Imagine getting your first big screen role, but you can't even tell friends or family you're shooting the movie, or appearing in it.

Such was the case for Rachel Roberts, the Canadian model whose likeness was used to create the virtual reality actress "Simone" in Al Pacino's new movie about a washed-up director who creates a computer-generated actress to save his failing career.

Although she's 98 percent Simone, the rest is Max Headroom stuff.

"She's a fake fake," New Zealand writer-director Andrew Niccol told Wired magazine. Four different actresses were used to "stitch together" Simone, with Roberts as the main patchwork for the quilt.

Niccol told Wired that "electronic makeup" was used to give the character's eyes a non-human look, and that he spliced words together from different voices to create a single sentence. Each time Simone is on the screen, Niccol said the audience is seeing an actress that has been digitally altered in some way.

Roberts even worked under wraps on the set, and had to use an alias, Anna Green. She was thought by the movie's crew to be a stand-in who would later be replaced by a digital image, according to the Associated Press.

But Roberts will be able to add the character of Simone to her resume now that New Line has released the movie, and the gag order she was working under has been lifted. You still won't see Roberts' name in the credits when the film roles. Instead, it says, "Simone as herself." Her credit is expected to be added for the DVD/video release.

A model from British Columbia, she's been modeling since the age of 16 and has been featured on the covers of magazines such as Elle and Glamour, and appeared in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2000 edition, international editions of Vogue, and has been seen in Victoria's Secret and Banana Republic print advertising.

"There is a real person in there," Roberts told the AP. "People who know me recognize the character as me."

Niccol wanted to cast an unknown in the part to further keep the identity of Simone shrouded in secrecy.

Cursed Movie

Is a new movie starring Nicole Kidman accident prone? A teenager working on the set of Kidman's new film, "Cold Mountain," which is being filmed in Romania, has become the victim of the second freak accident in the past month.

A 17-year-old working on the film became impaled on a metal spike after falling from a set piece. Three weeks ago, a young boy trying to be an extra in the film, was crushed and suffered multiple fractures, according to Ananova.com.

Both are expected to recover.

The movie, which is expected to be released on Christmas 2003, stars Kidman, Jude Law, and Renee Zellweger, and is directed by Anthony ("English Patient") Minghella. The Civil War drama is based on Charles Frazier's best-selling novel. Law stars as a wounded soldier struggling to make it home following the war in order to reunite with his pre-war sweetheart, played by Kidman. Zellweger plays her sister, Ruby. Tom Cruise was initially negotiating to star in the lead role, but a deal was never reached, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Or did it have to do with co-starring opposite the ex-Mrs. Cruise? I wonder.

Turning Heads?

Is Vanna White dating "Survivor 2" runner-up Colby Donaldson? Even though he didn't take home the $1 million prize, if a certain supermarket tabloid is correct, Donaldson doesn't need money to make letter-turners heads turn.

White is soon to be divorced from restauranteur husband George Santo Pietro. They were married for 11 years and have two children, an 8-year-old boy and an 4-year-old girl.

Nice-guy Donaldson, who appeared on "Survivor 2: The Australian Outback," has a checkered past. One of our favorite Web sites, The Smoking Gun, unearthed Donaldson's 1999 arrest for public intoxication.

The officer reports that after being dispatched to a location after receiving a report of someone "down in the parking lot. (He) was laying face down, passed out, in a large puddle of his own vomit. I woke (the subject) up. He was extremely intoxicated."

Seems like Donaldson has grown leaps and bounds since that night in a Texas parking lot.

The former self-employed custom car designer from Christoval, Texas. is being represented by the William Morris Agency, has an agent and is pursuing an acting career.

"Ideally I want to have a supporting role in a film with some big-name actors in leading roles and some great and respected people producing and directing," he told a Dallas newspaper in July of 2001.

Chasing Oscar?

Now that Jane Fonda is single, she may be gearing up for a comeback in the movies. The New York Post reports that Fonda may star in the movie, "Evening," based on Susan Minot's novel about a woman on her deathbed who looks back on her life and a long-lost love.

It would be Fonda's first film since 1990 when she starred with Robert De Niro in "Stanley and Iris."

Michelle Solomon's gossip column, Celebrity Chatter, appears each Monday. Got a question about a celebrity? E-mail us (please include your first name, city and state) and we'll find you the answer. Michelle Solomon@Celebrity Chatter.