Buzz Briefs: Rosie Perez, "Scary Spice"

Rosie Perez: Sex Scene With John Leguizamo Was Tough To "Take"

Rosie Perez says shooting a steamy sex scene with her good friend John Leguizamo for their new movie, "The Take," was "very awkward."

"This is not my first time working with John, we are friends, I've known him very long. ... It was very easy working with him. We have an easy dialogue and between each other there is no ego, no competition," the 43-year-old actress told The Associated Press in a recent interview.

"It was in the sex scene between husband and wife that things started to go bad. ... It was the hardest scene, very difficult," she said. "I respect him so much and he respects me so much. I know his wife, he knew my husband and introduced me to my boyfriend. It was very awkward. Like brother and sister having to do a sex scene."

"The Take," directed by Brad Furman, opens Friday in New York and Los Angeles.

Perez plays Marina de la Pena, the wife of an armored-truck driver (Leguizamo) who struggles with rehabilitation and tracking down his assailant after a shooting.

Perez and Leguizamo, 43, managed to get through the scene by talking about their own experiences and about relationships in general.

Even though the experience was "shocking" for her, Perez said that "in the end, it was one of the best intimate scenes I've done."

Melanie Brown and Joey Fatone Will Co-Host TLC Singing Competition

2Melanie Brown and Joey Fatone have a new role to add to their scarily similar resumes: TLC host.

The duo will co-host "The Singing Office," a tongue-in-cheek singing competition that pits different groups of employees against each other.

Both Brown and Fatone were members of chart-topping pop quartets; both finished in second place on ABC's "Dancing with the Stars," and both have starred in "Rent" on Broadway.

"It's not like 'American Idol' or 'Dancing with the Stars,'" Brown told The Associated Press while filming at the Long Beach Airport. "It's not a serious competition. It gives people a break from their everyday lives to have some fun with their co-workers."

In each episode, Brown, 32, and Fatone, 31, surprise employees at two separate workplaces with impromptu vocal auditions. They then pick the five best singers. The makeshift groups are trained by pros to perform a song-and-dance routine and compete in front of a studio audience.

"I couldn't have thought of a better pair to do this," said executive producer Scott Sternberg. "Both of them did really well on `Dancing With the Stars,' so I think America really knows them and is rooting for them now."

Brown recently wrapped up the Spice Girls reunion tour. Fatone, who performed with `N Sync, has been hosting NBC's "The Singing Bee," which wasn't included on the network's fall schedule.

There's one more thing they have in common: Brown said they're both scheduled to return to the "Dancing With the Stars" ballroom May 6 to dance for the show's 100th episode.

Friends Throw Jessica Alba A Baby Shower

3Jessica Alba's baby had already lucked out with such a talented and beautiful mother, and that was before Jess's friends showered her and her unborn little one with high end gifts.

Alba's baby shower was held Sunday at the Ever After Teahouse in Studio City.
Among the 35 or so guests were Rashida Jones, Jaime King and Kim Kardashian, who told E! Newsher gift included "stuff from my store, Smooch."

The party started at 1 with guest of honor Alba arriving at exactly 1:30, wearing a long black dress and black glasses, with her hair down.

The shower took place outside, under white umbrellas, with lavender decorations and soothing jazz music being played.

The plethora of gifts included strollers and cradles, and baskets full of Dr. Seuss books, rattles and clothes, a giant white stuffed bunny and lots of flower bouquets.

Although Alba does know her baby will be a girl, many of the clothes were a gender-neutral yellow or green.

Alba's boyfriend, Cash Warren, arrived about an hour and a half after the party started, to help her bring all the baby gifts home.

The couple is expecting the baby in June.

April 4, 2008

Nicolas Cage: I'm No Drunken Dog Thief, Kathleen Turner

4Nicolas Cage has settled a libel suit in a London court against Kathleen Turner, who falsely claimed in her autobiography that he had twice been arrested for drunken driving and had stolen a dog.

Neither of the stars attended the hearing at Britain's High Court, where Turner's lawyer, book publisher and the Daily Mail, which ran an excerpt, all apologized to Cage and offered to make a substantial donation to a charity of his choice.

Cage's lawyer Simon Smith dismissed as "utter falsity" a section of Turner's book "Send Yourself Roses," describing the actors' experience working together on the set of the movie "Peggy Sue Got Married" in 1986.

In the passage Turner, 53, said her co-star, 44, was "arrested twice for drunk-driving and, I think, for stealing a dog. He'd come across a Chihuahua he liked and stuck it in his jacket."

Turner, Headline Publishing Group and Daily Mail publisher Associated Newspapers now accept that, owing to a mistake on Turner's part and despite the other defendants' publishing in good faith, the allegations were defamatory and false, Smith said.

All three agreed to pay Cage's legal costs and make the charitable donation, Smith said.

Shakira Campaigns For Better Education

5Shakira is making some noise at the Capitol, but this time it's not with her singing; she's voicing her opinion on universal education.

The Colombian singer, known for her "hips that don't lie" and successful bilingual albums is asking the United States Congress for more accessibility to basic education throughout the world.

Shakira will be at the Capitol on April 22 as the honorary president of the "Week of Action for Education," according to the Global Campaign for Education, an activist coalition that operates out of more than 150 countries.

The star stresses the importance of education, which in turn affects the quality of life for all. She also hopes to generate some buzz on the topic, so that students in the United States will be aware of the Education for Everyone law, which was passed last year.