Montreal: Oscar nominee Dan Aykroyd (Driving Miss Daisy, Grosse Point Blank) and Frank Langella (The Ninth Gate, Lolita) are the most recent cast additions to the new Denys Arcand movie 15 Moments (working title).

Described as "a spicy and darkly funny tale" of a young supermodel's rise to global celebrity, the film stars Jessica Pare in her feature debut as a small-town girl turned supermodel. Aykroyd plays a restaurateur who falls in love with Pare's character, while Langella plays a Canadian diplomat who ends up marrying her.

Thomas Gibson (Eyes Wide Shut, Dharma & Greg), who starred in Arcand's Love and Human Remains; director Robert Lepage, who appeared in Arcand's Jesus de Montreal; Charles Berling and supermodel Camilla Rutherford round out the supporting cast. Patrick Huard, Benoit Briere, Sophie Lorain, Macha Grenon and Catherine Begin also appear.

15 Moments was coscripted by Arcand, two-time Oscar nominee for The Decline of the American Empire (1986) and Jesus de Montreal (1989), and Jacob Potashnik (Misguided Angels). The film is a Canada/France coproduction between Denise Robert of Montreal's Cinemaginaire, producer Robert Lantos of Toronto's Serendipity Point Films and Phillippe Carcassonne of France's Cine B.

Shooting locations include Cornwall, Ont. and Montreal, New York, Miami, London and Paris. Filming wraps June 6.

Craft credits go to pm Michel Chauvin, cinematographer Guy Dufaux and production designer Zoe Sakellaropoulo. Daniel Louis is line producing and casting is by Elite Productions.

Funding on the $12-million movie comes from Telefilm Canada, sodec, TMN-The Movie Network, Super Ecran and the Quebec, Ontario and federal tax credit programs.

Alliance Atlantis Pictures International is managing worldwide sales and marketing except for the u.s., which is being handled by Lantos. Alliance Vivafilm has Quebec and Alliance Atlantis Releasing will distribute in the u.k. and English Canada.

*Kids From Room 402, Bad Dog 2

Lions Gate Entertainment animation subsidiary Cine-Groupe and Fox Family Channel have announced an agreement to produce 22 half-hours of Kids From Room 402 and 14 half-hours of the second season of Bad Dog. Both shows are scheduled to air in late 1999.

Kids From Room 402 and Bad Dog 2 will be distributed in the u.s. by Fox Kids Worldwide and by Cine-Groupe in Canada.

Kids From Room 402 is a new series about real kids, doing real things and then suffering real consequences at Harding Elementary School in Anytown u.s.a.

Cine-Groupe's current animation slate incudes Princess Sissi (Saban International, France 3, Radio-Canada), Kit & Kaboodle (cbc/src) and the feature film Heavy Metal FAKK2 (Columbia TriStar).

The company expects to deliver 91 half-hours of animated programming in fiscal 2000, says president Jacques Pettigrew.

*Arthur's famous musical guests

the fourth season of the hit Cinar Corporation/wgbh Boston animation series Arthur opens in October on pbs with special guest appearances by two musical stars, classical cellist Yo-Yo Ma and jazz saxophonist Joshua Redman. Both musicians "appear" as themselves in the season's opening episode, "My Music Rules."

The storyline has Arthur and sister D.W. inviting Ma and Redman to perform at the Elwood City Library music series. When both musicians agree to play, the result is a big disagreement over which music is best, classical or jazz. Of course, Ma and Redman settle the score with a spirited cello and sax rendition of the Arthur favorite, Crazy Bus.

Ma has also appeared on Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood and Sesame Street, both seen on pbs.

This summer, Arthur author Marc Brown, who is also the series creative producer, and the voice of Arthur, talented Montreal actor Michael Yarmush, are scheduled to appear in an (July 28) episode of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood.

Arthur has really come into its stride. pbs reports the Arthur Website (www.pbs.org/arthur) is pulling in over 300,000 visitors a month. And according to new ratings data from both pbs and Nickelodeon (kids two to 11 - NTI.NHI Sept. 7, 1998) , the show is the top-rated preschool series in the u.s. pbs will air 10 new episodes in the show's fourth season and 65 repeats. Series exec producers are Carol Greenwald of wgbh and Micheline Charest of Cinar.

*Babel premiere

The Coscient Group family film Babel premiered on more than 250 screens in France Wednesday, April 7, and was the closing night film at the Sprockets International Film Festival in Toronto, April 10-18.

The Canada/France coproduction stars Maria de Meideros (Henry and June, Le Polygraphe, Pulp Fiction), Tcheky Karyo (Nikita, Doberman, Goldeneye) and young Canadian actor Mitchell David Rothpan (The Assignment, The Girl Next Door) in the leading role of David.

The $18-million special-effects movie, coproduced with France's Ima Films (Luna Park, L'Appartement), was directed by Gerard Pullicino and shot on location in Montreal last year.

UGC International and Motion International, Coscient's distribution division, are distributing. The film was presold to Superchannel and Super Ecran in Canada, Canal+, France 2 and France 3, and Germany's ACC Entertainment.

In this story, 10-year-old David accidentally comes into possession of a parchment belonging to the people of Babel, an ancient underground tribe. David helps the Babels save the planet by preventing the mysterious Grimm from using the evil powers associated with the Babel stone.

*Upcoming action

New film action as reported by the stcvq includes Charles Biname's La Beaute de Pandore from Cite-Amerique producer Lorraine Richard and dop Pierre Gill. It's slated to shoot May 18 to June 18.

A new Robert Favreau movie, Les Muses des Orphelines from producers Lyse Lafontaine, Pierre Latour and Sylvie Trudelle shoots from May 3 to June 21. Cinematographer is Pierre Mignot.

Alliance Atlantis Communications and Productions La Fete are looking at a late June start for Nuremberg, a four-hour historical miniseries starring Alec Baldwin for Turner Network Television. Yves Simoneau (Free Money), who recently directed the tnt tv movie 36 Hours to Die for Coscient, will direct.

Mediatoon producer David Patterson and partners are slated for a July start on the 13-hour-plus movie pilot/espionage series Largo Winch, based on the comic book series.

The Whole Nine Yards, a dark mob comedy feature starring Bruce Willis (The Jackal), is prepping for a May 24 to July 13 shoot. Jonathan Lynn (My Cousin Vinnie) is directing. Franchise Films and Morgan Creek are producing and the dop is David Franco (The Assignment).

Both Nuremberg and Largo Winch are being cast by Elite.

The sci-fi thriller Battlefield Earth films from July 5 to Sept. 7. Roger Christian is directing. Exec producers are John Travolta, Elie Samaha, Jonathan Krane, Don Carmody and Andrew Stevens. Jackie Lavoie is the pm and Andrea Kenyon and Associates and Lynn Stalmaster are casting.

Local feature starts include Jean-Sebastien's Le Petit Ciel from Aska Films producers Claude Gagnon, Yuri Yoshimura-Gagnon and Martine Beauchemin. It's slated to shoot May 3 to June 1.

Arto Paramagian's Two Thousand and None from Galafilm's Arnie Gelbart is in prep for an April 26 to June 11 shoot.

John L'Ecuyer's Saint-Jude, a Quebec/Ontario coproduction between Montreal's Lux Films and Toronto's East Side Film Company, goes from April 26 to May 14.