FIRST LOOK: The News in Brief, October 25, 2001

TOM TERRIFIC: Tom Hanks will receive a lifetime achievement award from the American Film Institute, it was announced Thursday. Hanks will become the 30th recipient of the honor during a June 12 ceremony.

STRIKE THREE: George Clooney slamming the Screen Actors Guild for its decision to boot three members who performed scab work during the commercial strike last year, Variety reports. Clooney says the punishment was more harsh than the $100,000 fines handed to Elizabeth Hurley, Tiger Woods and other stars who crossed the picket line.

BAD TIMING: After getting canceled in the wake of September 11, the Latin Grammy Awards finally getting handed out October 30 in a small news conference. The winners will be announced at the Conga Room nightclub in Los Angeles.

STARS AND STRIPES FOREVER: God Bless America, the patriotic compilation featuring songs from Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Gilman, John Mellencamp and Celine Dion, taking the top spot on the album charts, selling 180,984 copies in its first week.

BIG-VILLE: The WB network picking up a full season (22 episodes) of its new young Superman series, Smallville. The Tuesday-night show has gotten off to a strong start, and its premiere pulled in 8.4 million viewers--the largest audience ever for a WB premiere.

NOT SUPERMAN: Nicolas Cage committing to play the title role in Constantine, Warner Bros.' adaptation of the DC-Vertigo comic book Hellblazer, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The supernatural thriller, directed by Tarsem (The Cell), is set to begin shooting next March.

GONE: Sony Pictures Entertainment announcing a major restructuring, with plans to shut down its prime-time TV operation, Columbia TriStar Television.

DRE DAY: Dr. Dre reaching out-of-court settlements with the cities of Detroit and Auburn Hills, Michigan, after he sued them for blocking his right to air videos at his Up In Smoke concerts last year. The cities have issued formal apologies for halting the videos, which featured topless women and gun violence.

SHAKESPEARE IN THE PART: Kenneth Branagh signing on to play good-hearted wizard Gilderoy Lockhart in the Harry Potter sequel, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Variety reports.

ANNA AND THE KING: Reclusive 83-year-old filmmaker Ingmar Bergman planning a stage play for Swedish Television next year. Bergman will direct Anna, which some believe may be a sequel to Scenes From a Marriage, a six-part TV series that was made into a movie in 1973.

CROSSING OVERBOARD? John Edward, TV's medium to the dearly departed, planning "attempts to communicate with victims of the September 11 attacks" in several episodes that will air during November sweeps, Broadcasting & Cable reports. Steve Rosenberg, president of Studios USA domestic syndication, tells the magazine the shows "will be done tastefully."

BETTER THAN JERRY LEWIS: France submitting director Jean-Pierre Jeunet's much buzzed about film Amelie as its candidate for best foreign-language film at next year's Oscars. Miramax is releasing the film November 2 in the U.S.

BUM RAP: Singapore police denying claims by British pop star Robbie Williams that he was fined $5,700 for baring his rear end during a show at Singapore Indoor Stadium over the weekend.

DEFIANT DAN: CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather saying he won't be tested for anthrax or take antibiotics even though the deadly bacteria was found in his office and his assistant came down with skin anthrax. It's his way of defying terrorists, he says.

SEX AND THE EMMYS: Sex and the City costars Kim Cattrall and Kristin Davis are planning to attend the rescheduled Emmy Awards next month, but Sarah Jessica Parker and Cynthia Nixon are not, the New York Daily News reports.

WEEKEND UPDATE: USA Network joining up with Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels to create a late-night game-show-style program to debut on the cable net next March.

CINDERELLA STORY: Renée Zellweger in talks to star opposite Russell Crowe in The Cinderella Man, the Lasse Hallstrom-helmed story of real-life heavyweight boxing champ Jim Braddock. Zellweger would play Crowe's wife in the film.

SPEAKING OF: Michael J. Fox helping the University of California, San Francisco kick off an ambitious fund-raising drive to raise $1.4 billion.

ANOTHER BALDWIN: Billy Baldwin and wife Chynna Phillips welcoming their second child, a boy. Vance Alexander was born early Tuesday morning at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, weighing in at 8 pounds, 8 ounces.