DATE: Sunday, July 20, 1997                 TAG: 9707180168

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E16  EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, ENTERTAINMENT WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   63 lines

OVERHEARD IN FILM CAPITALS

MAKING THE ROUNDS of film makers and stars last week in New York, Los Angeles and points beyond:

Julia Roberts, at the Regency Hotel in New York, grabbed ``Conspiracy Theory'' co-star Mel Gibson by the arm and said he was ``just like a brother'' to her, even though he gave her a stuffed rat on the first day of filming. Gibson deadpanned, ``I don't exactly think of Julia as a sister. You have to fall in love a little in order to do these scenes.''

Kenan and Kel, at Nickelodeon Studios in Orlando, Fla., are poised to become the new Martin and Lewis, even if they're not that familiar with the comedy team. Kel Mitchell and Kenan Thompson, both 19, star in ``Good Burger,'' a Nickelodeon production aimed at the teen-age audience that has made their TV show a hit. It's about a small burger outfit that does battle with the big franchise across the street. Pals on screen and off, the two have been mobbed on the streets. Has anything embarrassing happened? ``A girl asked me to autograph her cleavage,'' Thompson said. ``The pen wasn't big enough.''

Barry Sonnefeld, who directed the phenomenal hit ``Men in Black,'' said his mother still wants him to get ``a real job.'' Sonnefeld, who also directed ``The Addams Family,'' has plenty of delightfully irreverent stories about Mom. ``When I was a kid, she'd take over the loudspeaker at the ball game and tell Little Barry to meet her at the hot-dog stand.''

The director said ``MiB'' star Will Smith was worth his salary - a rumored $12 million - because ``he has the rare ability to suggest wholesomeness at the same time he's hip. That's a rare mixture.''

As for his newfound fame, cemented by ``Men'' on top of last summer's ``Independence Day,'' Smith said, ``It means mainly that I can make a lot of noise and no one tells me to shut up. Beyond that, it doesn't mean much.''

And co-star Tommy Lee Jones? ``Tommy Lee is the man. He taught me that just to do nothing is sometimes best. To just react.''

Josh Brolin, who stars with Mira Sorvino in the horror-thriller ``Mimic,'' is not impressed by the fact that he may become Barbra Streisand's stepson. His father, James (from TV's ``Marcus Welby, M.D.''), is set to marry Babs - time undetermined. ``I would have been more impressed if he'd marry Willie Nelson,'' the younger Brolin quipped, ``but I guess that would be pretty weird. It's just that I'm a Willie Nelson fan. I never got much into Barbra Streisand's records, but she's a nice lady. I've met her. She and my Dad together are a real combo.''

Rupert Everett, who just about steals the hit comedy ``My Best Friend's Wedding'' from Julia Roberts and everyone else, said that was not his intention. ``I usually play intense, super-intense, people. I surprised myself a little with the looseness I played here.'' He portrays Roberts' second-best friend, a gay man who masquerades as her boyfriend in order to make Dermot Mulroney jealous. With talk of an Oscar nomination for supporting actor, Everett said, ``I suppose I should never look down on comedy. With all the ultra-serious parts I've done, no one mentioned me for awards.''

Director Robert Zemeckis, in New York for the premiere of ``Contact,'' said he was surprised at the criticism the movie received for using President Clinton's news conferences out of context. ``We're dealing with a fictional situation,'' he said. ``There is clearly no misrepresentation about anything in the real world. Our film deals with something that has never happened - not yet. I think we're on firm ground.'' The White House doesn't agree. They frown on Clinton being used to further a fictional plot. ILLUSTRATION: FILE COLOR PHOTOS

Julia Roberts.....Mel Gibson...

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