“Walk the Line” and “Brokeback Mountain” stole the show during Monday’s Golden Globes telecast, but there was plenty of action offstage and behind the scenes.
Hollywood romance
Mandy Moore and Zach Braff were locked at the lips before and during the telecast, and they weren’t the only twosome making waves.
There was plenty of couple-watching to go around: Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas and “Las Vegas” star Josh Duhamel, “Rent’s” Rosario Dawson and “Sex and the City’s” Jason Lewis, and “Lost” stars Evangeline Lilly and Dominic Monaghan.
Not to mention “Desperate Housewives” diva Nicollette Sheridan and singer Michael Bolton (right), who made the Warner Bros./InStyle after-party a coming-out party of sorts, according to USA Today. They kissed, and Bolton declared, “Nicollette has always been the love of my life, and now it’s not a secret anymore.”
Looking to Oscar
With four wins Monday, “Brokeback Mountain” is a clear favorite in the Oscar race … right?
Not so fast, says Golden Derby columnist Tom O’Neil. Producers pushed the Oscars ceremony back to March so as not to compete with the Winter Olympics, “giving stubborn Hollywooders lots of time to change their minds,” O’Neil writes. This year, there’s also an extra week between the announcement of the nominees and the show, he notes.
Getting hairy
Looks like comedian Steve Carell hasn’t been waxing since his infamous chest-baring scene in “The 40-Year-Old Virgin.” Carell, a winner for “The Office,” gives red carpet interviewer Nancy O’Dell a sneak peek.
The bet
Ryan Phillippe wasn’t nominated for any Globes but was in the middle of the action seated at a table with wife Reese Witherspoon and her “Walk the Line” co-star Joaquin Phoenix.
If you were watching on NBC, you heard Phillippe shouting at Phoenix as Phoenix accepted his best actor award (musical or comedy). Why? He wanted his money.
“I lost a $220 bet to Ryan,” Phoenix told MTV News. “That’s what he was so happy about. … He bet me that I’d win, and I said no way, and I bet him whatever I had in my pocket.”
Rock on, Jon
Jon Stewart will make a great Oscar host. So says last year’s host, Chris Rock (below).
“There are a lot of political movies this year, and he’s the political guy,” Rock told USA Today at the Globes. “I gave him the same advice Billy [Crystal] gave me. I also told him to call Billy!”
Firing back
Stop those rumors. In the February issue of Vibe, Sanaa Lathan denies she had an affair with Denzel Washington, her co-star in the 2003 thriller “Out of Time.”
“[The rumor] got started because the movie had a love scene with Denzel, and people took that and translated it to real life,” Lathan tells the magazine, now on newsstands. “They said I was pregnant with Denzel’s child, and people were calling my mother, saying I’m having his baby. It’s frustrating. People are going to talk no matter what.”
Washington, 51, has been married to his wife, Pauletta, for 22 years. A call by The Associated Press to his representative wasn’t immediately returned Tuesday.
Soft spot
“The Shield” tough guy Michael Chiklis busts baddies on TV–and busts out crying at home. “I cry often,” he tells Stuff magazine. “I have two daughters, and when you have little girls they make you cry. I’m a mush. I cry during a Coke commercial.”
Twin time
Holly Hunter has two new reasons to jump for joy. The actress and her partner, Gordon MacDonald, welcomed twins, people.com reports. “She had the babies,” the star’s publicist said, providing no other details. Hunter and MacDonald met in November 2004.
Brace yourself
Brooke Burns is sporting a new piece of jewelry that she’s eager to get rid of. The former “Baywatch” actress wore a jewelry-encrusted neck brace Sunday when she met with reporters to talk about her new WB comedy, “Pepper Dennis.” Burns broke her neck during a diving accident in November. She’s able to take off her brace for short periods to film scenes, but may appear with it on the show anyway.
