What do you think is sexy? The guy has to be funny. He can be Screech, but if he makes you laugh, you’re like “You’re kind of cute.” And they have to wear the right shoes… like the right pair of tennis shoes… cool ones. I can’t explain it, but you can meet a guy and you see his shoes and you’re like “Oh no!” My tastes vary so much. When I was younger, I loved hip-hop guys, like Eminem types… or like Justin Timberlake. I guess I like them all. Now I think Andy Samberg is so cute. He’s on Saturday Night Live — the nice Jewish guy.

Rachel Bilson takes on the November 2006 issue off Cosmopolitan. She has all the makings of a starlet: a hit shot (The OC), actor boyfriend (Adam Brody), and a buzzed-about movie (The Last Kiss).

Uma Thurman wouldn't leave beau Andre Balazs's side while posing for photos at a gala for New York City's Whitney Museum on Monday.

The couple got cuddly for photographers, and when Thurman was asked to pose alone, she said, "I'm not solo so I'm not standing solo."

Keeping her arms locked in Balazs's, Thurman said she was at the event because "I was invited by my boyfriend." Told the two looked very happy together, the actress replied, "We are."

Thurman, 36, and Balazs, 49, began dating in 2004. They split in March but have since been spotted together everywhere from Copenhagen to New York.

At the gala afterparty Michelle Williams, 25, was asked if she plans to instill a sense of art appreciation in daughter Matilda, who turns 1 on Oct. 28. (Dad is Williams's fiancé and Brokeback Mountain costar Heath Ledger.)

"Well, where we live we have a lot of art on the wall, and we have a lot of sophisticated things in the nursery," she said. "But we try to keep it real and child-friendly, but with stuff that will last a lifetime."

Also at the party: Emmy Rossum, 20, who said, "I live two blocks away and I have been coming to the Whitney since I was this high. It's my neighborhood and I'm always jazzed to come and support art."

She's currently recording an album due in the spring, she said. "It's going to be pop music. Kind of my first foray into a more pop genre. But it's not going to be bubble-gum pop – it's going to be softer pop, inspired by Sarah McLaughlin, Frou Frou, David Grey – softer pop artists."

Ex-Saturday Night Live-er Jimmy Fallon, 31, turned up wearing a Paul McCartney button. "He's the best," Fallon said. "He's the one and only. He's my man. He's my favorite. Yeah, I love Paul. I've got to support him."

Eric Bana and Terrence Howard are attached to star in "Factor X," a thriller about the capture of the so-called "BTK killer" in Wichita.

Dennis Rader murdered 10 people in and around Wichita, Kan., between 1974-91 and was finally caught in 2005, turning out to be a mild-mannered church leader. The acronym described his modus operandi, which was to bind, torture and kill.

"Factor X," which takes its name from what he described in taunting letters to the police as his motive for murder, tells how a young, black counterterrorism expert from Washington teamed up with a Wichita police detective, who spent his career trying to chase down the killer.

Bana will play the detective and Howard the counterterrorism expert.
Ridley Scott will produce the New Line project, and could also direct.

The script will be written by Gregory Allen Howard, who made a name for himself writing real-life inspirational sports dramas such as "Remember the Titans" and "Ali." Howard came across counterterrorism expert Stanley Campbell at a dinner party thrown by his cousin, a federal judge.

After Howard learned of Campbell's story, and how he invented a data reduction process to rule out suspects, he doggedly pursued the man for a year trying to get his life rights. Campbell eventually caved, partly because of Howard's promise to not make an exploitative movie.

Howard then got Bana on board, followed by actor Terrence Howard. Scott soon followed.

Bana, who last starred in "Munich," will next appear in "Lucky You" with
Drew Barrymore.

Howard, who earned an Academy Award nomination for best actor for his performance in last year's "Hustle & Flow," recently joined the cast of "Iron Man," which shoots early next year.

The Independent Film Project has announced its honorees and nominations for the 16th annual Gotham Awards skedded for Nov. 29 at Chelsea Piers' Pier 60 in Manhattan.

Kate Winslet and Edward Norton will receive Gotham tributes for their segues between big budget films and indie fare. Others honored are 2929 Entertainment's Todd Wagner and Mark Cuban. The inaugural World Cinema Tribute will be given to Alfonso Cuaron, Guillermo del Toro and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu.

And the nominees are...

FEATURE
"The Departed" -- Martin Scorsese
"Half Nelson" -- Ryan Fleck
"Little Children" -- Todd Field
"Marie Antoinette" -- Sofia Coppola
"Old Joy" -- Kelly Reichardt
DOCUMENTARY
"Deliver Us From Evil" -- Amy Berg
"Following Sean" -- Ralph Arlyck
"An Inconvenient Truth" -- Davis Guggenheim
"Iraq in Fragments" -- James Longley
"Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple" -- Stanley Nelson
ENSEMBLE CAST
"Babel"
"For Your Consideration"
"Little Miss Sunshine"
"A Prairie Home Companion"
"Shortbus"
BREAKTHROUGH DIRECTOR
Rahmin Bahrani -- "Man Push Cart"
Laurie Collyer -- "Sherrybaby"
So Yong Kim -- "In Between Days"
James Marsh -- "The King"
BREAKTHROUGH ACTOR
Abigail Breslin -- "Little Miss Sunshine"
Shareeka Epps -- "Half Nelson"
Melinda Page Hamilton -- "Sleeping Dogs Lie"
Rinko Kikuchi -- "Babel"
Channing Tatum -- "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints"
BEST FILM NOT PLAYING AT A THEATER NEAR YOU
"Choking Man" -- Steve Barron
"Colma: The Musical" -- Paul Kolsanoff
"In Between Days" -- So Yong Kim
"The Great Happiness Space" -- Jake Clennell
"Wristcutters: A Love Story" -- Goran Dukic

Kevin Federline is to make his film debut with a part in a Shakesperean hip hop movie.

The star, and boyfriend to Britney Spears, has landed a role in Caught On Tape. The film, written and directed by Sticky Fingaz, will also star Bokeem Woodbine (Ray), Cedric the Entertainer and Vivica A Fox.

The film will mix rap dialogue with traditional script as it follows the story of a boy who secretly videos his mother's partner plotting a crime.

Sticky Fingaz said he was confident in Federline's talents. "Right now I'm creating the future of movies and music," he said. "I've just written, produced and directed two movies coming out with Lionsgate next year and basically the movies are all in rap.

"Caught On Tape is a hardcore musical, lot of violence, lot of sex, lot of action, lot of drama, lot of sentiment and romance as well," he continued. "Kev Fed is going to be in it, it's his acting debut. He's really cool, he's dope. Just keep the paparazzi away from him and he'll be ok.

Upper Street star Dane Bowers has hit out at his ex-girlfriend Jordan, saying that her singing is "awful".

Despite her seven years of singing lessons, the ex-Another Level singer believes that Jordan should give up her aspirations to be a pop star.

Bowers, whose new single is out today, said: "Jordan has always wanted to sing, but she's awful".

He added, "Some people have it...and she doesn't."

Actor and musician Jared Leto admits he resorted to metaphors and double entendres to hide the true meanings of the songs on the self-titled first album by his band, 30 Seconds to Mars.

Not so with the new album "A Beautiful Lie."

"I did want to be much more direct. I wanted it to be much more of a confessional landscape," said Leto, whose acting credits include the movies "Alexander" and "Panic Room" and TV's "My So-Called Life."

"It's interesting because (the first album is) filled with metaphors and as successful as the first album was, it was still very, very personal to me. Once you uncovered what was underneath, it was entirely personal. This album is much more emotionally transparent. I think it's exciting to put as much as yourself into your art. That's what makes it the truest it can be."

30 Seconds to Mars, which won an MTV2 Video Music Award for "The Kill," did more than change its lyrical approach on "A Beautiful Lie."

"I created a lot of sonic tricks and signatures the first time out. I really had to turn my back on that because I wanted to do something completely different and unique. So it was really just about reinventing, reexamining," Leto said from a tour stop. "It was something that we needed to do, that I needed to do. I was interested just in change, really."

Leto - who is joined in the band by bassist Matt Wachter, guitarist Tomo Milcevic and drummer Shannon Leto (his brother) - wrote the songs for "A Beautiful Lie" over a three-year period while on the road and on movie sets worldwide.

He said he doesn't schedule writing so much as he relies on "creative impulses (that) have their own time schedule. You can't really force it. It really is like the wind. It comes when it wants to," he said.

Leto said he also learned to relax in the studio, thanks to friend and "A Beautiful Lie" producer Josh Abraham.

"He's a very hands-off producer and he creates a great environment. He likes to kind of leave things spontaneous, and I tend to want to beat things to death. So it created a good balance between the two of us," Leto said.

That includes live performances. Ever the showman, Leto has hit the stage on this tour dressed completely in white, including a mask. It is, said Shannon Leto, part of a plan to make the audience remember the performance, a move necessitated in part by rockers' natural skepticism of actors who try to cross over into their world.

"It's not a hobby. He's an artist. once you get down to it," Shannon Leto said of his brother. "He draws. He works on graphics. He does all the artwork for the band. He writes the music. He's an artist. That's the bottom line. It's really a shame that people have to put him in a corner and say, 'Oh, you do that, so how can you do this?'"

"We've proven ourselves," Shannon Leto said. "We've toured and toured and toured. We played in front of anybody with anybody for years and years and years letting the music just speak for itself. We persevered. We won over a lot of people."

Rachael Ray is leading the pack of daytime talk shows over Megan Mullally, Keith Albow, and Greg Behrendt.

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Rihanna and Lionel Richie will perform at the 2006 Novel Peace Prize Concert on Dec. 11 in Oslo, Norway. Sharon Stone and Anjelica Huston will host.

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Nicole Kidman is still expected to come to New York for the Nov. 5 premiere of Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus, even though husband Keith Urban just entered rehab.

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Friends of Molly Sims and beau Justin Chatwin say their relationship is struggling because of the nine-year age difference and because Sims is “clingy.” Chatwin made a guest appearance onLost last week as the hitchhiker.

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Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, and Kellie Pickler have been added to the list of presenters for The 40th Annual CMA Awards set to air Nov. 6.

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Britney Spears took a night off from being a full-time mom last week to catch a Pussycat Dolls performance at Pure in Las Vegas. She and a pal stayed out until 1 a.m.

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TV movie High School Musical has been turned into a concert and is hitting the road with a nationwide tour. Cast members including Monique Coleman, who is currently on Dancing With the Stars, and Lucas Grabeel will take part in the 40-city tour that is scheduled to begin Nov. 30 in San Diego.

Hollywood legend Al Pacino has received the American Film Institute's highest accolade - the Lifetime Achievement Award.

According to the BBC, the chairman of the AFI Board of Trustees, Howard Stinger, described Pacino as "an icon of American film."

Previous recipients of the prestigious award include the likes of Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese and Sean Connery.

Pacino, 66, will officially receive the award at a tribute dinner in Los Angeles on June 7 next year.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers have announced an exclusive gig for just 1800 lucky competition winners.

The intimate concert will take place at the Roundhouse in Camden, London on November 22, a marked difference compared with their Hyde Park shows earlier this year.

The exclusive tickets are only available to listeners of XFM, or its numerous off-shoot stations.

Liberty X singer Michelle Heaton and Andy Scott Lee married in a lavish ceremony last Friday.

The couple, who featured on MTV show Totally Scott Lee, walked down the aisle in front of a star-studded crowd including The Cheeky Girls and Michelle McManus.

Heaton's bandmates Kelli Young and Jessica Taylor joined Jordan to perform bridesmaid duties at The Priory - a country estate in Hertfordshire.

Liberty X singer Michelle Heaton and Andy Scott Lee married in a lavish ceremony last Friday.

How do you deal with carving out a career in Hollywood while remaining true to yourself and your Australian roots when you are so far from home?

I always make sure I see my family a lot. I fly them in. My wife and kids are always with me. Next year I'm doing (a) Baz Luhrmann movie so I'll be (in Sydney) for most of the year, and when you think about it I did The Boy from Oz for a year, playing this Australian character and singing "I Still Call Australia Home" every night. So with the Australian flag dropping on stage, I was very much in touch. But I would love for my children to have some time there every year so it becomes a part of their upbringing.

You were wonderful on Broadway in The Boy from Oz …and you also had time for family …. What's your secret to maintaining that stamina and energy?

B12 shots twice a week. I don't always get a lot of sleep, but when you're singing, the first thing to go when your tired is your voice – it gets a little raspy. So, when you're singing 20 songs a night you have to get sleep. They used to call me Gramps at home because I would have a nap in the afternoon, get eight or nine hours of sleep at night. The real key for me is meditation – without a doubt it transformed my life. Twice a day – it gives you energy. I've been doing it 10 or 15 years.

What do you eat to stay in such good shape?

I'm a real foodie and into good wine. So if I was going out for my ultimate night it would be eight to 10 friends with sensational wine and sensational food. I'm a sweet tooth, but I do love cheese. Good cheese, with wine. And I love fresh bread. Breakfast is up there as probably my favorite meal. My dad was bringing up five kids and I had cereal and then a hot breakfast every day. I think it's healthy to eat. My dad is a great cook. I think you eat less crap when you eat good food.

If you could live in another period of time, which would you choose?

The '20s holds a fascination but then I immediately go to, "Did they have anesthetic at the dentist?" I'm not one for pain. You just don't want to be sick in the '20s. All the movies and flappers and great parties – let's face it, I'd switch everything for a good anesthetic. (And) I do quite like my email and BlackBerry.

Filming on the next Harry Potter movie angered thousands of Londoners on Sunday (22OCT06), after Westminster underground station was closed all day.

Angry passengers were turned away by beleaguered tube station staff as film-makers shot sequences for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

A Transport For London spokeswoman says, "Planned closures are timed to cause minimum disruption to passengers and commercial requests such as this are subject to an agreed fee.

"There has been publicity in the area to warn passengers."

Movie industry insiders in Hollywood fear Diana Ross is planning to wreck Beyonce Knowles' Oscar hopes for Dreamgirls - because she hates the new musical which is loosely based on her career with The Supremes.

The soul diva made it clear she wasn't a fan of the project when it first appeared as a Broadway musical, and now sources claim she's planning a subtle 'diss' campaign to ruin the film's Academy Award chances.

Los Angeles Times' Hollywood insider Tom O'Neil claims "the original Dreamgirl" could create the kind of negative publicity that turns Oscar voters off if she "publicly disapproves" of the film, in which Knowles plays her.

He says, "A longtime friend and colleague (of Ross) tells me that Miss Ross hates Dreamgirls because she feels like she's been ripped off, like its creators changed just enough key elements of her story so they didn't have to pay her royalties and then refused to give her any input on how her story would be told."

The singer's biographer J Randy Taraborrelli is, however, convinced Ross will not blast the film.
He says, "I think that Diana has decided that there's not much she can do about this and she wisely knows that there wasn't much (R+B legend) Billie Holliday's estate could do about her when she did (1972 biopic) Lady Sings The Blues."

"Shrek the Third," to be released May 18, 2007, will not only feature the voice of "SexyBack" singer Justin Timberlake, but an all-star cast of beautiful princesses from the world of fairy tales.

In a photo that was first released in USA Today, Shrek's wife Princess Fiona ( voiced by Cameron Diaz) is flanked by Cinderella (voiced by "Strangers with Candy" actress Amy Sedaris), Snow White (voiced by "Saturday Night Live's" Amy Poehler), Rapunzel (voiced by "Saturday Night Live's "Maya Rudolph), and Sleeping Beauty (voiced by former "Saturday Night Live" actress Cheri Oteri).

The film will find Shrek (still voiced by Mike Myers) and Fiona reigning over the land of Far, Far Away but secretly hoping to find the rightful heir to the throne (Artie, voiced by Timberlake), so they can go back to the swamp. Shrek takes his regular posse, including Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) to find Artie while Prince Charming (Rupert Everett) storms the castle, forcing Fiona and her famous friends to defend it.

The View cohost Elisabeth Hasselbeck is fuming mad over an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in which a character, whose name is very close to her own, is raped and killed, she said on Tuesday.

"Last week Law & Order: SVU had an episode where a 30-year-old woman in New York City is raped twice and then murdered – and her name is Elizabeth Hassenback," Hasselbeck, 29, said on The View. "I found this a little disturbing."

Hasselbeck said that after hearing about the show from a friend, she called an SVU executive producer whom she declined to name.

"I told him 'Look, I want to let you know that I think it's socially irresponsible and gruesomely suggestive to do this in today's day and age," said Hasselbeck, who has an 18-month daughter, Grace, with her husband, New York Giants quarterback Tim Hasselbeck.

She described the executive producer as "defensive right from the jump" and said that he told he her to "chalk up" the name similarity to "coincidence."

When she challenged the idea that the show, which is famous for ripped from the headlines scripts, had coincidentally used a character with a name so close to hers, the producer gave a terse apology, according to Hasselbeck, then said: "Goodbye lady," and hung up on her.

Hasselbeck said that incident made her feel like she never wanted to sit next to an SVU cast member again. "I think those are good actors and good people, but I can't sit next to them without feeling as though I have been disrespected and just put at risk."

A spokesperson for Law & Order said that before a character can be named on an episode, "all names have to be cleared through legal."

The spokesperson added: "The producers of SVU absolutely love The View and are totally thrilled when one of our actors are on the show. Mariska (Hargitay) has co-hosted the show. Chris (Meloni), (Richard) Belzer and Ice-T have all been on the show."

Barbara Walters, who founded The View, also praised Meloni and Hargitay as "favorite guests" of the show.

Hip-hop producer JERMAINE DUPRI has reportedly been forced out of his job at Virgin Records after disappointing sales of his girlfriend JANET JACKSON's comeback album. Dupri, who was head of urban music at the record company, was partially credited with relaunching MARIAH CAREY's career with monster hit THE EMANCIPATION OF MIMI, but his work on Jackson's 20 YO has only shifted 500,000 copies three weeks into its release. According to reports, the CD also dropped an astonishing 77 per cent in sales in its second week, prompting Dupri to quit the company under pressure from management late last week.

Does anybody here even watch ABC’s Six Degrees? Erika Christensen and Jay Hernandez were spotted filming a smooching scene in NYC yesterday afternoon. Co-star Zoe Saldana was also on set. Six Degrees pulls in an an average of 10.5 million viewers weekly in the Thursday at 10PM time slot.

Ashlee Simpson is following in the footsteps of her fellow songstresses Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and Carrie Underwood. Ashlee, 21, is helping to launch a new line of footwear for shoe giant Skechers. She was spotted at a photocall earlier today in London, UK.

Ashlee grew up wearing Skechers: “Skechers is brand that is not afraid going the beyond. I look forward to representing Skechers clothing line; I also hope to add a few more pairs to my wardrobe.”

Skechers president Michael Greenberg said: “Ashlee is a very talented young singer and she’s one of the most powerful influences of the young population today. She makes a perfect fit between fashion and music, using her creativity to empower young women to be themselves. We were drawn to her grace, style and energy.”

Scarlett Johansson was the belle of the ball at last night’s Moet & Chandon Tribute to Nick Knight. (Moet & Chandon is the largest brand and manufacturer of champagne. Nick Knight is one of Britain’s most innovative and influential photographers.) The masquerade party was held at the Strawberry Hill House in London, UK.

Scarlett, 21, found herself in the arms of London fashion designer Roland Mouret most of the night. Roland is part of Bono’s RED initiative to fight Aids and HIV in Africa. Roland’s collaboration with GAP will see him make 10 styles of dress, three of which will benefit RED, all of which will be available Nov. 7. Roland’s famous Galaxy dress was worn by a bevy of Hollywood beauties including Scarlett.

Gwyneth Paltrow showed her support for ex-boyfriend Brad Pitt by attending last night’s screening of Babel. The event was held at NYC’s Tribeca Grand Screening Room and sponsored by the Cinema Society and The Wall Street Journal. Gwyneth, 34, was accompanied by model pal Helena Christensen.