NEWS LITE : ACTRESS ENJOYS WAVING BANNER.

Rising star Anne Heche is out and about and grooving on her lesbian poster-gal role.

The 27-year-old actress is eager to talk about her romantic relationship with comedian Ellen DeGeneres. It's the rest of us who get tongue-tied, she says. On a press tour to chat up her latest work, ``Wag the Dog,'' she's noticed that ``not one person will actually mention Ellen's name in a question.''

Heche, who won an Emmy in 1991 for her role in the soap opera ``Another World,'' says she enjoys carrying the rainbow banner: ``It's pretty cool for me to be able to stand up for being whatever you want to be. That's quite an honor, actually, and I love that people say that I'm a person who stands up for being open and truthful. I don't believe at all that it's an invasion on my privacy. I have had the best six months of my life.''

Indeed she has. After ``Volcano,'' ``Donnie Brasco'' and ``I Know What You Did Last Summer'' this year, Heche landed the role of a presidential adviser in the David Mamet-scripted ``Wag the Dog,'' playing opposite Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman. She'll next star opposite Harrison Ford in the romantic comedy ``Six Days, Seven Nights.''

Allen says he's mad about Harry

Actor-director Woody Allen is fed up with people confusing him with the lead character of his new film, ``Deconstructing Harry.'' Allen plays Harry Block, a neurotic obsessive writer. Mmm, sounds like Woody to us.

``People confuse the details of Harry's life with my life, when I'm nothing like Harry,'' Allen insisted in The New York Times on Friday. ``I don't drink to excess or take pills, like Harry. I've never had the nerve or craziness to kidnap my son, like Harry,'' he said.

Allen acknowledges that he can relate to Block somewhat. ``Harry's philosophy speaks to me - I feel the same way he feels about women, about science, about philosophy, religion and art. But he's got such a chaotic life. He's got 600 crises coming in on him from all sides. I don't.'' Talk about selective memory. Allen, 62, recently married girlfriend Soon-Yi Previn, 27, daughter of Allen's former lover Mia Farrow, who has consigned his soul to hell for his betrayal.

New ride opens for trekkies

With 1998 still in its infancy, a new $70 million Star Trek attraction opening in Las Vegas this weekend will beam visitors to the year 2400.

Star Trek: The Experience was scheduled to open to the general public today after a preview Saturday for the media and VIPs.

Spokesmen for Paramount Parks and the Las Vegas Hilton promise their joint project will give visitors the feeling of being whisked at warp speed to a futuristic world of Klingons and Romulans, transporters and turbolifts.

The project targets legions of trekkies from around the world whose fascination with the future has generated four Star Trek television series and eight movies.

``You have to compare this to the top attractions that Universal City and Disneyland have to offer,'' Gary Goddard, chairman of Hollywood-based Landmark Entertainment Group, said Friday. ``Star Trek is so well-known, you have immediate identification worldwide.''

Landmark, which produced the Star Trek attraction, also has created many theme park attractions, including: Jurassic Park - the Ride, at Universal Studios-Hollywood; Terminator 2/3-D for Universal Studios-Florida; and Caesars Magical Empire for Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

Dean Harrold, president and chief operating officer of the Hilton hotel, said the new Star Trek project redefines entertainment in Las Vegas.

He said visitors will be immersed in the Star Trek universe, ``built down to the tiniest detail.''

The new attraction is ``a remarkable deep-space adventure that stimulates all of the senses and gets your heart racing,'' Jane Cooper, president of Paramount Parks, said.

Although visitors will feel they are traveling at warp speed, that was hardly the case in the development of the project, conceived 2-1/2 years ago. Construction ran months behind schedule, delaying the opening from the summer of 1996.

The 65,000-square-foot attraction will be open daily at the Hilton. With gambling roots in Las Vegas, the gateway to the attraction will be the SpaceQuest Casino, which appears to be a space station orbiting the Earth. Gamblers will break light beams rather than pull handles to play machines.

Guests will pay $9.95 to be ``beamed'' up for a 22-minute simulated journey aboard the Starship Enterprise, modeled after sets on television. The ride ends with a simulated trip through the galaxies.

The motion simulator resembles those used to train jet pilots and astronauts.

When the ride ends, visitors disembark into a full-scale reproduction of the promenade from ``Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.''

Other features include Quark's Bar and Restaurant, with futuristic brew and cuisine, and shops selling Star Trek memorabilia. There is also the History of the Future, a building like a museum full of Star Trek costumes, weapons, special effects and props used in the television series and movies.

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2 Photos

PHOTO Beaming up to Vegas

(1) Replicas of the Enterprise, right, and Voyager greet visitors to the Hilton's Star Trek attraction.

(2) A worker puts finishing touches on a squad of Borg in Las Vegas.

Associated Press