Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Nathan Lane has been steeped in politics of the fictional kind all year  -- between starring as thuggish, corrupt President Charles Smith in David Mamet's "November" on Broadway, and playing Democratic presidential campaign manager Art Crumb in Kevin Costner's "Swing Vote" feature. But the two-time Tony and Emmy-winning star has mixed feelings about taking a political role in real life. "If I'm involved it's quietly involved. I'm always a little wary of actors stepping forward," admits Lane. On the other hand, he adds, "That's a tricky thing. You want to participate and be supportive of whomever you want to see in office. I've been a Barack supporter and will continue to remain so. They haven't asked me to do anything."

Yet.

"November" closed Sunday, and the Disney "Swing Vote" opens Aug. 1. The movie, about a Presidential race that comes down to one man's vote, struck Lane as "a fun ensemble piece, though it's not primarily a comedy." Costner plays the beer-swilling loser of a citizen who is wooed to monumental excess by Republican incumbent Kelsey Grammer as well as Democratic rival Dennis Hopper. Stanley Tucci plays Lane's opposite number in the GOP camp, a campaign runner who wins as consistently as Lane's loses. And just about everyone's values and views go out the window in the win-at-all-costs fray.

Lane will be switching gears on his next projects -- to say the least. He'll shoot "Eloise in Paris" with Uma Thurman after Labor Day. And come fall, he'll be workshopping the already highly anticipated Addams Family Broadway musical in which he's playing macabre family patriarch Gomez Addams to Bebe Neuwirth's Morticia. "I'm very much looking forward to that. It's a wonderful piece of material, and the perfect team to do it," he says. "We'll probably go out of town with it in September of next year for a spring 2010 opening."

THE BIG SCREEN SCENE: Steven Soderbergh's Che Guevara movies "Guerilla" and "The Argentine" haven't been released yet and already Benicio Del Torro's co-stars are talking Oscar for the actor. "Benicio is just bigger than life.  What he did in this film, you just won't believe it," claims Latin star Demian Bichir of his co-star's Guevara portrayal.

Bichir portrays Fidel Castro in the flick, which got rave reviews at the Cannes Film Festival. "Benicio got the Best Actor award at the festival. He should be up for an Oscar, too. I think he's going to get all the awards because the way he approaches the character is just amazing."

The rest of the world will weigh in on Benicio's performance as soon as the film gets its U.S. distribution in order. "They are trying to figure out what the release of both films is going to be like. They still don't know if that is going to be shown in one four-and-a-half-hour block or if they are going to split them in two."

In the meantime, Bichir is making heads turn as the steamy love interest of Mary-Louise Parker on "Weeds." "When I started taking my career into this direction to the U.S., I was always thinking about films. I never thought about TV before this happened. I love TV, especially TV like this. The nice thing about cable is that you can play the characters the way in which they were created," notes Bichir, who plays the mayor of Tijuana. "It's easy to fall into a stereotype but the way the writers are taking Esteban is surprising. It's not a common kind of character."

LOOKING OUT: Speaking of ve-r-r-r-ry early Oscar talk … Brad Pitt's "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" doesn't open 'til December, but if Julia Ormond's view is any indication, the film about a man who ages backwards is bound to cause a sensation. "What I have seen of it is extraordinary, just phenomenal. It could be (director) David Fincher's greatest achievement," says Ormond. "I have a very small role in it as Cate Blanchett's daughter, when Cate is around 80. For me it was a wonderful, very intensive two weeks of filming in the hospital with Cate."

INSIDE ASIDE: Luke Perry says that his involvement in the forthcoming Lifetime holiday telepic, "A Very Merry Daughter of the Bride," with Helen Shaver and Joanna Garcia, is a matter of "me keeping my word." Actress Leslie Hope is the director of the movie, and Luke says, "I lost a bet to Leslie. I told her if she ever directed a movie, I'd be in it." She did it, and he did it.

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 2008 MARILYN BECK AND STACY JENEL SMITH
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