Reel World

— COLLEGE BOY Will Todd Phillips ever graduate? The 32-year-old director, whose previous outings were 2000’s spring-break comedy Road Trip and the 1998 documentary Frat House, matriculates once more for Old School, due Feb. 21. The DreamWorks laugher stars Luke Wilson, Vince Vaughn, and Will Ferrell as emotionally adrift men attempting to recover their mojo by doing the wild and crazy college thing all over again. Why so hung up on higher education? ”I missed out on a [traditional] college experience, so I keep thinking I missed this great thing,” explains Phillips, whose Manhattan-based alma mater, New York University, lacks such old-fashioned campus elements as…well, an actual campus. Still, it appears that Phillips has had his fill of reading, writing, and rushing: In March, he starts shooting the big-screen version of Starsky and Hutch, starring Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson. The director is aiming for a smart comedic skewering of the buddy-cop genre. ”It also takes place during their college years. They’re campus cops, actually,” says Phillips. ”I’m totally kidding.”

— COOL HAND LUKE Speaking of Luke Wilson, Owen’s laconic little brother will soon begin work on Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde, in which he’ll reprise his Reese Witherspoon-smitten lawyer. ”We didn’t make it to the altar, but everything works out,” reveals the actor. ”I shouldn’t give away the why and how of it all.” Wilson also has boyfriend-redux duty on Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, and he says there ain’t a jiggle of truth to rumors of catfighting between the headlining heroines — Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, and Lucy Liu — and their new nemesis, played by Demi Moore. ”They all get along great,” reports Wilson. ”But that rumor’s a good one — maybe it would be better for the film if I don’t say otherwise.”