`ER' STAR EDWARDS TAKES ON `HEART'.

Byline: Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Look for 1999 to be the year the big-screen version of Larry Kramer's ``The Normal Heart'' finally gets made.

``ER'' star Anthony Edwards and his production partner, Dante Di Loreto, are heavy into negotiations with a leading film firm to make the AIDS drama from which Barbra Streisand withdrew as producer/director in 1996.

A script is completed, ``NYPD Blue'' director Paris Barclay will helm, and Anthony Edwards will play Felix, the lover.

Shooting is targeted for Edwards' ``ER'' hiatus next spring, and he expects the key role to be a major box-office name who'll work for minimal upfront money in exchange for a piece of the gross.

``The Normal Heart'' will mark the first feature film for Edwards and Di Loreto's Aviator Films. Their debut telepic, ``Trade Off,'' airs on NBC Feb. 22, with the actor's former ``ER'' co-star Sherry Stringfield starring as a single mother who is a Los Angeles immigration attorney. Originally written by Ron Bass as a feature film for Sally Field, ``it was put into turnaround by the studio, and just sat around for years. It was a challenge to bring it down to a TV production that could be shot in 20 days, but well worth the effort,'' says Edwards.

Meanwhile ...

Edwards starts the new year taping the ``ER'' episode that will serve as George Clooney's swan song from the show in February. He tips, ``He's not going to be leaving in a flurry of bullets. It will be a personal decision of Dr. Douglas Ross - and, in the `ER' way, won't come about in the way people expect.''

He adds, ``It will be open-ended, because George will be returning from time to time. Hey, even if he wanted to, he can't get out of the family that easily. After five years of working together, people really do get involved with one another, and on `ER,' a definite family aspect exists.''

Bad timing

Usher's last-minute withdrawal from the 26th annual American Music Awards has left many involved with the project more than a little put out. The super-hot singer-cum-actor was scheduled to perform on the Jan. 11 ABC awards show, but reps for the program claim he decided to pass on the show because he wasn't nominated for an award. Usher's camp, however, insists it was merely a scheduling conflict.

Usher is currently in Chicago shooting ``Light It Up,'' the film being produced by Kenny ``Babyface'' Edmonds and his wife, Tracey Edmonds. ``Believe me,'' says Usher's spokesperson. ``Mr. Raymond (Usher) would prefer to perform rather than anything else.''

Touched by the angels

``Touched by an Angel'' star Roma Downey says she has found solace in her TV family since her divorce from director David Anspaugh. ``Della Reese is like a mother to me,'' says Downey in the Sunday issue of USA Weekend magazine.

About her rather messy divorce, which resulted in a bitter custody battle over 2-1/2-year-old daughter Reilly Marie, Downey says, ``I don't enjoy crises. But it was better for me and my child to get out of (the marriage) and re-create life.'' She adds she's learned to cope with single motherhood, but ``I've known some challenges, shall we say.''

Surprise!

Penny Marshall recently made a hush-hush visit to brother Garry Marshall's ``Runaway Bride'' set - to surprise him on his birthday. She managed to make it a complete surprise, reports Paul Dooley, who's playing Julia Roberts' father in the film that reunites her with Richard Gere, by taking the place of another actress and strolling into the frame as a scene was shooting.

Dooley, who's known Garry Marshall since the late '50s, when they were both struggling stand-ups in the Village in New York, says the Maryland location shoot of ``Runaway Bride'' has been nothing but fun. The actor, who's skedded to resume shooting of the film the beginning of January, managed to squeeze in a guest-starring role on ``Dharma & Greg'' during his holiday break in L.A.

With reports by Stephanie DuBois.

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

Photo: (1) Anthony Edwards

Picking up after Babs

(2) George Clooney

``ER'' exit

(3) Roma Downey

Messy divorce