Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

If you think Matthew McConaughey is showing off the body beautiful with his endless beefcake poses in magazines and cavorting shirtless on screen with Kate Hudson in "Fool's Gold," well, you ain't seen nuthin' yet. In his upcoming "Surfer Dude," he "doesn't wear a shirt at all," reveals Alexie Gilmore, who co-stars with McConaughey in "Dude."

Alexie was a last-minute selection for the leading lady role. In fact, she reveals, she was sitting in her Brooklyn home the day after she made an audition tape for the picture, "and it was Matthew calling me directly. He said to get on a plane and get to L.A. — and three days later, we were on the Malibu beach together with the cameras going."

Alexie is back home again in New York waiting for the long-delayed premiere of her Fox "New Amsterdam" series. The show was supposed to debut last fall but then got pushed back for mid-season unveiling, with only seven of its scheduled 13 episodes. But things are looking up for the series that stars Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as an immortal New York homicide detective. Fox is premiering it March 4 and 6, following mighty "American Idol" before moving it to its regular time slot Mondays after "House."

COO COUP: "Law & Order: SVU" star Mariska Hargitay admits she spent "two weeks practicing the baby voice" she worked up for Johnson & Johnson's just-posted animated webisode ads for its baby lotion. But when she arrived to record, she realized that the ad makers wanted her own recognizable Mariska voice. "I said, 'Oh. You wanted me to do the voice straight.' And they said, 'We did.' I said, 'Let me just show this to you.' I did, and thank God they fell in love with it."

More than the voice in the cute spots, which Hargitay considers "a really cool, smart campaign," is the message she is hoping to impart to fellow new moms. "I'm a big believer in baby massage. There are so many beneficial aspects to it. Number one, it promotes bonding, obviously. And it increases a mom's confidence and sensitivity to the baby's cues. It reduces stress. It helps stimulate babies' development and growth and improves their immune systems — studies prove it. It aids in digestion. There are so many things, it's just amazing," says the actress, whose son, August, turned one last June.

Hargitay has been approached numerous times by various other companies about serving as a spokesperson through the years, but she wasn't interested until the Johnson & Johnson campaign won her over.

"An iconic, trusted brand that our mothers and grandmothers used; inspirational, sweet and fun cartoons about how healthy massage makes baby — it just felt right."

The online shorts, a first for the company, can be viewed at www.touchingbond.com, and will be shown elsewhere as well.

VIEW FROM THE BOARDS: While Hollywood is getting back on track following the writers' strike, star of Broadway's musical "Xanadu," Kerry Butler believes last fall's three-week Broadway stagehands strike had a lasting impact on her show as a momentum buster. "I think what surprises me now is that we got such good reviews and more people aren't coming to the show. I mean, it's doing well, but I thought we would be sold out every single night after those reviews," notes Butler, who's been getting the most acclaim.

"I think the strike hurt us and also our show didn't start to do a lot of advertising until recently. Also, people have this vision of the movie where it's so bad and so they don't know that our show is completely rewritten and is just a totally different story. It's the same plotline, but there are all different characters and the plot is much better than the movie," she claims. Luckily Butler got two thumbs up from the movie's star. "She came opening night and loved it. That was the only time I was really nervous because I love Olivia Newton-John and I didn't want her to think I was making fun of her. She was laughing nonstop throughout the show."

Next Butler can be seen guest starring in several episodes of the new NBC series "Lipstick Jungle" as Lindsay Price's backstabbing assistant, starting tonight (Feb. 14). Butler says she enjoyed herself so much that she hopes to be asked back. "They let me do a lot of fun things with her. She's mean, but I get to put up this sweet front. I hope Reese becomes a good villain for the show."

TRADING HATS: Rick Schroder reports he plans to talk to country songstresses Miranda Lambert and Taylor Swift about the film he's been writing, "about an up-and-coming Nashville star who falls in love with a young bull rider. It's going to be a good opportunity for a singer to prove her acting ability," says the actor, who already went the auteur filmmaker route with his "Black Cloud" boxing movie of a few years ago. Besides that project, Rick, whose latest credits include "24" and the ION network adaptation of "Journey to the Center of the Earth," says "I've written a one hour pilot for myself."

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 2008 MARILYN BECK AND STACY JENEL SMITH

DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC.