Mena Suvari arrives at the premiere of 'Nosebleed' in Los Angeles. (photo: Jean Baptiste Lacroix/WireImage.com)

Governing Body

These days, it seems tough to extricate Helen Mirren from her role as Queen Elizabeth, but she wasn't always so stately. When the NY Daily News asked the actress about her U.K. reputation as a bit of a sexpot — due to multiple nude performances throughout her career — Mirren said the label used to bother her. "It's quite insulting," she says. "When you're thought of as a sexy girl, you're also thought of as stupid. It's not a comfortable thing. It annoyed me. Then I realized in my mid-20s that we are all two people — the person we are and the person we appear to be to other people. That settled me down. People can see who they like to see." (photo: Steve Granitz/WireImage.com)

[NY Daily News]

Killer Material

When Rolling Stone journalist and 'Generation Kill' author Evan Wright first discussed adapting his work into an HBO mini-series with David Simon, he thought the 'Wire' creator would want to punch up the story a bit. "I said, 'Don't you want to kill off some people, you know, have a little more drama, maybe kill the reporter?'" Wright says. But Rudy Reyes, a former Marine who plays himself in the film, makes a good point: "They don't need to dramatize nothing. There's nothing more dramatic going on than a unit of recon Marines with no close air support or armor running and gunning into insurgents that are holed up in towns and fighting to the death." (photo: Amy Graves/
WireImage.com)

[NPR]

Damian Lewis attends The Prince's Trust and RBS Celebrate Success Awards in London. (photo: Eamonn McCormack/WireImage.com)

Performance Anxiety

While it's hard to imagine a skittish Samantha Jones, actress Kim Cattrall suffered a few moments' hesitation when she jumped back in the saddle for the 'Sex and the City' movie. "The first day I was actually very nervous," she told Playbill.com. "There were so many people on the street. We were shooting on the east side of Park Avenue. There were people crowded on the west side of the street and in front of us and behind us, and people were screaming with excitement, and it was very thrilling, but actually a little scary." (photo: Jon Furniss/WireImage.com)

[Playbill.com]

Father Knows Best

Jeff Garlin has decided it's time for him to retire from stand-up after he films his special on March 29th and wraps up his spring tour dates. The comedian/actor/writer/director claims he can only be great at so many things and he's interested in focusing more of his attention on his recent forays into writing and directing TV and film. His duties as a father and husband also beckon, as he explains it: "You gotta know stuff now about your kids. I didn't know that. As a parent, you gotta know stuff. Like their height. In-laws will ask you stuff, like how tall is he? He's 2. 'How much does he weigh?' Uh, how much does a 2-year-old weigh? 'What's his blood type?' Uh, red." (photo: Steve Granitz/WireImage.com)

[Cleveland.com]

Performer Wyatt Isaacs at the premiere of HBO's 'Autism: The Musical' in Los Angeles. (photo: Alexandra Wyman/WireImage.com)

Adult Sex

Those working on 'Sex and the City: The Movie' have been tight lipped about plot, but Sarah Jessica Parker let a few details slip in Vegas recently, accepting the ShoWest Vanguard Award. "What we tried to do is it's a grown-up movie and I think those people that have seen it have been very surprised," she said. "There's a seriousness about something that happens in this movie and it's really about real life and your own complicity and disappointments and the necessity of friends at certain points, but really, as a grown-up to really take care of yourself." (photo: Chris Farina/WireImage.com)

[Comingsoon.net]

Independent Woman?

'John Adams' star Laura Linney has earned her rep as an indie-flick queen, but she's hardly become an art-house snob in the process: "There are as many bad independent films as there are bad commercial films," she told the New York Times. "I've been in some very good commercial films. 'Mystic River' is a good movie. 'The Truman Show' is a good movie." And not all niche work lands with the weight of 'You Can Count On Me' — the actress's first role, for example: "It was Mrs. Claus in a feminist version of a Christmas story. It was called 'Mrs. Claus Takes Over.'" If nothing else, a little experience as Santa's better half should prep Linney for her own upcoming marriage to Marc Schauer, who she met at the Telluride Film Festival. (photo: Lester Cohen/WireImage.com)

[New York Times]

Vanessa Simmons, Sean Combs and Angela Simmons attend the Pastry One Year Anniversary at Mr. Chow in Beverly Hills. (photo: Donato Sardella/WireImage.com)

The Distant Future

'Flight of the Conchords' star Kristen Schaal plays a Kiwi-phile on TV, but at heart, she's all American — particularly when it comes to putting a woman in the white house. But when discussing the Geraldine Ferraro controversy on the Daily Show with John Stewart, Schaal didn't hold much hope for the near term. "It took 232 years to get a woman this close," she said. "If she can't win, there won't be another viable female candidate until the year 2300. That's a 300-year sausage fest." Rather than accept defeat, however, the actress recorded a video message for the 24th century's female commander in chief: "I'm so happy that you're president. How did you do it? Did you have to be assertive? Were you a total bitch? Does that word even exist anymore?"

[The Daily Show]

Cooking with Lefty

Josh Charles has big plans for his New York City loft renovation. "The older I get, the more I just want to throw everything away. I want jeans, a shirt, a pair of brown shoes and that's it. So, I'm trying to keep the space fairly open but add an extra bathroom and put in a really nice Boffi kitchen." (He reports he makes mean breakfast eggs.) There will, however, be room in his stripped-down lifestyle for this collection of Italian film posters and guitars. "I try to find as many vintage guitars that are left-handed as I can. I have a really beautiful 1930s Gibson L-OO in black. And then I have a 1930s steel guitar that I had converted. They're, like, my prized possessions." (photo: Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images)

[readexpress.com]

Men's Vogue Deputy Editor Ned Martel (left) and Publisher Marc Berger (2nd from right) with Dominic West, Andre Royo, and Michael Kenneth Williams at the Men's Vogue and Hennessy celebration of 'The Wire' series finale in New York City. (photo: Dimitrios Kamboun, Wire Image)

Steppin' Out

Anika Noni Rose ('Caroline or Change,' 'Dreamgirls') will be seen in HBO Film's upcoming 'The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency' but in the meantime, you can catch her on Broadway as Maggie the Cat in 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof' with James Earl Jones, Phylicia Rashad and Terrence Howard. Speaking to a reporter backstage, Rose explained how she got over her nerves about wearing only a slip in her first scene: "I found this quote: 'Suddenly I realize if I stepped out of my body I would break out into blossom.' That's what I want to do as an actor: Step out of myself, my own inhibitions, my own thought patterns. I want to step out." (photo: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images)

[Courant.com]

Out from Under

Chris Lilley is a household name in Australia, but the comedian's character-based humor won't hit stateside until this summer when HBO premieres 'Summer Heights High,' the high-school mockumentary series that's already put Aussies in stitches. Lilley, as it turns out, has been preparing this North American invasion for quite some time: "My parents always knew I was going to do something crazy because I was a bit weird from birth, and they told me to follow what I wanted to do. I remember at uni I did a Swiss backpacker in an underwear jumpsuit. The university then asked me to host band nights as Jurgen (the Swiss backpacker)." (photo: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images)

[Herald Sun]