Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

The great ones never take things for granted. Comedy master Steve Martin, who scores a record with his 15th turn as guest host of "Saturday Night Live" Jan. 31, admits he still finds hosting the show a daunting prospect.

In fact, says Steve, he still finds other shows daunting as well. "Doing Letterman's show is daunting — you hope you'll rise to the level of the show anytime you're on it," he says. "Comedy is humbling."

He'll be on with David Letterman Feb. 2. As for "SNL," on which he first appeared in the '70s, he observes, "The people change, but the process is pretty much the same. You have the same challenges, the same problems. Get some sketches ready in five days, get them show-worthy. You certainly don't do anything else that week."

Things won't slow down for Martin once they roll the crawl on "SNL." He'll be doing a full court press of promotion for his "The Crow: New Songs for the Five String Banjo" album — exclusively available on Amazon.com starting Tuesday (1/27) — and his Feb. 6 big screen release "The Pink Panther 2."

After playing on the 2002 Grammy Award-winning "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" with Earl Scruggs, Martin started thinking about doing his own full-length, bluegrass-tinged banjo album. Except for one medley of classics, he wrote all the "Crow" songs himself. "It was just time" to come out with the record, he says. "I'm a person who likes to get things down. I had enough songs to record, and I thought if I don't record them now, they might just disappear. And I might not play as well in five years."

Fun and high-spirited, "The Crow" features Vince Gill and Dolly Parton singing on a song called "Pretty Flowers," and Steve himself on the "Late for School" tune that he'll perform on "SNL."

In March, Steve will be joining Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin in an "adult romantic comedy" by filmmaker Nancy Meyers. "It's hard to talk about; we don't even have a title yet," he says.

THE VIDEOLAND VIEW: "So You Think You Can Dance" is continuing its search for America's favorite dancer as it's headed to Miami on Feb.

3. Based on what they've seen so far in New York, creator/judge Nigel Lythgoe tells us he's confident this will be one of the show's best seasons.

"We tend to go to New York when it's freezing cold, so we did that one early on because you can't get into New York or out of it when the weather's so bad. The worst thing is for us is to keep our dancers outside in the snow and cold, and their muscles are freezing when I want them to go straight into their routine. Already I feel confident that we made the right decision with that," claims Lythgoe, who is also holding auditions in Los Angeles, Denver, Memphis and Seattle.

When asked if the show will be any different when it returns in May, Lythgoe responds, "I don't think so. It will only be different because of the talent that we get. Last year the thing that was inspirational for me is that we had Joshua and Twitch, who never had formal training, be the last two. That should be inspirational to everybody else out there who hasn't had formal training. I find that very exciting because street dancers really bring something else to the table."

THE INDUSTRY EYE: Casting is underway for the planned TV movie remake of "Ice Castles" — with forces on the production meeting with candidates to fill the skates of Lynn-Holly Johnson of the much-loved 1978 big screen feature with Robby Benson, which still retains a fan following. It's a demanding job, not only in terms of acting — the aspiring skater is blinded, you may recall — but in terms of athleticism. Candidates must be able to skate well. Shooting starts in March.

Speaking of gifted young actresses, America Ferrera's "American Tragic" feature has been slated for a June production start. It's about a U.S. soldier, to be played by newcomer Ryan O'Nan, coming home from Iraq with serious re-entry issues, who takes off on a cross-country trek with an army buddy. She's co-producing the film in addition to playing O'Nan's wife.

M. Night Shyamalan is filling in the cast of his "The Last Airbender" feature starring "Twilight's" Jackson Rathbone. Still to be found: a 6-to-10-year-old Asian American boy to play a rock and earth-manipulating "earthbender." Shooting starts in the spring.

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.

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