Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" wrapped reshoots in Hawaii last week, reports Bill Nighy — that's Davy Jones to "Pirates" fans, matey. Since it started shooting in the first quarter of 2005, concurrently with last year's "Dead Man's Chest," that has to give the threequel some kind of record for drawn-out productions.

Nighy actually completed his role in the vastly anticipated epic last fall. He relates, "When I left, I must say, I felt strange walking away. They had a huge cake for me the size of a coffee table, with a beautiful portrait of my character, so it was a massive squid cake. Had I not been such a manly kind of guy, I would have cried. It was very, very manly," the actor stresses wryly. "Johnny Depp is a world-class gentleman."

All that manliness occurred between stints surrounded by ladies for Nighy, who is sharing the Broadway boards with Julianne Moore in "The Vertical Hour" through March. The prodigiously gifted actor also has "Notes on a Scandal," in which he gives a tremendous performance along with newly Oscar-nominated Dame Judi Dench (Best Actress) and Cate Blanchett (Best Supporting Actress). For Nighy, playing the husband of a teacher (Blanchett) who has an affair with a 15-year-old boy represented difficult days: "When we shot the scene where I confront her with the affair, I hit a level of anger I'm not accustomed to reaching for."

However, Nighy says that the mood during production of the film, which widens its release tomorrow (1/26), frequently belied the heaviness of the material — and the awfulness of Dench's predatory spinster character. "Often when you're making grim stories, the set is full of laughs, and that's certainly true if you're around Cate and Judi," he says. "They're very funny. Judi has a wicked sense of humor."

HOLDING OUT FOR A 'HERO': With NBC's "Heroes" having become a runaway hit, we shouldn't be surprised that lovely blond 17-year-old It Girl Hayden Panettiere is getting swamped with movie offers. "We've got hiatus coming, and there's a bunch of things we're trying to work out," she tells us. "It's not the longest period of time, so there's only so much you can do."

As for whether she's trying to do something in a different vein from her cheerleader character — for instance, a comedy — she says, "I don't know.

HARMONIOUS CONVERGENCE: Grammy-nominated R&B songstress Kelly Price — whose latest CD and first gospel album, "This is Who I Am," spent seven weeks on the top of the Billboard gospel charts — set out this week on the 31-city Sisters in the Spirit tour with Angie Stone, Shirley Caesar, Dorinda Clark Cole, Nicole C. Mullen and Dr. Yvonne Capehart. It's her second such tour, and she says she jumped at the chance to join the roster of songstresses on board because "women have a reputation as having an inability to work together. It doesn't matter what the area of business or commerce, we have this standing stigma that we can't get together amicably. The idea behind this tour was for it to be a complete mind, body and soul experience for women, addressing the needs and feeding the whole woman."

Price is certainly rounding herself out as a creative woman these days. She reports she's expanding horizons in 2007, with a screen project she's penning herself and the development of some reality TV properties. "I'm juggling a whole lot, but it's all good. In this business you've got to be able to rejuvenate, generate and reinvent," says Price.

She makes it clear she's not interested in doing yet another reality show that panders to the lowest common denominator. "The shows I'm doing are designed to be all those things without adding negativity to what we already see on television. I want something the whole family can watch."

TALKING THE TALK: Alabama native Lucas Black, who many remember for his thick Southern accent, has starred in such movies as "Jarhead" and "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift" — and says he's not about to change the way he talks now. "I still run into people saying I need to do something about it, but it's gotten me this far. Don't fix nothin' if it ain't broke," he quips. Hey, we just write what they tell us! "I feel like I can have a good career and be as successful as I want to be with just the way it is. That's who I am. I'm not really saying that changing my accent would change who I am, but I just want to stick with it because I like it and it's worked for me so far."

(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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