Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Sean Astin says he'd be surprised to be called in for the "Lord of the Rings" prequel film, "The Hobbit" — despite cast mate Dominic Monaghan's recent declaration to MTV that he's convinced he and Sean, Elijah Wood and Billy Boyd will be part of the highly anticipated Guillermo del Toro feature. That's even though their characters aren't in J.R.R. Tolkien's book of "The Hobbit."

"I hadn't heard that," says Astin of Monaghan's comments. "I like it, though," adds the actor, who was Oscar nominated for his "Rings" portrayal. He says that filmmaker Peter Jackson, who is writing and exec-producing the prequel (or two prequels) of his "Rings" trilogy, "knows I'd be there in a heartbeat if he wanted me, but I really would not expect it."

Sean has plenty on his plate, meanwhile, what with voicing the lead panda character in the April-4 debuting Disney Channel series, "Special Agent Oso." And with the big-screen "Demoted" comedy with Michael Vartan on the way. And with his role as "Big Girl" in the Michael and Mark Polish comedy "Stay Cool." The latter movie has a cast including Mark Polish, Hilary Duff, Winona Ryder, Josh Holloway, Jon Cryer and Chevy Chase — and it scares Sean, he admits.

Big Girl is "over the top — insane. I hope it works. He's a guy who is very gay. Gay doesn't really cut it. He's taken flamboyance as an identity and put it on massive steroids," says Sean. "He wears headbands, flowing robes, bracelets and rings, and lisps. I was absolutely terrified to do it. They talked about it being sort of subtle, but as soon as I got on the set, I realized, 'OK — go big, or go home.'" He adds, "I slipped into it easily, so easily, they were saying, 'This is you.' I know people like this."

Sean says the Polish Bros. ("The Astronaut Farmer," "Twin Falls, Idaho") are "making their deal right now" for "Stay Cool" distribution.

THE PLAY IS THE THING: Stacy Keach figures that at least half the audience attending his "Frost/Nixon," opening tonight (3/12) at Los Angeles' Ahmanson Theatre, will have seen Ron Howard's big-screen adaptation of the Peter Morgan play. Here in Hollywood, of course, folks just went through an Oscar season in which the movie played a prominent part, with five nominations including a Best Actor nod to Frank Langella. Keach is upbeat about the inevitable comparisons.

"If people liked the movie, they'll love the play.

It's a very different experience," says the actor, whose Richard Nixon performance has been drawing raves around the country since last fall. "The style, I think, is a new form of theater in some ways — a heightened presentational naturalism," he says. Among other things, Jumbo-tron type video screens show close-ups of Stacy and Alan Cox, who plays David Frost, giving a simultaneous live-and-on-TV effect.

Keach has yet to see the film. "I want to see it, I do," he says. "Frank is an old friend of mine. I love Frank's work. I have great respect for him. I only stayed away because I don't want to get confused."

He has six more weeks of his tour with "Frost/Nixon," then, "I'll take a week off, then jump into Lear," says Stacy, who will be bringing his acclaimed portrayal of King Lear to the National Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, D.C. in June. He performed the role in Chicago in 2006, so he's bookending Nixon with Shakespeare's tragic king. He says, "I'll be very curious to see how playing Nixon plays into my interpretation of Lear."

A CHANGE-UP: With "Iron Man II" production less than a month away, "The New Adventures of Old Christine's" Clark Gregg is awaiting word on whether he'll be called in to reprise his role as Agent Coulson in the Robert Downey Jr. film. "It would be fun to revisit that," says the actor-writer-director, who is also at work penning his follow-up movie to last year's "Choke" drama starring Sam Rockwell. With "Old Christine" a wrap for the season, Gregg's looking forward to viewer response as his Richard character and New Christine (Emily Rutherfurd) get closer and closer to their wedding day, with Old Christine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus, natch) "experiencing the agony of going to an ex's wedding. It's gonna get ugly," he says.

THE BIG SCREEN SCENE: With a late March production start planned, they're finishing filling subsidiary roles in the Ashton Kutcher-Katherine Heigl feature "Friends & Neighbors" (previously known as "Five Killers"), with filming planned in France, Italy and Atlanta, Ga. This is the film that has Kutcher as a former professional hit man who worked for the CIA. He falls for an innocent beauty (Heigl), decides to leave his old life behind, gets married — and then finds their neighborhood full of deeply embedded hitmen and women coming to get him.

Sounds like Hollywood, where everyone plays a hired assassin sooner or later. Seriously, here are 20, and we weren't even trying hard: Javier Bardem, Tom Cruise, Peta Wilson, Vivica A. Fox, Daryl Hannah, Robert DeNiro, David Carradine, Michael Madsen, Jude Law, Timothy Olyphant, John Cusack, Forest Whitaker, Bruce Willis, Uma Thurman, Jack Nicholson, Lucy Liu, Edward Fox, Anne Parillaud, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt.

With reports by 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 2009 MARILYN BECK AND STACY JENEL SMITH

DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC.