Hollywood Digest

'THE MATRIX' AT CANNES

"The Matrix Reloaded," the sequel to the 1999 virtual reality thriller, will have its world premiere at the 51st Cannes Film Festival next month.

Festival organizers announced Thursday that the movie will be shown out of competition on May 15 -- the second day of the festival and the same day that the Keanu Reeves-Laurence Fishburne movie is released worldwide.

"The Matrix Reloaded" reunites producer Joel Silver and the writing directing team of Larry and Andy Wachowski with several of the main stars of the original -- including Reeves, Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss and Hugo Weaving. It also features new cast members Jada Pinkett Smith and Monica Bellucci.

Penélope Cruz's new movie "Fanfan la Tulipe" -- starring Vincent Perez as a fictional 18th century swashbuckling French hero -- will open the festival on May 14.

BOX-OFFICE PREVIEW

It's a girl against the boys at the U.S. box office this weekend, as Amanda Bynes, Colin Farrell, Vin Diesel and Eddie Griffin open in new movies.

Bynes ("Big Fat Liar") stars in "What a Girl Wants," as an American teenager who travels to England in search of her father, a politician played by Colin Firth ("Bridget Jones's Diary").

Farrell ("Minority Report," "Daredevil") shows up in "Phone Booth" as an arrogant publicist who answers a ringing pay phone and gets pulled into a dangerous game with a sniper watching from a nearby building. Diesel ("XXX," "The Fast and the Furious") stars in "A Man Apart" as a former street thug turned federal narcotics agent.

While those three movies will be playing wide -- more than 2,950 theaters for "What a Girl Wants" and close to 2,500 each for "Phone Booth" and "A Man Apart" -- Eddie Griffin's filmed concert, "Dysfunktional Family," will show up at just over 600 theaters.

'CONFESSIONS' WILL GET ANOTHER SHOT

According to a report in Daily Variety, Miramax will give a rare second chance to "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind," re-releasing the movie on Aug. 1.

George Clooney's feature film directorial debut was expected to make a star of Sam Rockwell, playing Chuck Barris in the movie version of the game show host-producer's best-selling memoir. Instead, the movie grossed just a little more than $15 million following its January premiere and quickly disappeared from U.S. theater screens.

Miramax executive Rick Sands told Variety that people who saw the movie liked it, but poor timing hurt the movie in the marketplace.

"George made a wonderful film that got good reviews, but unfortunately, there was so much going on in the marketplace that it wasn't first choice among moviegoers," Sands said. "So we're going to provide a second opportunity for moviegoers to find the movie. I know it's unusual, but we truly feel that the film had potential."

ELIZABETH SMART -- THE MOVIE

Plans for a TV movie about kidnapped teen Elizabeth Smart do not seem to be moving quickly, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.

The paper, citing entertainment industry sources, said some producers and networks have lost interest in the project because of unproductive negotiations with the family of the 15-year-old girl who was recovered in March, nine months after being abducted from her Utah home.

However, a representative for the Smart family told the paper that meetings are still under way on a possible deal for TV movie rights. Family spokesman Chris Thomas said the family is still "very strongly" looking into the possibility of a deal, following more than a dozen meetings with producers.

The family reportedly received more than 100 inquiries from producers after Smart was found last month. There was wide speculation in Hollywood that the family could charge up to $500,000 for TV movie rights -- but some felt the project would lose some of its appeal if it doesn't make it to air soon.

OPRAH FOR PRESIDENT?

Author Gore Vidal has mentioned Oprah Winfrey as a possible candidate for president in the 2004 election.

Vidal told gossip columnist Liz Smith that he and a group of "like-minded souls" got together recently to talk about who they might support for president next year.

"We want a leader who won't lie to us," said Vidal.

But he said he and his friends decided that no one "currently in political life" is electable.

"I'll tell you who is electable -- don't laugh -- Oprah!" he said. "Now I don't know how she'd do as a leader, but surely it would be an improvement."

SISSY SPACEK'S NEXT

Sissy Spacek will reportedly join Colin Farrell in the cast of "A Home at the End of the World," based on the novel by Michael Cunningham ("The Hours").

Farrell and newcomer Dallas Roberts will star as boyhood friends who move in with a woman in New York, played by Robin Wright Penn, and become involved in an emotional love triangle with her. The Hollywood Reporter said Spacek will play the mother of one of the young men.