Opening night feature

New York — “Raising Helen,” starring Kate Hudson and John Corbett, will premiere on opening night of the third Tribeca Film Festival, May 1.

The movie features Hudson as a modeling agency assistant who must raise her sister’s three children after her sister and brother-in-law die in a car accident. Corbett plays a pastor who helps her and ends up falling in love with her.

“Raising Helen” opens in theaters May 28.

Robert De Niro and his business partner, Jane Rosenthal, created the Tribeca Film Festival to help lower Manhattan recover from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. This year’s festival is scheduled to run May 1-9.

Studio cashes in

Memphis, Tenn. — Producers of an upcoming movie on the life of country star Johnny Cash say they may start shooting in June.

The movie stars Joaquin Phoenix as the “Man in Black” and Reese Witherspoon as his wife, June Carter Cash.

The movie is titled “Walk the Line” after Cash’s 1956 hit, “I Walk the Line.” It’s expected to cost 20th Century Fox roughly $28 million.

The movie aims to chronicle the late singer’s life, from his days on a cotton farm in Arkansas in the late 1940s to his early stardom with Sun Records in Memphis. It also will explore his troubled time as a Nashville superstar in the late 1960s.

Cash died Sept. 12 at 71, four months after his wife of 35 years, June Carter Cash, died at 73.

Out-of-state trip

Sacramento, Calif. — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will travel to Israel in May to attend the groundbreaking ceremony of the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

Schwarzenegger is a longtime supporter of the Wiesenthal center, which is devoted to fighting intolerance and is named for the famed Nazi hunter.

Ground will be broken May 2 for the Simon Wiesenthal Center for Human Dignity in downtown Jerusalem. It will take about three years to build.

Rethinking his position

Boston — What began as a cute idea for a cameo isn’t so cute now to Ben Affleck.

When Affleck and Jennifer Lopez were together romantically, Affleck convinced J.Lo. to appear in his film “Jersey Girl” for 12 movie minutes before dying.

Then came the “Gigli” debacle and the Bennifer breakup.

“I feel vaguely bad because I was someone who said to Jen, ‘Oh, come do this small part. It’ll be fun,’ and we got nothing but trouble for it,” Affleck said.

The former couple’s relationship complicated many aspects of the picture. Lopez was removed from all publicity, and their on-screen wedding scene was cut.