Just a Good Ol' Boy

REEL DEALS Meg Ryan may be queen of the New York romantic comedy, but the ''Kate & Leopold'' star's next Manhattan romance may take a much darker turn. She's in talks to film ''In the Cut,'' a thriller in which she'd play a woman who has an affair with a homicide detective trying to nab a serial killer who's stalking her neighborhood. Jane Campion (''The Piano'') is directing the movie, which will start shooting in New York in July. Campion's ''Portrait of a Lady'' star Nicole Kidman is one of the producers; she optioned the Susanna Moore novel back in 1996 as a possible star vehicle for herself and commissioned Moore and Campion to write the screenplay....

Director McG made ''Charlie's Angels'' fly on screen; now, Warner Bros. is gambling that he can do the same for ''Superman.'' He'll shoot a script being written by ''Alias'' and ''Felicity'' creator J.J. Abrams. Warner Bros., whose last Man of Steel flick came out 15 years ago, has been trying to get a new ''Superman'' franchise off the ground for ages but hasn't been able to do so, despite spending $140 million commissioning at least three screenplays (including one by Kevin Smith) and doing abortive pre-production on ''Superman Lives,'' in which Tim Burton was to direct Nicolas Cage back in 1998. There's no star signed on yet to play Clark Kent, but the studio still has some time; McG won't be available until after he shoots ''Charlie's Angels 2: Halo'' this spring....

In his current hit, Cuba Gooding Jr. inherits a talent for dogsled racing. In his next movie, the ''Snow Dogs'' star may inherit a talent for gospel singing. He's negotiating to star in ''Fighting Temptations,'' a comedy about a West Coast rap producer who returns to the South for a family funeral and learns he is heir to a fortune that he will receive only if he returns to his roots and starts a gospel choir. Because there's nothing like greed to motivate someone to sing, ''Hallelujah!''

TUBE TALK In its earlier time slot this season ''NYPD Blue'' has had to go head-to-head with ''Frasier,'' but it has survived to become the season's 22nd most popular series, drawing an average of 13.4 million viewers. That was good enough for ABC to renew the show yesterday for a 10th season, making it one of the longest-running dramas on TV. Writers will be challenged to find still more hardships for Dennis Franz's Detective Sipowicz, who has endured the deaths of family members and close friends, alcoholism, and two former child stars....

For the first time, awards-show fanatics in the U.S. will be able to watch the BAFTAs, the British answer to the Academy Awards, which will be handed out Feb. 24 at the Odeon Leicester Square theater in London. They'll be broadcast on E! on March 1, edited down to a tidy two hours, including pre-show. Does this mean E! is planning to inflict Joan and Melissa Rivers on those poor Brits?

BABY TALK A Rolling Stone gathers no moss, and neither does his bed. Former Guns n' Roses guitarist Slash and his wife of four months, Perla Ferrar, visited one Stone's home in December and, many pints of Guinness stout later, conceived their first child. ''The baby was conceived at Ronnie Wood's house in London,'' Slash tells the New York Daily News. ''We're thinking about maybe giving the kid the middle name Woody.'' Adds the 36-year-old guitarist, ''I can't believe we are going to be somebody's parents.''