BY CINDY PEARLMAN

Filming begins in Los Angeles and Boston next month for the first of what Paramount hopes to be many "Lemony Snicket" films. Young star Liam Aiken says, "The best part of it will be working with Jim Carrey. I mean, I can't wait. I don't care if he's the evil Count Olaf and after my money in the movie. I just want to be in the same room with him."

Aiken, who also stars in Friday's family flick "Good Boy," is prepping to play the middle kid in "Snicket," based on the popular children's book by Daniel Handler. "I'm the kid who loves to read. He's very smart, quick thinking and has a very dry wit. I'm a very big fan of the book, and so are the other kids at my school. This is just so cool."

Aiken isn't one of those young stars bemoaning the fact he could be in Snicket land for years. "This movie is gonna be the big one," he says. 'I could be doing these for a long, long time and that's great with me."

A new Snicket book was recently released, and Aiken understands why it's a best seller. "Those books are so dark and funny. The stuff in them isn't just fantasy. It's stuff that's possible."

As for the first movie, titled just plain "Lemony Snicket," here's what we know. It's due out Dec. 17, 2004, and will star Aiken as Klaus Baudelaire, Carrey as Count Olaf, Jude Law as Lemony Snicket and Meryl Streep as Aunt Josephine. The story is about three young orphans and the strange relatives in their lives, plus the ultimate meanie Count Olaf, who wants their inheritance loot.

As for "Good Boy," Aiken says, "It was really cool because I'm a dog person and at the end of the film I got a little Italian greyhound. He is biting a lot of my shoes, but that's OK because he's a really cute dog. He's actually the cousin of one of the dogs in the movie, so maybe that's why he thinks he's hot stuff. He has a star in his litter."

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