50 Cent Shows His Softer Side

Rapper 50 Cent might act like quite the gangsta' on stage, but we've been told he's showing his softer side on the set of his low-budgeted movie "Home of the Brave," co-starring Samuel L. Jackson and Jessica Biel.

The Softer Side of 50 Cent

While recently filming beside a baseball field in Spokane, Wash., a production assistant was sent to ask members of the local community college baseball team if they could stop their practice because the sound of their bats was being heard through the microphones.

In order to say thank you, 50 Cent later walked over to the field during one of his breaks to meet the team and take pictures with them.

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Jay Leno was showing off one of his many classic cars in Burbank, Calif., this weekend when he stopped to talk shop with the guys at Autobooks-Aerobooks -- a legendary bookshop dedicated to the history and excitement of the automobile.

The men were standing outside by the busy street looking at Jay's navy blue four-door car while traffic began to slow down with people trying to get a glimpse of the "Tonight Show" host. In order to avoid any traffic accidents, Leno finally retreated inside.

Green: No Italian Job II, Yet:

Forget reports that have "The Italian Job II" -- a.k.a. "The Brazilian Job" -- ready to roll. In fact, there's not even a completed script as yet for the proposed sequel to the 2003 hit starring Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, Jason Statham, Mos Def and Seth Green.
 
Green says, "There are a couple of things I'm eyeing" as far as his next acting gig, (with his "Four Kings" NBC sitcom breathing its last.) But he's not in a rush to return to the work pace he kept with all his '05 projects -- with "Kings," his "Family Guy" voice work, the big-screen "The Best Man," and his beloved labor of silliness, his Cartoon Channel Adult Swim show, "Robot Chicken."
 
"I really got physically beat up. I love to work," he notes, "but that felt weird."
 
Green reports things have gotten easier and easier as far as finding celebrities who want to participate in his "Robot Chicken" parody show, which begins its second season Sunday (4/2). In fact, according to Seth, nowadays sometimes the stars find (SET ITAL) him (END ITAL): "Christian Slater came up to me at a party and said he liked the show. We brought him on and he's really funny. Then I ran into Wayne Brady at the airport in Hawaii. We were literally passing each other, and he said, 'I love "Robot Chicken." The best thing about the show is that people can just have fun and be silly.'" Season 1 of the show he created with Matt Senreich, which employs action figures and stop motion animation, is newly in release this week. 

 
THE INSIDE TRACK:

Between her role on Broadway's 'The Odd Couple" with Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane and the summer release of her debut album, 'Turku," it's a wonder Olivia d'Abo has time for anything else, but she tells us we might be seeing more of her popular TV character, Nicole Wallace, on 'Law and Order: Criminal Intent." 'I know they're trying to bring me back on 'Law and Order' to kill more people -- actually, I can't say that because I never know what they're going to do with her," claims the former "Wonder Years" star. "Now I think she may come back and be a nun. On the last show, they had her kind of redeem herself and have her be more of a good, normal person who's trying to get back on the right side of the track."
 
In the meantime, d'Abo is excited about getting more time to play Gwendolyn Pigeon in the Neil Simon revival that has been extended through June. "It's so great to be doing a comedy with everything that's going on in the world. Just to be able to make people laugh and bring this energy into people's lives, even if it's for two hours."
 
d'Abo, by the way, is also awaiting release of a song she recently made with Seal called "Broken." "I had already recorded the song, so he sang in between the lines that I didn't sing, and we turned it into a duet. That's something I'm going to release after my debut album."
 
THE VIDEOLAND VIEW:

Hunky Josh Randall, who plays Jenna Elfman's free-spirited love interest in CBS's "Courting Alex," reports the series company wrapped production on their initial episodes feeling "pretty tired -- it was 2:30 in the morning -- but with a feeling of satisfaction to have reached that point."
 
The show has already marked quite a journey for Randall, whose part grew exponentially from the original pilot through its retooling into the comedy that launched in January. "At midseason, you never really know what's going to happen other than you're going to film a couple of episodes. It's still very tenuous." Indeed. As anticipated, the show suffered a big ratings drop from its move out of the Monday night comfort zone into the Wednesday night arena. They're still hoping for the best with "Out of Practice" and "Courting Alex" as an hour comedy block.

(With reports by Stephanie DuBois and Emily Feimster)