Jim Carrey will laugh it up with the Farrelly brothers

SHUTTING DOWN After the death of costar David Strickland, Warner Bros. TV has decided to shut down production of NBC’s “Suddenly Susan” for the season. The show had two more episodes left to tape, but the studio said it was canceling them to give the cast and crew time to grieve.

CASTING In the closest thing to a comedy sure thing, Jim Carrey is poised to reteam with his ”Dumb and Dumber” directors, the Farrelly brothers. In ”Me, Myself and Irene,” Carrey will play a split-personality state trooper whose two personas fall in love with the same woman and battle for her heart. The project will get rolling soon: Carrey is trying to squeeze it in this summer before starting ”How the Grinch Stole Christmas” for Ron Howard…. Brad Pitt is hot on a script called ”The Courier,” a thriller about a delivery man who is trying to make a drop-off to someone who has disappeared. If the film gets off the ground, he is likely to also executive produce…. Edward Norton will produce and star in ”A Soldier of the Great War,” a WWII drama based on the novel by Mark Helprin. The film centers around a 70-year-old Italian vet flashing back to his war-hero days…. Tim Robbins may blast off in ”Mission to Mars,” Brian De Palma’s sci-fi tale about a group of astronauts trying to rescue a stranded rocket crew. Gary Sinise and Don Cheadle are already aboard.

ON THEIR OWN In addition to being tourless, Hole is now manager-less, having reportedly just left their management team at Q-Prime. This is the second major client loss for Q-Prime: Smashing Pumpkins severed ties a few months ago. Neither side released an explanation of the split.

COUPLING According to a report in the New York Post, Calista Flockhart and Ben Stiller are a couple but are trying not to be seen in public together. Neither of their publicists would comment.

DASHED FANS Fox has announced that it will not sell advance tickets to the May 19 opening of the ”Star Wars” prequel, ”The Phantom Menace.” Fans had been hoping to score their opening-day tickets weeks in advance, but now they will have to line up in front of the theater as their forefathers did for ”The Empire Strikes Back.” A Fox release posted on the official ”Star Wars” website says that the decision was made to prevent scalping. Early tickets will start to be available via outlets like Moviefone once the film has been in theaters for two weeks.

REEL DEAL Mel Gibson and Jodie Foster‘s production companies have teamed up to produce ”Mace and Mardi,” an action comedy about a married couple whose incessant bickering interferes with their job as bounty hunters. The ”Maverick” costars are also considering taking the lead roles…. Creepy rocker Rob Zombie is making his writing and directorial debut with — what else — a horror film. ”The Legend of the 13 Graves” finds a group of young road-trippers trapped in a bizarre town with a murderous family.

ESCORTING When attending the British premiere of ”Gods and Monsters” last night, Ian McKellen took as his date none other than Monica Lewinsky, whom he met at an Oscar party. ”I was at home and didn’t have a date,” said Sir McKellen. ”She was coming to London (for her book tour), and I thought, We want to give her a good welcome.” It’s doubtful they ordered pizza together.

THE SHOW WON’T GO ON The Woodstock ’99 festival booked for Austria this July has been postponed for at least a year, with organizers saying there just wasn’t enough time to prepare it. Alanis Morissette, Metallica, and Iggy Pop had been scheduled to appear. The New York version of the 30th-anniversary concert is still on, however, for July 23-25. Although Metallica and Limp Bizkit have been confirmed, the rest of the lineup will be announced in April.

BOND GIRL Following in the inimitable footsteps of Carly Simon, Nancy Sinatra and Shirley Bassey, Sporty Spice (Mel C) has been drafted to sing the title song of the next James Bond film, ”The World Is Not Enough.”