Ledger Pop Journal - Celebrity News & Sports

Emmy-winning "Everybody Loves Raymond" actress Patricia Heaton says she's in the midst of planning her return to episodic television -- but it won't be anytime soon.

NEW DEAL FOR PATRICIA?

"I have a development deal with ABC, so I've been kind of tossing around ideas with some writers to think about what I want to do next," she says. "I'd love to do another sitcom, but it's tricky when it's multiple cameras and that's the only type of regular work that I can have in my life and still be a mother to my (four) boys.

Maybe in a year or so I'll be ready to go back. I'm actually kind of enjoying taking a break."

The actress, who has the Four Boys Films production company with her British husband David Hunt, says, "Of course I haven't stopped since we finished 'Raymond,' but my focus isn't so split all the time." She adds with a laugh that having her home most of the time has been a double-edged sword for her four boys. "Mom and Dad are there all the time now, and they're probably sick of us because they can't get away with anything anymore."

She says there are two projects upcoming from Four Boys Films. "My husband directed a documentary called 'The Bituminous Cool Queens of Pennsylvania.' Bituminous is soft coal, and we followed a friend of mine back for the 50th anniversary of the Bituminous Coal Pageant. My friend was the Coal Queen back in 1972. It's Dave's homage to small-town America."

As for the second project, she says, "We're producing a movie with Walden Media called 'Amazing Grace' about William Wilberforce. He was the Abraham Lincoln of England, and it's about his life involved with the slave trade there. Michael Apted is directing it, and its got Rufus Sewell, Michael Gambon, Ioan Gruffud and Albert Finney, so it's a wonderful cast."

THE BIG SCREEN SCENE:

People are going to see a whole different side of Hugh Jackman in the upcoming feature "The Fountain." At least he is according to leading lady Rachel Weisz. The British beauty tells us, "He's very different in this film -- very dangerous, dark and intense." She says of the flick, "It's an adult fairy tale, sort of a sci-fi love story. It's set in three time zones -- 16th-century Spain, present-day America, and the future in deep space -- so I play three different characters, and so does Hugh. We're all over the place."

As a bonus for Weisz, she got to work with her fiance, Darren Aronofsky, who directs the movie. 'I got to meet the director, and he got to meet the actress," she adds. "It was really great for me to get to see him do his work." No date set for their wedding, by the way.

MEANWHILE:

Weisz is eagerly anticipating the Jan. 10 DVD release of her latest movie, "The Constant Gardener," with Ralph Fiennes. 'We filmed in the real slums of Nairobi. We were living in very remote areas so we were sleeping in tents out in the bush," says Weisz of the experience, but she didn't mind. 'Living in a tent was really fun. I had never been camping before." Getting the chance to play an activist attempting to uncover conspiracy in Africa was rewarding enough. 'Everybody wants the chance to make the world a better place, we just don't really know how. My character is very admiring because she shows that one person can make a difference."

GREY DOLLARS:

Esteemed British actor Charles Dance has completed a script and will be moving forward on his second directorial feature project once the new year begins -- after doing his part in promoting "Bleak House." The huge new British production of the Charles Dickens story starring Gillian Anderson -- with Dance as the evil lawyer Mr. Tulkinghorn -- will begin airing in six parts on PBS Jan. 22.

Dance's first film as director, the critically lauded "Ladies in Lavender," went into DVD release this month. It has the glorious Maggie Smith and Judi Dench as a pair of sisters who rescue a mysterious young Polish man (Daniel Bruhl) who washes ashore near their coastal home in pre-World War II Cornwall. They nurse him back to health with Smith's character becoming ever more maternal, and Dench, as a virginal spinster, falling in love. It was courageous of the actress to take on playing such pathetic yearning.

"Pathetic? It's human," answers Dance. "As actors, we're supposed to be holding up the mirror to human nature, which IS pathetic at times, and unglamorous. That's our job. I think that a lot of the time mainstream cinema and television underestimates the intelligence of audience, and also plays to the lowest common denominator. There is another market besides those age 13 to 22, and a lot of them don't go to the cinema very often." He adds, "It's what's known as the grey pound -- or dollar or Euro. What's taken distributors by surprise in every territory we've sold is the fact that the film does better business mid-week than on weekends. That's everywhere in the world."

(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.