Goldberg, Brooks find ``Claus'' cause
Wednesday, January 17, 2001. Reuters
Melissa Grego

HOLLYWOOD It's never too early to plan for Christmas 2001. Garth Brooks and Whoopi Goldberg are teaming up for ``Call Me Claus,'' a two-hour Yuletide musical set to air on cable's TNT in December.

Goldberg will star as a home shopping network producer who hires an actor to play Santa Claus, but the thesp actually turns out to be Santa himself. Nigel Hawthorne, Brian Stokes Mitchell and Victor Garber will co-star.

Brooks is expected to contribute music for the project, and he may bring Goldberg into the recording studio for the project as well, he said Tuesday via satellite during TNT's presentation at the Television Critics Assn. tour in Pasadena, where the project was announced. Brooks will likely not appear onscreen in the picture, he added. He and Goldberg will executive produce.

In an unconventional arrangement, Columbia TriStar Television will release the home video of the picture nine days after the TNT premiere.