BELUSHI SINGIN' THE BLUES OVER `BLUES BROTHERS'.

Byline: Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Jim Belushi is definitely out of ``Blues Brothers 2000'' - and in his place an African-American character will be added to the story.

This is the latest on the news we broke last week - that after years of taking ``Blues Brothers'' through development hell, it was iffy whether Belushi would be able to join Dan Aykroyd and John Goodman in the Universal film that's slated to start June 2.

Says an insider, ``Universal didn't make a firm commitment to the movie until after he had agreed to star in the Steven Bochco series `Total Security,' this fall. In fact, he was almost finished with the pilot when they gave the go-ahead on the movie.''

Adds our source, ``Jim's heartbroken about the situation - professionally and personally.''

What's after `Mother'?

Debbie Reynolds complained to us about a month ago that she had no film assignments lined up or offers pending - despite the huge attention generated by her title performance in Albert Brooks' ``Mother'' last year. Well, that's not true anymore. Reynolds is now set to play the overbearing grandmother of Sean Patrick Flanery (``Powder,'' ``Young Indiana Jones Chronicles,'' etc.) in an independent feature called ``Zack & Reba.'' The offbeat comedy tells the tale of two depressed young people brought together by, you guessed it, grandma Debbie.

Keeping up the pace

Tony Danza is hustling. The 46-year-old actor has decided ``I'm at the stage of my life where I feel I really, really have to work hard. It's now or never.'' He has been keeping up quite a pace. He's got a pilot for NBC that seems like a strong possibility for the fall lineup, he's got William Friedkin's remake of ``12 Angry Men'' upcoming on Showtime, he does the opening medley on PBS' National Memorial Day Concert, and he's got the cabaret act that's been keeping him progressively busier for the last three years. Right now he's in Toronto filming the telepic ``The G Men,'' which was originally dubbed ``From Garbage to Gridiron.''

``I got them to change the name,'' he tells us. ``I hated it - why give away the whole story in the title? Of course, I don't know what it will be called by the time it's aired. I only have so much juice.'' The story, as its original name suggested, will have him playing a sanitation worker who becomes a kicker for the Philadelphia Eagles. It was supposed to be the Chicago Bears, but, well, that's show business.

Another generation heard from

Stephen Marley, the second-born son of Jamaican reggae legend Bob Marley, is headed to the studio this spring to produce his first solo project, which will feature a compilation of '90s-style remixes of his late father's music. Marley's final tour of America in 1980 was a personal mission to win over the African-American audience that had eluded him during his career. The tour was canceled when he fell ill during its early stages and his mission was never fulfilled. Stephen hopes to amend that situation by reaching out to urban centers, city to city, to capture the attention of the African-American music market. He's also planning a series of collaborations with prominent hip-hop and r&b artists.

On another track

Actor/opera singer Paul Sorvino wants to follow in the footsteps of the late Mario Lanza with his next recording. ``I'll be doing operetta things such as `Be My Love' and `You Alone.' I don't know of anyone since Lanza who has tried to do this. Pavarotti is Italian and he sticks to his Italian repertoire, but I can sing in English,'' says Sorvino with a laugh.

Sorvino, who's working on his own ABC sitcom for the fall, currently has the ``Paul Sorvino Sings'' CD in record stores. ``It's the CD from the PBS television special `An Evening With Paul Sorvino' and it's my first recording as a serious singer.'' His sitcom shooting schedule will be three weeks on, one week off and he says he'll be able to do the opera recording during his off weeks.

Chomp, chomp, chomp

First came the current wave of disaster movies. Now, it seems, we have upcoming a wave of projects about monsters and other pests, ranging from the big-screen ``Godzilla'' remake to ``Marabunta.'' The latter's a yet-unannounced Fox TV movie about South American Marabunta ants proliferating near a rumbling volcano in Alaska. How they got there, we don't know. But they're hungry and eating anyone and anything in sight, including - Fox no doubt hopes - ABC, NBC and CBS. The project gets under way June 9 in Utah.

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

Photo: (1) Jim Belushi

Heartbroken

(2) Debbie Reynolds

Matchmaking grandma

(3) Tony Danza

Now or never