Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Paramount's big-screen, big-budget "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra" had a big, grueling production to go with it, and a big, punishing training program for the actors — including Channing Tatum, Dennis Quaid, Marlon Wayans and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje.

The actor known as Mr. Eko to fans of "Lost" — and as Wally as a schoolboy back home in London — tells us that in his role of ordinance expert Heavy Duty, at one point he shoots a 120-pound cannon "that's normally strapped to a helicopter. They don't call him Heavy Duty for nothing. Everything on that film was heavy duty, man." He also found himself "suspended on hinges and strings from a spacecraft, firing 500-600 rounds per second. And for all that pay, you have to look good, not sweat, say the line on cue and not fire over the words. You have to keep a cool head."

Adewale and the rest of the team got into fighting form "with the same outfit who trained the guys for 'The 300,'" in Simi Valley near Los Angeles.

"It was a rigorous training schedule that started two months before the movie, and believe me, these guys are serious. To do a scene where you're jumping over a wall 15 times, carrying a gun and wearing a suit that's 30-40 pounds, you've got to be really prepared. I certainly had to shed a lot of fat and build up the muscles. After the training session, you'd do stunt fighting, and then if you were a really good boy, they'd let you go play with the guns."

Yes, he loved it. "Come on, it's every boy's childhood dream to play a superhero and fight bad guys," he says. "This isn't Shakespeare. It's a big, fun adventure ride with sexy ladies and powerful men."

"G.I. Joe," due Aug. 7, boasts an ensemble including Sienna Miller and Arnold Vosloo — plus star cameos by the likes of Adewale's other "The Mummy Returns" cast mate, Brendan Fraser. The Stephen Sommers flick turns "the Joes" into an elite, international peacekeeping unit. "It's really perfect for the world we live in today, especially to give the franchise longevity in the future," says Adewale, who's signed for three pictures, like the other principles.

"I asked Steve, 'Can I have my accent, play my character English?' and he said, 'OK, you can be the British sergeant," notes Adewale. "So I got to have funny British one-liners. There's a phrase, 'Bloody hell! Bloody hell!' that comes out at interesting moments."

MORE BLOOD: Valerie Cruz, who comes aboard "True Blood" this season as the show's first Latina vampire, Isabel, recounts that she was surprised to find series creator Alan Ball on hand when she first went in for a casting meeting

"Funny, I wasn't even expecting him to be in the room.

A lot of producers nowadays, it's like they can't even be bothered to be in the room anymore. They want it on tape," says the actress, known as Sylvia Prado — Jimmy Smits' wife — to "Dexter" fans. "There are a lot of things you can't get from an audition tape — the energy when someone walks in, their interaction. Alan is such a class act. He's there at every table read. The writers I've spoken to say he's incredibly gracious — he trusts the people that he hires to really do a great job. The cool thing about it is, once you're cast, once the whole thing is put together, he takes a step back and lets people do creatively what they want to do."

One thing she did, as Isabel, "I definitely asked for the wardrobe. Everyone was pretty gracious about that. She's 600 years old and definitely from the time of the Spanish Inquisition in my mind. It's pretty clear where she comes from. She still speaks with a Spanish accent."

Adds Cruz, "I've always loved vampires, so I was really excited about doing the show. Well, you'd be hard-pressed to find an actor who doesn't get excited about the prospect of playing a character with this mindset that you live forever. The world just weighs on you differently, you know? That's part of what makes vampires so interesting to play. In a sense they lack humanity, but in another sense there is a great humanness about them."

Cruz says she became an avid fan of "True Blood" in its first season. "My handful of Sunday nights when I could watch TV were 'Mad Men' and 'True Blood,' even though I was working on 'Dexter' at the time. It made me feel a little bit of a traitor."

THE INDUSTRY EYE: With Diane Keaton OK after her visit to the hospital last month (she bumped her head during a sumo wrestler scene while making Nancy Meyers's "Morning Glory"), production is heading toward a wrap. Interestingly, they just added to the cast of subsidiary characters — a beautiful, sophisticated, upscale woman in her thirties who'll share the waiting room at a fertility clinic with Alec Baldwin's character. The romantic comedy, reuniting Keaton with her "Something's Gotta Give" director, Meyers, also stars Steve Martin.

NO REGRETS: VH1's "Best Week Ever," which spoofs pop culture news every week, is officially on hiatus until 2010, though many see this as an unofficial cancellation. While its future is up in the air, one of the show's stars, Doug Benson, says he's been lucky to be a part of it because it's definitely helped his career. In fact, the stand-up comedian, who is known for his love of marijuana, says he's been able to acquire new fans who otherwise might not have seen his work. "Some people don't go that far up on their dial, but I get recognized all the time from being on VH1," Benson tells us." At first, though, they're like, 'Is that just some stoner or that guy from VH1?'"

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.