TOO-HOT DUO IN LINE FOR `WHITE DEER LAKE'.

Byline: Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Director Mark Rydell is hoping to bring the very hot Chris O'Donnell and Renee Zellweger before the cameras in the romantic drama/ghost story ``White Deer Lake.''

He has yet to sign the Robin of the upcoming ``Batman & Robin'' or the sweetheart of ``Jerry Maguire'' for the Live Entertainment feature, but, notes Rydell, ``They're both passionate about making the movie.''

The contemporary story also calls for an older star, ``someone like Gregory Peck,'' to play a World War II veteran who believes the spirit of his late love lives in the lake. Zellweger would play the niece, who connects with O'Donnell when she and her uncle battle his attempts to buy the lake and its surroundings and develop them into a tourist area.

Meanwhile, Rydell has decided not to make the biopic of the late actress Jean Seberg. He got deep into development of the project in which Diane Lane was to star, but now says the tumultuous life of the actress who had reported links to the Black Panther movement ``was just too down. She died drug-ridden and alcohol-ridden in the back seat of a car. I believe the FBI was involved in the death - and that was going to be an important part of the story - but I couldn't nail it down. I couldn't get to the facts. I did get the FBI files on her, but much of the material was blacked out.''

Lane, says Rydell, has not given up. She's still trying to get ``The Jean Seberg Story'' made.

Taking things as they come

OK, so now Tea Leoni's rep is saying the rumors about the actress being pregnant are untrue, that she'll start the Richard Zanuck/David Brown big-screen ``Deep Impact'' for DreamWorks next month and will return to her ``Naked Truth'' sitcom in the fall. But just in case it were to turn out that she and her bridegroom, David Duchovny, are expecting, well, it wouldn't bother Zanuck/Brown a bit. Zanuck says she's just in the first part of the movie, and that even if she did start to blossom while she was making the film, ``She's playing a reporter and wears pretty loose, bulky clothes - so she shouldn't show.''

On the personal side

Frances Fisher and Clint Eastwood's 3-year-old daughter, Francesca, recently made her acting debut - in a school play - reports the proud mother.

But Fisher says she has no intention of pushing Francesca into acting. ``She certainly has it in her genes, but I'm not going to submit her for commercials or any of that kind of stuff. She loves to playact and I wouldn't be surprised if she wanted to act, but to work professionally - to be able to do it when the camera rolls - is a completely different situation. I want her to have as normal a childhood as possible ... do school plays, things like that. I think playacting for this age is kind of normal. There's plenty of time for her to make that decision (about acting professionally) when she's out of school.''

The industry eye

Esteemed poet Maya Angelou is soon to try on a director's hat. She's set to make her directorial debut with the Showtime drama ``Down in the Delta.'' Wesley Snipes is one of the producers.

Look out! More trouble is on the way for ``Xena: Warrior Princess.'' They're casting a 10-year-old girl to play the daughter of Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor), who, ``Xena''-philes will recall, was impregnated in a rape by a god. Don't tell anybody this, but here's the plot: The little girl will look pretty and sweet, but make no mistake, she's the ultimate bad seed, a soulless half-human with godlike powers. Sounds like some celebrities we know.

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

Photo: (1) Chris O'Donnell

Looking at ``White Deer''

(2) Tea Leoni

Starting ``Deep Impact''

(3) Frances Fisher

Not a stage mom