Vancouver: Canadian shock comedian Tom Green will alight in Vancouver this month to take his freshman turn as a film director in the New Regency/Fox feature Freddy Got Fingered.

He also cowrote and stars in the story of a 28-year-old man and his father: Green doesn’t want to move out of his parents’ home, while his father (Rip Torn) insists.

As one production wag says, ‘It’s about the trials and tribulations of a father-son relationship in an oh-so-humorous Tom Green way.’ Marisa Coughlan (Gossip) also stars along with a roster of cameo performances, which were being sorted at press time. Among the candidates is Green’s romantic associate Drew Barrymore, schedule permitting.

Production, on location and at the Vancouver Film Studios, runs Aug. 21 to Oct. 24.

*Triple play

Reruns of the eight-year-old cbs period series Christy on pax tv have kept a faithful audience tuning in. So now the family-oriented broadcaster is investing in three back-to-back-to-back mows continuing the 1912 story of the young society woman who moves to the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee to teach the mountain people at a mission school.

Executive producer and writer Tom Blomquist, who made the original series based on the Catherine Marshall novel, says the pax mows pick up where the original series left off. ‘How often do you see a canceled series get a new lease six years later?’ he says, adding that the mows may serve as an elaborate pilot to resume the series.

Blomquist last worked in Vancouver 15 years ago as a producer of the Nick Mancuso series Stingray.

The Christy mows – called Return to Cutter Gap, A Change of Seasons and A New Beginning – are being shot at the Bordertown set in Maple Ridge. The first will air in November during u.s. Thanksgiving and the subsequent movies will air at Christmas.

Kellie Martin and Emmy-winner Tyne Daly starred as Christy and Alice respectively in the original series. While some actors are reprising their roles as mountain people, the two leads will be recast. Production runs Aug. 21 to Nov. 3.

*Roadie warriors

Singer Chris Isaak will play himself in 17 one-hours for Showtime and Viacom, to air early next year.

The Chris Isaak Show will feature the performer, his band and various hangers-on while they are on the road. The series, a mixture of drama, comedy and performance, is in production until Feb. 28.

Local producer Richard Davis is overseeing the operations, while American husband-and-wife team Andrew Schneider and Diane Frolov are executive producing and writing the series. Comic Richard Lewis is the first of the various directors to conduct the series.

*Taster’s choice

Canadian independent feature The Invitation has taken up office space (and that’s all) at Bill Vince’s Mulberry Films in West Vancouver. The film, written and directed by Pat Bermel, is a talk-heavy psycho-drama about the guests at a bizarre dinner party. Seems fitting, somehow, that menacing Millennium star Lance Henrickson returns to Vancouver to take the lead as the host who poisons his guests and makes them realize the value of life. Production runs Aug. 5-30.

*Yes, ma’am

Women rule – at least in the above-the-line roles of American independent feature Devil Wore a Skirt, which is in Vancouver shooting until Sept. 1. Produced by Amy Sommer (Waco: The Rules of Engagement) and directed by first-time director Fiona McKenzie, the movie tells the story of a police detective, who finds a girlfriend, meets her wild sister and discovers their disturbing connection to his brother’s murderer.

Dylan Walsh (Brooklyn South), Dina Meyers (Outpost), Michelle Hicks (Twin Falls Idaho) and Craig Sheffer (Wings of Courage) star. The film has a mid-range budget. No distributor was attached at press time.

*Adolescent angst

Larry Sugar is taking a break from producing duties at Peace Arch Entertainment to oversee production of Just Deal, the latest teen series commissioned by Teen nbc’s stream.

The initial 13 half-hours chronicle how the friendship of two young men evolves when a new girl moves into their circle of acquaintances. Labeled a dramedy created for 12- to 17-year-olds, the series will fill the Saturday morning slot left by Saved by the Bell. According to nbc, however, this series will look much different than the stock teen sitcom and take the genre in a new direction. Shot largely on location, Just Deal will be filmed with a single camera and without a studio audience. The series will be based in the Pacific Northwest.

The cast of unknowns includes Brian Skala, Shedrack Anderson III and John Adams. Production runs from Aug. 15 to Nov. 16.

*Genre generator

Avrio Stoneridge Entertainment, a Burnaby prodco, will add another action-thriller to its roster of genre films.

The latest film is Mindstorm, a thriller with Antonio Sabato Jr., Eric Roberts and Michael Ironside, about a psychic with a mysterious past, a telepathic cult leader, a presidential candidate, his missing daughter and Cold War experiments. Producer Michael Derbas and director Rick Pepin, the principals of Avrio Stoneridge, conceived the story and expect to run on television and on video. Production in Vancouver runs Aug. 19 to Sept. 10.

-www.avriofilmworks.com