Ron Howard claimed the top film-making honour on Saturday night from the Director's Guild of America. However, despite being considered one of the most accurate barometers of Oscar success, Howard, honoured for Oscar favourite A Beautiful Mind, down-played the award's predictive qualities. Speaking at the Los Angeles prizegiving, he said, "I don't know if that connection holds any more. It's been so erratic the past few years that I just don't know if it holds up. "I have my fingers crossed for the Oscars, but I'm just enjoying this right now." The former "Happy Days" star, whose directing credits include several box-office successes, including How The Grinch Stole Christmas and Apollo 13, has yet to win an Oscar.

Nicole Kidman has found love whilst filming in Sweden - she's been enjoying dinner dates with a toy boy production assistant. The sexy Moulin Rouge star, 34, who divorced actor Tom Cruise last year, has been stepping out with handsome Jonas Ohlsson, 22, who is also working on her new Lars Von Trier flick Dogville. A source is quoted in Britain's Daily Star newspaper as saying, "After an intimate dinner, they stepped out late into the evening with a warm glow on their cheeks." However, after spotting a photographer, Kidman quickly stepped away from her date. But the pair then met back up minutes later to speed away in a chauffeur driven car.

Hollywood star Meg Ryan's stalker will face criminal charges, after being found competent to stand trial. Former disaster insurance agent John Michael Hughes, who was recently ordered to stay away from the actress, is accused of allegedly breaking into a home he believed belonged to Ryan Hughes, 30, faces a misdemeanour charge of unauthorised entry, and is scheduled to return to court on Thursday in Malibu, California.

Married X-Men actress Rebecca Romijn-Stamos has enjoyed several lesbian relationships - to cure her sexual curiosity. The stunning 29-year-old star, wed to hunky actor John Stamos, made the admission when describing her steamy lesbian scenes in new movie Femme Fatale. She says, "In my twenties, I wondered whether I was interested women - so I did my homework!" And the Californian's research served her well for her new movie - which features "pretty graphic" sex scenes - as she got to pick her female partner herself. She explains, "It was supposed to be me and a model. "Rie, the new Gucci girl, is a really good friend of mine so I asked the director if he'd audition her, and she got the part."

Pop queen Madonna has angered London's theatre bosses by pulling out of a much-hyped West End show. The Material Girl accepted the lead role as a psychiatrist in "Deceptions," for its run at London's Strand Theatre in May. But the pop star has changed her mind, leaving backers out of profit and considering legal action. One of the producers tells London's Sunday Mirror newspaper, "The theatre was booked on the provision that Madonna was in the show, and it wasn't cheap to secure it. Some of the producers had to put their hands in their pockets in order to secure the booking. "The bill for hiring the theatre, teamed with lost revenue, could amount to well over $350,000 (£250,000)."

Hollywood bullyboy Russell Crowe will have his Oscar acceptance speech cut short - if he starts reciting poetry. The Antipodean attacked British TV executive Malcolm Gerrie last month, after the BBC network omitted some footage of Crowe reciting a poem during his Best Actor acceptance speech at London's Bafta Awards, from their broadcast. However, Academy Awards director Louis Horvitz has vowed to repeat the performance if Crowe, nominated for his performance in A Beautiful Mind, repeats his. Horvitz jokes, "I'll be safe in my car!"

Former Little House On The Prairie star Melissa Gilbert has been re-elected president of America's Screen Actors Guild (SAG). The actress, who had her previous win last autumn nullified due to questions about the balloting process, was successful again after a fierce fight with TV star Valerie Harper. Gilbert pulled in 21,351 votes, or 57-per-cent of the 38,000- strong voter turnout, whilst Harper received 34-per-cent, a SAG spokeswoman confirmed on Saturday. The 37-year-old star says, "I'm honoured to have been trusted by the SAG membership. With the re-run of the election now behind us, I welcome focusing on the crucial issues at hand." In other SAG election races also played out again, Kent McCord - who won by just 34 votes last November - was once again elected Treasurer and Elliott Gould was re-elected Recording Secretary. The decision to restage the election was reached in January , when a five-member committee voted unanimously that the previous result could not be considered valid, because of errors and possible misconduct by union executives during the voting process. Because of the increased attention this time around, the SAG race also broke a turnout record. The guild reports that 41.4-per-cent of the 91,000 ballots returned, beating the previous high of 34- per-cent in 1985.

Alec Baldwin has hit back at American Governor Jeb Bush, after the politician reminded the Hollywood star of a promise he made. The Florida Governor noted that Baldwin, who visited Tallahassee last week, had vowed to leave the country if his brother, George, won the Presidential elections in 2000 - but the Pearl Harbor had failed to do so, despite Bush Jnr's protracted victory. Baldwin replied, "You can tell Governor Bush to rest assured that I'm not going to leave the country because we have to get him out of office and we have to get his brother out of office in 2004." The politically concerned star even questioned Bush Jnr.'s legally assisted ascent to the White House, adding, "Bush wasn't elected, he was selected - selected by five judges up in Washington who voted along party lines."

Will Smith's Best Actor nomination is a breakthrough for black actors, according to the Ali actor himself. Citing nominations for fellow black stars Denzel Washington and Halle Berry as well as his own, Smith believes the white dominated Academy Awards voting panels are finally beginning to recognise a broad spectrum of movie talent. He says, "If you go to a French film festival, French films are nominated and French actors are going to win. "The majority of the Academy are white Americans, and white American actors are going to win "The breakthrough is an acknowledgment of what the level of work truly is."

Hollywood heart throb George Clooney has asked his waitress girlfriend to move in with him. The Ocean's Eleven star is smitten with 27-year-old Maria Bertrand after a whirlwind romance in Montreal, Canada. Now three months into their relationship, even Clooney's acting buddy Matt Damon has warned him that he would be 'a fool to let her go'. A pal says, "George is a real romantic and two weeks ago he bought Maria a dozen roses and asked her to move in with him. She didn't hesitate. She's utterly in love with George." The couple met when Clooney was filming Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind in Montreal - and right from the start they were inseparable, with even Clooney confiding, "It's serious."

Hollywood actress Anjelica Huston is a real tiger on-set, as her Royal Tenenbaums co-star Gene Hackman found out - to his peril. In one of the film's scenes, the Grifters actress lashes out and hits Hackman. In rehearsal she merely hit the French Connection lightly on the lapel, but when filming began, Angelica decided to inject some improvisation. She says, "If you rehearse a scene like that a couple of times your co-star knows what's coming next, so I thought when it came to filming it might be better to go for the face. "I got him full on the head and this red welt came up on his cheek, but Gene was the perfect gentleman about it."