Fans of Wilmer Valderrama who are used to his nice guy image have a shock in store when the big-screen "Days of Wrath" gets released.

The indie ensemble drama, with Ricardo Chavira, Laurence Fishburne, Amber Valletta, Taye Diggs and Jeffrey Dean Morgan, shows the lives of a teacher, a TV news crew and rival gang members intertwining in L.A. Wilmer plays a gang banger.

"It's a big one for me," he says, "a big change. I'm the main bad guy in the movie."

"Days of Wrath," which is directed by Celia Fox, is one of several projects the "That '70s Show" alumnus has in the pipeline, including the "CHiPs" feature in which he is to play Erik Estrada's old role of Ponch, the recently-wrapped film "The Darwin Awards" with Winona Ryder and Joseph Fiennes, and the pilot for a prospective Fox series.

"I took a little break from being in front of the camera. I was a little burned after doing so many things," notes Wilmer, whose other activities include producing and hosting MTV's "Yo Momma," overseeing his own clothing line, and voicing the Disney Channel "Handy Manny" series. "Some of the ventures I've invested in are super fun, but it's also fun to be acting."

THE HOLIDAY SPIRIT: The hugely popular Irish singing group Anúna will be quite conspicuous this holiday season, with "Christmas Memories," a new PBS special with an accompanying DVD and album release on the way — and a Borders bookstore performance tour beginning Nov. 29 that will take them all over the United States. "The USA is synonymous to us with Christmas," declares the group's John McGlynn, chatting from his Dublin home via the longhorn. "Many Europeans haven't been in the U.S. from Halloween on, and they don't know how everyone gets into the holidays. America, for me, is brilliant! Having spent Christmas in America last year, I was absolutely shocked that everyone knew every word of the Christmas songs. 'Chestnuts Roasting' — that was the one. We were shocked to see these big hairy truckers singing it in a diner."

The group, which got its first major attention on these shores as part of the "Riverdance" phenomenon, filmed their "Christmas Memories" special "over a week in Baltimore" last summer, says John, brother of founder Michael McGlynn. "It's not cheesy. The music is really from our own experience, music that audiences have reacted to all over the world."

He's also working on his second solo album, due next year, "Sweet June." He says it consists of "two young ladies and myself and it's very guitar orientated, psychedelic folkie stuff."

BICOASTAL: Kristin Chenoweth, the original Glinda in Broadway's "Wicked," has spent the last year on ABC's TV show "Pushing Daisies." Whether the show lasts or not (and they still haven't received word as to whether they're getting picked up for nine more episodes this season), the actress assures us she hasn't left her Broadway days behind her. "I'm always going to have the desire to perform live. I'm always going to be looking for the Broadway show to get to come back to because it's my first love," says Chenoweth. Not to mention the fact that she really misses New York. "I have made the transition here pretty easily," she notes of moving to Los Angeles. "I love getting in my car and driving and I love the weather, but I will always be a New Yorker."

REAL TO REEL: Gay rights activist Cleve Jones admits he didn't know much about Emile Hirsch when the hot young actor was first mentioned to play him in Gus Van Sant's soon-to-open "Milk" feature. "But when I saw 'Into the Wild,' then I knew, this kid is amazing — amazingly talented." Jones got to know Hirsch pretty well before filming the movie that stars Sean Penn as his late friend, slain San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk. Hirsch visited him to prep for the role. "Mostly, we would drive around San Francisco and I would show him where we lived, the cafes where we hung out, where we had our marches. Sometimes we would go over the script together. I learned he takes his craft very, very seriously. As for the results, says Jones, "My mother and father have seen the film, and they agree he nailed it."

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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