BRAGA SEEING RED OVER FILM COUPLES' AGE GAP.

Byline: Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

A lot's been written and said recently about the May-December relationships appearing on movie screens - but we've heard nothing as pointed as Sonia Braga's comments to us about the matter. As the former leading lady of Robert Redford, on and off camera, the Brazilian bombshell knows the scene firsthand.

``Years ago, I told Robert, `The way things are going, one day, your leading lady is going to be Demi Moore.' And he said, `Oh, please, Sonia' - as if it could never happen. Years go by. Who is his lead woman? Demi Moore,'' Braga says, referring to the 1993 ``Indecent Proposal.'' Now, of course, Redford is sharing screens with Kristin Scott Thomas, 23 years his junior, in ``The Horse Whisperer.''

``They keep replacing women in movies with younger women, but they keep the men. ... They keep Warren (Beatty), they keep Michael (Douglas), they keep Clint Eastwood. It's not fair.

``I say, `Why don't they act with people of their own age?' '' asks Braga, who volunteers that she turned 48 June 8 on the set of the NBC women's history miniseries ``A Will of Their Own'' - in which she plays real-life activist Jesse Lopez de la Cruz. ``The oldest woman Robert played opposite (recently) was Meryl Streep. Robert is 60, and she's 48, so there you go.''

Does Braga keep in touch with Redford, with whom she made the 1988 ``Milagro Beanfield War''?

``No,'' she says. ``Even if I wanted to, I don't think he'd remember we were ever together. He just pretends that life is what it is now. ... I guess Robert is the symbol of what many men in this country are, you know? They don't remember long. They have problems with their memories. Must be Viagra.''

The big-screen scene

What's happening with the sequel to Disney's ``George of the Jungle''? Not much at the moment, but that should change. ``The studio keeps saying they want to do it - they just haven't given us a formal go-ahead,'' reports producer Jordan Kerner. He notes that Brendan Fraser wants to reprise his starring role from the hit picture of 1997, and ``the writer wants to do the follow-up, I want to do it ... ``

Of course, it will be a matter of when Fraser can do it - and we can tell Disney that now would be a good time to pin him down. Fraser will be in Morocco until Aug. 22 making Universal's ``The Mummy,'' but after that ... well, there have been reports that he'll be heading to Canada this fall to star as Dudley Doright in the live-action feature based on the vintage Jay Ward cartoon. The fact is, however, he hasn't even seen a script and has had no more than a conversation about the matter with Disney.

Look out

``Melrose Place'' cranks up for new season production July 10 with new wrinkles in the tempestuous lives of its principals - including the arrival of the younger brother of Kyle McBride (Rob Estes). The younger bro - as yet uncast - will be charming, attractive and muscular, a Wall Street financial whiz who decides to try life in L.A. after Kyle patches up their long-standing estrangement. Mothers, lock up your daughters, this guy's dangerous.

Speaking of dangerous, Eric Roberts is soon to begin a low-budget feature called ``Extreme Duress,'' in which he'll star as a successful lawyer who discovers his beloved surrogate father is a corrupt, hit-ordering union boss. The production company is, ironically, named Restrained Films.

Here 'n' there

Peter Fonda is taking on an NBC Civil War period epic - with a twist. In ``An American Tempest,'' which is slated to begin shooting the end of July, Fonda will play an ex-plantation owner who becomes obsessed with the magical voodoo powers seemingly possessed by one of his slaves. And that's just the beginning.

With reports by Stephanie DuBois.

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3 Photos

Photo: (1) Sonia Braga

She's 48 - and proud of it

(2) Brendan Fraser

``George'' remake stalled

(3) Peter Fonda

In Civil War epic