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Michael Jackson 9/11 benefit proceeds go to Scientology group? Is Jackman the next Bond? Plus: Shirley MacLaine on co-writing a novel with her dog, Terry: "I know she enters my dreams."

Published October 28, 2003 10:58AM (EST)

What more can he give to Scientology? Michael Jackson's big -- and long-delayed -- 9/11 charity single, "What More Can I Give?" will benefit, in part, a Scientology-affiliated organization called HELP. The organization, which has something to do with promoting literacy L. Ron Hubbard-style, was not on the original list of beneficiaries given to performers who contributed their voices to the song, including Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, Gloria Estefan, Ricky Martin, Beyoncé Knowles, Tom Petty, Usher, 'N Sync, the Backstreet Boys and Luther Vandross. They thought the money was earmarked for the families of victims of 9/11. Bring on the outcry of baby-dangling proportions! (Fox 411)

Money Quote
"The general take on Stephen according to the people he worked with, was that he was a little effeminate, lacking in confidence. I thought that was enough to formulate the character," Hayden Christensen on how he nailed serial fabulist Stephen Glass' tics in "Shattered Glass." (N.Y. Post)

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Boldface Names: Shirley MacLaine on how she co-wrote a novel with her dog: "It's probably because I sleep with her, and the intimacy of that is so deep and profound. I know she enters my dreams. And when Terry feels and I pick up the feeling, the feeling then becomes a creative concept. It began when the creative impulse woke me up. I was just lying with her, and I went right to the tape recorder." And MacLaine on the Liza Minnelli-David Gest marriage: "I couldn't go. I honestly" -- she pauses here for a moment -- "I didn't say it, because I didn't have the guts, but I would have, had I encountered her. It was a travesty, and I didn't want to be part of a travesty. So I didn't go" -- and Gest's claim that Liza beat him: "I would have, too, if I were married to him."

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By Amy Reiter

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