it's no secret that many Hollywood actors consider Vancouver their second home. Some, like Robin Williams, have bought property in the spectacular countryside - he owns an island off the coast of the Sechelt Peninsula - while others prefer more chic accommodation in the city or the celeb-strewn ski hills of nearby Whistler. Action stars like Tommy Lee JonesTommy Lee Jones, Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger work here so much they have memberships in a private cigar club that provides them with the very best of the Cuban stogies they prefer.
  Far from the madding crowd of Vancouver is the small Okanagan Valley border town of Osoyoos. The citizens of this fruit and vineyard community recently entertained the cast and crew of the zany independent film The Shipment.  Starring Nicholas Turturro, Matthew Modine, Elizabeth Berkley and Robert Loggia, the movie tells the tale of a stolen shipment of double-strength Viagra that is smuggled into the States from Mexico. When the mob turns up, things escalate out of control. The actors enjoyed the laid-back ambience of the small B.C. town and its super-friendly residents, hanging out at local watering holes and chatting with the regulars.
  Art movie buffs will be surprised to find Tony Shalhoub, the temperamental chef of Big Night and the zoned-out crewman from Galaxy Quest, starring in the horror flick 13 Ghosts. Shalhoub plays the widowed father of two who inherits a house in the country. Of course, that house just happens to be a dizzying spiral of horrifying special effects and elaborate set designs. The house is made of glass and
the floor is equipped with motorized, concentric metal circles that turn in opposite directions. The horror extravaganza co-stars F. Murray Abraham, Matthew Lillard, Shannon Elizabeth and Rah Digga. This is the first film for Digga, who appeared in the November issue of Vanity Fair with a trio of fellow rappers. She got the part after producers Joel Silver and Robert Zemeckis saw her music videos. Digga, a.k.a. Rashia Fisher, makes her home in New Jersey but she won't be there much. She's already signed on to do an MTV hiphop feature movie that chronicles the sad life of beautiful black actress Dorothy Dandridge.
  Schwarzenegger flew in for the Vancouver premiere of his latest film, The 6th Day, shot on location in the Lower Mainland. The sometimes less-than-polite actor was all smiles as he greeted cast and crew members and even signed an autograph or two for surprised moviegoers at Tinseltown, a downtown theater complex.
  And speaking of The 6th Day, Schwarzenegger's co-star, Wendy Crewson, is back in town lensing Show and Tell, a romantic comedy directed by Vancouver's own Anne Wheeler (Better than Chocolate). The movie co-stars Peter Coyote. Crewson, who lives in San Francisco, jokes that she practically considers Vancouver a suburb she works here so much.
- Valerie Gregory

star watchers in Nova Scotia could have their eyes full next spring if all the rumors currently making the rounds in movie circles turn out to be true. For starters, the most recent, and juiciest, news to hit the streets is speculation that Harrison FordHarrison Ford and Liam Neeson, two of Hollywood's top leading men, will join forces and come to Nova Scotia to film a 1960's era submarine thriller.
  Hollywood scouts have reportedly been seen around the province looking for locations to film K-19: The Widowmaker. Based on a true story about an endangered Russian nuclear submarine that nearly suffered a meltdown in the North Atlantic, the film would mark the first time Ford and Neeson have worked together.
Julianne Moore  Ford, perhaps best known for the first Star Wars trilogy and Indiana Jones movies, has been one of Hollywood's biggest stars over the past two decades. Neeson, who has starred in such films as Schindler's List and Rob Roy, appeared in the 1999 blockbuster, Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace.
  In other Nova Scotia-based movie news, it has been confirmed that The Shipping News will bring two-time Academy Award winner Kevin Spacey to the east coast sometime in March. Oscar Kevin Spaceynominee Julianne Moore has also joined the cast.
  In The Shipping News, based on the Pulitzer Prize winning novel of the same name, Quoyle (Spacey) relocates to Newfoundland with his daughters and finds new love. It will be directed by Lasse Hallström, who directed last year's Best Movie Oscar nominee The Cider House Rules. Filming is expected to begin in Halifax and Newfoundland in March.
- Vernon Oickle