Jason Priestley is negotiating to direct one or more episodes of the CW's planned updated new series version of the show that made him a star, "Beverly Hills, 90210," should the show get picked up for its back nine first season episodes. As far as acting in the redux, "I don't know," he says. "I'm not sure. I'd sort of have to revisit that, take it on a case to case basis."

Priestley previously commented that he'd be "open" to appearing on the new show — a comment that was reprocessed and massaged in various stories until it wound up on an Internet celeb site splashed with a headline screaming that he "Fears '90210' Snub" and is "desperate" to reprise his role.

"How funny is that?" he asks. "And such is my life."

Priestley's actually been consumed with his latest directorial project in recent months — the June 12-debuting "The Road Hammers" reality show, following the drama and craziness of a top Canadian country band as they bring their act south of the border. The Vancouver, B.C.-born, music-loving Priestley played a role in bringing the hugely popular Barenaked Ladies group to U.S. attention, you may recall.

"We didn't stage anything, we refused to do that," he says of the eight, hourlong episodes airing on Great American Country (GAC). "I'm not big on staging stuff and loosely scripted stuff." Still, "There's a lot of surprises and tons of drama … There's this band from Canada that's been very successful, has sold hundreds of thousands of albums and is used to having autonomy, who come down to Nashville expecting to be treated the same way — and that's not the way they do things in Nashville. It was a fascinating education for me as well."

ON THE PERSONAL SIDE: Liv Tyler, who has the big-screen "The Strangers" and "The Incredible Hulk" putting her back front and center in the public eye this summer, admits that her separation from her musician husband, Royston Langdon, has put a cloud over promoting her two films — "Of course." Luckily, she has great friends to lean on, she tells Entertainment Weekly in the issue hitting stands tomorrow (6/6). "I really look up to Gwyneth," she says. "If I ever have a question about something, it's always 911-Gwyneth. She has the best advice."

Like Paltrow, she puts her heart and soul into mothering. Tyler took a career break to focus on her son Milo, now 3. "I had a child because I wanted to be a mother and not because I wanted an accessory," she tells EW. "I really wanted to take that time off, and I did. Now I've never wanted to work more in my entire life."

In fact, "I've never enjoyed my work more than I do now. … I'm stronger and more prepared for it in a way that I wasn't when I was 16," she says. And what would she really like to do? "The only dream I've ever had is to do a musical. I wanna sing! I wanna dance!"

OFFER HE COULDN'T REFUSE: Grammy-winning bassist/composer Marcus Miller just joined the 30th Anniversary Playboy Jazz Festival lineup at the behest of his old pal, legendary keyboardist Herbie Hancock. "I don't do many side gigs, but with Herbie you can't say no," says Miller, who'll join Hancock on stage at the June 14-15 Festival at the Hollywood Bowl that includes such artists as Al Jarreau, Dr. John, Keb Mo, Gerald Albright and Jeff Lorber.

"We both have that Miles Davis connection," notes Miller. "Herbie was in Miles's band in the middle '60s and I was with him in the '80s, The eras are so different, but the stories we share are so similar. Herbie will tell me something Miles said, and I'll be like, 'He said the same thing to me!'"

Miller and Hancock will reunite again the beginning of next year for the first ever Playboy Jazz Cruise setting sail from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Jan. 25 to Feb. 1, 2009 to culminate the festival's 30th anniversary. "I'm the host of the cruise, and I helped put the lineup together," says Miller. "We've got Herbie, Dianne Reeves, James Moody, James Carter, Poncho Sanchez and Roy Hargrove.

END QUOTE: "Chronicles of Narnia" actor William Moseley admits it's jarring to have completed his association with the feature films. "It's been my life for six years now, and it's kind of sad to say my final goodbye," says the 21-year-old, whose character, Peter, is deemed too grown up to return to Narnia at the end of the current release, "Prince Caspian." Moseley doesn't know what his next assignment will be. He says he's waiting for a project that hits him right. "I'm a very instinctual person."

With reports by Stephanie DuBois and Emily Feimster.

To find out more about Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith and read their past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2008 MARILYN BECK AND STACY JENEL SMITH

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