Ratner picking next pic 'After' ShowEast

Kodak kudo awarded to 'Hour' helmer

By GABRIEL SNYDER

Brett Ratner's next pic "After the Sunset," from New Line, opens on Nov. 12. On hand to accept the Kodak Award, he said he is trying to line up his next pic to start in February. The two contending projects he mentioned are "Rush Hour 3" with New Line and Fox's "Josiah's Canon," which fell apart when Sean Connery quit suddenly (and declared he has retired from the biz). Which would he rather do?

"Whichever one pay-or-plays me first," quipped Ratner. He noted, "If I do 'Rush Hour,' I'll probably lose 'Josiah's Canon' " since Fox would likely look for another director rather than wait for Ratner.

At the tail end of a day that featured numerous interviews, Jamie Kennedy, recipient of this year's comedy star of tomorrow award, said his favorite question of the day was, "How do you feel about digital format movies and the 3K projection method?" Kennedy will appear next in New Line's "The Mask Is Back"; his voice will also be featured in Fox's CGI toon "Robots." But he seemed most excited about his likely appearance early next year in two episodes of HBO skein "Entourage."

"It's very true," he said. "The whole pretending to be on the phone -- my agent does it all the time when he doesn't want to talk to me.

Other awards recipients of awards on the final night were Erik Lomis of MGM, the Salah M. Hassanein Humanitarian Award; Bud Stone of Deluxe Labs, the Al Shapiro Distinguished Service Award; and Herman Stone of Consolidated Theaters, the Show "E" Award. Earlier in the day, Lee Daniels, Damon Dash, Kevin Bacon, Brook Lanfest and Dawn Lenfest, producing team of "The Woodsman," received the ShowEast Award for excellence in producing.