People

By Rebecca Winters Keegan

IN THE CARDS FOR HELEN: TWO QUEENS

Prepare for a lot of bowing before HELEN MIRREN this year. Maybe even some scraping. In HBO's mini-series Elizabeth I, debuting April 22, Mirren plays the passionate 16th century British monarch. Then, in Miramax's The Queen, due in theaters in the fall, Mirren trades stand-up collars and poufy gowns for pearl strands and tweed skirts for the part of Queen Elizabeth II in a portrait of the royals after Princess Diana's death. "Both Elizabeths share a single-minded sense of dedication--some might say sacrifice--to being a monarch," Mirren says. Elizabeth II has seen Elizabeth I, Mirren says. At a dinner party, the Queen told one of the mini-series' producers she enjoyed the program, so the producer offered to send a DVD. "The Queen said, 'Oh, we don't do DVDs. A video would be fine,'" Mirren says. We guess people who live in castles aren't early adapters.

FOR VIOLENT ACTS, PRESS 5

Is someone perhaps too attached to her favorite jeans? NAOMI CAMPBELL was charged with assault for allegedly hurling her cell phone at a housekeeper after, prosecutors say, the stormy supermodel accused the woman of stealing jeans Campbell wanted to wear on Oprah. This isn't the first time Campbell was accused of roughing up an employee. In 2000 she pleaded guilty to assaulting an assistant, and in 2003 a staff member sued, saying Campbell had thrown, yes, a phone at her. The model said the latest allegation is "completely untrue." Her next court date is June 27. We just hope the right suit is hanging in the closet.

HOW DO YOU LIKE THEM APPLES, JUDGE?

Two cultural icons are waging a courtroom battle over a fruit. Apple Corps, the Beatles' record label, wants Apple Computer to remove its bitten-apple logo from its iTunes music store. A lawyer for Apple Corps, which is co-owned by Paul McCartney, RINGO STARR, George Harrison's estate and Yoko Ono, downloaded a Coldplay song from iTunes to show a London judge how Apple Computer uses its logo to sell music, in violation, the lawyer said, of a 1991 agreement that it would stay out of the music business. Apple Computer's lawyer responded that "even a moron in a hurry" could distinguish between the online music store and a record label like Apple Corps, with its Granny Smith logo. Thankfully no one confused the issue by bringing up Coldplay singer Chris Martin's baby daughter, named, of course, Apple.

Q&A REBECCA ROMIJN

This spring Rebecca Romijn plays a news reporter in the WB's Pepper Dennis and a shape shifter in X-Men: The Last Stand

You watched a lot of news for this TV show. Any insights? The smaller the market, the bigger the hair. One local news reporter was doing a broadcast from a moving roller coaster. On the hour every hour, she screamed her report out. Was it news? I don't know.

Your parents were hippies. What did they think of your becoming a model? I left U.C. Santa Cruz to go to Paris. At school, people were partying, wasting time. I learned more the first five days I was in Paris than I did in a year at Santa Cruz.

What can you tell me about the new X-Men movie? I'm covered in blue paint again. And I suffer a heartbreak.

Are you wedding planning with your fiance, actor Jerry O'Connell? There's no planning going on, but it's definitely gonna be this year, something small and private.

Don't you live in an old brothel? Yes. It's called Wagon Wheel Ranch. Jerry and I took a trip to Napa last year. When we got back, he put in 800 grapevines. Within a couple years, we'll start producing our own Cabernet, Wagon Wheel Wine. Our website will be www.www.com

It sounds as if you domesticated him. Yes, Jerry was quite a bachelor when we met. There was nowhere to put your cocktail down in his place. Just the Ping-Pong table.