Tom Hanks is leading the way to star in the big screen adaptation of bestselling drama novel The Da Vinci Code. According to trade paper Hollywood Reporter, Hanks is the favorite to land the lead role of art historian Professor Robert Langdon in the big screen take of Dan Brown's book. The Oscar-winning actor is reportedly already in talks with Columbia Pictures studio bosses and director Ron Howard about the coveted role. In Brown's book, Langdon is the man who cracks the mystery of the renowned Holy Grail. The film is expected to begin shooting next year.

Former Cheers star Kirstie Alley is happy the American tabloids have been poking fun at her size because she would never have known just how big she was if it wasn't for paparazzi pictures. The larger-than-life actress is now slowly trying to get back into shape and has lost weight over the summer - and she credits those who mocked her with giving her the will to shed the pounds. She says, "I didn't know how fat I was. I mean, thanks to the tabloids, I found out how fat I was. I sort of wasn't paying attention." And she confesses the time she was mistaken for a pregnant woman was the turning point. She adds, "It was about eight months ago and I got out of a car at a hotel and the valet person said, 'When are you due?' I just said, '11 weeks.'" Alley reveals she's delighted to be on the way back to being a normal weight because she now realizes how terrible life is when you're fat. She explains, "It makes life uncomfortable. I can't move as fast, I can't jump around as much, I can't dress the way I want to. It's an inconvenience to me more than anything."

Donnie Darko star Jake Gyllenhaal was left in pain after shooting gay love scenes with Heath Ledger in new movie Brokeback Mountain. The pair play cowboys who fall in love in the western - and Gyllenhaal found the shoot particularly punishing. He says, "Heath almost broke my nose in (a kissing) scene. He grabs me and he slams me up against the wall and kisses me. And then I grab him and I slam him up against the wall and I kiss him. And we were doing take after take after take. I got the sh*t beat out of me. We had other scenes where we fought each other and I wasn't hurting as badly as I did after that one."

Britney Spears has unveiled details of her and Kevin Federline's honeymoon with fans - in the form of a poem. The singer wed dancer Federline in a surprise ceremony in September and jetted off to Fiji's exclusive Turtle Island weeks later for a romantic break with her new beau. In a poem posted on a fansite, Spears describes her time alone with her beau as "magical nights" and a "little piece of heaven". She adds, "We hopped on a plane and took our flight/ I slept really well, all through the night. As we arrive, I turn and look out the door/ People are greeting us right at the shore. A meal, a shower and some ice cream/ Then I threw my man down, you know what I mean!" Spears ended the poem with a special "thank you" to Turtle Island.

Renee Zellweger has blasted fans who quiz her on her impressive post- Bridget Jones weight loss, urging them to seek value in the more important things in life. The actress - who had to pile on the pounds again for sequel Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason - sparked a media frenzy when she rapidly returned to her skinny frame after fattening up for 2001's Bridget Jones's Diary. But angry Zellweger is offended by people who approach her on the street in search of diet tips - because she's an actress, not a food expert. She says, "To tell you the truth, that really upsets me, because it says so much about what we value in our society. Besides, I'm not an authority on weight loss. If you want to know how to gain weight, then maybe I can help you with that. How? Food and more food."

Wesley Snipes has pulled out of all press duties for his third Blade movie Blade: Trinity. The moody actor was so insistent on not talking to the media about the movie, he signed up for another film in Bulgaria as soon as shooting finished and he has been incommunicado ever since. Trinity producer Peter Frankfurt says, "Wesley is in Bulgaria shooting a movie. He's done three movies in Bulgaria. Actually I haven't talked to Wesley. Wesley won't return my calls? He hasn't called me to talk about it. If he was genuinely unhappy with the film we would have heard something. There's a lot going on in his life and he's got a lot of issues at hand so who knows. The guy is an awesome Blade. We've made three movies. Sometimes the paths of communication between us are fantastic and sometimes they're non- existent. If Wes doesn't want to do press that's a career choice he's made." Snipes also insisted on having total control on the set, green-lighting all scenes in which he appeared, and he stayed in character as the brooding vampire anti-hero throughout the movie. Frankfurt adds, "Wesley has script and director approval of all the Blade movies. He had to sign off on absolutely everything we were doing."

Fans of busty Anna Nicole Smith are fearing for the model's sanity after her rambling Kanye West introduction at the American Music Awards on Sunday night. Smith, who arrived at the show 10 minutes after it had started, appeared drunk onstage, and her short speech, which began as she slurred, "Like my body?" was cut short when producers feared she would do something shameful. But she insists her current state of mind has been swayed by her recent weight loss and constant taunts about being stupid. She explains, "I liked me better bigger because now I'm too bony. I'm just portrayed as some bimbo, and never taken seriously." Smith then staggered around backstage, and had to be helped to stand up by two bodyguards.

Late Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain's drug-fuelled letter to his then-wife Courtney Love is expected to fetch a staggering $14,000 at US auction house Christie's on December 17. Cobain wrote the never-before-seen letter while hallucinating on LSD in a British hotel in November 1991, and asked a receptionist at a Sheffield hotel room to fax it to Love and keep it as a souvenir. The rocker wrote, "Out of all the times I've been on acid, I've never been able to hallucinate with such repetitive control. I'm hallucinating at will, over and over again in this English shoebox with pastel curtains and normal little victorian lamps and drawers. I really do care but I'm not very convincing. He's sad. I'm sad. My throat is a swollen tumor, Blood sausage - colon. I puke air after coughing. It was morning by the time I fell asleep after talking to you. 200 pounds. I thought of a great idea for our video. Oh forget it." Cobain committed suicide less than three years later on April 5, 1994.

Producers of TV series Law & Order were sued for $15 million on Friday, by an angry attorney who accuses them of portraying him as a villainous lawyer. Ravi Batra complains an episode titled "Floater" deliberately inflicted emotional, monetary and professional injury on him by featuring an Indian-American, Brooklyn-based lawyer named Ravi Patel who has similarities to Batra - including a bald head and a beard. And the character Batra claims is based on himself is found guilty of fixing matrimonial cases, corruptly selling consultancies and appointments to judgeships. The lawsuit says people who know Batra "were disturbed and distressed by the story line of criminal conduct attributed to plaintiff (Batra) by the defendants". Law & Order creator Dick Wolf's spokesman says, "This episode, like all Law & Order episodes, is fictional."

Actor Denzel Washington is putting his big screen career on hold to star in a Broadway, New York, production of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. The play will be directed by Tony Award winner Daniel Sullivan and will open for its run at the Belasco Theatre in April. Julius Caesar will be Washington's second foray into The Bard's works - he starred alongside Kenneth Branagh and Keanu Reeves in 1993 film Much Ado About Nothing. No other cast details have been announced yet.