Billy Ray Cyrus photo courtesy of Walt Disney Records.

Billy Ray Cyrus’ next film just had its premiere, Kenny Chesney is in production on his upcoming 3-D picture, and Tim McGraw’s next movie starts shooting in Middle Tennessee this week.

Country artists have a hand in every part of Hollywood’s business these days, from the initial roll of the camera to the glitter of the post-release awards-show circuit.

Here’s what’s up for country’s stars on film:

• Billy Ray Cyrus was on hand in Los Angeles Saturday for the premiere of The Spy Next Door, a Lionsgate picture opening Friday with Jackie Chan and George Lopez. He told reporters on the red carpet that his next album will be a rocker, with a band he’s been talking about for several years called Brother Clyde.

• Photography begins in Tennessee this week for Love Don’t Let Me Down, The Murfreesboro Post reported. Tim McGraw plays the manager of Gwyneth Paltrow in the picture, which has her taking on the role of a country singer. Principal photography is slated through the first week of March.

• Kenny Chesney: Summer In 3-D is slated for release in April, and Kenny’s been in production on the project, which documents last year’s Sun City Carnival Tour. He’s not doing a full-fledged tour in 2010, though work on the movie might well influence the way he presents the dates he does have scheduled. “You know, 3-D is a whole other medium,” he says, “and the way you look at the film — especially for a long-form concert with as much energy as the Sun City Carnival had — really shifts the way I look at what we’re doing onstage. I think it makes me look at songs differently, and I know it’s charged me up for how to hit the stage this year. It can only make things more intense, more present — and I love that!”

• The Golden Globes will air on Sunday with Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett in the running for Best Original Song, in honor of “The Weary Kind (Theme From Crazy Heart).” The film isn’t out yet in most markets, but it’s drawn heavy talk about Jeff Bridges winning an Oscar award for his role as a washed-up country singer. The songs that were written for him were greatly influenced by some rather classic figures. “We had conversations about who [the character] was and where he came from,” T Bone told New York magazine. “[Director] Scott [Cooper] described him as the fifth outlaw in the country group of Kris [Kristofferson], Waylon [Jennings], Willie [Nelson], and Johnny Cash… The only thing we had to make sure of was that the genre of music that we put [Jeff] in was more southern and Texas, as opposed to being more polished and Nashville — because of his voice. He has a deep chest voice.”

• Jewel’s “Stay Here Forever” was released to radio last week as the first single from the Valentine’s Day movie, which arrives in theaters Feb. 12. She penned it during a songwriters retreat at her ranch in 2009 with “That’s How Country Boys Roll” composer Dallas Davidson. “‘Stay Here Forever’ is a song that really says what it feels like to be in love and to want to live in that moment forever,” she observes. “I recorded it, along over 60 other songs, with just an acoustic guitar in my home studio, and the label really fell in love with it. We decided to cut a full version of the song in Nashville and I am thrilled to be back at country radio and to see what all the fans think.”

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