Mike Myers and Steve Guttenberg attend the after party for the premiere of 'Recount' in New York. (photo: Michael Loccisano/FilmMagic.com)

Down for the Recount

Director Jay Roach was very interested when he caught wind that HBO Films was making a film about the 2000 Florida recount. But as he explains it, "Evidently the 'Austin Powers' guy wasn't the first guy they thought of when they said 'We're doing this movie.'" When he heard Sydney Pollack was attached, Roach felt the right man had the job. But then Pollack had to back out well into pre-production, and Roach gladly stepped in — overcoming his concerns about casting 100 speaking parts with just eight weeks of prep, and shooting on location in Florida during Hurricane season. One point of pleasure: The authenticity that was added by casting local residents who actually had lived through the 2000 recount: "It was like a Civil War re-enactment," he said. "They dressed up in the same clothes and started re-counting." (photo: Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images)

[Recount]

Candid Cameraman

HBO's 'Real Sports' has cut to the heart of the New England Patriots' videotaping scandal, interviewing one of the team's former video assistants. Matt Walsh, who worked for the team from 1997 to 2003, will sit down with correspondent Andrea Kremer. The Patriots caused a media frenzy in September by videotaping Jets coaches' defensive signals, which resulted in NFL discipline for the Patriots and coach Bill Belichick. The new segment will air in a repeat of Monday's episode, alongside a report on the slaughter of former racing horses for profit, a profile of tennis icon Venus Williams and a look at the mayoral campaign of former NBA star Kevin Johnson. (photo: Caroline M. Facella/
WireImage.com)

[Real Sports]

Connie Britton casts an 'HBO Recount' ballot at the HBO Films premiere of 'Recount' after party at The Four Seasons in New York City. (Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images)

Working Girl

One of the benefits of being an Oscar®-winning actress is you get to try on different professions when you take on a role — editor of a fashion magazine, investigative reporter, boxer. Or in the case of Jennifer Hudson and her part in 'Sex and the City: The Movie'...personal assistant. Luckily she has the acting thing to fall back on. "I think it's fun being somebody's personal assistant in a movie," she said. "But I'm not that organized. And I can't work a computer at all. But I did switch roles with my assistant to get the feel of it. I don't think I did too good a job." (photo:Kevin Mazur/WireImage)

[Daily Record]

Campaign Suicide

You might imagine that 'Recount' writer Danny Strong spent the fall of 2000 glued to CNN, jotting down notes and imagining his big-screen debut. Not exactly. "I shut my TV off for most of the Florida recount because it seemed to me that it was bringing out the worst of the political system and everything I hate in politics," he says. "I'm kind of a boy scout and, yeah, I'm a real cynical bastard too. But I want things to be how they're supposed to be, and this clearly was the opposite of that, with the stakes as high as they possibly could be for this country. And I felt that if I watched this day-to-day I was going to blow my brains out." (photo: Jason Merritt/Filmmagic)

[HBO.com]

Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon, Kim Catrall and Sarah Jessica Parker attend the world premiere of 'Sex and the City: The Movie' in London. Celebrity stylist Robert Verdi noted of Parker's headwear: "This is the fashion equivalent of getting a master's at Harvard." (photo: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)

Tao of Vince

Who says enlightenment can't come in the form of hot blondes and bottle service? According to 'Entourage' star Adrian Grenier, the conspicuous consumption of Vincent Chase hints at a very spiritual side: "It shows a sort of Zen appreciation for all that comes your way. That at the center of your life should be friends and family, and that all the Hollywood stuff, while it may be fun, is just fleeting bulls**t and you shouldn't get attached to it." It must be all this personal growth — rather than, say, hanging with his castmates at the hottest spots in Hollywood — that keeps Grenier in love with the show. "Hey, if they offer me another 10 years I'd take it," he says. "Can you imagine! We could have Vince sitting at home while his sons run around town getting into trouble! It'd be a spin-off — like Muppet Babies." (photo: Rebecca Sapp/WireImage.com)

[Telegraph]

Rock Solid

On tour with his new stand-up act 'No Apologies,' Chris Rock recently brought a sold-out crowd at Madison Square Garden to tears — of laughter. The presidential race is perfect for the comedian known for skewering race and gender politics, and no one is immune. On Hillary Clinton: "Other countries have had leaders for women. We're so backwards we're like, 'What if she's on her period?' Well, then the Vice President takes over. You can't have her take big decisions on a heavy flow. We'll be going to war every month." As for Barack Obama: "That's the blackest name I ever heard. You expect to see a brother with a spear standing on top of a dead lion." (photo: Jemal Countess/WireImage.com)

[Telegraph]

Fran Drescher and Gabriel Byrne attend the 2008 New York Philharmonic spring gala and benefit performance of 'Camelot' at Avery Fisher Hall in New York City. (photo: Joe Kohen/WireImage.com)

She Works Hard for Her Money

Unlike Carrie Bradshaw, who somehow manages to dress like a princess on a journalist's salary, Sarah Jessica Parker knows that life is not all Prada bags and Gucci shades. In fact, she's glad she wasn't born with a Cartier rattle in her hand. "I was really lucky," she says. "I think that if I had been raised a child of privilege, I wouldn't be the working person I am today. I have a great appreciation for work." And it's an appreciation that her son will learn the hard way when a BMW doesn't magically appear on his 16th birthday. "I think it's incumbent on my husband (actor Matthew Broderick) and me to really stress and to show James Wilkie by example what it means to owe your community something and that he is not entitled to the benefits of our hard work ... I'm not Joan Crawford. But I also don't want him to think the world he lives in is the real world. It's not." (photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage.com)

[Parade via Boston Herald]

Payne Management

Alexander Payne has signed on to direct a new pilot for HBO, the dark comedy 'Hung,' about a struggling father and high school coach who reinvents himself when he figures out how to leverage his "best asset." The show was created by Dmitry Lipkin ('The Riches') and Colette Burson ('Coming Soon' — we notice a title-pun trend). Payne, who helmed 'About Schmidt,' 'Sideways,' and 'Election,' was presumably chosen for his ability to handle dark tales of middle-aged crises with a light touch. (photo: Barry King/WireImage.com)

[Variety.com]

Jeremy Piven and Miranda Kerr at the Victoria's Secret Heavenly Kiss Cocktail Party in Los Angeles. (photo: Todd Williamson/WireImage.com)

Scent of a Woman

When asked in a recent Elle Magazine interview about his preferences for female companionship, Jason Lewis (channelling Jerry "Smith" Jerrod) proclaimed, "Older women rock, especially when you're young. Young people should sleep with older people. Sex is something best done with experience." He does admit to one deal-breaker of an attribute. "I was with a particularly malodorous girl once — beautiful but really stinky. She had every body odor. I remember thinking, Your arms stink. Your breath stinks. Oh, God, even your hair stinks. I had no idea what to do. I remember asking a female friend, "What do I do? Slip her acidophilus when I cook for her?" (photo: Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images)

[Elle.com]

Extended Visit

Tom McCarthy has been showing up everywhere, lying about sources in 'The Wire,' bailing on a bad date in 'Baby Mama' and directing his own indie flick, 'The Visitor.' But with his immigrant-oriented film expanding to a wider release, does McCarthy have the muscle to take on 'Iron Man' at the box office? "Bring 'em on, I say!" he told the Deseret News before amending it with: "Seriously, we're such a different film and this is such a different audience we're going for that I have no worries." (photo: Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images)

[Deseret News]