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Given director O'Connor's proven ability with period romance in Circle of Friends, he had no trouble finding actors clamoring to take part in the film. To beat the competition, Tyler says, "I wore a pink sweater to my audition, with my hair in a ponytail." Once she was on the set, though, Tyler's dated frilly dresses were a bit jarring, even for an experienced fashion model. "I'd just never seen anything like them before!" she marvels. "It took me a second to adjust."

More astounding than the look of the clothes, however, is the look of the actors. Even they are surprised by how much they actually resemble siblings on screen. While seeing the film for the first time, Connelly says, she and Tyler were so struck that "we just grabbed each other." In fact, the resemblances may be too good. Says O'Connor: "Somebody at one screening complained, 'I didn't know who was who.' And I said, 'For f---'s sake, they're sisters!' " (April 4)

[WHAT'S AT STAKE] The film could mean bigger and better things for the entire ensemble, but only if audiences primed for Star Wars are willing to embrace a movie about small-town '50s life.

DOUBLE TEAM

[Starring] Jean-Claude VAN DAMME, Mickey ROURKE, Dennis RODMAN, Natasha LINDINGER [Director] Tsui HARK

Even though Van Damme checked himself into a Los Angeles clinic for substance abuse after filming was completed, he kept his demons to himself on the set. "All we needed was to get him out of the trailer and shoot," insists the director. "I was pretty surprised to hear about that." Not so surprising is the movie's plot. Except for the extremely noticeable presence of Rodman as a CIA weapons specialist, it sounds not unlike other Van Damme vehicles. This time Van Damme plays a CIA operative who fails to assassinate international terrorist Rourke and is therefore banished to The Colony, a secret prison camp for wayward spies. If it doesn't work, of course, Rodman and Van Damme can always reteam for The Odd Couple. "I'm 5' 10" and he's 6-something," says Van Damme. "I kept saying 'Shoot us from a low angle so we're both in frame.' " (April 4)

[WHAT'S AT STAKE] The movie could launch Rodman's action career, if he can lay off the makeup and dresses for a while.

MURDER AT 1600

[Starring] Wesley SNIPES, Diane LANE, Daniel BENZALI, Alan ALDA [Director] Dwight Little

Hollywood loves Washington murder mysteries (see Absolute Power)--and this one goes to the Heart of Darkness: the White House. Wesley Snipes, who reportedly got $10 million for the role, plays a veteran D.C. homicide detective sent to investigate the murder of a White House employee, and thus must concern himself with less-than-law-abiding Secret Service agents and disappearing documents. Which means, of course, that Snipes gets to kick butt. "He definitely does the whole Wesley thang," says Lane (My New Gun), who costars as a sharpshooting Secret Service agent. "He's tough, he's energetic, he's a major hepcat." Rather than rely on Oval Office backdrops already available, the movie's producers decided to build all-new White House sets. "We looked at everything from blueprints to maps to photos and old TV footage," says exec producer Stephen Brown, adding that the White House might not be the impenetrable fortress people think it is. Does that mean the movie will be a guide for Lincoln bedroom-crashing lunatics? "I don't think we gave that much away," he says. "I certainly wouldn't know how to get by all those Secret Service people." (April 11)

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