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REEL DEALS With ''Friends'' winding down next season, Matthew Perry must have figured he'd have a lot of time on his hands, so he's signed a two-picture deal with Paramount, Variety reports. The first film will be ''One of Us,'' a romantic comedy by Gerald DiPego (''Phenomenon'') about a small-town guy who unwittingly falls in love with an alien who's disguised as an earthling while looking for a human guinea pig. The other movie is a comedy to be named later....
Sylvester Stallone's expressionlessness could serve him well when he stars in ''Shade'' as The Dean, a master poker player. In the film, by first-time writer/director Damian Nieman, The Dean gets involved in a scam perpetrated by three card sharps -- Thandie Newton, Gabriel Byrne, and Stuart Townsend (''Queen of the Damned'') -- against a vengeful mobster. Shooting begins at the end of this month in Los Angeles....
Rapper Ludacris isn't just a storyteller on disc. He successfully pitched a story idea to Paramount's MTV Films, which has commissioned a screenplay called ''Skip Day'' Word of mouf has it that the movie will be a cross between ''Ferris Bueller's Day Off'' and ''House Party,'' with Ludacris playing one of two inner-city teens transferred to an uptight private school, where they wreak havoc in their efforts to organize a senior class ditch day. He'll also executive produce the movie....
Back in the early-feminist '70s, ''The Stepford Wives,'' in which Katharine Ross discovered why all the housewives in her upscale suburb acted like cheery and submissive robots, played as a horror movie. But to screenwriter Paul Rudnick (''Addams Family Values,'' ''In & Out''), it looks more like camp. He's preparing a black-comic remake. Director Frank Oz (''The Score'') is in talks to shoot the movie. Oz certainly knows from animatronics -- not only is he a veteran Muppeteer (he's the man behind Miss Piggy and Cookie Monster), but he's also the voice of Yoda.
TUBE TALK Stick a fork in ''Politically Incorrect,'' it's done. As expected, ABC is canceling the occasionally controversial post-''Nightline'' show and replacing it with a talk show to be hosted by Jimmy Kimmel. Embarrassed over its willingness to toss aside ''Nightline'' (which is now expected to be spared the ax for another two years) for David Letterman, who ultimately decided not to leave CBS, ABC has been yearning to draw younger viewers to late night, and it apparently thinks that the host of Comedy Central's ''The Man Show'' is the answer. Kimmel will continue to produce new episodes of ''Man'' until he moves to ABC in January, probably making his debut after another beer-and-cheerleaders show, ABC's broadcast of the Super Bowl. Kimmel still has another Comedy Central show, ''Crank Yankers,'' which debuts June 2. It features puppets acting out prank phone calls (think ''The Jerky Boys'' meets ''Greg the Bunny''). Whether Letterman or Jay Leno viewers will switch, or ''Nightline'' viewers will stick around, to have their cranks yanked is another question.
