Actor Colin Farrell has enraged anti-drug campaigners by "bragging" about his past heroin use. The Irish Phone Booth hunk admits he's dabbled with hard drugs - a penchant he funded by accepting low-paid modeling jobs - and has hailed the effect heroin had on him. In a candid interview with GQ magazine, he says, "I've smoked it a couple of times, but I knew where I was going. For some reason it seemed pretty f**king nice at the time." But drug prevention workers have blasted Farrell for acting irresponsibly in the knowledge his young fans look up to him. Peter Stoker of the National Drug Prevention Alliance says, "He should not be bragging about taking heroin. Farrell is a role model for children. If he thinks it is so cool he should go to a Narcotics Anonymous meeting and see the harsh reality."

Renee Zellweger's planned Janis Joplin biopic has been shelved because producers can't decide on a script. The Cold Mountain star is still desperate to star as the tragic rock singer, but she admits the project isn't likely to roll in the near future. She says, "We talked about that a couple of years ago, developing a script and seeing if it is good enough. She is an exceptional woman and it needs to be an exceptional script to tell her story in a responsible way to have her story told the way it needs to be told. And that takes time. If I am ultimately the person to do it, then great. We are in the stage of developing it and pulling it together. For now, I've got no start date and I am not getting in a make-up chair any time soon." A rival project, starring pop superstar Pink as Joplin, is also in the works.

Kirsten Dunst has rubbished reports her break up from Jake Gyllenhaal was acrimonious - insisting the pair both still regard it a temporary split. Following the end of their two year relationship this year, Dunst was rumored to have told friends she found Gyllenhaal boring. But the pair have been spotted together again this week - and Spider-Man star Dunst says a reunion has always been likely. She explains, "I'm supposed to have said some horrible things about him, which is just not true. I don't believe we're finished for ever and neither does he. But I felt that, at the age of 22, I just wasn't ready to settle for a long-term commitment. I feel so young and there's still so much to do and see. There's been a lot of inaccurate speculation, but no-one knows the truth as we know it. I'm not seeing anyone else and, as far as I know, neither is he. We are just two people who've been in love. The feelings that Jake and I have for each other will remain very special."

Controversial director Michael Moore has slammed claims he feared for his life while urging youngsters in conservative Utah to vote against American President George W Bush. The Fahrenheit 9/11 star praised student organizers who battled against attempts to ban him from attending his sold-out speech to more than 7,000 people at Utah Valley State College on Wednesday as part of his Slacker Uprising tour aimed at encouraging young voters. Moore said, "I feel bad for students who had to suffer through this simply because they believe in freedom of expression. The whole country loves the Mormons. Why would I feel unsafe here? I haven't seen a lot of Utah gangs, Mormons with chains and knives and Uzis." Several people were thrown out of the auditorium for shouting abuse at Moore and pointing toy guns at him, as the hecklers were removed Moore remarked, "I love that sound. It's the sound of a dying dinosaur. It's embarrassing for them."

British thespian Sir Ian McKellen has blasted Will Smith for remarks he claims were homophobic. The Lord Of The Rings star kept quiet about Smith's comments while they pair were making Six Degrees Of Separation in 1993, but the gay rights icon has decided the Hollywood actor should now account for what he said. Smith refused to kiss another man in the film, claiming it would "gross out" his fans - and McKellen has never forgiven him. He says, "He thought he was saying something very individual but what he was actually confirming was that he's got the disease so many people have - homophobia." Meanwhile, the homosexual star wants gay rights to be respected in Hollywood in his lifetime, because he's sick of stars hiding in the closet. He adds, "There are actors of all ages in Hollywood who lie about their sexuality. It's disgusting and bewildering."

Actress Diane Keaton has joined a steering group trying to save Los Angeles' famous Ambassador Hotel landmark from demolition. Members of America's powerful Kennedy family are urging city officials to bulldoze the defunct property, because it's where Robert Kennedy was shot dead in 1968 - and harbors only painful memories. But Keaton insists Los Angeles School District bosses, who own the hotel, should consider developing around the 83-year-old hotel and keeping parts for historical significance. The actress, who is a director of the Los Angeles Conservancy group, says, "We in Los Angeles are so guilty of wiping out our history. The Ambassador Hotel is the history of Los Angeles... We have to fight for this." Keaton is particularly keen on redeveloping the famous Ambassador nightclub The Cocoanut Grove, where Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby used to perform, and the study, where F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby. But Los Angeles city official Tom LaBonge feels Keaton and her historians are destined to lose their fight because the Kennedys really want the hotel pulled down. He says, "I don't think the conservancy realized the family didn't want that as a memorial. I don't think they realized the depth of the family's feelings."

Jailed lifestyle guru Martha Stewart has petitioned for a new trial, claiming she was denied the right to challenge certain statements in her recent court battle. Stewart, currently serving five months in prison for lying to federal investigators over a stock sale, claims she wasn't given the opportunity to challenge statements her former Merrill Lynch & Co broker Peter Bacanovic made about their case to federal investigators. Stewart, 63, told a US appeals court she was deprived of her Constitutional right. Stewart's lawyers filed an 87-page appeals brief on Wednesday in New York. Her legal papers state, "The Confrontation Clause, it is now clear, barred use of Bacanovic's testimonial statements for their truth value against Stewart."

Teenage actress Lindsay Lohan is furious her estranged father Michael is planning a reality show about his scandalous life, pals claim. The Freaky Friday star's dad decided his life was interesting enough for a show, after he was accused of running over Lohan's mother and was forced to enter a drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre. He is now in talks with his lawyer and a private investigator to get his own fly-on- the-wall TV series. Lohan's close friend says, "She's worried he'll embarrass her with his unpredictable antics."

Ben Affleck has declared he never wants to star in a high-action movie ever again. Affleck, former fiance of Jennifer Lopez, has branched out into comedy with his latest movie Surviving Christmas, and he insists he has no desire to revisit the tough-guy persona he adapted for roles in such films as Armageddon and Paycheck. He says, "I don't want to hold a gun in a movie or blow anything up ever again. I'm bored of those other kinds of movies. There's some irony to the fact that I want to do comedies and all these actors who already do comedies keep asking, 'When am I going to get to do my big serious thing?'"

A Los Angeles judge has ruled actor Robert Blake's constitutional rights were violated when officers allowed a journalist into the star's home during an unlawful search to investigate the murder of Blake's wife. Superior Court Judge Darlene Schempp said on Tuesday that despite the illegal presence of former Los Angeles Times newspaper reporter Miles Corwin he would not throw out evidence uncovered at the illegal search and seizure. Schempp said, "Clearly there was a Fourth Amendment violation when the officers invited Mr Corwin to go along. I do not find that Mr Corwin helped recover any evidence." The 70-year-old Baretta star has pleaded not guilty to shooting Bonny Lee Bakley in 2001, claiming he found her dead body in their car after he went back into a restaurant where they had just eaten to retrieve a gun he carried for protection. His trial is scheduled for November 1.