Daveigh Chase at the launch of Blackjack II by Samsung in Los Angeles. (photo: John Shearer/WireImage.com)

Three's Company

Ginnifer Goodwin plays "a puppy dog and a 13-year-old trapped inside a young woman's body" (aka third wife, Margene) on 'Big Love.' But the actress reports that in spite of the competition for Bill's affections at the Henrickson's suburban compound, there's no cat-fighting on set. "Jeanne [Tripplehorn] is the one we look up to, just like we do on the show. We're such an extremely healthy bunch that people are shocked to see there's no hierarchy and there's no diva activity." (photo: Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage.com)

[The Star Online]

Fan Spastic!

Your wife may roll her eyes and hide the kids every time you paint your face, put on the cheese-wedge hat and head to the 50-yard line, but finally, extreme fans may have their 15 minutes of fame. HBO Sports has chosen seven NFL superfans to be the subject of their own 3-6 minute segments called 'Fan Life,' which you can see now at HBO.com or download through HBO Mobile and HBO podcasts. An eighth fan will be chosen from users who make their case for superfandom online. If the full-body Steelers tattoos on Fan #2 are any indication, it's going to take more than a giant foam finger to secure a spot.

[INFL's Fan Life]

[Hollywood Reporter]

Starring Bonds

The asterisk stamped on Barry Bonds' 756th home-run ball also marked history with an indelible record of baseball's steroid scandal. And after sports-flick director Ron Shelton finishes his next project, every kid who spies the artifact at the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown can catch the whole story. The HBO Films production, based on the book by the San Francisco reporters who broke the story, falls under the purview of HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg, whose work on '61*' followed a less litigious race to home plate. (photo: Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage.com)

[Variety]

Laura Linney attends the 17th Annual IFP Gotham Awards at Steiner Studios in Brooklyn. (photo: Michael Loccisano/FilmMagic.com)

Making Mischief

Sure, Claire Fisher was a little rough around the edges, but 'Six Feet Under' actress Lauren Ambrose's next role is a real monster — as in the "teeth and talons" variety. The children's book 'Where the Wild Things Are' is getting the star treatment with Spike Jonze directing a screenplay adapted by Dave Eggers, and Ambrose has stepped in to play a creature named KW. The job originally went to Michelle Williams, but the 'Dawson's Creek' alum's voice ended up sounding too tame for the part. (photo: Jeffrey Mayer/
WireImage.com)

[Hollywood Reporter]

Giamatti Gets Shorted

Paul Giamatti is the thinking man's favorite character actor ("I guess it just means paunchy bald guy with crooked teeth," he says). In a recent Esquire interview, the actor who's equally comfortable donning a beard and red suit to play Fred Claus as a wig and stockings for John Adams has just one bone to pick with the journalists who interview him: he's no elf in real life. "People think I'm five-foot-four. They're standing in the room with me and they write, 'He's weirdly small.' What is that? ... If I was five-four, I'd completely cop to it, but I'm not — I'm five-nine, five-ten. It's really bizarre. It's like people want me to be five-foot-four." (photo: Jason Merritt/FilmMagic.com)

[Esquire]

Adrian Grenier with The Las Vegas Pussy Cat Dolls at The Comedy Cares Celebrity Poker Tournament in Las Vegas. (photo: Seth Browarnik/WireImage.com)

Fashion Forward

Carrie and the girls make Per Se look passé, but how could anyone predict which NYC hotspots would reach a boiling point just as the 'Sex and the City' movie premieres? "We talked to some people in publishing and magazines and fashion," Sarah Jessica Parker told the New York Times. "Single people who don't have drinking problems whose recollection you can rely on."

Flooding the city's most up-and-coming locales with the spotlight can also have some pesky side-effects, however, leaving New York's least-known haunts looking more like open casting calls for Samantha's bitchy assistant. "I sometimes get blamed for the meatpacking district, yes," director Michael Patrick King admitted. "And I'm sorry. But it can be nice on certain nights. And it can be awful on other nights. Like New York, you know?" (photo: James Devaney/WireImage.com)

[New York Times]

Dressing for Two

What's a pregnant woman to wear to her movie premiere? Lili Taylor, who's expecting her first child in January, and stars with Frank Langella and Lauren Ambrose in the new film 'Starting Out in the Evening,' is frustrated with the options. "Maternity is still a market that needs to be tapped," she said. "I thought there'd be more out there. Instead, I've been wearing drawstring pants in larger sizes, going up into the 30s," she told the NY Times. "I've also been wearing short skirts and some little dresses. Anything bigger, and I feel like I'm being swallowed." This is a departure for the actress, who tends to prefer anything that "can get wrinkled." (photo: Jemal Countess/WireImage.com)

[New York Times]

Cheryl Hines and Keri Russell attend a screening for 'Waitress' in Los Angeles. (photo: Kevin Parry/WireImage.com)

Wellington Boot?

For a split second, the audience at the 2007 Wellingtonians of the Year Awards in New Zealand might have feared that the duo behind Flight of the Conchords were going to give Wellington the boot. "I disagree with this decision," said Jemaine Clement when he got to the podium. Bret McKenzie concurred it was "really inappropriate...There's all these amazing people here and we tell jokes and fool around. Plus, we haven't been in Wellington most of the year."

[The Dominion Post via stuff.co.nz]

There Goes the Neighborhood

Maybe Austin Nichols just isn't cut out for small-town life. First his visit from Cincinnati turns Imperial Beach into a miraculous mess, and now he's upsetting the Dillon, TX locals on 'Friday Night Lights,' where his role as the new high-school English teacher lands him a bit too close to the football coach's daughter. It's only been one episode, and already Texas mama Tami Taylor (Connie Britton) has started to catch on. "It's funny," Nichols told E! Online. "Connie is actually my neighbor [in real life]. She lives down the street from me. She's great; we became good friends. But she came after me pretty hard in those scenes." (photo: Jesse Grant/WireImage.com)

[E! Online]

Paddy Says Da

Paddy Considine was ready to throw in the towel on his acting career when he was offered the lead role in HBO Films' 'PU-239' — as Timofey Berezin, a man who knows he's dying and goes to extreme lengths to provide for his family. Considine almost said no, telling director Scott Burns: "I don't think I can do this. I don't think I have the energy to do it. I don't care about acting. I'm at the end of my rope." Even though he was a first-time feature director, Burns won Considine over with his intelligence and skill. Plus, Burns had the insight to hire a dialogue coach to create a uniform accent for his cast that spanned 13 different nationalities. Explains Burns: "It's based on what a Muscovite would sound like speaking English. The accent is Russian enough so that the people felt foreign, but not going so far that it started to sound like a 'Rocky & Bullwinkle' cartoon!" (photo: Jesse Grant/WireImage.com)

[THE ASSOCIATED PRESS via Asbury Park Press]

Russell Simmons attends the UNICEF Snowflake lighting at Tiffany's in New York. (photo: Michael Loccisano/FilmMagic.com)

Professional Help

When you play roles as wildly divergent as Garret Dillahunt's — from a crafty frontiersman on 'Deadwood' to a robotic killing machine in 'The Sarah Connor Chronicles' — every bit of inspiration helps. Luckily, Dillahunt found a guide on 'John From Cincinnati' for his depiction of Dr. Michael Smith. "I had a lot of help from David Milch's brother, who is a neurosurgeon, one of the best around," he tells IGN. "He was there through the first few episodes, and he really helped me with bedside manner. It's just so funny to think of them from the same family; as sort of hypnotizingly crazy as David is, his brother is steady as a rock." (photo: Jean Baptiste Lacroix/
WireImage.com)

[IGN.com]