premiere of her movie this week, Bell tells us she's so thrilled by the response, "I feel like I'm in one of those inflatable jump-jump rooms."

It helped that she is double-jointed and oh so very flexible.

"There's no CGI in the movie. Daniel nailed my boots to the floor, pushed me over and yelled 'Action!'" she says, referring to director Daniel Stamm.

In fact, Stamm "asked me the night before we did that scene whether I had any ideas — which is a dream situation for any actor — and I said I'd been working on a backbend and several other physical bits." The athletically inclined actress, who is trained in ballet, karate and fencing (she competed nationally in the latter), tells us, "I was banned from yoga class. I'd end up in these weird positions that made people uncomfortable to look at, and I was asked to leave."

She never worried about being pigeonholed ala Linda Blair, she says. "Just because of the way the character is structured in this movie. I really favored the scenes where you got the chance to see who she is before she goes into one of her episodes — while this debate is going on as to whether she's experiencing a mental break."

Bell says she read extensively on mental illness as part of her research. "I'm obsessive. I read every single book on exorcisms that hasn't been banned, went to some extremist churches, talked to people involved in exorcisms. It's a fascinating subject," declares the actress, who's been a horror movie fan since age 7.

The Tisch School of the Arts NYU grad, whose mother, Victoria Carroll, is one of the founders of L.A.'s famous The Groundlings improv theater, says she doesn't know what she'll be doing next, but "I would love to do a comedy."

SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW: "We were waiting to see, 'Does this work?' The answer is 'Yes!' We sold out in every city. The people really enjoyed it and gave us long standing ovations."

So says Shanti Lowry, who has the distinction of being a silent film star in the 21st century. She and Jackie Earle Haley play the leads in the new silent film "Louis," which has just concluded a five-city test outing, complete with a live musical score performance — Wynton Marsalis playing his own composition with a complete band.

According to her, another sweep of cities for "Louis" is soon to be scheduled, now that the first shows have succeeded.

Lowry plays a 1907 New Orleans prostitute who's had a baby via the corrupt governor (Haley) in "Louis," which was lensed by Oscar-winning cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond. The enterprise was especially exciting for her because she's been a fan of silent films for years and owns a collection of Charlie Chaplin movies.

"It's not that people don't appreciate the art form. It's that they wonder, 'How commercial can it be?' ... In our case, this is art; this is beautiful. We went in with the attitude that 'We're going to do this at a real high level of quality and maybe, just maybe, we can change people's minds.'"

As far as changing her acting style for the silent film, she didn't. Lowry notes that in silent film classics of the 20th century, "the damsel is not the caricature that Chaplin was. ... They would get across the point of the scene in a real way. They didn't want to overact or be melodramatic."

Lowry was on hand for the performances in Chicago; Detroit; Bethesda, Md.; Philadelphia and Harlem, N.Y. She says, "Magic is the best way to describe it. It's sort of unbelievable, really. I think it's ground-breaking entertainment."

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 2010 MARILYN BECK AND STACY JENEL SMITH

DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS.COM