With her fourth album still in the preliminary stages, Liz Phair has signed on for a role in filmmaker Finn Taylor's forthcoming stalker thriller, Cherish. The film, set to film this month in San Francisco, stars Robin Tunney (Vertical Limit) and Tim Blake Nelson (O Brother, Where Art Thou?) with supporting roles from Phair and Saturday Night Live alum Nora Dunn. Taylor, best known for scripting 1994's Pontiac Moon, and 1997's Dream With the Fishes, hopes to debut the film at next year's Sundance Festival.

Sadly for fans, Phair's involvement with the flick looks to be on a strictly thespian level. Though word is Cherish has plenty of music in it, most of it looks to be recycled Seventies love songs with nary an original song.

Phair's commitment to Cherish also means sessions for the follow-up to 1998's whitechocolatespaceegg will be further delayed. At last count, Phair had upwards of forty tracks ready to go, many pre-produced by Los Angeles-based songwriter Pete Yorn. She's yet to pick a final producer for the project but longtime collaborator Brad Wood and singer/songwriter Michael Penn are top candidates.

Where whitechocolatespaceegg whimsically documented the birth of Phair's first child, her forthcoming album may tackle the dissolution of a relationship. Phair recently divorced and relocated from her native Chicago to L.A. Musically, Phair was last heard from last year, offering up the theme song, "Misfortune," for the NBC show Cursed.

GREG HELLER

Rock on, Bozo! Add Liz Phair and Smashing Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlain to the list of rockers expected for Bozo's farewell show, which tapes Tuesday and airs in July.

Reel World

Play Misty For Me With the subversive 1997 buddy movie Dream With the Fishes, Finn Taylor promoted himself from one-credit screenwriter (Pontiac Moon) to indie writer/director. The next rung may be auteur, as the Albany resident has just begun production on Cherish, an edgy thriller-slash-love story. Robin Tunney plays a promiscuous, immature computer animator who runs over a cop while evading a stalker, then spends most of the movie under house arrest, where she falls for detective Tim Blake Nelson. Nora Dunn, Lindsay Crouse, and Liz Phair play supporting roles in the independent feature, which shoots around the Bay Area through June.

While the moody Dream soundtrack echoed the characters' druggy disorientation, Cherish is filled with the love songs Tunney requests from a sappy radio station. "Finn has some hyperromanticized scenes that will require a lot of '70s pop music," producer Johnny Wow reports, dashing hopes that a new Phair tune would be part of the mix. "We have a list of songs that are written into the script, and we're in the process of getting the rights." Wow and co-producer Mark Burton financed the film through a consortium led by their production company, avoiding studio interference and -- if all goes according to plan -- leading to a bidding war when Cherish debuts at Sundance next year. Meanwhile, Taylor is slated to direct a Hollywood feature this fall (unless it's derailed by a SAG strike).

Liz Phair is hard at work on her fourth Capitol studio album, according to a spokesperson at her management office. Although no producer has been named for the as-yet-untitled disc, the one-time indie rock pin-up has a handful of candidates in mind for the project, including longtime collaborator Brad Wood, plus singer/songwriters Michael Penn and Pete Yorn.

Over the past two years, Phair has reportedly amassed 35 new songs, including material penned with Yorn and R. Walt Vincent. According to the spokesperson, the end product promises to vary "from radio-friendly pop to experimental rock with nontraditional arrangements". While no release date has been firmed up, fans can expect the album late this year or in early 2002.

The set is the follow-up to Phair's 1998 album whitechocolatespaceegg, which she produced with Wood and Scott Litt (R.E.M., Indigo Girls). The album debuted at No. 35 on The Billboard 200.

-- John D. Luerssen, N.Y. / Edited by Jonathan Cohen

By Teri van Horn - Singer has about 35 songs already in contention for follow-up to Whitechocolatespaceegg.

LOS ANGELES - Former indie-rock poster girl Liz Phair is expected to enter the studio within the next month to finish work on her fourth album, according to her management office.

The singer has been writing and demoing material sporadically over the past two years and has about 35 songs contending for the follow-up to 1998's Whitechocolatespaceegg. The songs range from radio-friendly pop to experimental rock with nontraditional arrangements. Phair hopes to release the album later this year.

Up-and-coming singer/songwriter Pete Yorn and musician R. Walt Vincent played on and co-produced the most recent batch of tracks. Phair has not yet picked a producer for the final session, but longtime collaborator Brad Wood and singer/songwriter Michael Penn are among the possibilities. Wood produced Phair's Exile in Guyville (1993) and Whip-Smart (1994) and co-produced Whitechocolatespaceegg.

Koch Records has announced that it will release the soundtrack for Julie Johnson, a new film by Niagara, Niagara director Bob Gosse. The soundtrack will feature, among others, new songs from Liz Phair and Jason Morphew. Morphew, whose song "Bring Your Sorrow Over Here" was featured on the Niagara, Niagara soundtrack, told amuZnet that the film and its accompanying soundtrack will be out in April. Although full details of the soundtrack aren't yet available, Morphew, who contributes a track of his own, said he has already heard Liz Phair's contributions and told us that "...they're the best Phair songs I've ever heard." There is already a bit of buzz regarding Julie Johnson, which will star Courtney Love and Lili Taylor.