The best place to spot film celebs these days just might be Crawford Hall on the University of Hawai'i-Manoa campus. In recent months, UH's Academy for Creative Media, thanks largely to the Verizon-like connections of director Chris Lee, has hosted actor Kal Penn, indie director Eric Byler and a videoconference with director Cameron Crowe.

On the dais this week were director Bryan Singer ("The Usual Suspects," "The X-Men") and producer Jon Peters ("Caddyshack," "Ali," "Batman Returns"), who flew in to celebrate Lee's birthday and to begin planning the just-confirmed sequel to "Superman Returns."

Lee served as executive producer for "Superman Returns" and will return to that role for the next film. Singer and Peters are also back on board as director and producer, respectively.

In a wide-ranging discussion with UH film students, Singer and Peters shared their unique career paths, which for Peters included an 18-month stint in jail as an adolescent, a stint as Barbra Streisand's hairdresser, another as head of Sony Pictures, and more than 90 films, including "A Star is Born," "Flashdance," "Rain Man" and the 1989 "Batman."

Singer said his own career ambitions came into focus early, starting with the 8 mm films he made as a young teen and an inspirational "20-20" segment on Steven Spielberg. Using successful student, independent and semi-independent films as a springboard, Singer is now one of the most sought-after directors in Hollywood.

Responding to a student's question about the differences in working on small, independent films and big-budget blockbusters, Singer said his coming of age in the late 1970s and '80s influenced his fascination with large "event" films such as "Star Wars," "E.T." and "Raiders of the Lost Ark."

"Fierce independent films have a life in film festivals, on DVD and in limited theatrical release," Singer said. "Big movies have to bring people into 6,000 theaters nationwide.

"To be one who can make movies on that level is interesting to me," he said. "It challenges your creative powers. You have all the tools available to execute big, imaginative scenes but the purpose is still to serve a small, personal story."

Peters, who got his first break as a child actor in "The 10 Commandments," encouraged the assembled students to take risks and follow their vision ("If you're not at risk, there is no reward") while at the same time emphasizing the reality of the "business" aspect of show business.

"In the system there are people who are not necessarily like us, not dreamers or artists ... but when they have the money (that makes projects possible) they have a part of you," he said. "I've seen a lot of very talented people who never made it because they couldn't get past the need to compromise."

For all of the films he's been involved with, Peters said he considers "Superman Returns" his dream film because of the long, winding road it took to get it to the big screen.

Peters acquired the film rights to "The Death of Superman" comic book in the early 1990s but, by his own accounting, wasted 12 years, as many scripts, and $40 million before the project took off in earnest.

Peters credited Singer's creative vision with rescuing the floundering project. It was Singer who took a script draft by J.J. Abrams (who's also the creator of "Lost"), which focused on the superhero's origin story, and reimagined it as a "return" story."

"It was a touching story, a beautiful love story, and that's why people loved it," Peters said.

FALL GUY

In stuntman Darin Fujimori's world these days, it's beat or get beaten.

Fujimori was the lone Hawai'i stuntman to work on Clint Eastwood's "Flags of Our Fathers," which was shot in Iceland. In that film, Fujimori plays a Japanese soldier who fights with Barry Pepper's "Mike Strank."

"I was just another Asian guy getting killed," Fujimori said.

Fujimori recently returned to Hawai'i after attending the Beverly Hills premiere of the film. While the film may not reach the intimate, emotional highs of Eastwood's Oscar-winning "Million Dollar Baby," Fujimori said the film tells its unique and complicated story well. He'll be disappointed if Adam Beach, who plays Ira Hayes, doesn't get an Oscar nomination.

Fujimori spent a week on location in Iceland and came away impressed with the production.

"All of the crew have been with (Eastwood) for a while, so it was really smooth," Fujimori said. "His sets are really, really well run. He's the conventional type of director. He doesn't yell or get all crazy."

Fujimori just finished shooting an episode of "Lost." And this time, he was the one delivering the beating.

The episode, featuring an appearance by Bai Ling, includes a flashback from Jack (Matthew Fox), set in Thailand. Fujimori plays Ling's character's brother and, as brothers are sometimes wont to do, he and his on-screen buddies put a beat-down on his sister's would-be suitor, Jack.

Fujimori has put together an impressive resume of stunt jobs over his relatively short career. In addition to "Flags of our Fathers" and "Lost," Fujimori has also appeared in "School for Scoundrels," "Southland Tales," and "CSI:NY." He recently completed work on the upcoming "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," in which he plays, what else, a pirate.

NEED GREEN FOR 'GREEN'

We know Chris Kahunahana is a hard-working promoter and film-festival programmer. But the founder of the Island Independent Film Festival (formerly Cinema Paradise) and the Hawaii Underground Film Festival is also a skilled filmmaker in his own right, as he'll soon remind us.

Kahunahana is speaking with investors about a pair of feature film projects he's been developing. "Green" is a gritty tale about a guy from Hawai'i who moves to New York with a little bit of prime pot and a big dream.

The other script, "E Kanaka," hasn't been copyrighted yet so Kahunahana is careful about disclosing any details, but trust us, his idea is a doozy. If all goes as well as planned, you may never look at Waikiki the same way again.

ISLAND TELEVISION

Teuila Blakely, who plays long-suffering Leilani in the New Zealand indie hit "Samoan Wedding," made the most of her latest trip to Honolulu.

Blakely was in town for the Louis Vuitton Hawaii International Film Festival screening of "Samoan Wedding" — one of the surprise hits of the festival — and to visit relatives in La'ie and Kahalu'u. But she also managed to get in a few words with Hawaii Public Television reps about her latest TV project, "Island Girls."

Blakely, who is half Samoan and half New Zealander, wrote "Island Girls" for the stage and is now adapting it for TV. She's hoping cable channels or public broadcasters in the U.S. will pick up the series.

If they do, she'll be one up on her "Samoan Wedding" castmates, who perform as the comedy troupe Naked Samoans. The troupe is the creative force and vocal talent for an animated series in New Zealand called "broTown," which was shopped around in the U.S. but rejected as too racy and irreverent.

MY.IDIOT

Local filmmaker Roger Wilko is no idiot, but that doesn't mean he can't appreciate a good idiot story.

Wilco's latest project, "You Stupid Idiot," is a humorous collection of real-life break-up stories shared by female visitors to the MySpace account Wilco used to promote his documentary "The Mayor, Mimes, Merchants and Members."

AYA'S NUMBER CALLED

If for nothing else, NBC's short-lived cop drama "Hawaii" may yet be remembered as Aya Sumika's first major acting role.

The Seattle native performed admirably on the Honolulu-based show, despite a very limited character and spotty overall writing.

Sumika resurfaced last month as Special Agent Liz Warner in two episodes of the CBS series "Numb3rs."

She must be doing something right. As Sumika recently told local publicist Mona Wood, the show has brought her back for four additional episodes.

Reach Michael Tsai at mtsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.