New & Noteworthy: She loves him, yeah, yeah, yeah

The 36-year-old actress, who is currently dating Irish rock star Damien Rice, has shared cinematic snogs with the likes of Colin Firth, Hugh Grant, Tom Cruise and Ewan McGregor, to name just a few of the hunky notches on her belt. But now, she has to go and sink her claws into an ex-Beatle — who happens to be my secret celebrity crush as well.
The baby-voiced brunette told London’s Sun newspaper that she has a wicked crush on music legend Sir Paul McCartney. And though she hasn’t confessed her obsession to him, she figures it’s just a matter of time before he hears her silly love song.
“I haven’t told Paul yet, but some friends might have outed me,” she giggled. And while Sir Cute One will no doubt be flattered by her admiration, one can only speculate how Mrs. Sir Cute One, Heather Mills, will feel. To say nothing of Damien, who followed White Stripes singer Jack White in Renee’s musical suitors hall of fame.

Count director Quentin Tarantino as one of the many Bond fans who are disappointed by Pierce Brosnan’s forced retirement from the role. The “Kill Bill” creator, who had considered helming the next Bond film, “Casino Royale,” pulled out of the project when he heard that Pierce was history.
“Once I heard Brosnan isn’t going to be doing any more Bond films, that killed it as far as I was concerned,” he told the Evening Standard.
“He’s really proven himself to me as the James Bond for this generation,” said the director. “He can really pull off that ’60s thing that Casino Royale would have.”

Italian-Irish starlet Brittany Murphy says that the nosy press should keep its nose out of her nose business. She insists that she has not — NOT — undergone any plastic surgery. OK?
That’s not to say that the “Clueless” star’s schnozz hasn’t undergone a few changes in the 10 years since she burst onto the screen in 1995. But it was all purely accidental. She told The N.Y. Post’s Page Six column, “I have broken my nose three times. But I’ve never gotten it fixed.”
In fact, Brittany insists that a close inspection would reveal that her nose has gotten worse, not better, over the years.
“I know that changed the shape of it,” she said. “But it made it wider.”

Success may not have made a failure of their home, but for Northern Irish rockers Snow Patrol, it was, in some ways, the Final Straw. At least, when it came to the bandmates’ relationship with bassist Mark McClelland.
The band, who will open for U2 on the European leg of the “Vertigo” tour in June,mar have parted ways with the guitarist, effective immediately. According to an official statement issued by the band, pressures caused by a “life-changing year in 2004” precipitated the split.
“These pressures have unfortunately taken their toll on working relationships within the band,” was the official line. “And it was felt that Snow Patrol could not move forward with Mark as a member.”
The band said that they reached this decision “with much regret.” No replacement for McClelland has been announced yet.

Anyone wondering why Justin Timberlake is just the cat’s pajamas when it comes to making the ladies swoon need know only this: the young singer with the Irish roots is, apparently, a perfect gentleman. Just ask “The O.C.” actress Olivia Wilde, who is moonlighting from her role on the hit TV show to co-star with Justin in the upcoming movie “Alpha Dog.”
The actress told TV Guide magazine that Justin kissed unexpectedly while they were filming a scene, then apologized immediately when the cameras stopped rolling.
“It was very innocent,” said Wilde. “It was an unexpected, impromptu kiss. The director told him to do it behind my back.”
Afterward, the former boy band star said sorry — not once, not twice, but three times. Olivia was extremely impressed with his impeccable manners — “he’s the most amazing Southern gentleman,” she said — but truth be told, he really needn’t have bothered. Olivia told TV Guide, “He’s so cute. I got to kiss him — it was the highlight of my life!”

Some celebrities are so eager to avoid publicity that they skulk around in baggy clothes and big, floppy hats to avoid attention. But then, most celebrities are not Mariah Carey. Whenever the multi-octave singer arrives at a hotel, she expects the red-carpet treatment. Literally.
According to British news reports, staffers at London’s posh Baglioni hotel scrambled to rustle up some crimson shag pile and votive candles to herald Mariah’s 2 a.m. arrival last Sunday morning. The singer refused to de-limo unless the requisite candlelit path was put in place. (After all, who wants to get their Jimmy Choos all scuffed up on the pavement?) Mariah and her entourage circled the block a few times until the hotel staff had everything in place, then skipped happily down the carpet and up to their $3,800 per night rooms.

Those of you who’ve been wondering how Westlife alum Brian McFadden is doing these days can rest easy. The singer, who endured a messy, public split from his wife, Kerry Katona, last year, is still hot and heavy with Aussie pop star Delta Goodrem. The pair have decided to set up house together in Los Angeles, which they figure is roughly halfway between their respective homelands.
According to London’s Daily Mirror, Delta and Brian first discussed moving to Australia, but Brian felt that he’d be too isolated in the Land Down Under.
“It’s very far away from my family and friends,” he said. “[And since] Delta spends a lot of time around the world . . . it wouldn’t make sense.”
Two members of the family that Brian intends to stay close to are his daughters, Molly and Lily. According to Brian, the toddlers are quite taken with his new honey.
“They just love [Delta],” he gushed. And they’re not the only ones: Brian is so besotted with the 20-year-old pop princess that he can’t stop writing songs about her.
“I’ve done nine or 10 already,” he said. “It’s just love, love, love. Delta’s brilliant — when I hear her name, I light up.”
The only shadow in Brian’s sunny little world has been cast by executives at his label, who think the starry-eyed Irish pop hunk is starting to sound, well, like a broken record.
A source told the Mirror, “[Brian’s] last album was very introspective — a lot about his relationship with Kerry and growing up in Ireland. They were hoping he was moving away from that type of material.”
Well, he’s moving away from the Kerry stuff, anyway. In one of his new songs, he warbles that he “didn’t know love” until he met Delta. That’s a sentiment that won’t make him very popular with his ex-wife — or with his Irish fans.
“People who heard him perform [it] were shocked,” snickered the insider. “The consensus was, if he releases it as a single, it will be career suicide.”

In a move that smacks of the pot calling the kettle black, former “X-Files” star David Duchovny says that he doesn’t want to live next door to any stinkin’ celebrities.
In fairness, Mulder’s . . . er, David’s new neighbors aren’t just any run-of-the-mill celebutantes du jour. The actor and his wife, Tea Leoni, have found themselves within cup-of-sugar-borrowing distance of none other than overexposed pop tart Britney Spears and her current husband, Kevin Federline.
Unfortunately, the newlyweds’ presence has caused some disruption in the posh Malibu neighborhood that all of them call home, since Brit and Kev attract paparazzi like certain organic compounds attract flies. And when the photographers are not taking unflattering snaps of Britney and her hairy hubby, the shutterbugs train their lenses on other famous mugs. Like, um, David’s. And there’s no mystery about how he feels about that.
“Britney moved in a couple of months ago,” the actor complained to contactmusic.com. “And since then, it’s been crazy.”
So how crazy has it been?
“The other day I was walking to a restaurant . . . and they took a picture of me,” said David. Annoyed, the actor demanded to know what was going on.
“They said, ‘We’re waiting for Britney.’ I knew they weren’t waiting for me,” he deadpanned.

Briefings
Sometimes, success boils down to just being in the right place at the right time. That’s certainly the case for Louis Walsh’s newest pop band, Girls Aloud. When the group performed at the London premiere of John Travolta’s new movie, “Be Cool,” last week, the actor was so impressed by their looks and talent that he thinks they oughta be in pictures as well.
“They would be just perfect for a film,” the “Grease” star told ContactMusic.com. “They look like really fun girls, they can sing and they are very, very pretty.” And then he said the words that have no doubt been ringing in Walsh’s ears ever since: “I will definitely be getting hold of their agent.”