Smith makes robot predictions

Los Angeles — Will Smith figures robots will take over many domestic and menial tasks for humans. He just doesn’t expect them to look much like his humanoid machine co-stars in the new film “I, Robot.”

Smith, 35, plays a detective in 2035 who suspects a robot has murdered the reclusive scientist responsible for technological innovations that have populated the world with machine servants vaguely resembling humans.

In real life, though, humans have a psychological barrier against machines that look like themselves, Smith said.

“Technology is heading away from that, because people don’t respond well to human-looking robots,” Smith said. “I, Robot” opens today.

Opera to explore Gadhafi’s life

London — Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and his cohort of female bodyguards are the focus of an opera commissioned by one of Britain’s leading companies.

The opera is tentatively scheduled for February 2006, the English National Opera said Thursday.

The company said it had asked dance/hip-hop collective Asian Dub Foundation to create the piece. Rapper JC001 is tentatively slated to play Gadhafi.

The group’s guitarist, Steve Chandra Savale, said the work would trace Gadhafi’s journey from pariah to statesman.

The ENO is attempting to reach out to new audiences. Last month it performed the third act of Wagner’s “Die Walkuere” to thousands of rock fans at the Glastonbury music festival.

Affleck turns down hoops film

El Paso, Texas — Ben Affleck has ended negotiations with Walt Disney Pictures to play Texas Western basketball coach Don Haskins in the movie “Glory Road.”

“He’s not going to do it,” a spokesman for Affleck said Wednesday. “We’re not going to get into any details. … It will be a good project for somebody.”

Haskins’ 1966 team was the first ever to win a national title with five black starters.

Haskins, who coached 38 years at the school now known as the University of Texas at El Paso, said he was “disappointed, but I know they’ll find the right person.”

Haskins has always been a reluctant hero about his role in changing sports history, saying he simply picked the best players for the 72-65 win over Kentucky’s heavily favored and all-white basketball powerhouse.

After the victory, universities all over the country increased their recruiting of black players.

Soccer team promos Spier-Man

Madrid, Spain — Spider-Man will take the field with soccer team Atletico de Madrid this summer.

Atletico’s navy-blue shirt boasts a giant ad for the “Spider-Man 2” movie on its front. The team intends to wear the shirt, which is dominated by the film’s logo — a spider and web together with the title — for its away Intertoto Cup matches.

The jersey’s only recognizable Atletico emblem is the small club badge in the top left-hand corner.