Showbiz: Britney's mother knows best

Britney Spears has toned down her hot new video because her mother thought some scenes were too raunchy.

During the promotion for her single Don't Let Me Be the Last to Know, Spears can be seen writhing around a beach with a male model, Bryce Durand, wearing only denim hot pants and a skimpy bikini top.

But schoolteacher Lynne Spears was unhappy with her daughter's sex-siren image and outraged by her cavorting in the video - so she demanded that some scenes be cut.

The Louisiana-bred Baptist star has granted her mother's wishes. Some of the most passionate moments have hit the cutting-room floor.

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Camryn Manheim says she'll never shy away from her size. "I proudly say I'm a size 24," Manheim says in Marie Claire magazine, in which she and the other women who star in legal drama The Practice discuss their body images.

Manheim says she exercises "only if I can beat somebody," and no way does she diet. "I could eat just legumes, but I really, really don't want a life without tiramisu," said the actress, who turns 40 next week.

"Besides, I feel healthy as a horse. Trust me - if you were in harm's way, you'd want me to be there. I'm the strongest, most agile person - and the most willing to get my hands dirty to save you."

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Pop star and actress Jennifer Lopez is to turn her hand to fashion designing.

The Latino star is to follow the lead of ex-boyfriend Sean Puff Daddy Combs, who is on trial in New York on charges of gun possession and bribery. Lopez has signed a deal with Andy Hilfiger, younger brother of designer Tommy Hilfiger, to create her own clothing line.

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Liza Minnelli is anxiously awaiting hip and back surgery that she hopes will enable her to walk again, lose weight and re-energise her stalled career.

In an interview with the New York Post from hospital, Minnelli said she is eager to go under the knife. "I've been in and out of a wheelchair. But I feel healthy. I feel like a bloody ox."

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Peter and Bobby Farrelly think there's just something about the Three Stooges.

The sibling writer-directors behind There's Something About Mary and Dumb & Dumber said they plan to make a movie based on the slapstick characters of Larry, Moe and Curly.

The film won't be a remake of any particular Stooges' story, but will be an original idea cooked up by the brothers. Shaggy-haired Larry Fine, belligerent Moe Howard and his skinhead brother, Jerome "Curly" Howard, are the best-known performers of the comedy act which went from vaudeville stages to Hollywood in the 30s.

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Steven Spielberg and George Lucas said the media have exaggerated the possibility of actors being replaced by digital creations in the future.

"It is a non-issue," Spielberg said. "It is only the typical melodrama the press loves to deal with," Lucas said.

But Spielberg indicated that if he were making ET: The Extra-Terrestrial today, he probably wouldn't use an elaborate puppet, instead opting for a digitally rendered creature.

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Catherine Zeta-Jones' costume from The Mask of Zorro. Harrison Ford's bullwhip from the Indiana Jones movies. Mel Gibson's sword from Braveheart.

These were some of the items on display at Sotheby's for an upcoming auction to benefit millions of African children fighting the Aids virus.

Some celebrities "have donated items they intended to keep forever," said actor Liam Neeson, who started Movie Action for Children through the UN Children's Fund.

- NZPA