Ben Barnes is battening down for the tidal wave of fan attention that already is starting to come his way as "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian's" title star prepares to launch the flick opening May 16.

The 26-year-old already has wound up in a clutch of "hunk-on-the-rise" lists. Web sites and YouTube video pictorials have been created in his honor already.

"It is a little strange. William (Moseley) and all the other guys from the first movie have been through the fame and the fan frenzy, so they know, and I watch the way they handle it. Colin Firth said, 'I'll tell you the important thing: Just be comfortable with what you're doing,'" says the London-born Barnes, who also has the feature adaptation of Noel Coward's "Easy Virtue" in the can, co-starring with Firth.

This month's Comic-Con convention in New York "was the first time I've ever been face to face with the avid fans who can't wait to see the movie. They're so keen to know all about the visual effects, the tiny discrepancies between the movie and the book. It's cool to know that the work we put into those seven months is appreciated. Everyone was respectful."

Barnes already is scheduled to begin the third installment of the "Chronicles" — "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" — this fall. "We're supposed to start shooting in October or November, a lot in Mexico. It's a whole different type of movie, an action-adventure."

COYOTE UGLY: Peter Coyote says to play the brutal, depraved employer in the upcoming "The Lena Baker Story," he had to demand carte blanche with his portrayal.

"It's scary to find those places," says Coyote, who stars opposite Tichina Arnold in the true tale of Lena Baker, the first woman sentenced to die in the electric chair in Georgia. In 1945, she killed the employer (Coyote) who made her his captive sex slave. "It scared all of us and was scary to do. Before we went to work, I called Tichina and the director and said: 'You know. I'm going to be invoking stuff here from my unconscious, but I don't know what's going to come up and out of my mouth. Y'all have to give me a pass 'cause I can't do this guy if I have to censor myself or worry that I'm going to be hurting somebody's feelings.'"

Coyote recalls: "At one point, we were working, and I called Tichina 'a cockroach.' It was just ugly, but it was right for the guy, and we both knew it.

But if she were to get offended and say, 'Well, that wasn't on the page,' I'd have had to put a lid on my imagination, and you don't want to do that." He says that things got even more intense during shooting. "One night I had to kidnap Tichina. The whole scene was extremely frightening and violent and something came out of my mouth. … Two of the teamsters that drive the trucks, just big old white boys from south Georgia came up, and one of them stuck his hands in front of my face, and they were trembling. He said: 'Man, I ain't never seen nothin' like that. Look at my hands.' So you know when you get them like that, you must be piped into something good." He adds of his co-star: "Tichina is incredible. Wait till you see her in this thing."

ON A MUSICAL NOTE: It's busy, busy, busy time for country superstar Clint Black. Not only is he spending time in the recording studio and keeping up a hefty touring schedule but also he'll be presenting on the ACM Awards May 18 on CBS — and that's not all. He will perform on the June 1 NBC special "Support Your Troops" and already has committed to perform on PBS' Veterans Day special in November.

SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE: Dee Wallace heads to Kansas City, Mo., this week to start work on a movie called "Matchmaker Mary." She tells us, "It's a really sweet story about three puppies and how they bring people together." After having done Rob Zombie's "Halloween" remake last year, Wallace notes with a smile that she thought it would be a good time to do something a little more family-friendly.

We ran into Wallace at the PRISM Awards, which recognize truthful and accurate depictions of addictions and mental health issues on TV, film and other media. "Desperate Housewives'" James Denton was among the honorees in the wake of his pill addiction storyline. And "Desperate Housewives" co-star Andrea Bowen was honored, as well — along with Jennie Garth — for their "Girl, Positive," a telefilm about a high schooler with HIV.

"I'm so proud of the film and to be part of this — different generations doing things in a positive way," Bowen said.

According to her, the "Desperate" troupe has two more weeks of production for this season then will take a shorter-than-usual hiatus before jumping back into production for next fall. "There is a shocking twist coming up involving everybody," she adds.

'Course, most of us would be surprised if there weren't a shocking twist coming up.

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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