Don't cut Billy Dee! The "Star Wars" geekfest "Fanboys," which was to open today, has gone back to the editing table to remove a gloomy subplot involving a guy with cancer and focus more on the title characters' quest to steal an early copy of "The Phantom Menace" from George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch. Comedy Midas Judd Apatow is rumored to have been recruited to recut the film, which features cameos by Carrie Fisher and Billy Dee Williams.

The final reel Kate Winslet will replace the pregnant Nicole Kidman in Stephen Daldry's "The Reader." ... Guillermo Del Toro is angling to direct "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," rumored to be a two-movie extravaganza. ... Christian Bale is in talks to join Johnny Depp in Michael Mann's "Public Enemies." ... Tommy Lee Jones will direct a film based on Ernest Hermingway's "Islands in the Stream." ... Charlize Theron plays Viggo Mortensen's wife in an adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's "The Road." ... Jaden Smith, sans papa Will, will have a role in "The Day the Earth Stood Still" as Jennifer Connelly's stepson. ... "Juno's" Ellen Page will star in Drew Barrymore's directorial debut, "Whip It." ... France's "Persepolis," Spain's "The Orphanage" and Romania's "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days" have drawn much critical acclaim, but have failed to make the cut for the best foreign film Oscar.

CYNTHIA DICKISON