CALIFORNIA: It’s an odd idea for a movie, even for Michael Jackson. ‘Jersey Girl’ director Kevin Smith says he once got an offer to direct the pop singer in a movie about a man who turns into a car that gets ridden around by a boy.

Smith tells Playboy magazine that Jackson wanted to play the car/man role. The proposed title of the film, and Smith says this is no lie, was ‘Hot Rod’. Smith calls it the “weirdest” script he was ever asked to direct. The pop star is being accused of child molestation in Santa Barbara County, Californai Jackson was also accused of a similar crime ten years ago. He has maintained his innocence in both cases. — AP