NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Trace Adkins summed up his role in the new film “The Lincoln Lawyer” in his own succinct way when he gathered friends and media for a screening of it recently.

“I’m in it at the beginning and the end and there’s a buncha crap in the middle,” Adkins said with a smile of the movie, which opened Friday.

Additional Photos

Country singer Trace Adkins plays a biker in a scene from “The Lincoln Lawyer,” which opened Friday. He’s on-screen for about three minutes. The Associated Press

L.A. Reid

Valerie Plame Wilson

He’s on-screen about three minutes, but it’s another solid step in the country singer’s second career with a handful of parts slated for later this year.

While short, Adkins’ scenes are humorous, memorable and key character development moments for star Matthew McConaughey’s character, a defense attorney who operates his practice out of a Lincoln. In the film, Adkins plays a biker who has engaged McConaughey to represent a member of his gang.

McConaughey, a country music fan, invited him to try out for the role, but it wasn’t given to him.

“I had to go read for it,” Adkins said. “And I really appreciate the fact that the director Brad Furman told me, ‘I didn’t know who you were. You got the part because you won the part.’ I appreciated that. But it kind of hurt my feelings at the same time. I thought I was a bigger deal than that. ‘What do you mean you don’t know who I am?'”

Once he got the part, Adkins said McConaughey made sure he was able to make the best of it and helped him rehearse. “I thought it was very gracious … He took me under his wing and helped me out,” Adkins said.

Reid will join Cowell as ‘X Factor’ judge

LOS ANGELES – Grammy-winning music executive and producer Antonio “L.A.” Reid is turning TV star for Simon Cowell’s “The X Factor.”

Reid is stepping down as chairman of Island Def Jam Music Group and will join Cowell on the judging panel of Fox’s new singing contest, set to debut this fall. The series is based on Cowell’s hit British show.

In a statement Friday, Cowell said Reid was his top choice.

“The X Factor” is open to solo singers and vocal groups age 12 and up. The winner gets a $5 million record contract.

Ex-CIA agent tackles fiction

NEW YORK – Former CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson is turning to fiction writing more than three years after publishing a memoir about her career.

The New York Times reported that Wilson has a deal with Penguin Group USA for a series of international suspense novels. The Times said she’ll team up with mystery writer Sarah Lovett on the books, which will feature a fictional operative.

Wilson told the newspaper she’s frustrated by portrayals of female CIA agents in popular culture that emphasize their looks rather than their brains.

Wilson’s 2007 memoir, “Fair Game,” told the story of her CIA career and her 2003 outing, which led to the indictment of Vice President Dick Cheney’s top aide, I. Lewis Libby. Her first fiction book is due out next year.

State court sides with Dr. Dre

DETROIT – The Michigan Supreme Court has sided with Dr. Dre, ruling that Detroit officials had no right to privacy when they were videotaped backstage at a concert involving the hip-hop mogul and fellow rapper Eminem.

The court released a ruling Saturday that dismisses a lawsuit filed by City Councilman Gary Brown and other officials after the 2000 show.

Brown was a high-ranking police official at the time, and warned concert organizers that power at the arena would be turned off if they showed a sexually explicit video. The confrontation was taped and later included in a DVD of the “Up In Smoke” tour.

Related Stories