Ledger Pop Journal - Celebrity News & Sports

David Spade is on a roll -- but isn't venturing a guess as to how long the good times will last. "It goes hot and cold with me," says the co-star of "Rules of Engagement," who made the move from "Saturday Night Live" to movies and hitches on such shows as "Just Shoot Me!" and "8 Simple Rules." He started this year with a performance at Las Vegas Venetian hotel, and is due for repeat gigs there in April and May.

David Spade Is On a Roll, But Says Career Runs 'Hot and Cold' (Image: WENN)

And he has two films in the offing -- "Divorced Guys" with Kevin Farley, and a yet-to-be-titled comedy teaming him with Adam Sandler, Chris Rock and Rob Schneider, about childhood friends who return home 30 years later for the funeral of their one-time basketball coach, "and it's like no time has passed."

And how has time passed for Spade? "It's scary," he tells us. "I'm a beat-up old man," says the 44-year-old comic actor. "I was cute and cuddly for a while, but no more."

Spade says the exact dates of production of the movies, and the dates for his Venetian performances will depend on when -- and if -- "Rules of Engagement" is renewed.

"Rules," which was one of the only midseason shows posting a ratings gain last week, "has preference over everything -- even stand-up gigs," Spade notes. "We've had a weird season because of last year's writers strike. We returned to shoot a few episodes, then had a four-month summer hiatus, then went back and started our new season on March 2 -- up against the biggest 'Bachelor' finale, when he picked the girl. And we did all right, which leads me to believe that if we can weather that storm, we should be here for a while."

WHEN OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS: David James Elliott expects to be spending the next three weeks enjoying "what I like to think of as a well-deserved vacation" in the Bahamas -- where the actor had barely landed when he got the call for the Sci Fi Channel's April 19 and 20 "Knights of Bloodsteel" event miniseries. "They said if I wanted to do it, I had to come back immediately. I knew it would be a great opportunity to do something completely different." So the former "Jag" star hopped on a plane. He tells us he's always been into science fiction and fantasy, that "When I was a kid, I was a big 'Conan the Barbaran' fan. I read the Tarzan book and other fantasies. I'm a fan of the genre."

"Bloodsteel" ended up being a massive affair that took two months to shoot. "We were in some incredible, breathtaking locations outside Vancouver, in the Rocky Mountains. The scenery lent itself so well to the piece -- stunning waterfalls deep in this forest … Phenomenal."

His character, he says, "has been savagely wronged, his family annihilated by these goblins and basically horrific barbarians who razed the village where he lived. He has a list of people to take care of -- to seek his revenge -- but then he gets caught up in the quest for this cruicible." Still, adds the father of 16-year-old Stephanie and 6-year-old Wyatt with wife Nanci Chambers, "What's great about it is, it's a piece my son can watch "

When he completed the shoot, Elliott and family were setting their sites on a Bahamas trip again, when NBC's forthcoming "The Storm" miniseries came his way. That one finished production week before last.

THE BIG SCREEN SCENE: Johnny Depp and Christian Bale have teamed up for the summer movie "Public Enemies," and co-star Shawn Hatosy says you can expect big fireworks -- onscreen, that is -- between two of Hollywood's most serious actors. "It's one of those things you hope to get on your resume. It's directed by Michael Mann, who is one of the best in the business at what he does. The cast is top notch. Johnny Depp, Christian Bale -- you can't go wrong there," notes Hatosy, who plays an FBI agent in the flick about tracking down criminal John Dillinger in the 1930s. "It's sort of also about the birth of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It's an interesting look at the government's attempt to crackdown on what they were dealing with then, which was bank robbery. They dropped the ball a lot of times," he says. "I think it could end up being a great film."

A LONG WAY FROM 'HANNAH': Nicholas Sparks is writing the "The Last Song" novel and script that's already set to become a Miley Cyrus film vehicle with production to start in July -- but details on the story have been scant 'til now. However, according to casting sources, there's no doubt the "The Notebook" author is giving the 16-year-old It Girl plenty of opportunity to work her acting chops. Her character is described as a troubled girl, angry over her parents' divorce, who has given up her aspirations as a pianist -- and who resentfully goes to spend a summer with her father in a beach community. There, she'll learn the truth about her dad. She'll fall in love with a boy, and learn the boy, too, has a troubling secret. Lots of revelations going on, it would seem.

With reports by Emily Feimster.