Ledger Pop Journal - Celebrity News & Sports

Talk about an inspiring story! "Mutant X" actor Victor Webster is preparing to play Canadian hero Rick Hansen on the big screen, recreating the paraplegic's amazing journey around the world in a wheelchair.

Playing Real-Life Hero

"He pushed himself the circumference of the earth to raise awareness and money for spinal cord research, and this was back in the '80s, when there was no wheelchair access," says Webster. "It took two years, two months and two days. Can you imagine pushing yourself in a wheelchair, head on through gale-force winds, sandstorms and snow? He overcame a shoulder injury, sickness, almost died from carbon dioxide poisoning, was run off the road … think about the determination it took and the physical strength."

Hansen lost use of his legs in a truck accident as a teenager, but, Webster notes, "he did not take it as a defeat and went on to play wheelchair basketball, and to win world championships in wheelchair marathons. He has the Rick Hansen Foundation in Vancouver, Canada, and I think they've raised $100 million for spinal cord research from when he first started till now."

Webster says the pinnacle of Hansen's journey was when "he pushed himself up the Great Wall of China. That was his ultimate goal, and the Chinese government let him do that. So the main part of the movie is about his going to China and takes place on the Great Wall, and we've got approval from the Chinese government to shoot there. It's going to be pretty amazing." For his part, Webster says he'll have to do "a whole different kind of training and workout. I'll be in a wheelchair through the whole movie, and your shoulders aren't made to be working like that, so just to avoid injury I'm going to have to do a lot of special exercises."

He says the Hansen biopic will be "directed by Michael French, Mark Gordon is going to be one of the producers, and David Foster's doing all the music." He adds the script they're using has been personally approved by Hansen. "People tried to do his story for years, but they made it all about his disability. And that's not what this is about. It's about his heart and his courage, and hopefully it will inspire other people to go after their dreams and their goals."

FAMILY FIRST:

Lauren Holly reports she has no plans to completely uproot the family from Chicago now that she's joined "NCIS" as a regular. "I'm playing it by ear," says the mother of three young 'uns aged 2, 3 and 4, who plays NCIS Director Jenny Shepard, a former love interest of Mark Harmon's character on the CBS drama. "It's worked out really great for me so far in that I've only had to be away from my boys a few days at a time, and anytime I was going to be here for more than a week, they've come with me." She adds that "After the Christmas break I think the boys are going to come back with me, and we're going to stay put for a couple of months and ride out the Chicago winter and let my husband travel to us."

The former "Picket Fences" regular says she jumped at the chance to join "NCIS" permanently when exec producer Don Bellissario made the offer. "I got to have a trial run and see what it was like to work there and get to know everybody. Then, all of a sudden, they came to me and said, 'Do you want to stay here and play with us?' It's so exciting." She adds, "I thought 'Picket Fences' was an amazing experience that sort of set the bar for me, and nothing has ever really matched up to that until this show. And it's kind of fun because a lot of the crew members from 'Picket Fences' are on this show, and the director of photography from 'PF' is one of our main directors."

THE BIG SCREEN SCENE:

With production due to get underway in mid-January on Universal's "Bruce Almighty" sequel, "Evan Almighty" -- in which Steve Carell's character is instructed by God (Morgan Freeman, reprising his role) to build an ark -- casting is underway for a handful of subsidiary roles. Those include Vita, the mothering, yet quick-tempered African-American secretary to Carell's character, whom we now find as a first-term congressman. Neither Jim Carrey nor Jennifer Aniston is aboard for the sequel.

THE GENUINE ARTICLE:

Last July, the Disabilities Caucus for the performers' unions SAG, AFTRA and EQUITY announced the results of a study showing disappointing figures on casting of actors with disabilities for roles in Hollywood. Well, the Caucus will no doubt be interested in how the forces on a Comedy Central pilot called "Special Unit" fare -- since the intention there is to authentically cast a man afflicted with cerebral palsy, a female little person, an autistic man, and a handsome veteran who's confined to a wheelchair. And on ABC's "Invasion," they're casting a double amputee actor who must be comfortable working with special effects makeup for an upcoming episode.

(With reports by Stephanie DuBois and Emily Feimster)

The Beck/Smith syndicated newspaper column includes exclusive in-depth, behind-the-scenes reports on the stars, on the business of television and movie-making, and on the recording, publishing and media beats.

©2005 Creators Syndicate, Inc.