Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Hal Holbrook, who's being widely praised for his work in "Into the Wild," says the film has given him a renewed hope in movie critics.

"To tell you the truth, I was afraid that the critics might not take to it. It's very unusual. It's not an easy film to take in many ways," notes the 82-year-old Screen Actors Guild Award nominee, speaking of the Sean Penn-directed flick about real-life adventurer Christopher McCandless. "I was surprised and thrilled when the reviews came out because of the seriousness with which the critics took this film. It really gave me a renewed respect for a lot of the people writing criticism. They were talking about Walden Pond in USA Today. I almost dropped the paper. I couldn't believe what I was looking at. USA Today doesn't specialize in talking about Thoreau and Emerson. I thought, 'Well, this is a step.'"

People have taken to Holbrook's performance of Ron Franz so much that many are anticipating he'll receive an Oscar nomination. Admits Holbrook, who already holds two Emmys and a Tony, "It's kind of a dangerous feeling when you begin to smell the roses like that. When you get wound up in this process where people begin to talk about the possibility that you could win an award, you look around and the first thing you notice is that there is so much powerful competition.

"Hardly anybody does not want to receive some kind of award for their work, but you have to try to keep in mind that winning is not what it's about," he says. "What it's about is the work that you did and that people really took it and it meant a lot to them."

SWITCHING GENDERS: "I've never gotten so many women undressed. My new catch phrase is, 'I'm doing women now,'" says Carson Kressley, whose "How to Look Good Naked" Lifetime TV series debuts tonight (Jan. 4). The former "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" star adds, "People get excited for a few seconds, and then I say, 'But just on TV.'" He's also been going around saying "Happy Nude Year." "How to Look Good Naked" aspires to help gals overcome their physical imperfections. "It's not just weight — it's that they think their arms are too long or their boobs are too big or they're too tall. Everyone has something they want to cover up. It's all about maximizing your assets and minimizing what you don't want to showcase," he says. Among the common mistakes he's found that females make is "wearing clothing a size too large thinking they want to camouflage it if they're overweight.

Kressley tells us, "I've learned a tremendous amount about bras and underwear doing the show. … The right undergarments make all the difference. When we get 'em in the right clothes, boom, it's obvious. We do trial and error, and once we get it right, they cry tears of joy. They can get out there and live again."

Asked whether he might add more shows to his television schedule during the current, strike-induced standstill in scripted shows' production, Kressley (also seen as a judge on the CW beauty pageant show "Crowned") candidly answers, "that's definitely a possibility. I would be happy to take advantage of maybe the lull in the scripted world. Unscripted projects make sense, me being me."

APPLES & ORANGES: When TBS's late-night comedy "10 Items or Less" returns Jan. 15, John Lehr says his character's arch-nemesis will become his worst nightmare. Fans of the mostly improvised sitcom know that Amy (Jennifer Elise Cox) is the shrewish manager of the rival grocery store across the street from the fictional Greens & Grains market featured in the show.

"She'll be working in Greens & Grains for a few episodes," says the show's says creator/producer/writer/star, who plays Leslie, the hapless owner of G&G. "She and I seem to work really well together, so we wanted to just have her in the mix. It's like when your boss does a bonehead move and hires a total jerk. But it's not forever."

Lehr also tells us a very special later episode will feature something not seen often on TV. "My character decides to turn the store into a Renaissance Faire, complete with a joust in shopping carts with lances. It's totally just mayhem." Lehr says he pulled directly from his personal life for that one. "I grew up in Kansas City and when I was in high school there weren't a lot of places to make a living, so I taught myself how to juggle and worked as a performer at the Renaissance Faire because it paid pretty well. The people who go to the Renaissance Faire, the costumes and the whole milieu are so ripe to make fun of."

GETTING IN THEIR TWO CENTS: Laura Prepon of "October Road," whose character, Hannah, has been involved in a love triangle on the ABC show, tells us she's been getting a big kick out of hearing from friends and family about who she should be with. "After the episode when Ray (Warren Christie) proposed to me, I got all these phone calls saying, 'You can't marry him!' I even heard from people that I haven't talked to in the longest time. I'm like, 'I didn't write it!'" says Prepon with a laugh. "Of course, people want to see Nick (Bryan Greenberg) and Hannah together, but we'll see what happens."

To find out more about Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith and read their past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2008 MARILYN BECK AND STACY JENEL SMITH

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