Hollywood Digest

DUCHOVNY FIGURES IN 'X-FILES' FINALE

Fox has confirmed that David Duchovny -- one of the original stars of the long-running, Emmy-winning sci-fi series "The X-Files" -- will appear in the series' final episode, a two-hour special scheduled for May 19.

Duchovny played alien-chasing FBI Agent Fox Mulder for eight seasons, before phasing out his participation last season. This season has largely focused on the ongoing investigation by Agent Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) and her new partner, Agent John Doggett (Robert Patrick), into Mulder's disappearance.

Fox said the series' final five episodes will "begin to provide highly anticipated answers to many of the show's most-asked questions." Duchovny will direct one of the episodes, scheduled to air April 28.

The show has racked up 54 Emmy Award nominations -- including four consecutive nominations for best drama series from 1995-98. It collected 15 Emmys, including best actress in a drama series for Gillian Anderson in 1997, when Duchovny was nominated for best actor in a drama series. Anderson and Duchovny were nominated again in 1998 and Anderson received a third nomination in 1990.

ZEMECKIS AND HANKS TOGETHER AGAIN

Producer-director Robert Zemeckis will work with his "Cast Away" and "Forrest Gump" star Tom Hanks once more -- on the upcoming movie version of Chris Van Allsburg's classic children's Christmas book, "The Polar Express."

Zemeckis won the directing Oscar and Hanks won for best actor for their 1994 collaboration on "Forrest Gump." Hanks earned his fifth best actor nomination for "Cast Away" in 2000.

Zemeckis will produce -- and may direct -- the screen version of Van Allsburg's Caldecott Medal-winning tale of a young boy's magical Christmas Eve train ride with Santa Claus to the North Pole. "Cast Away" screenwriter William Broyles is working on the screenplay for "The Polar Express."

'T3' IS BIG BREAK FOR LOKEN

Kristanna Loken has landed the plum role of TX -- the latest thing in cyborgs -- in "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines."

The third installment in the "Terminator" movie franchise will commence shooting this spring, with Arnold Schwarzenegger returning for a reported $30 million payday.

Loken, a 22-year-old native of Norway, starred in the 2001 films "Panic" and "Academy Boyz." Her TV credits include guest-starring roles in "Philly," "Pacific Blue," "Sliders," "Boy Meets World" and "Just Shoot Me."

Her character in "T3" is described as a cyborg considerably more advanced than the shift-shaping T-1000 that Robert Patrick played in the 1991 "Terminator" sequel "Terminator 2: Judgment Day."

"T3" is being directed by Jonathan Mostow ("U-571," "Breakdown").

PLANS SET FOR JENNINGS' MEMORIAL

Organizers have announced that a memorial service for the late Waylon Jennings will be held on March 23 at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.

Some balcony seats will be available to the public. Doors for the 7:30 p.m. ceremony will open at 7 p.m. No other details have been announced.

Jennings died on Feb. 13 of complications related to his long-running bout with diabetes. He was 64.

'SANDOVAL' WRITER SNAGS WGA HONOR

The Writers Guild of America, west, announced Thursday that Tim Sexton will receive the Paul Selvin Award this year for his HBO movie script, "For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story."

The award is presented from time to time to recognize scripts that best demonstrate "the spirit of the constitutional and civil rights and liberties, which are indispensable to the survival of free writers everywhere." It is named for Selvin, who served as counsel to the WGA for 25 years.

Previous recipients include TV writers Allison Cross, 1990, "Roe vs. Wade"; George Stevens Jr., 1992, "Separate But Equal"; Thomas Baum, Priscilla Prestwidge and Keith Pierce, 1995, "Witness to the Execution"; and David E. Kelley, 1996, "Picket Fences." The list of recipients also includes movie writers Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, 1997, "The People vs. Larry Flynt"; Gregory Poirier, 1998, "Rosewood"; Eric Roth and Michael Mann, 2000, "The Insider"; Doug Wright, 2001, "Quills."

"For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story" was Sexton's first produced screenplay. He collaborated with Herman Daniel Farrell on the script for the recent HBO movie "Boycott."

The guild will present the 54th WGA Awards on March 2 in Beverly Hills.

OSCAR NOMS BOOST 'MOULIN ROUGE' VIDEO SALES

Sales of "Moulin Rouge" -- the only best picture nominee at the upcoming Oscars that is already out on video -- got quite a jolt after the nominations were announced last week.

DVD sales rose 160 percent from the week before the announcement, video rentals were up 40 percent, and retail reorders for the title rose by an almost unheard-of 1,400 percent, according to 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.

Fox estimated that overall consumer spending on the title amounted to $3 million for the six days ending Feb. 17 -- for a total of close to $70 million. That's more than American moviegoers paid to see "Moulin Rouge" in theaters, where director Baz Luhrmann's vision of dance hall Paris at the dawn of the 20th century grossed $59 million.

STARS COME OUT FOR TECHNICAL OSCARS

Charlize Theron will present the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Scientific and Technical Awards on March 2 in Beverly Hills.

Among the 25 awards presented that night, Edmund Di Giulio will receive the Gordon E. Sawyer Award in recognition of lifetime contributions to filmmaking. Scientific and Technical Awards are presented by the Academy for "devices, methods, formulas, discoveries or inventions of special and outstanding value to the arts and sciences of motion pictures."

Portions of the scientific and technical awards will be presented on tape during the ABC telecast of the 74th Academy Awards on March 24.

Theron appeared last summer in Woody Allen's "The Curse of the Jade Scorpion." She has also appeared in "2 Days in the Valley," "The Legend of Bagger Vance," "Celebrity" and "The Cider House Rules."

She's due on U.S. screens this year in "Waking up in Reno" with Billy Bob Thornton and "24 Hours" with Kevin Bacon.

BENJI HEADED BACK TO BIG SCREEN

Benji, the lovable mutt who broke into movies by saving two kidnapped kids in 1974, will return to movie theaters in "Benji Returns: The Promise of Christmas."

Joe Camp, the Hollywood animal trainer who wrote and produced "Benji" -- as well as three more Benji movies and a Benji TV movie -- announced Wednesday that his new project will have the dog taking on a misguided dogcatcher, while simultaneously trying to help two poor kids have a merry Christmas.

Of course, this is not the original Benji. The first movie came out 18 years ago -- that's 126 dog years.

The new Benji is a female that had been taken to an animal shelter in Mississippi after being picked up as a stray. Producers had spent five months looking for the new Benji.

NOT REALLY

Internet fan sites took off with a rumor Wednesday that New Line Cinema had decided on a title for the third Austin Powers movie, but the studio quickly shot the rumor down.

According to the grapevine, New Line had settled on "Licensed to Shag" as a replacement for the "Goldmember" title that the studio had been using -- until the Motion Picture Association of America ruled that it sounded too much like the James Bond title "Goldfinger."

New Line officials said that the rumor mill had it wrong, but they're still undecided about what title to put on the movie.