Mandy Moore is looking mighty fierce in the most recent issue of Vanity Fair. I never got around to seeing that movie with her and Diane Keaton in theaters, I’ll catch it on DVD. It looks cute.

New York artists are suing NBC over the concept of their hit show Heroes, which the artists claim ripped of the concept of Isaac the Painter from their exhibition that the creators of the show visited before finishing their pilot.

Hollywood beauties and mommies Jennifer Garner and Reese Witherspoon were photographed hanging out together for the first time ever. Aww, how cute. Maybe Reese can give Jen some of her box office luck since girlfriend can’t seem to get a hit movie.

Speaking of Reese Witherspoon, she’s looking pretty smokin’ in this month’s Harper’s Bazaar. I’ve never been a big fan of her face, something about her mouth and chin really bother me, but she’s a cute girl with a nice body. I’m loving her new hair too.

Christina Aguilera looking gorgeous with her best friend and make-up artist Steve Sollito at a hockey game in Vancouver. She did 7 shows in Canada and all of them were completely sold out. Get ‘em girl!

Is Academy Award winner (ooh, it feels so awesome to say that) Jennifer Hudson going to be playing Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin in a biopic? I hope if they do cast her, she really works to differentiate the character from Effie, but otherwise I think she’s perfect for it.

Maggie Gyllenhaal is in the final stages of negotiations to replace Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes in the upcoming sequel to Batman Begins, The Dark Knight. This is definitely an upgrade. Katie was the weakest link in an otherwise great movie.

Woody Allen is casting Scarlett Johansson in yet another one of his films. I’m really starting to think he’s putting her in his movies more because he has a crush on her and less because he thinks she’s talented and fits the roles. But I’m not a big fan of his films anyway so, do what you want, Woody.

Scarlett Johansson is looking lovely in this month’s Parade magazine. I’m still trying to manage to forgive her for starring in that horribly embarassing Justin Timberlake video, and these pictures get me a little closer to having mercy on her soul.

Apparently rehab isn’t the only punishment Isaiah Washington has to endure for his derogatory slurs, sources are saying Washington–who is usually one of the top paid actors on Grey’s Anatomy, has now had to suffer a pay cut. Maybe they can give the difference to Katherine Heigl?

Rachel McAdams, Michael Pena, and Academy Award winner Tim Robbins are slated to star in war drama The Return, which follows three soldiers returning from Iraq who take a road trip across the States. Three of my favorite actors. Upgrade. Movie about war? Downgrade.

My favorite celebrity couple (well, other than Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling) Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner look adorable as usual playing with their daughter Violet. I feel bad Jen’s movie flopped, but hopefully there’s more good things to come from her in the future.

A lot of Anne Hathaway’s co-stars seem to be pretty obsessed with her tits. First we heard about Stanley Tucci on the set of The Devil Wears Prada, now Anne’s telling us Jake Gyllenhaal was urged to touch them during Brokeback Mountain.

As NBC comedy Scrubs approaches its seventh season, the network has reportedly decided to up Zach Braff’s pay to $350,000 per episode. This puts him at the top of the list of best paid male actors in television, right up there with Charlie Sheen who gets paid about the same salary per episode.

One of the most promising young actors around today, Shia LaBeouf, who you might recognize from Bobby, I, Robot, Holes, or even his old Disney show Even Stevens, has been awarded the ShoWest Male Star of Tomorrow award. This award in earlier years has gone to people like Brandon Routh, Hayden Christensen, and Ryan Gosling.

Apparently our girl Christina Aguilera is on the short list for a biopic about B-Movie pin up siren Jeanne Carmen.

An internet fansite for Jeanne Carmen (jeannecarmen.com) has added Aguilera’s name to a list of actresses who are reportedly vying for the role. The bad news, however, is that there’s pretty stiff competition. Among the other names on the list are A-List actresses Scarlett Johansson and Academy Award winner Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Carmen is known for such films as the 1950s movies Untamed Youth and War Drums.

Yesterday American Idol contestant Kellie Pickler was the guest co-host on the catty gabfest The View, and she did a wonderful job. EW’s Michael Slezak suggests we replace the conservative robot Elizabeth Hasselbeck with Kellie–and I’m all for it. Kellie has more personality in her cute little ruby red pump than Elizabeth has in her whole George Bush-loving body.

But as the Pickler announced on the show yesterday–she has a record deal with Sony/BMG Nashville, and has a single coming out in September with the album dropping November 14–so it looks like that’s not a possibility.

***

In Housewives news, not only is Mischa Barton trying to get her way onto the show (which, if that happens I’ll be throwing my television out of my 23rd story Manhattan window), but Heist star Dougray Scott is in talks to play Susan Mayer’s new love interest (since Mr. Mike Delfino is now comatose).

***

Yesterday we told you that The Practice’s Lara Flynn Boyle has a new project coming up on TNT, well another star from David E. Kelly’s love child, Camryn Manheim will be on TV again as well.

She’s joining the cast of The Ghost Whisperer as Jennfer Love Hewitt’s new sidekick (since Aisha Tyler was done being the Robin to her Batman). Hewitt tells the press that funnyman Jay Mohr will also be joining the cast.

***

The CW network announced Friday that Academy Award winner Whoopi Goldberg will be guest starring on the Golden Globe nominated comedy Everybody Hates Chris.

The network says:

Goldberg will appear in two episodes of Everybody Hates Chris, which premieres October 1 (7:00-7:30 p.m. ET). She will play Louise, a woman from Queens who moves in next door to Chris’ (Tyler James Williams) family, and whose granddaughter is the latest object of Chris’ affections.

I’ve missed me some Whoopi.

***

Golden Globe nominee Scarlett Johannson will join Natalie Portman and Eric Bana in a new film directed by Justin Chadwick.

The film, The Other Boleyn Girl, is based on Philippa Gregory’s historical novel, and focuses on two ambitious sisters who were rivals for the bed and heart of King Henry VIII. Obviously, Johansson and Portman are the sisters, and Bana is the king.

That’s a pretty tough choice–you have to pick Johansson or Portman? Sheesh. I think I’m going with Johansson. You can’t beat the lips.

***

Out.com just posted a poll declaring the “Return of the Divas!”.

They ask which diva’s summer comeback single are you most excited about. Among the choices are Christina Aguilera’s Ain’t No Other Man (currently in second place), Nelly Furtado’s Promiscous, and Beyonce’s Deja Vu.

But the most hilarious choice (and the only male listed)–but ironically the number one song in the poll with nearly 30% of the votes is Justin Timberlake’s SexyBack. I know Justin’s been a gay icon since his ‘Nysnc days–but since when is he a diva?

I just found this video where MTV asks Justin if he’s a gay icon. Apparently he has no idea.

***

My thoughts on Entourage, The Closer, and Meryl Streep’s Oscar hopes later today.

An ever-busy Scarlett Johansson has landed herself yet another role. Daily Variety reports that Johansson will star for Millennium Films and Emmett/Furla Films in the heist pic Brilliant, with production tentatively slated for September. Barry Levinson, who recently shot the Robin Williams comedy Man of the Year, will direct from a script by Gillian Gorfil and Elizabeth Shorten from a story by Gorfil and Nicholas Lorentz.

In the film, Johansson will take a criminal turn as a jewel thief who teams up with a conman in order to pull of the biggest heist ever. Of course the pair is a bit of an odd couple and their relationship is filled with distress and other twists. The male lead has not yet been cast.

Johansson’s manager-mother Melanie Johansson will be a producer with Gorfil, Avi Lerner and Randall Emmett. Boaz Davidson, George Furla, Danny Dimbort and John Thompson are the executive producers. Millennium is currently shopping the project in Cannes, with the producers looking for a Sept. 2007 release.

Scarlett Johansson’s movie about the relationship between historic French leader Napoleon Bonaparte and a 14-year-old girl has infuriated historians who insist Hollywood is putting a salacious spin on an innocent friendship.

Bonaparte was befriended by English teen Betsy Balcombe, to be played by Johansson, when he was exiled to the South Atlantic island St. Helena in 1815. Although he was supposedly a kindly uncle figure to Balcombe, who lived there with her merchant father and siblings, director Benjamin Ross is keen to give their story a saucier slant.

Historian Peter Hicks fumes, “It was a platonic relationship. It would be ridiculous to suggest anything else.”

But Ross has hit back, saying, “The facts are very interpretable. I’d be delighted to get historians jumping and down.”

Domestic distribution rights to writer-director Woody Allen’s new film Scoop, which is currently in post-production, have been acquired by Focus Features. Focus has also acquired rights to the feature for Australia and New Zealand. Focus president James Schamus made the announcement today.

Scoop, which was shot on location last summer in London, stars Allen, Hugh Jackman (X-Men: The Last Stand), Scarlett Johansson (Match Point), and Ian McShane (Deadwood).

Producers on the film are Letty Aronson and Gareth Wiley. Stephen Tenenbaum is the executive producer, with Jack Rollins and Charles H. Joffe co-executive-producing, and Nicky Kentish Barnes and Helen Robin co-producing. The picture was financed by Ingenious Films, BBC Films, and the Bank of Ireland.

In the contemporary comedy, Johansson portrays a student journalist for a college paper visiting friends in London who happens upon the scoop of a lifetime. Along the investigative trail, she finds magic, murder, mystery - and perhaps love, with a British aristocrat (Jackman).

Allen commented, “I’ve always been very blessed by having great people distribute my films over the years and this good fortune continues with Focus, a company I have enormous admiration for. I had a great time shooting ‘Scoop.’ I was over my head acting with Hugh Jackman and Ian McShane, who are both amazing, and of course Scarlett Johansson, who I knew was sexier than me and smarter but she also turned out to be faster and funnier.”

Schamus said, “‘Scoop‘ is another extraordinary reminder that when Woody Allen matches his skills as a master filmmaker with his talents as a comic genius, filmmaking gets no better. Everyone here is delighted to be working with Woody Allen, Hugh Jackman, and Ian McShane for the first time, and with Scarlett Johansson again after our great success together on ‘Lost in Translation.’”

Alicia Keys is adding another note to her acting resume. The Grammy-winning singer-songwriter has been cast in the big-screen adaptation of the best-selling book, “The Nanny Diaries,” Keys’ spokeswoman, Kelly Bush, said Thursday.

The film features Scarlett Johansson as a nanny for a wealthy Manhattan family. Paul Giamatti, Laura Linney and Chris Evans also star. Keys will play the nanny’s best friend, Bush said.

The character is a far cry from the assassin she plays in the upcoming action flick “Smokin’ Aces,” which features Ben Affleck, Andy Garcia, Jeremy Piven and Ray Liotta.

Keys, 24, and longtime manager Jeff Robinson formed a production company, Big Pita, Lil’ Pita, in January that will create original television and movie projects and even more acting opportunities for Keys.

Who will play Janis Joplin in a new biopic? Director Penelope Spheeris has reportedly already met with Pink and Lindsay but has yet to speak with Scarlett or Spears, reports Contact Music.

The film, tentatively titled ‘The Gospel According to Janis,’ will apparently attempt to chronicle the life of the outrageous 1960s blues singer.

Spheeris says, “(Pink) would be my first choice, but she may have scheduling conflicts.” Pink’s rep confirms, “She would do just about anything to be part of that project!”

Regarding Spears, Spheeris says, “Her agent asked if I could meet with her. Music ability is important, but most of all, the actress must have the spirit of Janis.

“Each of the actresses who has expressed interest in the role (would) bring her own special talents to the part.”

The movie would reportedly start shooting in September and with that schedule, would end up going head-to-head with another movie on Joplin, Pieces Of My Heart, starring Renee Zellweger.