AMAZON ASSIGNMENT

Brooke Shields has a stunt double (Cheryl Wheeler) for the $15-million “Brenda Starr,” now shooting in Puerto Rico (after a stint in Jacksonville, Fla., where it will return). But Wheeler’s getting her share of rest.

Brenda, of course, is the red-headed ace reporter of comic-strip fame. In the movie she’s searching for a scoop in the Amazon rain forest.

So far, Brooke’s insisting on swinging on a trapeze to escape Ruskie agents, riding a fake alligator down the St. John’s River, rescuing co-star Tony Peck from a boa constrictor in a jungle pit and galloping a horse into the belly of a C-123 transport plane (accompanied by her screen amour Timothy Dalton, who’ll be getting in some practice for his stint as James Bond).

“Doing my own stunts is exciting as long as I’m not really in danger,” said Shields via her publicist. “When the audiences see I do them myself, they’ll feel closer to Brenda.”

A publicity stunt? Director Robert Ellis Miller told us it’s true: “It’s non-stop stunts and Brooke constantly asks me to let her do them. It’s difficult to say no. She’s a natural stunt woman.”