et's start with the latest Hollywood breakup news. Josie & The Pussycats' Tara Reid and MTV's Carson Daly have apparently split up. Reid is no longer sporting a diamond on her finger and the two haven't been spotted together lately.

Gwyneth Paltrow  Almost Famous star and newly married Kate Hudson has jumped into a role that Gwyneth Paltrow recently jumped out of. The movie, a romantic comedy called How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, is about a womanizer who bets his friends he can stay in a relationship for more than 10 days. Wow, that sounds tough. Speaking of Gwyneth, ever wonder how she mastered that English accent? It wasn't from studying Shakespeare or the classic actors of England. It was from making prank phone calls in different accents with her friends as a youngster in New York.

  Sherry Stringfield, an original ER cast member who left after the first three seasons, is set to return to the NBC medical drama for three more seasons as Dr. Susan Lewis. Meanwhile, another ER doc, Noah Wyle, is using his summer hiatus from the show to shoot a couple of movies. He'll play Renée Zellweger's hubby in White Oleander. In that film, they'll play a couple who look after a little girl while her mom is in prison for murder. The mom will be Shawn and Marlon Wayansplayed by Michelle Pfeiffer. After that, Wyle will join Jennifer Lopez in the drama Enough.

  Shawn and Marlon Wayans (Scary Movie 2) are ready to take on the boy bands. In their next movie, they'll star as a struggling R&B group who decide to camouflage their skin to become a white boy band.

  

  From the rumor mill….We hear that Halle Berry firmly stood by her principles when she refused to do a nude scene in the John Travolta flick Swordfish…. until she was offered a half-million-dollar bonus.  Speaking of Travolta, he and some Hollywood execs are also talking about doing a musical version of the stage hit Chicago. And rumor has it that both Gwyneth Paltrow and Winona Ryder would play death-row prisoners in the film. We hear that Winona is going to star along with Adam Sandler in a remake of the Gary Cooper classic Mr. Deeds Goes To Town.

Julia Roberts  And here's an even stranger pairing if it actually happens. Julia Roberts will supposedly team up with Sandler in a new comedy called Niagara based on the new wonder drink which is the female version of Viagra.

  In other Julia news, she recently got lucky on the set of Ocean's Eleven in Las Vegas. Between takes, she borrowed 20 bucks from a crew member and went to the slot machines. On her first try, Julia won $500. She gave it all to the guy who lent her the money.

  If anyone is an expert on the Salem Witch Trials, it's Oscar winner Shirley MacLaine. After all, she was there the first time, wasn't she? Shirley has joined an all-star cast for a four-hour CBS mini-series called Innocent Blood. Also starring is Kirstie Alley, Gloria Reuben, Rebecca De Mornay and Peter Ustinov.

  Linda Fiorentino has countersued the producers of the film about painter Georgia O'Keefe. They had sued the actress, citing bogus claims of illness and repeated absences. Fiorentino, who starred in the steamy flicks The Last Seduction and Jade, alleges that the producers of the movie were promising investors full frontal nudity which she didn't agree to. The fight continues.

  And Sharon Stone has launched a $100 million lawsuit against the producers of Basic Instinct 2 after they pulled out of the problem-plagued sequel. Stone says she passed up several projects to remain available for Basic Instinct 2 and also got herself buffed and in shape for the demands of the role. There had been several names mentioned as possible leading men opposite Stone - including Thirteen Days' Bruce Greenwood - and a couple of directors as well, but they all moved on or pulled out. Apparently producers were high on Benjamin Bratt for the male lead, but Stone didn't okay it. This all comes on the heels of rumors of trouble in Stone's marriage to newspaper publisher Phil Bronstein.

Pierce Brosnan  Now that Pierce Brosnan has confirmed he'll star in only one more James Bond movie, the sweepstakes to find the next 007 has begun. Russell Crowe tops the wish list, which isn't surprising. I'd pick Colin Firth in a heartbeat. However, some people are pointing to little-known Scottish actor Gerard Butler as the man to beat for the role. Butler is best known for starring in Dracula 2000.

  Meanwhile, Firth, who recently played a Nazi in the HBO drama Conspiracy alongside Kenneth Branagh and Stanley Tucci, is back in London filming a new version of the Oscar Wilde classic comedy, The Importance of Being Ernest. He co-stars with Rupert Everett, Judi Dench and Reese Witherspoon.