People

By Julie Rawe

Q&A ELIJAH WOOD Elijah Wood stars in two new films, Bobby and Happy Feet. Both hit theaters on Nov. 17

Your character in Bobby marries Lindsay Lohan to avoid being sent to Vietnam. Under what circumstances would you marry her in real life?

[Laughs.] Um, no offense to her, probably none. I don't know if I would marry anyone for any other circumstance beyond falling in love.

Aww, that's sweet. In Happy Feet you play a penguin who can't sing. I notice you're not on the celebrity-laden sound track. Can you really not sing?

I can hold a tune, but I don't have a lot of experience beyond singing in my car. I feel like I'm at least not tone-deaf.

Who's the weirdest person who has greeted you as Frodo?

I've gotten it from every kind of person. I'm almost positive a homeless man in New York called out "Frodo" to me.

You look a lot younger than 25. Do you still get carded, or do bouncers wave you in because you're Frodo?

No, I'm carded pretty much wherever I go. I still get carded for cigarettes too.

Do your friends give you hell for being in a Paula Abdul video?

If anything, my friends thought it was cool because they admit that at some point they too were fans. Everybody caught a little bit of the Paula bug.

I've had Straight Up stuck in my head all day.

See. See.

SEVEN YEARS SCRATCHED

For true romantics, this one stings a little. REESE WITHERSPOON and RYAN PHILLIPPE are calling it quits after seven years. Yes, they married young. Yes, she'd had seven Midori sours when she was introduced to him. But they seemed so clear-eyed about married life and talked openly of their couples counseling. Said Ryan: "The biggest mistake is not doing that, ignoring it and having the marriage fall apart because of laziness." Said Reese: "Marriage is hard ... It's not about expecting someone to make you happy every day or to complete your life." Apparently, agreeing about marriage and agreeing to stay married are not the same thing.

LIVE FROM NEW YORK: BEDBUGS!

One thing about celebrities is that they always have such high-class problems, right? The Rolls gets a flat, the maid gets a book deal. Not so, actually. Saturday Night Live comedian MAYA RUDOLPH and her movie-director boyfriend Paul Thomas Anderson recently fled their $13,500-a-month New York City loft--with their infant--because of bugs. Not the spy kind, the bite-you-in-your-bed kind. All together now: eeeeeew. Also, the elevator didn't work. Naturally, they're suing. And the bugs are looking for a book deal.

GOING BACK TO THE FUTURE? Tom Cruise surprised Hollywood last week with a prewedding announcement: the box-office bigwig just bought a sizable chunk of United Artists, the once venerable movie studio whose fortune seems to rise and fall with its icons.

1919 CHARLIE CHAPLIN When he and fellow artists start their own studio, an industry chief quips, "Lunatics have taken charge of the asylum" Low............. o ....High

early '50s MARY PICKFORD As the studio's output dwindles with the silent-film star as producer, she and surviving co-founder Chaplin agree to sell the firm Low. o ................High

mid-'60s JAMES BOND The studio is revitalized with the launch of popular film franchises, including James Bond and the Pink Panther Low................ o .High

1990 ROCKY After a colossal flop (Heaven's Gate), the studio tries to milk old successes, but the bank forecloses not long after Rocky V Low..... o ............High

2000s TOM CRUISE Some two months after getting dumped by a rival studio, the couch-jumping star inks a deal to help run United Artists Low........... o ......High