IF `SAINT' GETS SEQUEL, NEUFELD WANTS KILMER.

Byline: Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

``We'll know soon - after its second weekend of release - if there's going to be another `Saint,' '' says producer Mace Neufeld. If there is, he definitely wants Val Kilmer to be in the picture. Despite all the reports to the contrary, Kilmer is, he says, ``A pleasure to work with.''

During the 10 months Neufeld oversaw production of ``The Saint'' in Europe, Kilmer was ``terrific. Sure, he's a perfectionist - but good movie stars are perfectionists, as I know having worked with Harrison Ford on three pictures. You have to trust actors; if they fail, they fail very publicly. If they win, you win.''

For Kilmer, ``The Saint'' was, according to Neufeld, a seven-day-a-week job. ``When we weren't shooting, he was working with me and director Phillip Noyce and the writer on upcoming scenes. This was one case where the actor's participation was especially important. He plays the Saint as nine different characters in 14 different disguises and was a great help in creating the different looks.''

Neufeld, who has ``The Saint'' being released by Paramount April 4, expects to be producing the international spy thriller ``Pathfinder'' next, with Bob Rehme - but without Arnold Schwarzenegger. Schwarzenegger couldn't fit the picture into his schedule, and the filmmakers are trying to finalize a deal with another leading man.

Meanwhile, the team of Neufeld and Rehme, who already have brought us adaptations of three Tom Clancy books (``Hunt for Red October,'' ``Patriot Games,'' ``Clear and Present Danger'') hope to be bringing us a fourth - Clancy's ``Cardinal of the Kremlin'' - next year. The plan is for Harrison Ford to reprise his role as CIA agent Jack Ryan.

Her prince will come

Disney TV and ABC are searching for Prince Charming. That is, he who will fill the bill as teen dream Brandy Norwood's man for all reasons. This is for the Whitney Houston co-production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's ``Cinderella,'' in which Houston will portray Brandy's fairy godmother. The project has moved over to ABC from CBS and is in heavy preproduction. No standard-issue bland prince will do. They're plotting to make their prince a young fella (18-28) with a sense of humor, swift intelligence, a bit of rebelliousness - who is tall, African-American and ``handsome enough to make heads turn.'' All that, plus, according to a casting notice, ``he must be able to sing pop ballads and standards.'' Don't call us, call Disney.

Oscar aftermath

Dance wiz Michael Flatley, who showed off his fancy footwork on the Academy Awards show, has received three offers for film roles - plus numerous inquiries. The handsome Irish-American lad is interested in tapping into the feature world.

Moving right along

Filmmaker David Kirschner says he barely got one baby out of the way - his animated big-screen ``Cats Don't Dance'' opens today - before having to rush into labor on his next, the ambitious sci-fi series ``Battleground Earth.'' Kirschner, who was personally chosen by the late Gene Roddenberry's wife, Majel Barrett Roddenberry, to produce the syndicated fall series that has a 22-episode commitment, reports, ``We have the first seven or eight scripts done. We start shooting in Toronto May 21, and we're just doing the casting now.''

The man who brought us ``An American Tail'' feels ``Cats Don't Dance'' is ``the most important animated movie I've ever done. It's really about prejudice.'' Scott Bakula, Jasmine Guy and Natalie Cole provide the voices in the tale about a cat ``who comes to Hollywood with a dream to be a song and dance man, but quickly realizes animals are relegated to their stereotypes. This cat brings the animals together to show they can do more. The theme is not to judge anybody by their fur or their feathers, but by what's in their heart.''

That's a laugh

Red Buttons, the comedic imp who has regaled countless audiences with his ``They Never Had a Dinner'' routines, has put four of the most memorable together for a ``Laugh Dome'' CD. It features 1980's ``They Never Had a Dinner'' roasting Cary Grant, Elizabeth Taylor, Milton Berle and Dean Martin and, says Red, is available by calling [phone].

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2 Photos

Photo: (1) ``The Saint,'' with Elisabeth Shue and Val Kilmer, opens April 4. Despite all the reports to the contrary, the notoriously difficult Kilmer is, says producer Mace Neufeld, ``A pleasure to work with.''

(2) Brandy Norwood needs a Prince Charming to star opposite her in ``Cinderella'' for ABC.