Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Jessica Alba has another week of rigorous promotional chores in New York and a Hollywood premiere ahead for her Friday-opening (Feb. 1) horror thriller "The Eye" — and then the 26-yeear-old mom-to-be says she'll be getting back to the activity she's been looking forward to relishing in for the last few weeks at home: "Nesting, getting furniture, creating the baby's environment."

She admits, "I definitely get more tired than I've ever been, and more hungry, but other than that, I feel great. I've gained quite a bit of weight, but I think it's healthy. It's good for the baby," says Alba, whose vast collection of accolades includes being voted AskMen.com's No. 1 Most Desirable Woman and being named Sexiest Woman in the World by FHM magazine.

As far as her future, after her and fiance Cash Warren's baby arrives, "I haven't really planned it out, but I wanted to take a break at this time in my career."

She certainly hasn't had much break time until recently. Once she finished the launch of "Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer" last year, she started shooting Mike Myers' June release "The Love Guru," in which she serves as "sort of the straight man" for Myers' antics. "He's an absolute genius," she says. "He has no limitations, he's quite free. My biggest challenge was trying not to break up."

For "The Eye," in which she plays a concert violinist besieged by horrifying visions after a corneal transplant that restores her sight, she trained in playing the instrument during a period of six months. Once she started shooting, she found herself having "some quite vivid dreams and a few nightmares."

But she was up for the scary stuff. "I do like horror movies," Alba admits. "I've wanted to do something in this genre for awhile. I've been reading tons of scripts. This movie in particular appealed to me because it has a complex character and an interesting storyline. I read the script and I saw the original (Hong Kong-made flick) and thought it was a great movie to do a remake of."

BAD BOY: Casting is underway for ladies who'll be working with Ashton Kutcher in a forthcoming feature in which he'll play a conniving lothario who romances and exploits rich women in order to enjoy a luxurious lifestyle — then gets a taste of his own medicine from a gold-digging female counterpart. That will make three movies back-to-back for Kutcher, who's gone from making the upcoming "What Happens in Vegas" with Cameron Diaz to "Personal Effects" with Michelle Pfeiffer and Kathy Bates.

BREAKING TYPE: Bryan Cranston tells us he purposely wanted to get away from portraying sweet dad characters after playing one for so long on the sitcom "Malcolm in the Middle." That's what drew him to AMC's "Breaking Bad." In the show, which debuted this month, he plays a dying chemistry professor who starts a crystal meth lab to provide money for his family after he is gone.

"I was getting some movie offers to play goofy, fun dads, and I thought, 'I need to stay away this because frankly I wouldn't know how to do a goofy dad any differently than what I did for seven years.' It would just be redundant, and it wouldn't be good for my career," notes Cranston.

"I needed to branch out so that people see me in a different light. I didn't do anything last pilot season because I wasn't really attached to anything. I got this script, and I thought, 'Oh, my God, this is fantastic!' I went in on a scheduled 20-minute meeting and an hour and a half later I walked out thinking, 'I think this is going to work.' It was very exciting."

Though they were only able to shoot seven episodes due to the writers' strike, Cranston says he hopes having less shows on the air will draw people to tune in. "It's an unfortunate irony, but it may help us to draw attention to our show. There are a lot of channels out there, and everybody's poised with the channel changer, and if they don't see what they like, they'll move on really quickly. We need people to give us a shot."

THE INSIDE TRACK: Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter Siedah Garrett reports she's re-teaming with music mogul Quincy Jones on a very special project. "Quincy and I are attempting to write the theme song for the Beijing Olympics," reports Garrett. "We wrote the theme for the Special Olympics in Shanghai, and that gave me goose bumps. You can YouTube it if you want to hear it." Also on the front burner for Garrett this year, "I'm doing some writing for Vanessa Williams' new project, and I'll be writing with Rod Temperton (Michael Jackson's "Thriller") for a new album from George Benson."

Meanwhile, Garrett is riding the high of her Grammy-nomination for "Love You, I Do," the song from "Dreamgirls," which was also nominated for an Oscar last year for Best Original Song. "Unfortunately, I didn't win, but it was a surreal experience to say the least," she says. Whatever happens, the Feb. 10 Grammy ceremony will be a treat, she says, because "I think Jennifer Hudson is going to sing my song."

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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