Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Forget reports that have Sam Neill lined up to reprise his paleontologist character Dr. Alan Grant in "Jurassic Park IV" with plans to go before the cameras this year. "I know nothing about it. I haven't heard from anyone," informs the actor from his home in the New Zealand countryside. "I think that's just one of the Internet rumors" — of which there are many, pertaining to the in-development project.

Neill's "about to start a film in Australia that's not titled yet, and I have a film in China after that," he says. And he has Showtime's sumptuous, sexy April 1-debuting, 10-part series, "The Tudors." He plays controversial historical figure Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, who pretty much ran England for King Henry VIII, and, unusual for a cardinal, "had a family," notes Neill. Jonathan Rhys-Meyers plays the king when he was young and, in this version, hot looking enough for women to lose their heads over. You may recall that Rhys-Meyers won a Golden Globe for playing that other king, Elvis Presley.

WORTHY OF LAUGHS: "If I didn't think comedy could change things, I wouldn't be doing this." So says Dean Obeidallah of Comedy Central's "The Axis of Evil Comedy Tour Special," debuting Saturday (3/10). He adds, "I quit being a lawyer because I wanted to make people laugh — and beyond that out of a sense of activism … to show a positive side to who Middle Easterners are."

Obeidallah and his Axis of Evil cohorts also star on the Comedy Central Internet "Watch List" show. Their concert dates have been drawing larger and larger, and more diverse, crowds in the past few years. A cofounder of The N.Y. Arab-American Comedy Festival, Obeidallah says it now attracts a mainstream audience, where "four years ago it was probably 99 percent Arab Americans."

Now, he reveals, "The next step is a regular TV show for a bunch of us. We'll know in a few weeks" whether Comedy Central will move forward on a pilot.

Dean notes, "I look pretty white. My mom is Italian, and my dad's Palestinian. So it's intriguing, the minute I say, 'I'm Arab,' it changes the room. I say, 'Do you know what it's like being Muslim in America the last few years? I could use a hug.'"

After that, he pushes the envelope "all the time.

The only way to challenge people's misconceptions is to make the room feel a little uncomfortable. People come into comedy clubs expecting to hear jokes about relationships and farting. Many times it's a struggle to talk about real issues, but we're all inspired by the comedians who do it. Audiences are used to learning things from people like Chris Rock and Dennis Miller, and now, especially, Jon Stewart." Obeidallah, incidentally, sometimes shares gigs with New York Jewish comic Scott Blakeman — a former teacher of Stewart's — billed as Standup for Peace.

HELLO, AGAIN: Kim Richards has been garnering critical kudos for her portrayal of the emotionally disturbed mother of Christina Ricci in "Black Snake Moan," but it wasn't long ago the former child star was "living down in the desert, wondering about going back to work, not knowing how even if I wanted to." Richards was called back into the business, literally, by producer John Singleton and "Moan" writer-director Craig Brewer.

"My sisters' manager called and said they were looking for me," explains Richards, whose sisters are actresses Kyle Richards and Kathy Hilton, a.k.a. the mother of Paris Hilton. "I read the script and thought, 'Wow, this is great!' Craig said when he wrote it he envisioned me for the part completely. It wasn't too much work, but it was meaty and fun, a real different role for me," she says.

Now Richards, whose three daughters and one son range from 11 to 21 years of age, is "looking at a couple of projects" as a follow-up. Prior to 'Black Snake Moan," she says, "I had dedicated my whole life to my career, but finally stopped. I just wanted to be a mom, play with my kids and have a garden. When I did this movie, though, it did feel good to be back on set, hearing, 'Kim, we need you.'"

WAR IS HELL: With "Charlie Wilson's War" on track for a mid-April production start, there are casting challenges aplenty on the Mike Nichols movie starring Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman. They've been hiring actors to play Afghan refugees in the saga of a Texas congressman's covert dealings in the war between the Soviet Union and Afghanistan — a whole camp full, "to portray victims of war," as casting notices put it. That includes amputees and others with physical challenges and children.

(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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