DON'T SPEAK Are talkies just a phase? Actress Maria Conchita Alonso (The Running Man) tells EW she's producing Return to Babylon, an indie film about silent-movie stars. And here's the wacky part: The movie will be silent! Alonso will play Mexican actress Lupe Velez, whose body was supposedly discovered facedown in a toilet bowl. "She was 36 and pregnant and wanted to die in a very glamorous way," says Alonso. "She prepared her death scene with flowers and candles around her bed and took some pills.... But she ended up running for the toilet." Others who may not be talking: Titans' Casper Van Dien (as drug-addicted movie idol Wallace Reid), Van Dien's wife, Catherine Oxenberg (starlet Louise Brooks), and Ione Skye (Fatty Arbuckle's alleged rape victim, Virginia Rappe). Writer-director Alex Monty Canawati is negotiating with Marlee Matlin for Clara Bow's secretary, Daisy DeVoe. As for the It Girl herself, Canawati says Sean Young is pushing to tie up Bow.—William Keck