Beck/Smith Hollywood

Thomas Jane is a proponent of 3D.  He made his “Dark Country” film in 3D.   And last week, he hosted the second annual 3D Film & Music Festival.  So it was only a matter of time before a cheeky TV station brought up the idea of “Hung 3D” — as in his ribald HBO series about an unusually well-endowed high school basketball coach-turned-male prostitute.

Jane laughs at the suggestion.  “Yes, if we ever do decide to do full frontal with Ray Decker, I think we should do it in 3D,” he dead-pans.  “Things look bigger in 3D.”

Jane confesses he is as surprised as anyone that the dark comedy is in its third season — which launches Sunday (10/2).  “I never expected this to go beyond one season, to tell you the truth.  But the chemistry between the actors — especially between me and Jane Adams — is really strong.   And the writing continues to be strong.  One of the questions that’s often asked is, how long can they keep this going?  I think the characters are complex enough and the relationships are deep enough that we can keep going and going.”  In fact, he says, “Now I’ve had so much fun making Season 3, I’m really hoping for a Season 4.”

To hear Jane tell it, Season 3 goes light on harsh reality compared to the show’s past.  “We started out with our heroes trying to make ends meet in unconventional ways and we got a lot of mileage out of that.  But by Season 3, the economy still sucks and we don’t want to talk about it all the time.  I think people don’t want too much of a downer. So we decided, ‘Let’s just have some fun.’  It’s a sexier, funnier, faster season and it’s my favorite season because of that.” 

This will also become the season “the cat’s out of the bag” in terms of Ray’s new profession becoming known to the people in his life, including his ex-wife (Anne Heche).

Ray’s clients are more attractive this season as well, something Jane says was a conscious choice.  One of the creative challenges of the series, it seems, is coming up with plausible reasons why a beautiful woman would “pay for the experience,” as Jane puts it.  Could be personal peccadilloes.  (“If you want to chase me through the park dressed as a cop, that’s what you get.”)  Could be wish fulfillment, such as his comely blond rich former student satisfying her schoolgirl crush at last.  Talk about fantasy time!

The star (whose divorce from Patrica Arquette became final in July) says that doing the show has impacted his own outlook on sex.  “As a man I’ve learned to sort of see the sexual experience through the eyes of a woman.  That’s where men and women, their wants and needs are different,” he notes.  “A man’s point of view is, ‘I’m going to meet this girl, go to dinner and then if I’m lucky go back to my house and get down to the business of [sex].  But there is a whole list of criteria for a woman to have sex with a guy.  Ray has to deliver a full-service package, almost like a boyfriend experience.  The woman wants to feel taken care of, to feel safe….It’s very elucidating.  Men are interested in this stuff, you know.  Men want to know how to satisfy a woman.”

But still, as far as what male viewers ask him about when he chats about the show at events and such, Jane says, “The most frequent question I get asked is, ‘How much?’” 

Okay.  So, how much?  “Six hundred bucks,” he answers.  “We’re in a depression, or it would be more.”

Cheryl Ladd is diplomatic when it comes to ABC’s new “Charlie’s Angels,” which has been tagged with terms from “lackluster” to “dreary bore,” “depressing” to “Fall’s Most Mediocre New Drama.”  Says the actress once known as angel Kris Munroe, “I watched the first episode and it was very different — totally different from the original series.  It’s more like the movie, I think, in the feel of it.  I thought the girls were terrific.”

Ladd doesn’t have much time for scrutinizing her successor angels, however.  She just finished filming an “NCIS” episode in which “I play kind of a love interest for Ducky,” she says of David McCallum’s character.  Soon she’ll head up to Canada to make a Christmas-themed movie for television.  And Saturday (10/1) marks the premiere of her Hallmark Channel Original Movie, “Love’s Everlasting Courage.” 

She and Bruce Boxleitner play the parents of Wes Brown’s character, Clark, who is central to the hugely popular “Love Comes Softly” series of movies based on Janet Oke’s best-selling 1800s period novels. 

“When I read the script it took me exactly 30 seconds to say yes.  I loved the story, the characters,” says Cheryl.  “And then when they told me they were casting Buce — I can’t tell you how long we’ve known each other in the industry, but he and I have never had the opportunity to work together before.” 

She also “loved the idea of playing the grandmother” she says.   Other actresses in Hollywood avoid the g-word assiduously, but Cheryl freely notes, “I am a grandmother now.  My stepdaughter, Lindsay, has two children and one on the way.”  She liked playing the relationship between her character and child actress Morgan Lily’s.  “She wants to help and protect her granddaughter, but at the same time, she knows she needs to grow up fast.”

Production on location outside L.A. was hot and dusty.  “We filmed out on the ranch where they filmed ‘Little House on the Prairie.  We were there five or six weeks,” Cheryl reports.  “It was pretty rough, but not nearly as rough as a real farm family in the 1850s.  It’s hard to imagine, these people getting through their day — no aspirin or Motrin if they had aches and pains.  This family and their determination to band together come what may made me think a lot about our ancestors,” she adds.  “Times are tough right now, and this is a good message about family ties and pulling together to get through.”

Stacy Keach has long been known as a man of many interests, but his latest non-acting endeavor,  Mary’s Magic Microscope still comes as a surprise.  The title instrument takes the book’s young characters into strange and fabulous molecular worlds — with sights like living rings of atoms in lime green and hot orange and yellow, and honey bee eyes with huge, soft-looking lashes.  The striking visuals are provided by Keach’s collaborator in the work, artist and scientist Gary Greenberg, who shot them using his patented 3D light microscopes.  The story is a lot of fun, too.

 If Keach and Greenberg have their way, their Mary’s Magic Microscope books — they have a series in the works — will open the way for a 3D film that, they hope, will help inspire lasting excitement about science in young learners.  “We’re both parents ourselves — Gary’s a grandparent.  And the thing is, we want to help,” Keach says.

 The esteemed actor got to know Greenberg years ago when he joined the advisory board of the Environmental Communications organization, he recalls.  Both men are drawn to “the synthesis of art and science,” as Keach puts it.  

“If you look at my website, you can see how visual this stuff is,” notes Greenberg.  “That’s why it’s a perfect movie vehicle.  The microworld is amazingly visual.”  They’re hoping for a full-on feature release in 3D theaters, but Greenberg says, “We’ve also often discussed the possibility of an IMAX release, which would be a wonderful way to do it.”

 MEANWHILE:  Keach is finding time for his scientific labor of love in-between a full agenda of other activities.  He has the critically-hailed Other Desert Cities opening Nov. 3 at Broadway’s Booth Theatre.  He and Stockard Channing are reprising the roles they played earlier this year at Lincoln Center in the drama about a former GOP power player who has deep family secrets about to be exposed.  Joining them are Judith Light and Rachel Griffiths.  

 And on a completely different note, Keach has Mel Brooks’ comedy horror “Pizzaman” ahead.  “I can’t wait,” he says.  “I’m very excited about it.  I’ve never worked with Mel before, but I’ve known him for a long time.  His first cousin, Howard Kaminsky, and I want to school together at Berkeley — oh, a few years ago.”  But as for what he’ll play in the tale of a homicidal pizza delivery man, or any other, um, juicy details, Keach is mum.  “I’m afraid I’m not at liberty to say.”

Mandy Patinkin, who left “Criminal Minds” in 2007 saying he loathed violence on television, returns to the small screen Sunday (10/2) in Showtime’s new “Homeland” — a series already notorious among critics for its scenes of Damian Lewis’ Marine character being tortured.  How does Patinkin explain this seeming contradiction?

“It’s very artfully done, and it is not the central issue by any means of this piece,” he responds.  “I find the sex and violence in this piece incredibly minimal, artfully done and non-offenseive to me.  This is an entertainent first and foremost, and very much a psychological thriller.  It goes to the core of why we are all in the positions we are in and who is responsible for the terrorism and the violence that has taken place in the world.  It is very much a whodunnit, very much a mystery, a spy story.”

The beloved performer plays CIA Middle East Division Chief Saul Berenson, the boss of Claire Danes’ character.  She becomes convinced that Lewis, returned to the U.S. after years of having gone missing in Afghanistan, may have been turned and now be part of an al-Qaida plot.  Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa of “24” fame are producing the intense new drama.

“You are really in the hands of masters here, and they’re really sensitive to this stuff,” Patinkin adds. 

The actor certainly came to his role prepared.  He did a great deal of research, “which I always love doing.  They sent me a bunch of books, definitive books about this world and these people, who are called ‘spooks.’  Then they hooked me up with the real guy who held a similar position to what I play — someone who has been all over the Middle East and knows where all the secrets are buried.  We went down to Langley,” he says, referring to the CIA headquarters.  “I met his family.” 

Danes’ character is almost like a daughter to Patinkin’s, according to him.  “I’m the father figure and mentor to her.  She is my child in terms of my character bringing her into this.  She’s an extraordinarily gifted human being, but troubled.”  Of the actress herself, Patinkin says, “She is amazing, as a person and as an actress.  She really is one of the best in terms of acting ability, which is a real gift to me at this point.”

Former Antigone Rising frontwoman Cassidy is unveiling her new identity, Boheme, along with her first solo record, “Follow the Freedom” — with a completely unexpected assist by Journey’s Steve Perry.

 ”I grew up in Northwestern New Jersey in an area that had only one one radio station — a classic rock station — so I grew up listening to Journey and Bruce Springsteen and Stevie Nicks…Steve Perry was a HUGE influence,” she recalls. 

She was busy mixing tracks on “Follow the Freedom” at L.A.’s Capitol Records building with producer/engineer Niko Bolas, when Bolas suddenly announced, “I have a big fan of yours in here who wants to meet you.’  I was thinking someone who was a fan of my former band.  I walked into the room and who turns around but Steve Perry.  I had to rub my eyes, because I thought I was seeing things.  He said, ‘Hi, Darlin’!’

“I said, ‘I am a huge fan of yours!  You taught me how to sing.’

“‘I did?’ he said.  ‘No wonder you sound good.’”

Perry not only wound up collaborating on the album behind the scenes, he performed backup vocal work on “Follow the Freedom.” 

Cassidy remembers Bolas telling her, “There’s some sort of spirit connection there.  He recognized something in your voice that sounded familiar.’  It did feel a bit cosmic, a bit of a wink from the universe.  If you’re doing the right thing, the road will rise up to meet you.”

That fortuitous turn of events came after years fraught with stress and disappointment for the singer-actress.  Despite the success of female rockers Antigone Rising, she says she felt a sense of things going wrong after they signed a record deal.  “We’d been on our own for five years and been really independent.  As soon as we handed it over, there was a campaign to change the image, to change the sound.  This is what Atlantic Records wants.  This is better for Starbucks.  The public had been responding to how different and unusual the band was, but once we got on a record label, they wanted to temper it.  The hair got bigger, the makeup got darker and the clothes got more feminine…My regret was that I did not fight it more.” 

After she and her band mates went separate ways, “I was shell-shocked, heartbroken.  I lost some of that fight I was born with.  It was a tough time.”  She took time away, focused on acting and other pursuits. 

Two years ago, she “picked up the guitar again” and found a new sound beginning to emerge.  “Based on everything going on in the country,” she says, the album’s “message is going to be about starting over, about finding the positive in a negative.”  And she has.

 Tom Green is in the throes of preparations for the show he’ll be filming at Boston’s Wilbur Theatre Friday (9/30) — which will be condensed into his first hour-long standup comedy cable special.  Green, who rose to fame with his  outrageous antics on MTV’s “The Tom Green Show,” spent more recent years leading the charge into internet comedy with his “Tom Green’s House Tonight” talk show, live from his living room.  But now he’s into another chapter.  He’s been out on a global standup comedy tour, and he’s all about coming back to reality.

“Everyone is doing the internet now, so I kind of felt it was a fun time to go back to the most traditional medium there is:  getting on stage and doing a live peformance,” he says.  “Having been out touring the last two years, I have lots of material, lots of jokes, a whole bunch of stuff I’m going to be doing for the special.

“What’s fun about this is that it’s a completely different format.  My show was out-on-the-street pranks and practical jokes on people, not standup comedy,” he points out.  “This is going to be the first time, hopefully, people get to know me being myself, talking for an hour.”

Green says he doesn’t want his show to be “preachy, but it is political, and I do talk about all sorts of different issues, in the media and in my personal life, my experience with cancer and all sorts of things.  I find that serious subjects are the best places to find comedy because they’re meaningful to people.”  Among the topics he explores is “our addiction to technology and people getting agoraphobic they’re so into their Facebook and cell phones.  They’re giving away their privacy and all this personal information.  Most people have had a nightmare experience with Facebook at some point.  Marriages are breaking up over Facebook.  We’re being sucked into this digital vortex as a society without really thinking about the consequences.”  But there are lots of punchlines to this, he assures. 

If the raves Green got at the recent Edinbugh Fringe Festival are any indication, the special ought to be well worth while.  It will likely debut early in the new year.  Until then, he has his ongoing calendar of gigs, including the Irvine, CA Improv Oct. 14-16.  Being out on the road “actually energizes me,” he says.  “If I get a good amount of sleep every night, it’s actually good for my health.”

 The stars turned out in a major way last night for the premiere of Cirque du Soleil’s electrifying new show, Iris: a Journey Through the World of Cinema, at the famous Kodak Theatre.  Among the attendees were Matthew McConaughey, Patrick Dempsey, Kate Beckinsale, Cindy Crawford, James Gandolfini, Christina Hendricks, Kevin Dillon, Vanessa Hudgens (in a breathtakingly low-cut Boho gown), and Neil Patrick Harris. 

“It’s ammazing!” tweeted Neil.  “If you come to Hollywood, it is a MUST SEE!  The best show in years!”

 Exactly.  Iris delivered on the anticipation and reported $100 million investment that preceded it ($40 million to renovate the Academy Awards’ home theater for the show, $60 million for the production itself).  It was nothing short of a fantastical dream come to life, as sirens, sylphs, cops ‘n’ gangsters, contortionists and aerialists spun, flew, tumbled, trampolined and danced through a procenium that was part steam punk, part “Le Voyage dans la lune” and all Cirque du Soliel.  All that, Danny Elfman’s magical score, cutting-edge visual effects and a dash of comedy, had the audience on its feet cheering. 

The show was followed by a chic block party — with Hollywood Boulevard blocked off and tented for the event, and with a ferris wheel at one end that was lit like a gigantic film reel.  Guests, who were asked to dress “Cirque chic,” largely delivered.  Servers offered champagne for all, and other libations flowed, as bars were set up in various locales, and there was an ice wall of cubbies filled with sipping size bottles of Neige Canadian apple ice wine.  Local restaurateurs provided samples of goumet fare.  The black truffle risotto from Twist was a favorite. 

Harris and his man in life, David Burtka, were chatting about what a fabulous show it was with “Mad Men’s” Christina Hendricks and her husband, “Body of Proof’s” Geoffrey Arend, as they relaxed in the VIP area of the street soiree.  

 As a Cirque character exhorted the audience at the show’s beginning, this was a time to forget all one’s worries and enter another world.

Martha Plimpton was part of one of viewers’ favorite bits at the recent Emmy Awards – when she and her fellow Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy nominees rushed to the stage as their names were called before Melissa McCarthy was crowned winner.  To hear the “Raising Hope” star tell it, the Awards marked one of very few nights she’s spent out on the L.A.scene.

“I’m so busy working, I don’t have much time for other things.  The days are long and they’re going to stay as they are,” she lets us know.  “But fortunately the vibe is good on the set.  I feel like we’ve become really good friends, we love working together and we really enjoy each other’s company.”  Also, she says, they’ve been having a lot of fun with the new season of their zany Fox show that’s centered on the trashy but loving Chance family — including baby Hope, and inept young baby daddy Jimmy (Lucas Neff).

Talking about what viewers can expect as the new season continues to unfold she says, she says, “We have a family trip to Vegas coming up (Oct. 5).  Amy Sedaris is back for that episode.”   Sedaris plays her cousin — the cousin who dad the hots for her husband, Burt (Garrett Dillahunt).  “We’re going to meet Burt’s parents,” she notes, referring to guest stars Lee Majors (”The Six Million Dollar Man”) and Shirley Jones (”The Partridge Family”).  “You’re going to see a lot of us in our younger years. We’re going to do a lot of flashbacks.

“Originally, we had these two younger actors playing us.  We’re going to play ourselves younger more often, I think, this season.”   

When Plimpton does get a longer work break, she heads East.  “I still live inNew York.  When we shoot, I’m out here and I rent a furnished place.   New York is still my home.”

“Survivor” winner “Boston Rob” Mariano and monster truck racing champ Dennis Anderson apparently aren’t kidding when they say that in-fighting between the two of them turned out to be the toughest obstacle involved in their Oct. 2-debuting History Channel show, “Around the World in 80 Ways.”  They can barely make it through a conference call without taking potshots at each other.

“Can you say ‘Pain in the a–’ in print?” asks Rob at one point.

“Go to h—, Rob,” says Dennis at another. 

It’s not a competition show.  They’re co-hosts.

Dennis tells of a time when he was in a basket 300 feet above ground, suspended from a crane — and Rob convinced the crane operators to go have lunch, leaving him stranded, knowing heights bothered him. 

“Rob ——s me off throughout the show,” he says.  “He was constantly setting stakes — ‘Let’s race’ – when I wanted to focus on the ultimate objective.  He will bend the rules and he thinks out of the box.  He would find a step so simple, I would feel this internal anger I could barely choke down.  But I was able to give him a taste of his own medicine along the way.”

“He’s talking like this because we’re calling from two different cities,” informs Rob, who is calling fromMassachusetts, while Dennis is inNorth Carolina.

“When you spend 24/7 with someone, you’re going to have ups and downs.  I can see how I may have gotten to him at times,” Rob admits.  “He got to me, too.  But when we had good times, we really enjoyed it.  Dennis had never gone out of the country before this trip.  To go around the world on a 10 1/2 week adventure as your first international trip?  I’m proud of him, how far he came from the beginning.  Honestly, there were times I didn’t know if he would make it through the whole time.  I’ll give the guy one thing: he can fix anything if it has an engine.  We were in a situation inIndia, I don’t know how we would have gotten out of it if it hadn’t been for him.” 

He says their relationship was really “love/hate.”  Dennis agrees and says that sometimes Rob “reminded me of an aggravating little brother.”

“Around the World in 80 Ways” is both the title and the directive of this latest series from manly man TV producer Thom Beers (“Deadliest Catch,” “Ice Road Truckers,” etc.).  The duo had to circumnavigate the globe using a fantastic array of different forms of transportation, never repeating.  Rob and Dennis certainly had more than enough challenges without their internal battles.     

They did zip lines through mountainous passes in Peru, got down from the roof of a Sao Paulo skyscraper on a window washer’s rig.  They sailed rickety dugout boats of ancient style, rode camels and drove a Model T.  They were nearly charged by hippos in Africa as their camera/production team looked on helplessly from a different boat.  “Dennis got our boat going just in time,” says Rob.  Rob water-skied — towed by a helicopter.  That was Dennis’ idea.  “It was supposed to be payback for something he did to me,” says Dennis.  But as it turned out, Rob loved it.

Life is a whirl — and then some — for Disney Channel stars Bella Thorne and Zendaya, who are ages 13 and 15, respectively.   Their “Shake it Up” series is No. 1 with kids and tweens.  There are clothing and shoe lines fashioned after their CeCe and Rocky characters on the dance-themed comedy.  CeCe and Rocky dolls are coming out.   The two have a Disney Channel movie called” Frienemies” on the way.   Zendaya also appears on tonight’s (9/23) “PrankStars” — convincing the unsuspecting subject of her practical joke to help out at her family’s pirate-themed restaurant.  Aaargh!

“I’m still shocked about it.  To go into Target and see these clothes — it amazes me every day,” Bella tells us.

And Zendaya says that seeing her doll for the first time “was a surreal feeling.  I felt a whole bunch of emotions.  I felt excitement, and I also had a little tear in my eye.  I had to kind of absorb the moment and realize what is happening.  Little girls are going to playing with me.  I just remember that feeling, when I was  playing with dolls.”

Bella says that interacting with their young fans is her favorite part of the job.  “When the little kids come up to you, it’s so cute.  We were at Disneyland, and this one little girl was crying, because she didn’t know we were real,” recounts the young talent.  “That’s why we do what we do — to make them laugh and make them smile.  They come to the show and they’re so excited.  It warms our hearts to hear them laughing in the audience.”

 Between learning new dances and lines every day, doing promotional chores and keeping up with their schooling, there’s not much down time for the girls.  Have they learned to pace themselves?

 ”Not really,” admits Bella.  “But it’s not like I’m being held away from my friends and stuff.  They come to the set, and we eat dinner after the show.”

  As far as vacation time, “That’s usually the time we travel or do promo stuff,” Zendaya says.  “But either way, I’m with Bella and we’re having fun.  As long as it’s fun, it’s okay.” 

Still, she says, “I think the most challenging aspect of doing this is being able to balance school and work, and still be a regular girl.  That’s the most important thing, and the hardest thing to deal with.”  In the interests of regular girl time, “I have my fiends visit all the time.  They always come here, because it’s really hard for me to visit them.  We’ll do simple things like go to the movies.  I just had my birthday party and it was the best experience.,” she adds.  “I had friends from home and friends from out here that I’ve met, and had a big, fun celebration at my auntie’s house on the beach.  We had henna tattoos, and glitter tattoos and played volleyball.”