"Tim Allen completely impressed me playing a totally different character than I've seen him do before — a womanizing, gotta-love-him older man," reports Jenna Dewan, who'll be seen alongside Tim in the upcoming "The Six Wives of Henry Lefay."

"It's more of a dark comedy than people are used to with him — with all his six wives having to come back to plan his funeral after he dies, and all the insane funny things that happen when these different female personalities crash together under these circumstances. My role, actually, I can't say too much about," adds the 27-year-old actress of "Step Up" and "The Grudge 2" fame.

Jenna's definitely riding the up escalator of Hollywood fame. Her every public appearance with boyfriend Channing Tatum gets chronicled. They were recently in a dance-off on the YouTube "Miley & Mandy Show." ("How funny is that? ... I had no idea how big it had become … Both Miley and Mandy are sweethearts," she says of Miley Cyrus and Mandy Jiroux.) As for marriage prospects, however, Jenna demurs, "We'll see. I don't like to talk about my personal life too much."

She's been on a roll shooting movie after movie in recent months, including "Love Lies Bleeding" with Christian Slater and the indie coming-of-age story "Shine On." She's scheduled to begin filming "Virgin on Bourbon Street" in August. And then there's Lifetime's "Fab Five: The Texas Cheerleader Scandal," debuting Aug. 2, of which she's very proud.

Based on a true story, it's about a group of cheerleaders so out of control they're drinking alcohol at school, skipping classes and bullying other students. A young coach endeavors to stop them, though administrators and parents seem bent on looking the other way. "Thank God I got to play the coach," Jenna says. As a young actress, "usually you play the girlfriend. You don't get to play someone strong. You don't receive a lot of these kind of really powerful characters that offer role models for women."

THE BIG SCREEN SCENE: What do British star Colin Firth, Snoop Dogg and death row prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal have in common?

"I've been executive producing a documentary on renowned death row prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal called 'In Prison My Whole Life,'" reports Firth, who's wife, Livia Giuggioli Firth, is also a co-producer on the project. "It's been an incredible journey for me even though I was peripheral to its making. We interviewed everyone from Snoop Dogg and Mos Def to Alice Walker and (author/political activist) Noam Chomsky. You're not going to get Snoop Dogg and Noam Chomsky in too many films together."

The documentary follows William Francome, a 26-year-old Englishman born on Dec. 9, 1981, the day Black Panther Abu Jamal was arrested for a murder he's maintained he didn't commit. "William's mother was an American but grew up in England. As he grew up he heard about Mumia through various artists singing and rapping about him and giving demonstrations. 'In Prison My Whole Life' basically refers to the fact that through William's entire life, Mumia has been in solitary confinement."

Firth says he became involved after "My wife met William, and he told her he wanted to make a journey of an outsider's perspective into Mumia's world. She thought it was an interesting story that these two unlikely men were somehow linked. So in a way, it parallels the lives of two completely different men … one a white boy growing up in England. One an African-American in solitary confinement … From a continent that does not any longer have a death penalty to a very different kind of justice system hijacked politically, where the death penalty becomes a lightning rod for people."

Firth says the documentary, which went to Sundance, is making its way through the festivals to find a distributor.

DIMENSIONAL ROLE: Anita Briem — Brendan Fraser's leading lady in the highly anticipated "Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D" — is proud to say that it's her doing most of the action in the technologically groundbreaking film due out July 11.

"I had quite a bit of fight training both in armed and unarmed combat," says the lovely native Icelander, who also stars in Showtime's "The Tudors" series. "I trained with swords, broadswords, knives and much more. Then we moved from there to very elaborate stunts that included knot tying, rappelling and all that stuff. I had a lot of fun with all the physical challenges. And I took a lot of pleasure out of tying knots. There's nothing quite as rewarding as tying a beautiful knot," she adds with a laugh. "But what was really exciting about all of that was to be able to see all the physical skills I learned from my training aided by a whole new visual form."

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Actor and mental health patients' rights advocate Joey Pantoliano believes that more people with mental health issues will seek and get the help they need when the stigma against mental illness is eradicated. "If we can make erectile dysfunction cool, and get U.S. senators in commercials for treatments for it — we should be able to do at least that much for brain diseases," he says. At his No Kidding, Me Too! Organization, he says, "Our theme is equality for the All-American brain."

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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