READY FOR A CLOSEUP
British actor Ray Winstone’s happy to play the title role in the new movie “Beowulf.” He’s just worried no one will recognize it’s him.
“No one knows who I am,” he told the Los Angeles Daily News, adding, “Lord knows I wouldn’t have gotten this part based on how I look.”
Director Robert Zemeckis used motion-capture technology to digitally enhance his actors, including Angelina Jolie. Winstone’s gut has been replaced with six-pack abs, and the lines on his face have been erased.
“My wife said I didn’t look this good when she married me,” the 50-year-old actor told the paper. “I told her, ‘Good thing, ’cause I probably wouldn’t have married you.’ “
THE DIGIT
38:
The number of hours “Felicity” star Keri Russell was in labor with her son, according to People’s coverage of her appearance on “The View.”
Permission to ride: Denied
Britney’s latest setback in her custody battle for her sons with ex-husband Kevin Federline: A judge ruled Friday she no longer is allowed to drive with her boys in the car, tmz.com reports.
The order reportedly was made after the judge was told Spears had been taped running a red light with her sons in the car. Federline’s attorney did not discuss the ruling after Friday’s court hearing. Spears’ lawyer Anne Kiley told reporters everything “was great,” according to people.com.
Going rom-com
“Knocked Up” duo Seth Rogen and Katherine Heigl are breaking up … to star in new romantic comedies of their own.
Rogen is set to play one of the title characters in Kevin Smith’s new movie, the delicately titled “Zack & Miri Make a Porno.” He and Elizabeth Banks will play friends who ask their pals to help make a skin flick to get out of debt, Variety reports. (Kids, don’t try this at home.)
Heigl, meanwhile, signed up for “The Ugly Truth.” According to the Hollywood Reporter, she’ll play a news producer who hires an obnoxious relationship expert for her show. The expert’s advice ends up landing Heigl the man of her dreams. (Kids … actually, that sounds pretty great.)
Hip-hop attack
50 Cent’s adding his two cents to the “b-word” debate: If Britney can use it, why can’t he?
“I guess they have their rules that apply individually to each artist … But it’s not a rule that applies to everybody else. Matter of fact, my next single, I’m going to start it [with], ‘It’s Britney, bitch!’ ” he told mtv.com, a reference to Britney Spears’ hit single “Gimme More.”
Exhibit B, according to Fif: The title of his track “I Still Kill” was renamed “I Still Will” for the video airing on MTV.
“It’s amazing because right after that , they’ll have a group on TV called the Killers,” he said. “There’s always more pressure on hip-hop music.
Just friends
Despite reports last month that Lance Armstrong and Ashley Olsen were spotted making out at a New York bar, the 36-year-old cyclist denies that he and the 21-year-old actress are an item.
“Ashley Olsen and I are strictly friends,” Armstrong said in Friday’s New York Post. “We have hung out amongst other friends, and she strikes me as a nice, smart lady.”
Armstrong’s ex, Sheryl Crow, also denied that she ever expressed disgust over the rumored romance, according to the Post.
The paper said that in her official blog, Crow wrote: “Lance and I are friends … What he does in his personal life … is none of my business. Nor would I ever comment on it.”
