Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Roma Downey Disappointed by David Cassidy 'Apprentice' Ouster/New 'Sniper' Star Credits Mom and Dad for Making Him a Tom Berenger Look-Alike

With the "Celebrity Apprentice" competition heating up en route to the show's May 22 season finale, you can be sure there are some David Cassidy fans out there who continue to feel sorry about the one-time teen heartthrob's unceremonious dumping at the beginning of this cycle. One of those just might be Roma Downey — who happens to be married to "Celebrity Apprentice" executive producer Mark Burnett.

"I was heartbroken because I have had a major crush on David Cassidy since I was growing up in rainy, war-torn Ireland," the former "Touched by an Angel" star confesses. "I had a picture of David Cassidy on my wall, with Scotch tape on my little pink wallpaper, and I used to sit there looking at it and thinking, 'Oh, David Cassidy, why won't you come and take me away from all this?'

"When Mark cast him on 'Celebrity Apprentice,' I thought, 'At last! After 40 years, I can finally meet David Cassidy,' and I was planning on going in, and you know, a couple of weeks into the shoot, I was calling to make my flight arrangements. And I said, 'I'm coming in because I want to meet David Cassidy,' and there was this silence because, as the world now knows, he was the first one out. They said, 'Oh, well, if that's why you're coming in, all we can say is don't bother coming.' So I never got to meet him!"

Downey, who has a Hallmark Channel original movie comedy, "Keeping Up With the Randalls," coming up this summer, loves to watch her husband's reality TV fare, of course. But as far as ever landing on such a program herself?

"I've learned enough to never say never, but I think there is a certain kind of personality that does very well on those things, a Type A, I guess, that is not my personality," she says. "I think I'd get lost in my own politeness. I don't think I'd be very entertaining. I'm way too thoughtful, and I don't speak in sound bites. I'm too Irish — I take too long to tell a story."

We wouldn't have her any other way.

RISING STAR: Chad Michael Collins credits his parents for his casting as the lead of "Sniper: Reloaded." The folks provided (among other things, of course) just the right DNA for Collins to resemble Tom Berenger.

"I did a film for Sony, 'Lake Placid 2,'" explains the handsome actor, "and when the producer wanted to get a reboot of the 'Sniper' franchise up, he kept me in mind.

He said, 'Chad has such a physical likeness to Tom Berenger, we could use him for an origin story."

The thought, initially, was to have Collins in flashback scenes as Berenger's character during the Vietnam War. Later, plans shifted toward a new contemporary story instead, with Collins playing the estranged son of Berenger's character from the 1990s' "Sniper" films — and Billy Zane back as his original character.

The actioner, being released on DVD and Blu-ray tomorrow (4/26) by Sony, has Collins as a Marine leading a U.N. peace-keeping mission in war-torn Congo — a mission that goes harrowingly wrong and forces him into reluctantly using his innate gift for marksmanship.

The film is "wide open" for a sequel, according to Collins, and "me and Billy are both excited to entertain the idea." A fan of the original movies, he also enjoys entertaining the idea of a possible encounter with Berenger at some point, but for now, his attention is on the first movie.

They shot in South Africa over five weeks, in "a really majestic location," Collins says. "The wildlife was incredible." His role was extremely physical — lots of "running, jumping, fighting, shooting guns and clawing through dirt" as he puts it. But that suited Collins just fine. He recently guested on "CSI: Miami" as an Ultimate Fighting champion and looked the part.

KILLER COMEDY: Call Bobcat Goldthwait's movies sick and twisted, or call them masterpieces (yes, that word has been applied to "Shakes the Clown" and "World's Greatest Dad" by certain critics), the comedian is getting closer to production on his next big-screen effort, "God Bless America." This is the one in which a man with a terminal illness teams up with a teenage girl and goes on a killing spree of the kind of ultra-annoying characters who are so prevalent in the media today — from a spoiled, "Super Sweet 16" type of girl to political "bile-spewing hate mongers." He's finishing up casting now.

A British comedy just about to begin shooting in Los Angeles, "Frienemy," sounds like more fun than many U.S. shows. The premise has two acquaintances sitting in a pub, talking about wanting to murder someone they mutually detest — an enemy who has, in fact, had inappropriate relations with one of the men's mothers. Their waitress overhears and announces, "What's the best way to kill a man who shags your mom?" and other patrons happily jump in with ideas — then are stunned into silence when it turns out a former KGB operative is there and he starts giving real how-to information. This starts a run on ideas for how to do away with hated bosses, in-laws and others in this very dark farcical comedy.

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.

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