Hollywood Digest

ROBERTS-EVERETT REUNION ON HOLD

After they scored a hit with "My Best Friend's Wedding," Julia Roberts and Rupert Everett decided they'd like to do another picture together, but so far, the idea hasn't gone anywhere.

"It just never happened," Everett told United Press International. "We wrote the screenplay and I don't know what happened. It just went by."

Everett is promoting his new movie, an adaptation of Oscar Wilde's comedy "The Importance of Being Earnest." It's written and directed by Oliver Parker -- who also wrote and directed Everett in the 1999 screen adaptation of Wilde's "An Ideal Husband."

The new project also seems to reunite Everett with Judi Dench and Colin Firth. They all appeared in the 1998 Oscar-winning comedy "Shakespeare in Love," but Everett -- who appeared unbilled as playwright Christopher Marlowe -- did not actually work with Dench or Firth.

Everett did work with Firth in the 1984 drama "Another Country," about two 1930's British students who end up spying for the Soviet Union. But he said they didn't talk much about old times when they were filming their current project.

"We didn't really get along very well during, 'Another Country," Everett said. "I couldn't deal with him. I must have went and bad-mouthed him to people."

But Everett said all is well now between Firth and him.

"We had such a laugh doing this film, I must say," said Everett. "I love him."

HE'S BAAAACK!

Get ready for a new Eminem controversy.

According to a report in the New York Daily News, the Detroit rapper wears an Osama bin Laden costume in the video for his new single "Without Me." The paper said the song -- a spoof of "The Sally Jessy Raphael Show" -- is due to hit radio stations Friday and the video is scheduled to premiere on MTV's "Making of the Video" next month.

Producer Dr. Dre said some of the stuff on the new CD -- "The Eminem Show" -- will "make the hair crawl on your skin." Eminem hasn't had much of a public presence lately -- certainly not as much as he had last year when his Grammy-nominated "The Marshall Mathers LP" lit up a hot controversy about homophobic and misogynistic lyrics.

He's scheduled to perform on "Saturday Night Live" on May 11, and plans to tour this summer with Ludacris and Papa Roach. He makes his movie debut this fall in "8 Mile" -- directed by Curtis Hanson ("L.A. Confidential," "Wonder Boys") -- as a white rapper trying to make it in Detroit.

ALL SET FOR CANNES

Officials have announced the lineup for the 55th Cannes Film Festival -- including new movies by Mike Leigh ("Topsy-Turvy," "Secrets & Lies"), David Cronenberg ("Crash," "Naked Lunch") and Roman Polanski ("Chinatown," "Rosemary's Baby").

Polanski will show a film at Cannes for the first time since "The Tenant" in 1976. His new movie "The Pianist" is a drama set against the Holocaust.

Alexander Payne ("Election") will show his new movie "About Schmidt," starring Jack Nicholson. Paul Thomas Anderson ("Magnolia," "Boogie Nights") will show "Punch-Drunk Love," starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Adam Sandler and Emily Watson.

The festival opens on May 15 with Woody Allen's new movie and closes May with

Cronenberg's new movie "Spider" stars Ralph Fiennes as a man living in a halfway house for the mentally ill. Leigh's entry "All or Nothing" is about a couple who rediscover their love after tragedy strikes their family.

Also on the schedule: "Bowling for Columbine," a documentary about guns by Michael Moore; "The Kid Stays in the Picture," a documentary about Hollywood producer Robert Evans ("Love Story," "The Godfather"); and "Searching for Debra Winger," a documentary by actress Rosanna Arquette.

PRYOR'S WIFE SLAMS JIM BROWN

Richard Pryor's wife, Jennifer Lee Pryor, is answering claims made by Jim Brown in "Jim Brown All-American" -- Spike Lee's documentary about the football legend.

According to a report in the New York Post, Jennifer Lee Pryor takes exception to Brown saying that Richard Pryor fired him as head of Indigo, Inc. in the 1980s under pressure from racist executives at the label's parent company Columbia Records.

"The fact is, Jim Brown was a bully and a control freak who tried to take over Richard's business, so Richard took it back," she said. "For him to say it was a race issue is just insane. But Jim loves to do that. He loves to rewrite history and make himself a victim."

She said she and her husband won a lawsuit recently against the son of a former record producer who claimed he owned the rights to much of Pryor's early comedy record catalogue. Plans call for a box set to be released in time for Christmas.

Pryor also said her husband is still struggling with multiple sclerosis, but doing better.

"The doctors are continually amazed that he's as strong and healthy as he is," she said.

Richard Pryor works every day with physical and speech therapists.

'CLONE' STUFF FOR SALE

With the theatrical release right around the corner, the George Lucas empire has unleashed the merchandising campaign for "Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones."

Fans can now legally spend their money on authorized products such as the soundtrack by John Williams, the novelization of "Attack of the Clones" by R.A. Salvatore, and the graphic novel from Dark Horse Comics by Henry Gilroy and Jan Duursema.

There's also a junior novelization, a visual dictionary and a movie storybook.

Playstation 2 has a Star Wars Jedi Starfighter game and Wizards of the Coast is offering an "Attack of the Clones" Trading Card Game and a "Star Wars Roleplaying Game Revised Rulebook."

Don't forget Yoda's Lightsaber Replica from Masters Replicas or the Padme Amidala Action Figure from Hasbro.

Attack of the Clones opens May 16.