Marla Sokoloff In 'The Tollbooth'

"The Practice" star Marla Sokoloff is set for a lead role in the low-budget indie feature "The Tollbooth" for first-time director Debra Kirschner.

In the project, set to start shooting Friday in New York, Sokoloff will star alongside Tovah Feldshuh, Liz Stauber, Rob McElhenny and Idina Menzel.

The project centers on an American Jewish family as three daughters come of age and question the values of their traditional parents. The story is told from the point of view of the youngest daughter, Sarabeth (Sokoloff), as she graduates from art school and juggles a fledgling art career, a waitress job and a long-distance relationship. Stauber and Menzel will star as Sarabeth's older sisters, with Feldshuh playing their mother, and McElhenny as her boyfriend. Kirschner, who penned the screenplay, is producing along with co-producer Kaluska Poventud.

Sokoloff has starred on the big screen in New Line Cinema's "Sugar & Spice," 20th Century Fox's "Dude, Where's My Car?" and Columbia Pictures' "Whatever It Takes." She is repped by the Gersh Agency and attorney David Weber.

Feldshuh is repped by the Gage Group and Fox Albert Management. Menzel and McElhenny are both repped by Endeavor. Stauber, who next stars in "White Oleander," is repped by CAA and Handprint Entertainment

Charlton Heston Toons in 'Ben-Hur'

Charlton Heston will reprise his role of "Ben-Hur" for an upcoming remake of the movie. But instead of the months of work he put in on the first one in 1959, his role this time required only a couple days in a recording studio and no elaborate makeup or costuming.

That's because the 77-year-old actor is starring in an animated version of the story, a feature-length video premiere movie tentatively set to be released in September or October by GoodTimes Home Entertainment.

"You don't often get a chance to do the same thing twice," said Heston, who also appeared in last year's remake of another of his most famous films, "Planet of the Apes."

The "Ben-Hur" cartoon was put together by Agamemnon Films, run by Heston's son Fraser, and John Stronach. William R. Kowalchuk, who produced and directed the computer-animated "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfit Toys," will perform the same tasks on "Ben Hur."

Heston Sr. also introduces the film in a live-action video recording before the animated Ben-Hur appears looking like "the archetypal Charlton Heston," according to his son. Heston also narrates the film, but this is no one-man show: the film has more than 100 speaking parts.

Although at 97 minutes the cartoon is about two hours shorter than the 1959 edition, Fraser Heston said the all-new script, supervised by Jerome Gary and written by newcomer Avi Estrin, is the most faithful adaptation of Lew Wallace's novel and omits little of significance from the 1959 epic.

One thing that is left out is the birth of Jesus, but a scene is added in the Garden of Gethsemane. Unlike other Biblically themed animated features such as "The Prince of Egypt" or "Joseph: King of Dreams," "Ben-Hur" is not a musical. It also has no comic relief characters.

Although there was an intentional effort to downplay some of the Biblical elements included in the 1959 edition, Fraser Heston said, "It's foolish to deny there is a large Christian audience. But the message of faith and love and forgiveness is one that anyone of any faith should relate to."

Jennifer Garner To Star In Revolution Studios '13 Going On 30'.

Rising starlet? Try catapulting star. "Alias" television actress Jennifer Garner, a virtual unknown one year ago, is in negotiations to earn in the neighborhood of $3 million to star in Revolution Studios' "13 Going on 30."

No helmer is attached to the project, though Garner is said to have director approval on the film, which is expected to go into production next year while the actress is on hiatus from her ABC series, which begins its second season in the fall.

Written by Josh Goldsmith and Cathy Yuspa, the project is described as a female "Big." It's about a 13-year-old girl who dreams of being popular. During her birthday party, she engages in a party game called Seven Minutes in the Closet. It turns out to be a humiliating experience for her, and she refuses to come out of the closet and be subjected to more embarrassment. When she eventually does emerge, she finds herself five days shy of her 30th birthday, looking fabulous and extremely popular.

Susan Arnold and Donna Arkoff Roth are producing the project with the writers' manager, Gina Matthews.

Garner, who won a best actress Golden Globe this year for "Alias," has suddenly found herself emerging as a top choice for projects around town, landing a near-$1 million payday to star opposite Ben Affleck in 20th Century Fox/Regency Enterprises' "Daredevil," now in production. Additionally, Steven Spielberg handpicked Garner for a role opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in DreamWorks' "Catch Me If You Can" Garner is repped by Endeavor and attorney Jason Sloane.

Donald Faison Will Join Brittany Murphy In The MGM Comedy 'Molly Gunn'

"Scrubs" star Donald Faison will join Brittany Murphy ("Don't Say A Word") and Dakota Fanning ("I Am Sam") in the MGM comedy "Molly Gunn," which goes before cameras this month in Gotham.

Murphy plays a New York City socialite who takes a job as a nanny after losing a bundle of money. Faison will play a slick record executive who offers her a place to live. Also new to the cast are Marley Shelton and Jesse Spencer. Boaz Yakin will direct "Gunn" from a script by Julia Dahl.

Prior to landing the "Scrubs" job, Faison, best known for his gig as Murray in "Clueless," spent two seasons on "Felicity."

Highwaymen, Jim Caviezel

Jim Caviezel is gearing up to star in the high-speed actioner "Highwaymen" for New Line Cinema. Caviezel is in negotiations to take on the role of Rennie Cray, a young widower who drives the highways hunting for his wife's killer.

A dark take on the mythical road movie, "Highwaymen" follows a dehumanized villain who uses a car as an expression of his rage against the world and the obsessed hero (Caviezel) who is tracking him. An innocent woman gets caught in the game as the men chase each other on the open road in 1970s muscle cars.

"Highwaymen" was written by Hans Bauer and Craig Mitchell and is being produced by Mike Marcus, Carol Kemp and Millennium Films' Brad Jenkel. Millennium's Avi Lerner will executive produce with Trevor Short, while New Line production execs Lynn Harris and David Brewington will oversee for the studio.

Caviezel, best known for his recent roles in the Walt Disney Co.'s "The Count of Monte Cristo," Fox's "High Crimes" and Warner Bros.' "Angel Eyes," also appeared in the New Line thriller "Frequency," which was written by current New Line production president Toby Emmerich. Caviezel is repped by UTA and Beverlee Dean Management.

Animal Control For Barry Josephson To Produce.

Twentieth Century Fox is looking to lasso the Loch Ness Monster and Big Foot, purchasing the action-comedy pitch "Animal Control" for low-six figures for Barry Josephson to produce.

The project, along the lines of "Ghostbusters" and "Men in Black," revolves around hapless attendants at a zoo where the world's mythical creatures are kept to prevent them from overrunning the planet. The original idea for "Animal Control" comes from scribes Eric Kripke and Eric Gewirtz.

Kripke, who has a writing deal with DreamWorks, has penned the Warner Bros. feature "Can't Get Arrested" and "Boogie Man" for Senator Films, while Gewirtz has come from the video game world, with credits including "Star Trek: Armada" and "Star Wars: The Clone Wars."

Writer Mark Schwahn, For The Ken Carter Story

Paramount Pictures has picked up the rights to the life story of controversial Richmond (Calif.) High School basketball coach Ken Carter, to be the basis of a feature film that Mark Schwahn will write for studio-based MTV Films and Tollin/Robbins Prods.

No director is yet attached to the project, which is tentatively titled "Old School: The Ken Carter Story."

Carter made national news in 1999 when he benched his entire undefeated basketball team for poor academic performance. The coach forfeited two league games and made the gym off-limits until students raised their grades, a move that drew praise and criticism from parents and school officials.

The life-story rights to Carter's son, Damon, also were optioned. Damon Carter was one of the members of the 1999 team who went on to earn four-year athletic scholarships. His scholarship was to the West Point Military Academy.

Carter got to know Tollin/Robbins principals Mike Tollin and Brian Robbins after seeing their documentary "Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream" and attending the premiere of "Hardball," which the duo produced and Robbins directed for Paramount in the fall.

"He saw the movie, spent the evening with us and got a sense of the kind of pro-social films we make," Tollin said. "His story is one of a town divided, which always makes for a good movie."

Added Robbins: "When I read an article on coach Carter, I thought, 'Wow, what a great story and a great guy.' We tracked him down and were amazed with all that he had accomplished. This isn't a movie about sports; it's a movie about people."

"Brian and Mike, out of all the people that I met in Hollywood, were extremely professional at all times," Carter said by phone from Richmond. "I had about 20-30 meetings on this project, and it's not often that someone gives you their limo and says, 'Take all your other meetings in our car.' It was a class act."

Carter said he hopes his story will reach a wide audience through the feature film. "I hope to share the message with other people across the nation: that schoolwork matters," Carter said. "In the term 'student athlete,' student comes before athlete. I feel all kids need leaders -- parents, teachers -- to validate them, and this is my form of validation." Schwahn, who has been working closely with Carter on the script, said the project is important and timely.

"Often, communities sacrifice compassion for the sake of winning," he said. "As a sports fan and a sports lover, I think we need to try to figure out why is winning so important to us, and at what cost? What coach Carter did in terms of taking a stand and seeing the big picture is both uplifting and inspiring."

The project reunites Schwahn with Tollin/Robbins and the studio. He wrote the most recent draft of "The Perfect Score," in which Erika Christensen and Scarlett Johansson are starring, with Roger Birnbaum Prods. also producing. Schwahn will continue to stay on as a writer throughout the production of the project, with the studio additionally making a blind script deal with him.

The scribe is also working with Tollin/Robbins on a sports-related television pilot. He is repped by UTA and attorney Kevin Yorn.

Twentieth Century Fox And Universal Start Big-Screen Tales About Spartan Warriors.

Fox has set screenwriter Erik Jendresen to write "The 300 Spartans," an epic about the elite Greek warriors who held off a million Persian invaders in the Battle of Thermoplyae. The title comes from the 1962 Fox film, but the new film is going to be more ambitious.

Meanwhile, Universal has pegged Thermopylae for screen treatment in the form of "Gates of Fire," the Steven Pressfield novel scripted by David Self for "Heat" helmer Michael Mann.

"You always take into account competing projects, but when you have this kind of story and it gathers this kind of momentum, you make your movie, and this is the highest priority," Fox chairman Jim Gianopulos said.

"Films like 'Gladiator,' 'Braveheart' and the fantasy 'Lord of the Rings' demonstrated the enormous appeal of strong characters fighting epic battles on grand scales, and this has all those elements," Gianopulos said. "We've already done much preparation and planning to get under way next year and we're relying on Erik to give us the compelling characters to bring that period to life."

For Jendresen, the task is a welcome break from "Crisis in the Hot Zone," Fox's adaptation of the Richard Preston book about the ebola virus that stalled years ago when viral rival "Outbreak" got into production first. The novelist and playwright has worked steadily, thanks to Hollywood's appetite in historical epics.

Jendresen wrote "Saint Ex," a biopic of Antoine de Saint Exupry, the French pilot who wrote "The Little Prince." That led to Playtone partners Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman corraling him to supervise the writing of the HBO WWII series "Band of Brothers." Jendresen created a 275-page tome based on Stephen Ambrose's research, and wrote three episodes. CAA's been booking him into one big film after another since.

He teamed with "Band of Brothers" scribe Bruce McKenna on the script "Explaining Hitler" for Jim Sheridan; he just adapted for DreamWorks the Sebastian Junger book "Fire"; he's scripted movies about Daniel Boone and Jacques Cousteau; and is developing with Ridley Scott "Immortals," a Paramount film about stem cell research. Jendresen writes these projects from San Francisco, aboard an 80-foot renovated Dutch naval vessel built in 1905 and used in the evacuation of Dunkirk.