Stricken Ben Hur legend Charlton Heston is still in good strength and humor despite announcing he is suffering from Alzheimer's disease. The movie icon's pal Tom Selleck says he's spoken to the 77-year-old actor since his videotaped statement about his illness, and can confirm he is in good spirits. Selleck explains, "He said, 'I still got a lot of fight in me, and this isn't the end of the line.' "He had a lot of humor Friday and it was great to talk to him." Selleck, who became friends with Heston after appearing with him in the 1976 war drama Midway, said the star chose to prerecord his words because he wanted to make sure he didn't come across as being full of self pity. The Three Men And A Baby actor says, "He's grateful for the position he's in and the privilege his being an actor has afforded him, and I think he wanted to control that in a way that didn't lead off on tangents that he wasn't interested in."

Liz Hurley and Hugh Grant are getting close again - they live three houses from each other. The former lovers share the same postcode in London, and Hurley admits she loves being close with her ex, the godfather of her son Damian. She says, "He lives three houses away. If I go out on my roof terrace I can see his roof terrace and we can do semaphore to each other, which is quite sweet. I said, 'We should get those walkie talkies so we can talk to each other, ' and he said, 'Can't we afford to use the phone?'"

Veteran film maker Woody Allen will make a rare public appearance in New York to discuss an aspect of his film making. The pint-sized neurotic will discuss the role of psychoanalysis in Annie Hall and Manhattan at a 92nd Street venue. Also, BAMcinématek, the repertory program at BAM Rose Cinemas, in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, will mark the anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the city with a free screening of Allen's 1979 ode to the city Manhattan.

Movie star Drew Barrymore has given up her vegetarian lifestyle because she got tired of shopping in the same places. The Charlie's Angels star still makes sure she doesn't buy products from cosmetics companies that test on animals - but she isn't as fixed on her beliefs as she used to be. She says, "I still don't eat a ton of meat, and I don't wear a ton of leather, but I just don't put strict limitations on myself anymore. I don't beat myself up. I didn't wear certain designers because I didn't want any animals to suffer for beauty and stuff, and so I literally was dressed by Old Navy at one point. I still shop there, happily. Urban Outfitters and the Gap, I love those stores. You need basics for stability, but eventually I got tired and wanted to play again. Dressing is like an art form - it's so much fun."

Vin Diesel has fired the opening salvo in the battle between his spy thriller XXX and the forthcoming James Bond movie Die Another Day - by labeling 007 outdated. The hunky 35-year-old, whose new film is top of the US box office chart, says his high-octane character Xander Cage is the type of secret agent who will appeal to a generation raised on skateboarding and extreme sports. He says, "To take nothing away from the Bond movies - I loved them - the Bond character is about as relevant to young audiences as someone like Clark Gable. I mean, Bond wears a suit. No kid today wears a suit. Xander Cage doesn't have a lot of hangups - he's not going to a therapist. He's a doer of deeds and makes no bones about being the new breed of superagent. In that respect, I think he is the voice of the younger generation."

Bridget Moynahan has had the pleasure of acting out steamy love scenes with hunky stars Ben Affleck and Al Pacino recently - and she loved it. The Coyote Ugly actress stars opposite Affleck in new spy thriller The Sum Of All Fears - and director Phil Alden Robinson insisted that all their love scenes be filmed in one day. The 30-year-old former model reveals she and Jennifer Lopez's new boyfriend found it an unusual process, explaining, "We had a good time rolling around, that's for sure. "But it's weird when the director says, 'Cut', and you have to sort of get untangled. You just get your bits back into place and gear up for the next one. It was more awkward than embarrassing. On the first day there was literally an introduction, then we sat down with a glass of wine and kissed." The lucky lady, who has also been in Sex And The City, has since managed to get her hands on Hollywood legend Al Pacino. Though, while filming The Recruit with the Scarface star she was considerably more nervous. She says, "I was so shy around him. I was like, 'It's Al Pacino. It's Scarface! But he's such a sweet man and he's so willing to fool around and drop lines like the rest of us. By the time we had to do those intimate scenes, we were so comfortable. We got on so well."

British actor Jeremy Northam is terrified America will hate his portrayal of Dean Martin in a new TV biopic. The Gosford Park star will play the crooner opposite Will & Grace's Sean Hayes in Lewis & Martin- about the life behind the smiles and the songs of top double act Jerry Lewis and Martin. And he admits he's far from convinced he has pulled off Dean Martin's famous drawl in the project, which wrapped at the weekend . He says, "Fortunately they used Dean's own voice, so I was just stuck with doing a bad impersonation of him talking. I had to have a go." Northam admits he has always been fascinated with Martin's life away from the movies and TV - and says the personalised biopic fills in the gaps. He adds, "This is the story of their working relationship and the gaps in between their lives. They became this $20 million industry by the time they split up and they turned their backs on it all."

Ozzy Osbourne's singing daughter Kelly has lashed out at the people of Los Angeles - branding them "plain ugly." The outspoken 17-year-old, noted for her pink hair and outlandish dress sense, insists that, contrary to popular belief, Hollywood isn't filled with beautiful people. And she feels that the lack of good looks in Tinseltown has helped steer her away of falling into trap of relentlessly trying to achieve the "LA look." She says, "You think the people there are beautiful, but they're just plain ugly. Everyone in LA dresses the same. They wear Frankie B jeans, some ugly platform shoes and a zip-up cardigan with their mid-riff showing. I hate England too. I like New York City a lot - it's big but very small at the same time, and there's just a sense of independence. Here everyone depends on everyone else to do stuff for them .I can't stand that. I think you should get up and do it yourself."

American actress Julia Stiles has decided it's time to finally alter her dress sense - because she's fed up with looking like a boy. Growing up in New York's SoHo neighborhood, where her parents own and run a pottery business, the O star chose to wear clothes that would gain her the least attention from men. She explains, "That is the weird thing about growing up in New York City - at a very young age you have to learn how to protect yourself walking down the street. It used to make me feel uncomfortable to have guys commenting on me, so I tried to avoid that by looking like a tomboy. But now I'm not scared of it. I've come into my own. I'm in a girlie phase."

Scream star David Arquette's hobby of collecting dolls is causing friction with his wife Courtney Cox Arquette. The Friends star is insisting that David get rid of his bizarre collection - particularly his memento from eighties classic TV series The A Team. However, David refuses, "She was this close to throwing away my Mr. T doll. I just told her, 'I pity the fool who throws away my Mr. T doll.'"