John Michael Higgins 'Annoying' as Jennifer Aniston's Brother in 'The Break Up'

After recent reports that Steve Carell badly sprained his ankle while filming "Evan Almighty," his co-star John Michael Higgins tells us, "He's totally fine.

Stealing Scenes in 'The Break Up'

"I think it was a slow news day because the story spread like wildfire. He twisted his ankle, but he was walking on it shortly after. He barely missed 10 minutes of work." Higgins goes on, adding with a laugh, "I don't know why that was such an appealing story, unless everyone secretly wants to see Steve sprain his ankle."

Filming is taking place in Richmond, Va., and Higgins says the movie -- about a congressman who is told by God to build an ark -- has sparked excitement around the community. "The locals are completely flabbergasted. This huge circus rolled into town and built an ark, so we have a lot of lookie-loos all day. We also have a lot of really extraordinary wild animals in the movie, so we have handlers and animals everywhere. We get all kinds of visitors on set wanting to take pictures, but we're happy to have them."

In the meantime, Higgins can be seen stealing the spotlight as Jennifer Aniston's a cappella-singing brother in "The Breakup," which (opened on Friday.)

"I'm often tapped to play a range of silly characters, but this character is particularly annoying," claims Higgins, known to most for his work in Christopher Guest films. "I've often found that in my personal life I sing loudly in my friends' faces and try to get them to sing with me, so unfortunately, this is very close to my own character."

ON THE PERSONAL SIDE:

Donald Faison predicts that when his "Scrubs" character, Dr. Turk, and Nurse Carla (Judy Reyes) finally do have that baby they're expecting, "Turk is going to be the best father in the world." Why is that? "Because Turk is going to play good cop … Carla is always going to have to play bad cop, because if Turk has to play bad cop, he'll break." He adds, "Whether it's a boy or a girl, the baby's going to roll with Turk and J.D. (his best buddy, Dr. Dorian, played by Zach Braff) everywhere. It'll be their third Musketeer."

In real life, Faison is the father of four -- "my oldest is 9, I have twins, 7, and a 4-year-old" -- and he admits, "sometimes I'm bad cop. But I prefer to be good cop. Good cop is a lot more fun. I like to discipline, I guess, when it's necessary, but I can't yell at my children and watch them cry. I can't do it! I break down. Even when they know they're wrong and they shouldn't be doing something, I gotta send them to their room. I can't see them crying."

THE BIG SCREEN SCENE:

Taking on the portrayal of the great Orson Welles in the upcoming indie film "Fade to Black," with Diego Luna and Christopher Walken, was a bit intimidating, admits Danny Huston.

"I think it was Marlene Dietrich who said, 'One should cross oneself before even mentioning his name,'" quips Huston -- whose own father, John, was also a legendary filmmaker, of course. He adds, "But what did liberate me was the John Sayles script. It's filled with trickery, and when I understood that, it gave me a sort of lightness in my approach rather than being bogged down by the weight of the genius (of Welles)." As the story unfolds, says Huston, "Orson Welles has broken up with Rita Hayworth and arrives slightly disgruntled in post-war Rome to work on a film. There's a murder on the set, and he starts investigating. It turns into a third man thriller … The whole thing is really a lie, all smoke and mirrors. It's very Wellesian in spirit."

ANOTHER GENERATION:

Amanda Bynes has gotten attention recently for eye-catching jewelry like the long necklace of green stones and gold that she wore to the recent premiere of "The Break-Up." Turns out, Bynes' mother, Lynn, is dabbling in design. "She's started to make jewelry," informs the actress, who'd love to see her mom expand into business, possibly on the Internet. "The fact that people are being nice about it, maybe she will."

(With reports by Stephanie DuBois and Emily Feimster)