PEOPLE IN ENTERTAINMENT : Perez Joins ‘$2 Million Tip’ Film Cast

Rosie Perez joins Bridget Fonda and Nicolas Cage in “Cop Gives Waitress $2 Million Tip.” Perez plays Cage’s wife in the movie about a police officer and a waitress who share a winning lottery ticket and end up falling in love. Filming starts next month in New York. The actress and choreographer of Puerto Rican heritage was last seen in “White Men Can’t Jump.”

The on-again, off-again saga of a movie on the life of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo is apparently on again. The project, headed by writer-director Luis Valdez, caused a stir last summer when Laura San Giacomo, who is not Latino, was cast in the lead. Then New Line Cinema pulled out its financial backing. Valdez says he is ready to pursue the idea, this time titled “The Two Fridas.” The new version, scheduled to begin filming in September, will depict dual personalities of the artist, with two actresses playing Kahlo. Valdez says he would still like San Giacomo as one Frida and Ofelia Medina as the other. Perhaps he should consider Laura Harring. Like Kahlo, Harring is of Mexican and German ancestry.

But Laura Harring may be otherwise occupied. She beat out more than 100 actresses who auditioned to play Rita Hayworth in “The Story of Dick Haymes,” which tells of the tumultuous marriage between the redheaded screen goddess and the Argentine crooner. “I am thrilled for the opportunity to play Rita Hayworth; she’s my all-time idol,” Harring says. The actress, who became the first Latina to win the title of Miss USA in 1985, is no stranger to the cameras. She played Raul Julia’s wife in the telefilm “The Alamo: Thirteen Days to Glory,” a Brazilian princess in “Lambada! The Forbidden Dance” and the sultry Carla Greco in the TV soap opera “General Hospital.” Production of “Xuxa,” a children’s program from MTM Entertainment, is scheduled to start July 5 in Los Angeles. Initial plans call for 65 half-hour episodes starring Brazil’s blonde superstar, who is a favorite of Spanish-speaking children with her program, “El Show de Xuxa.” The new program is to air in English weekday mornings, starting Sept. 13 in more than 100 U.S. cities. It will be carried locally on KCOP Channel 13.