Those who work with David Hasselhoff every day might need a little diversion, and even the beach can get dreary after awhile.

Film One’s Jalal Merhi has secured bouncing Baywatch beauty Yasmine Bleeth to star in Fatal Exchange, the first coproduction between his company and Jay Firestone’s Fireworks Entertainment. Merhi says he and Firestone are hoping to develop a full slate of coproduced product.

Budgeted at $5 million, Fatal Exchange, written by Baywatch producer Michael Burke, is pricier than Film One’s usual fare. The company’s 11 previous action/sci-fi films were in the $1.5-$2.5 million range. The film will shoot over the spring and summer in Toronto and Paris. While he’s helmed a number of his other films, Merhi is in negotiations for a director.

Here’s the gist: Bleeth plays two roles, a model and a reporter. The two look so much alike that they decide to pull a switcheroo, with disastrous results.

With a premiere at the recent American Film Market, Merhi sold nearly all territories for Crisis, his $2 million action flick starring David Bradley, Brad Milne and Thorston Nickel. Merhi, who self-distributes with sales agent Amsell Entertainment, says the film screened only once before drawing buyers from Korea, Germany and Brazil.

Next up for Film One is Hercules, a $2 million actioner which will go to camera in Greece and the Middle East shortly before or after Fatal Exchange. In the fall, production starts on a sequel to the company’s 1992 feature Talons of the Eagle.

And speaking of Fireworks, it sounds as if the company has a diverse development slate. Word has it the company will shoot an mow called Girl Next Door for Baton this summer, and is also developing a kids’ series for Discovery.

-Do Not Eat Films

John May and Suzanne Bolch of Do Not Eat Films feel a little bad about lying to the Texans, so they’re finishing their film.

Their feature Rubber Carpet was invited to the USA Film Festival in Dallas after a programmer saw a work-in-progress screening at the Montreal World Film Festival. That was in 1994. They declined that year because they didn’t have a 35mm print. This year, when the call came again, they felt a little foolish about still not having a print, so they lied.

Written and produced by May and Bolch (who have collaborated many times, most recently on Atlantis’ Flash Forward), the romantic comedy was made for about $45,000. ‘Writing it was hard, making it was hard, but finishing it was pretty much impossible,’ says May.

Rubber Carpet was directed by May and stars Second City survivor Jonathan Wilson as Ansel, an artist who lacks some of the fundamentals, like talent. The film was shot in 10 frigid days during February of 1994, just about the time when Ontario Film Development Corporation funds were frozen as solid as their gear. (The assistant director warmed the camera against his stomach, hoping to coax it into shooting at the right speed.)

‘We got caught in the whole ofdc squeeze,’ says May. ‘Our application went in a week before the funds were cut off.’

Which is why the duo went back to their tv writing (i. e. moneymaking) gigs and the print remained unprinted. Luckily, a guilt trip via the Lone Star state was just the incentive they needed. Granted the print is ready, Rubber Carpet (the 35mm version) will premiere in Dallas on April 21.

-Canada/France remakes

Three official Canada/France copros are coming down the pike from Chesler/Perlmutter Productions, but only one of them is likely to happen this year.

The company has purchased the rights to remake three Claude Chabrol films in English, and Damned Innocents (a remake of the 1975 film Les Innocents Aux Mains Sales) is now in preproduction in Portugal to shoot late this year. Jean-Marc Vallee (Liste Noir) will direct the $5 million picture based on a script from Jeremy Lipp.

Coming up in 1998 will be The Butcher (a remake of Le Boucher), a $9 million project from a Kit Carson script, and Bad Girls (a remake of Les Biches), a picture budgeted at $5 million. Bad Girls, written by Canadian playwright Judith Thompson, will be directed by Aline Isserman.

Pierre Richard Muller of Artedes s.a. is the French coproducer, and Le Monde will distribute.

-And everything else

If you’re working in production in Toronto right now, odds are you’re working for Lantos & Co. Alliance is in a veritable production frenzy this spring, with not one, not two, but four series in production including the animated series Captain Star. Due South will run through to September, the rock ’em sock ’em John Woo project Once A Thief shoots to Christmas, and Straight Up wraps up this week.

Meanwhile, Kari Skogland (The Size of Watermelons) is helming an Alliance pilot called Nothing Too Good For A Cowboy, a script from David Barlow and Charles Lazer. It’s set to wrap mid to late April.

There’ll also be a late April wrap for Shadow Zone: Teacher Ate My Homework, a cable movie for Showtime starring Shelley Duvall. Catalyst is producing for l.a.-based Lynch Entertainment. Stephen Williams is directing and Paul Brown is producing, from a script by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens.

Also for Showtime, Dufferin Gate is shooting The Fixer, a cable drama starring Jon Voight. Charles Robert Carner is directing his own script, the story of a Chicago lawyer with organized crime ties who begins to question his ethics after a near-fatal accident.

There’s a summer shoot likely for Atlantis. The company is developing a tv movie for u.s. net cbs called Borrowed Hearts.

Applecreek Communications begins principal photography April 21 on Sanctuary, a $4 million feature from a script by Michael Stokes. Mark Dacascos stars as a priest who revisits his violent past. Andy Emilio is producing.

Miramax – which has taken a recent shine to Paragon, picking up HandMade Films’ The James Gang for the u.s. and other territories – will be bringing director Gus Van Sant to town this month to shoot Good Will Hunting, a feature from executive producer Su Armstrong. Toronto might also be home to the film incarnation of John Irving’s Ciderhouse Rules this summer, another Miramax-er.

Two abc pilots wrap here this week: Warner Bros.’ Hungry For Survival, helmed by Tobe Hooper, and Nothing Sacred, directed by Dick Pearce. Disappearing Act, a tv movie starring Patty Duke under the direction of Paul Schneider, also wraps mid-month. Marilyn Stonehouse is production manager, Jack Grossbart and Joan Barnett are the producers.

One Tough Cop, the Bruno Barreto feature starring Stephen Baldwin, Chris Penn and Amy Irving, wraps on the 25th. The project, produced by Michael and Martin Bregman, will be posted in New York.

Barbra ‘Babs’ Streisand and Cis Corman are the executive producers behind two cable movies – The Rescuers ii and iii – starting photography here this week. Tim Hunter is directing the projects, set to wrap early in July.