Joan Allen is anxiously awaiting word on whether she'll be involved in the fourth "Bourne Identity" movie.

The highly respected, three-time Oscar-nominated actress relates that she was getting her hair and makeup done in preparation for a press day on her "Bonneville" feature this week when "my daughter came running in saying, 'Mom! I just heard on the radio that Matt Damon's agreed to do a fourth Bourne movie.'"

She couldn't wait to get home from her publicity chores and look it up on the Internet — since, of course, she was in the last two, and "would really like to do another, actually. I had fun on those."

Allen's more than busy enough at the moment. She took time away from shooting on Lasse Hallstrom's "Hachico: A Dog's Story" with Richard Gere to talk about "Bonneville." The flick, opening in limited release tomorrow (Feb. 29) has her, Jessica Lange and Kathy Bates playing friends on a cross-country road trip to deliver the ashes of Lange's character's beloved husband to his threat-hurling daughter (Christine Baranski) for burial next to his first wife. With rich acting and a great canvas, the film can provoke laughter and tears — but it took critical lumps when it debuted at the Toronto Film Festival in 2006.

Says Allen gently, "I think what we learned in Toronto was that the film needed a little more work on it. … I think the editing choices have made it better. The story is told better now. They added a narration for Jessica, clarifying some of the story points. They made some different choices of editing and music."

She adds, "I found it refreshing because each of these three women characters seemed to be fully drawn — and that doesn't happen often."

Allen has a diverse roster of films ahead, including Paul W.S. Anderson's "Death Race," in which she plays a prison warden circa 2020 who sends Jason Statham and other inmates into a deadly high-speed car race. She notes, "That was very crazy and fun to do." And "Hachico," which, says Allen, "marks the first time in my life working with a dog. The dog is really the star."

A WELCOME RESPITE: Former "Charmed" regular Rose McGowan says watching the Turner Classic Movies featured on TCM's "The Essentials" film showcase she's co-hosting with Robert Osborne was a welcome respite from shooting the intense big-screen "Man on the Run." "It's a true story set in the late '80s about the (Irish Republican Army), and I play a woman who is in the highest level of the IRA," says McGowan, who shot the film in Ireland.

"I went through about 40 movies in two days, but it was great because I'd do the movie and then go and watch a Doris Day film at night." She adds she's seen many of the classic films, including "The Apartment," "Paths to Glory," "Rebecca" and "A Face in the Crowd," but "I had to go back and re-watch them with a different eye since I was going to be doing commentary on them."

McGowan says she was invited to co-host the "The Essentials," debuting March 8, after being a "Guest Programmer" for TCM last November. "When they called me up to do this, I was just thrilled. I didn't even know I was going to get paid. I was so excited, I would have done it for free."

FROM THE INSIDE LOOKING OUT: "I love that I'm having the chance to play something that is so different from Cheyenne. I loved that character so much, but after six years, it was nice to try something new," says Joanna Garcia, formerly of "'Reba" and now part of "Welcome to the Captain" co-starring Chris Klein, Jeffrey Tambor and Raquel Welch.

Garcia tells us that five episodes of the new CBS show, about a group of people living in a Hollywood apartment building, were shot before the writers' strike, "so we didn't get in our entire order. We are supposed to go back for a couple of more, but we'll see." She adds of the show, which has drawn low ratings so far, "I don't know what's going to happen with it, but it was nice to get back on the saddle so quickly."

Garcia admits to being nostalgic about her old stomping grounds. "I miss being in the trenches with people that I know so well. 'Reba' was an amazing learning center for me. It was a very nurturing environment to learn comedy at such a young age, so I'm always going to be grateful for it," she says. "I miss my family on that show, but we see each other all the time. We're always still rooting for each other, and I know that if I'm in a bind, I have Reba and Narvel (Blackstock, Reba McEntire's real-life husband), who are like parents to me."

ON A ROLL: It was some 14 years between Tia Carrere's first solo album in 1993 and last year's "Hawaiiana," which garnered the lovely singer/actress a Grammy nomination. That success means it won't be so long 'til the next CD, she says. "I have a contract for another record, but it'll probably be more of a departure from 'Hawaiiana.' That is sort of love songs and lullabies with my vocals and guitar and ukulele, and it's about 75 percent in the Hawaiian language. The next record will have a little bit more music and be more English."

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.

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