BROOKS COMMITTED TO LEARNING CRAFT OF ACTING.

Byline: Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Garth Brooks is talking about taking on his first film acting role in ``The Lamb'' - the Paramount feature on which he's collaborating with Babyface and Tracey Edmonds, and Don Was. However, the country superstar makes it clear he has no intention of stepping before the cameras unprepared.

Brooks tells this column that he's recently become friends with Oscar-winning film writer William Goldman (``Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'') - and that Goldman has advised him to approach acting as respectfully as he has music. ``He says you should go to school and learn the trade instead of thinking you can just cross over from music, and I couldn't agree more with that,'' says Garth. ``I think it's something I'll have to invest the time in, training ... I'd like to try to come up through established classes and not take shortcuts.''

Right now, the feature Garth conceived - about an overzealous female fan and a superstar musician - is being scripted by Jeb Stuart (``The Fugitive''). And Garth's immediate agenda is crammed full of preparations for his Nov. 18 ``Garth Brooks Double Live'' NBC special and the release of his ``Double Live'' album. Brooks is making the special truly live - with three different broadcasts covering four time zones, featuring live audience participation via satellite linkups. Fans will ask questions from sites ranging from nightclubs to Garth's own high school.

Will any of his old school chums be on hand to ask questions? ``No,'' deadpans Garth. ``They're all in jail.''

His life

Julio Iglesias, busy pushing his ``My Life: The Greatest Hits'' album, has performing dates coming up in Taiwan, Shanghai, Jakarta, Italy, Spain, Argentina and Brazil in coming weeks. The 55-year-old crooner has his growing family by his side - his pregnant longtime companion, 33-year-old Dutch model Miranda Rijnsburger, and the baby she gave birth to last year. ``We travel together, but not in the last month'' (of Rijnsburger's pregnancy), says Iglesias, whose next offspring is due in March. The man who once boasted of having bedded more than 3,000 women says he's looking forward to having another baby on the scene. ``It is a great gift of life. ... She is a good woman.'' Still, asked if doing a greatest hits album brought back memories, Julio responds with a laugh, ``It reminds me of when I was single.''

Schaech it up

Next year should be a big one for Johnathon Schaech - but he isn't counting on it. The actor, who plays the title role in ``Houdini,'' which TNT debuts next month, has five films waiting for release. Some have been in the can for years.

Director Franco Zeffirelli nabbed him as star of the 1992 ``The Story of the Sparrow.'' It's still sitting on a shelf, says Schaech, who explains that financing was not available to complete post-production.

Nearly three years ago, he made ``Graceland'' with Harvey Keitel - a project still in search of distribution. He starred in the unmemorable Tom Hanks-directed ``That Thing You Do!'' then went to Australia to film ``Welcome to Woop Woop'' for director Stefan Elliott. Elliott, says the 28-year-old actor ``rushed to get `Woop Woop' ready for Cannes but had to end up showing it there as a rough cut, and it's hard for people to really get excited about a film in that form.'' Three years ago, he made ``Hush'' with Jessica Lange and Gwyneth Paltrow for TriStar, and it was released in April of this year. Reveals Johnathon, ``We had to do reshoots, a lot of reshoots - 32 pages. It took a year to get the cast back together and, well, after a while, the story didn't make that much sense, and the film didn't do well when it was released.''

Proof anew that show business is no piece of cake, even if you're young and handsome - and get what seem like tremendous breaks.

Just groove it

``That '70s Show'' actor and Taft High School student Wilmer Valderrama - he plays foreign exchange student Fez - may be going back a decade, to the '60s, in another project. Mike Myers, who is apparently a fan of ``That '70s Show,'' spotted Valderrama and asked him to come audition for the role of a photographer's assistant in his ``Austin Powers'' sequel, ``The Spy Who Shagged Me.''

How will Michael Bay follow up directing the Bruce Willis-Ben Affleck-Liv Tyler apocalyptic big-screen ``Armageddon''? He's going to helm a Nike commercial in San Francisco this month.

With reports by Stephanie DuBois.

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3 Photos

Photo: (1) Garth Brooks

Budding thespian

(2) Julio Iglesias

In the family way

(3) Wilmer Valderrama

Snagged for ``Shagged''