Dax Shepherd admits he was probably more than a little annoying to girlfriend Kristen Bell during production of their upcoming "When in Rome." Dax plays an aspiring model who's rarely seen with a shirt on in the comedy — and he went to great lengths to get into body beautiful shape for the part he calls "my most embarrassing, excessive character ever."

"For the first time in my life I went on this crazy diet, 1,400 calories a day and all from protein — egg whites, chicken breasts … I did four months of eating like that. I was working with a trainer," says the actor of "Punk'd" and "Zathura" fame, who has the big screen comedy "Smother" with Diane Keaton and Liv Tyler coming out tomorrow (9/26). "I was a mental train wreck doing it, and my girlfriend put up with listening to me talk about my body all the time. It was probably not fun to go out to dinner with me."

He's convinced that while women enjoy their men having buff bods, "They'd rather not hear the guy talk about it."

Did he get himself six-pack abs? "Through body dysmorphia, I thought I didn't get into shape — but now, looking at photos, I can see I did."

And his shape today? "I certainly didn't return to my pre-training state, but I resumed eating like a human being. In fact, when we finished shooting the last shirt-off scene of the movie, when the director yelled 'Cut!,' I went straight to the craft services table and ate an entire box of Fruity Pebbles. Then I went to Bleecker Street Pizza and got two pepperoni pizzas for myself. Then I went to Pinkberry … I probably ate 7,000 to 8,000 calories that day."

MEANWHILE: Shepherd and Liv Tyler play a husband and wife who have to deal with his mom — Diane Keaton — suddenly moving in with them in "Smother." He says he'd never met Liv prior to the movie, but she definitely made a strong first impression.

"I'm really into cars, and I drove my 1966 AC Cobra to the set. Liv came up to me and said, 'Wow, you don't get enough attention as an actor? You have to drive that car?" It was, he says, "very funny."

Shepherd says he first read the "Smother" script a couple years back, "and I always liked it. I occasionally checked in on it. It really came together because of Diane. She was awesome — really, really cool. I felt like the woman in 'Godfather' was going to get me a little intimidated, but she was really, really down to earth. She loves houses and remodeling, as I do, so we talked a lot about that."

THE BIG SCREEN SCENE: Rachel McAdams puzzles many in Hollywood because she doesn't seem to care about being a big star. After a string of hits including "The Notebook," "Wedding Crashers" and "Red Eye," McAdams couldn't have been a much hotter commodity in Hollywood — but then she returned to her native Canada and all but disappeared for a spell. Now she's back with "The Lucky Ones," and has "The Time Traveler's Wife" and "State of Play" in the can for next year. Rachel admits, in the next issue of Entertainment Weekly, "I puzzle myself most of the time. It's a mysterious business, and there's no clear path to take, so you just make choices in the moment and see where you wind up, and hopefully land on your feet." She tells EW she never made a conscious decision to stay away from Hollywood, and as far as backing away again after her films get released, "It really depends on what comes up. I never thought I'd say this, but I actually miss L.A. when I'm not there. At first it was a real adjustment, but now I'm having more fun with it."

THAT'S AMORE: It will be quite the Dean Martin family affair when Deana Martin steps up to the microphone to headline at tonight's (9/25) Prima Notte gala launching the annual Precious Cheese Feast of San Gennaro — the L.A. festival and charity fund-raiser founded by Jimmy Kimmel and Adam Carolla. Deana reports that Dean's former wife Jeanne Martin will be present, along with Deana's son Mickey and grandsons Hunter, 10, and Jagger, 5. She says she may try to persuade Jagger to come sing with her — he seems to have inherited the family gift of pipes, while Hunter's a talented athlete.

Deana says she's having a blast carrying the torch of singing her late father's music as she performs dates all around the country, occasionally with some of his former colleagues and/or their offspring.

"It's the best. It's overwhelming sometimes, to perform with people like Jerry Vale," she says of the Prima Notte honoree. Vale isn't singing tonight, but Deana is set to share the stage with him and Julius La Rosa next month in a show called "That's Italian" in Hammond, Ind. — a show that will head to more cities in coming months. Deana is just finishing an album for release next year, "Return to Me." She'll do the crowd pleasers tonight, from "That's Amore" to "Volare" to a tribute to "Uncle Frank" — as in Sinatra.

"I know my dad is helping me along every step of the way," she says. "My husband and I were at an Apple store the other day trying to get my iTunes to work, and the 21-year-old who was helping us saw my name and said, 'Dean Martin was the coolest guy ever in the world.' So it's not just the older people who loved Dad and think he's the king of cool."

With reports by 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

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