Ellen Page, who everyone loved in “Juno”, isn’t a one-time new star. Drew Barrymore thought she’d be great for the top role in her company’s new film, “Whip It.” So the two met for the first time, and Ellen said the winning words, “I want this role.” When she learned Drew planned to make it her directing debut, she was even more excited.

It has a unique plot. Ellen plays a teenager, a Texan whose mother is having her constantly enter beauty pageants. Big switch comes when, without mama’s coaxing, she forgets the beauty contests, and joins an all-girl roller derby team. And you know what, she‘s good at it!

Drew skies to Texas to scout locations for she wants to start within three months. Ellen thinks Drew will make a fine director, and says she's lucky to have her guiding her in the film. Concerning her role, Ellen says she hasn’t skated for awhile, but thinks, like riding a bicycle, it’ll come right back to you. She’ll go into training with the real roller pros, and says they tell her she will be excellent by the time they finish teaching her all the tricks. “That’s what they say,” grinned Ellen.

Mariska Hargitay was recalling some of the fun she’s had when she looks back at her nine seasons on “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”. “When I first tried out for the part, creator and executive producer, Dick Wolfe, saw me and seemed pleased. Would you come back tomorrow and do a test? I was happy, for he said he liked me.

“The next day I was disappointed. There sat an actress for the same part. So I asked to see Wolfe, and then inquired why he felt that he needed to see the other actress when the part was mine. I went ahead and did the test, it was with Chris Meloni. They said it was some other actor, so when we were introduced, I said the wrong name, we both discovered the mistake and started to laugh. We didn’t stop, until they told us we got the part. Then, we really laughed.”

“The other time I can’t forget was doing the entire show wearing a party dress. A little girl had been abducted and I was called in. I knew her and had to keep her talking on the phone, while the other officers traced where she was calling from. The kidnappers had left her alone and given her some pills to knock her out. I had to keep her talking until they got the address so they could rescue her. The child was saved. I won my Emmy for doing that episode.”

I saw Ted Danson and he looked so good. “I am happy”, he said. And why not? He’s married to Mary Steenburgen, and they adore their home in Ojai, near Santa Barbara, CA.

“We are happiest when our kids, now in their 20’s, are at home with us,” Ted confided. They have a ritual every wedding anniversary Mary and Ted spend it on the water. “That’s because we fell in love while canoeing on a lake.” This year they almost missed it. Finally, they drove to the Pacific with their swimsuits and dove into the water. “That was as close to having a day on the water as we could get.”

It seems "The DaVinci Code", which grossed around $100 million, with Tom Hanks starred, has sparked another film. It's the book written before "DaVinci" by the same author. That's right, Dan Brown wrote "Angels and Demons" first. Now, they are making the book into a screenplay, then a movie.

Hanks will again play a Harvard authority on religious symbols. This time the action will have him learn of a conspiracy and a secret society. I understand it's the same group doing the honors, Ron Howard will again direct, with Brian Grazer and John Calley producing. Start date will be February 2008.

Denzel Washington is certainly one actor who will never be in a rut. Going over the list of movies he's made, he seldom repeats a characterization. He is currently finishing "The Great Debaters," which he stars in and directs. That became easier when he selected a fellow Academy Award winner, Forest Whitaker, as his co-star.

Washington explained, "It's a drama based on the true story of Melvin Tolson, a professor at Wiley College, Texas, who in 1935 inspired students from the school's debate team to challenge Harvard in the national championships.

If you're a movie buff, you may recall a thriller called "The Birds," a film directed by that master of horror and chills, director Alfred Hitchcock. It was made in 1963, and received plenty of attention since near the end of the movie the entire screen was black, filled with flying crows.

It starred someone Hitchcock thought had the potentials of Grace Kelly who starred in several of his movies. It was made with Teppi Hedron, the mom of actress, Melanie Griffith, who was Mrs. Don Johnson and who is now Mrs. Tony Banderas. Well, enough of past history. It's now to be remade with that beauty from "down under", Naomi Watts. The Australian actress says the original story has a lot more action to it. Daphane du Maurier wrote it.

Leonardo DiCaprio has a daily calendar reminder of what he's to do each day. You'll understand why he needs it. He has a whole section devoted to "Revolutionary Road". It's the new movie he completed with Kate Winslett, who was his co-star in "Titanic." Incidentally, Kate's husband, Sam Mendes, did the directing honors.

It's the story of a couple living in 1950 with two young sons and some big problems they face. Then, there is a note in the diary, "conference with Four Seasons." This refers to the fact that the hotel chain is building a large resort in Belize in the Caribbean, on the property Leo owns. Reason Leo is so involved, it will be designated a "green" hotel, meaning it will feature the correct guidelines for environmental properties.

There are also notes in the book on the new Ridley Scott movie, Leo and Russell Crowe star in "Body of Lies". In it, DiCaprio plays part of a CIA team tracking down a top Al Queda leader. Crowe is working the same team. Film will be released in 2008, and by that time Leo will probably have another two books filled!

Doesn't this sound like a dream cast? John Travolta, Robin Williams, Kelly Preston (Mrs. Travolta in private life), Rita Wilson (really Mrs. Tom Hanks ) and 7-year-old Ella Bleu Travolta (John and Kelly's daughter). All are in the same film, Disney's "Old Dogs".

John and Kelly Travolta continually have been pressed by young Ella Bleu, to be with them on the set, and when she hit six, she said her biggest wish was to be in a film with either mom or dad. She gets her wish in "Old Dogs", but she doesn't play John's daughter.

Seems she is the daughter of Kelly Preston and Robin Williams in the film, and what's more she's half of a set of twins, the other is played by Connor Rayburn, a boy, for they are supposed to be fraternal twins.

John plays a swinging bachelor in the movie, and Robin is his best friend and business associate. Seems Robin is unlucky with women, and the one time when he did get serious with Kelly, they were married but had it annulled.

Now, according to the script Kelly shows up at the office, informing Robin Williams he was the father of the twins produced by their short termed marriage. She was leaving them in Williams care and keeping for two weeks. This is where the fun starts. John joins forces with Robin to help with the kids. The film is still shooting but will be out early next year. Need I add that Ella Bleu is having the time of her life. Her older brother, Jet, is only interested in engines and airplanes, which makes dad, John Travolta very happy.