Oscar-winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow missed the Venice Film Festival after her airplane developed a technical fault and was diverted back to New York. The blonde movie star was due to attend a press conference at the Italian event to promote her new film Proof, which also stars Sir Anthony Hopkins and Donnie Darko heart-throb Jake Gyllenhaal. Speaking via mobile phone, Paltrow told the assembled media her aborted trip had been "absolutely, extraordinarily unpleasant. I had all kinds of plane problems ... but I was very, very sorry not to be with you. It was going to be the highlight of my summer." Proof has been nominated for the festival's top prize, the Golden Lion, and re-unites Paltrow with her Shakespeare In Love director John Madden. In it, she plays a woman struggling to cope with her father's mental deterioration, a role she first played on stage at London's Donmar Warehouse theatre in 2002.

Hollywood beauty Kirsten Dunst has furiously denied she had a fling with movie heart-throb Orlando Bloom on the set of forthcoming movie Elizabethtown. The 23-year-old actress admits growing closer to the Lord Of The Rings star while filming Cameron Crowe's comedy-drama last year, but insists their friendship never blossomed into romance. When asked about off-screen relationships at the Venice Film Festival in Italy at the weekend she said, "If you're alluding to whether Orlando and I got together then that's a no. No." But Dunst understands why actors are tempted to romance their co-stars. She adds, "There are a lot of charismatic people in this industry... and I can understand why people on location get together."

Terry Gilliam is convinced The Brothers Grimm has been critically slammed because an adult audience is too narrow-minded to appreciate his fantasy-driven work. The quirky director insists the film was a "desperate attempt" to smash cynicism and bring out the child in the viewer, even though The Brothers Grimm has been dismissed by one critic as a "fiasco... too violent for children and too inane for anybody else". He says, "Everybody has their opinion and some people are wrong. One of the things I enjoy about my films is that children really love them. They are open-minded. As we get older we seem to close in. We limit the size of the world we limit everything about it. We have to break that shell open sometimes and Grimm is just a desperate attempt to do so."

Blonde bombshell Jessica Simpson has abandoned her strict Christian upbringing, admitting she rarely goes to church or reads the bible anymore. The Dukes Of Hazzard star launched her career on the Christian music circuit - backed by her Baptist minister father Joe - and famously refused to have sex before marrying husband Nick Lachey. But her current Hollywood lifestyle has little in common with her Southern Baptist childhood. She says, "Me and my family got out of that and came to LA. To see all forms of meditation and prayer made me less judgmental."

Movie star Laura Linney was so impressed with the talents of aspiring actress Jennifer Carpenter she persuaded producers to cast her in the title role of haunting thriller The Exorcism Of Emily Rose. The Mystic River star, who also stars in the film, first worked with the 25-year-old actress on Broadway's The Crucible - and was determined to fast-track her Hollywood career upon discovering her movie potential. According to gossip website Pagesix.com Linney gushes, "She is just absolutely the most astonishing and versatile young actress. You have to be really trained vocally to be able to scream like that for 15 hours a day on a film set."

Columbian actor John Leguizamo has vowed never to make another movie in sub-zero temperatures because filming Land Of The Dead in a Canadian winter made him feel suicidal. The 41-year-old star - who plays mercenary leader Cholo in the zombie thriller - was forced to endure three consecutive months of freezing temperatures on the outdoor Toronto film set. He tells British magazine Hotdog, "Dude it was hell on earth. It makes you suicidal. No matter how much fun you're having it was still like, 'Jesus f**king Christ - I want to see the sun'. You become like a zombie. It was freezing cold and we were outside, and they had these crazy nuclear-like burners to keep us warm. So many people went on fire. Everybody had a burnt spot on their coat, because you want to get as close as possible between takes."

Michael Jackson's appearance is undergoing a major revamp as he hides away from the American press in Bahrain and prepares to relaunch his career, according to an American author. Michael C. Luckman, who wrote Alien Rock: The Rock 'N' Roll Connection, claims the 47-year-old is working on a more macho appearance which has seen him working out, wearing shorter wigs and using less make-up. Luckman tells website PageSix.com that Jackson's parents Joseph and Katherine are coordinating the make-over as the Bad singer holds talks with a Las Vegas, Nevada, hotel over a long-term performing deal. And Luckman expects Jackson to return to his position as the king of pop: "Michael Jackson is headed to the stratosphere. Nothing can stop him now."

Sienna Miller insists she has received invaluable support since the shock of finding out about her partner Jude Law's infidelity - particularly from Law himself. The Layer Cake beauty is feeling stronger than ever, but has bemused fans by praising Law's kindness during her ordeal, even though he was the one who broke her heart in the first place by having a month-long affair with his children's nanny, Daisy Wright. She says, "I'd be lying if I said that it hasn't been a really rough Couple of months. But at the end of the day I've got a huge support system. My mum, my sister, all my best mates and Jude have been really supportive of me. Actually it's you know, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger."

Hollywood actress Renee Zellweger got so involved in her New Jersey character for Cinderella Man, she had to re-learn her English accent when Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason required extra voice-over work. The Texan won much applause for her unfaltering British tones opposite Colin Firth and Hugh Grant - but admits she struggled to master two accents at the same time. She says, "My character in Cinderella Man comes from a very special part of New Jersey, so I was busy trying to be Mae Braddock. Then the Bridget people wanted me to record some lines. It was very confusing. But there was always my dialect coach standing there with her whip should I fail to bring that Bridget slushy thing back."

Movie beauty Daryl Hannah is desperate to have children, but she is determined to resist her urges until she finds the right man. The Kill Bill star, 44, admits time is running out, but she is considering adoption if her true love doesn't turn up in time. She says, "I've always longed for kids; I'd love to be a mom and I'd definitely like to have more than one. I know I'm not exactly on schedule but I still think it's on the cards. I'd like to do it with someone I love, in a stable long-term relationship. But if that doesn't happen I'll do it on my own. I have so much admiration for people who adopt."