The Deal Report

MOVIES

Michael Chiklis is taking his cop cred to the big screen, starring as a detective hunting down his daughter's killers in Sebastian Gutierrez's horror thriller Rise. ''It doesn't seem like a big stretch,'' the buff baldie laughs, ''but there are some substantial differences between this guy and The Shield's Vic Mackey. Mackey's all about ambiguity. This guy is very clear about what drives him. He's a much more damaged, hurting soul.'' Shooting this summer in L.A., the flick costars Lucy Liu, who stands on. . .uh, which side of the law is it again, Chikie? ''I don't want to give the whole thing away!'' He will give us this much: There's a cult, some vampires, and ''a lot more ambiguity in Lucy's role than in mine.''. . .He's Chevy Chase, and you're not. And now he's got a new movie in the works, set to start production in July. The comic — oh, let's just come out and say it — genius has signed to play a kooky scientist who runs a secret superhero agency in Peter Hewitt's (Garfield) Zoom, with Tim Allen and Courteney Cox. . . .Remember those Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez projects Harvey and Bob Weinstein were taking with them once their Disney deal ends Sept. 30? Turns out one of them is Grind House, a horror flick that each director will helm an hour of. The brothers also rushed to get some Oscar bait onto the Miramax fall sked, including Proof with Gwyneth Paltrow. . . .The first two chapters in Lars von Trier's (anti-) American trilogy, Dogville and Manderlay, have ticked off critics. But damned if the guy doesn't still have friends in his leading ladies. After declining to return for No. 2, Dogville's Nicole Kidman is now considering coming back for No. 3, Wasington. . .alongside Bryce Dallas Howard, who took over for her in Manderlay. ''That's what he's saying today,'' Howard told the Deal Report last month at the Cannes film festival. ''That when he does Wasington'' — which may not be until 2007 — ''he'd like to do it with me and Nicole.'' So, they'll share the same part? ''I have no idea,'' Howard admitted. ''But I'd do anything for Lars — even craft services.''