Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

"Somebody who is beautiful and a real heartbreaker at the same time radiates an intrinsic feminism," says Ethan Hawke.

How is that? "There are beautiful women who, all they are is interested in being an object of men's assessment. It's obvious. You can tell. Then there are those who have much more depth."

It's 11:30 p.m. in Brisbane, Australia, where Hawke has been busy all day before the cameras in the vampire thriller "Daybreakers" — while trying to put out the good word on his "The Hottest State" romantic drama that opens in limited release Friday (8/24).

Hawke directed the feature starring Mark Webber, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Michelle Williams, Laura Linney, Sonia Braga and himself. He says he was interested in casting Catalina from the time he first saw her in "Maria Full of Grace." She plays the aspiring singer with whom Webber's character is heartbreakingly in love.

"Her character has to be incredibly enigmatic and mysterious. It's a tough part to cast," notes Hawke, who adapted his own "The Hottest State" novel for the film. Clearly, it has a lot of Hawke in his youth in it. "It's not a memoir, but it certainly falls into that line of autobiographical fiction where you use details from your own life to advance the story you want to tell. The main character is an actor, which is a great metaphor for all of us in relationships — we're all playing the masculine and feminine parts," he says.

Hawke, who recently ascribed the breakup of his marriage to Uma Thurman to the fact her career was revving up while his slowed, couldn't be much busier now. He also has the October-opening "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" thriller with Philip Seymour Hoffman, in which two brothers conspire to rob their parents' jewelry store. "Sidney Lumet directed it. It was really fun," he says. And he's directing his friend Jonathan Marc Sherman's "Things We Want" play that opens in New York this fall with Peter Dinklage and Josh Hamilton.

BIG SCREEN UNSEEN: Donald Trump and Steve Wynn should be happy to know that Danny DeVito won't be making "Trump vs. Wynn," a satire that pits the two business giants in a feud over a piece of land in Atlanta City.

"It was very funny material," says Danny, "but I didn't want to do anything to hurt either of them. I ended up meeting with each separately and found out that neither wanted me to make the movie — and I dropped it. As it turned out, someone else ended up grabbing the land they had been battling over."

CELEB SCENE: It was definitely an assemblage of the chic crowd at New York's the Village Pourhouse the other night, when owner Michael Sinensky celebrated his first anniversary by throwing a bash. The eclectic mix included America's Next Top Model winner CariDee English, singer Kat DeLuna, adult film/reality TV star Ron Jeremy and Detroit Tigers' Gary Sheffield. DJ'ing was done by none other than Good Charlotte singer Joel Madden, who came sans girlfriend Nicole Richie — but chatted amiably with fans about how Nicole was making things easy with her pregnancy.

KEEPING IT TOGETHER: It's going to be a big autumn for Captain & Tennille, with the husband and wife musical duo launching a collection of their vintage TV specials on DVD Sept. 4, plus a full schedule of appearances and a push for their "The Secret of Christmas" album ahead. "We've set aside the month of November for that," reports the ever-perky Toni Tennille, "and we're going to be part of a big event (Oct. 26) at Lincoln Center in New York to celebrate Neil Sedaka's 50 years in show business."

Sedaka wrote their signature tune, "Love Will Keep Us Together."

The thicket of rights clearances involved accounts for the years it's taken for the specials to get to DVD. But now, "They've loosened up a little bit because so many people have died," explains Daryl Dragon, the captain, in his typically laconic way.

The Christmas album had a limited release last year. Now they intend to make the most of the record Tennille considers "the best musical project we've ever done, and the most collaborative." The "Little Saint Nick" cut features The Tennille Sisters from the old variety show. As for what her siblings are up to today, Toni tells us that classical singer Melissa lives in Newport Beach, Calif., and has been involved with children's choirs. She "has a couple of autistic kids, and it's been hard for her." Louise is a third-grade teacher in Torrance, Calif., and Jane is a hospice nurse.

(With reports by Stephanie DuBois and Emily Feimster)

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 2007 MARILYN BECK AND STACY JENEL SMITH

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