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REEL DEALS Oscar winners Jennifer Connelly and Ben Kingsley will star in ''House of Sand and Fog,'' an adaptation of the novel by Andre Dubus III. An Oprah's Book Club selection, it's the story of a self-destructive, alcoholic woman who battles with an Iranian colonel over her foreclosed California house....

Hugh Jackman will star in ''Grand Theft Parsons,'' an indie drama about the mysterious post-mortem of country rock pioneer Gram Parsons. Jackman will play the road manager who, upon Parsons' death in 1973, spirited away the singer's body for a desert funeral. Jackman would shoot the film after he finishes his Wolverine duties in the ''X-Men'' sequel this fall....

Believe it or not, he's walking on air. He's Paul Hernandez, the screenwriter who's just sold a TV-to-film adaptation of ''The Greatest American Hero'' to Disney. Hernandez won the blessing of Stephen J. Cannell, who created the '80s comedy-drama about a man who becomes a superhero when he finds an alien suit whose powers he can't quite figure out, by tracking down the original costume William Katt wore on the show....

Angelina Jolie continues to mix reel work with real work. Currently in Thailand shooting the drama ''Beyond Borders,'' about humanitarian crisis workers, the United Nations Goodwill Ambassador stopped Sunday at Tham Hin, a Thai refugee camp that houses 9,000 escapees from the military dictatorship in neighboring Myanmar. She brought sarongs for 4,000 women, soccer balls, volleyball nets, and $100,000 for job training. ''Living in a camp is a horrible situation. They need educational and vocational training to help them prepare for when they might go home,'' she said.

TUBE TALK The ''Friends'' finale delivered in a big way. According to Nielsen, 34.9 million viewers watched Rachel give birth and Joey accidentally pop the question; it was the series' second-highest viewership ever, topped only by the 52.9 million who watched the post-Super Bowl episode in 1996. Another Thursday night show, ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,'' also had reason to celebrate, finishing out the season with an average 23.4 million viewers, becoming the first drama to beat ''ER'' for the year (it averaged 22.1 million).

Posted May 20, 2002 | Order Article Reprints

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