PASSAGES: Billy Bob's Dragon Phobia

By Rachel F. Elson

Wednesday March 26, 2003 04:46 PM EST

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TRANSFIXED: You'd think a guy like Billy Bob Thornton wouldn't be afraid of much -- but you'd be wrong. Along with a few other phobias, his biggest fear is apparently the komodo dragon, according to the New York Post, which got a sneak peek at Thornton's new Playboy interview. "Komodo dragons have this horribly toxic bacteria in their mouths," Thornton, 48, tells the original lad mag. "When they bite you, you go blind. Then they all gather around you and watch you die like they are watching (bleeping) television. They don't eat you right away."

MIRED: Rapper Fabolous has managed to get himself arrested for the third time this year -- his second arrest on a gun charge, reports Newsday. The rapper was supposed to perform at New York's Webster Hall late Sunday night, but he and his entourage pulled a 180 at a metal detector at the club's entrance, and a bouncer watched the group put a gun into their van. The bouncer then rang the cops, according to a police report. Fabolous, 25 (real name: John Jackson), was one of five people charged with second-degree weapons possession. Earlier this year, the rapper was arrested twice within 24 hours, first for a moving violation and then on a weapons charge.

REMIXED: The off-again, on-again romance between rapper Jay-Z and Destiny's Child star Beyoncé Knowles appears to be back in action, at least according to the New York Post. The couple -- earlier said to be engaged, but on the outs late last year -- were seen over the weekend looking like lovebirds at Downtown Cipriani in New York. No word on what exactly that means.

INSPIRED: Actor James Woods says he went with a slight lisp when deciding how to play popular New York ex-mayor Rudolph Giuliani for a new USA Network biopic, which airs Sunday night. "You have to make strategic -- and sometimes tactical -- decisions about how you're going to portray (a person)," Woods, 63, tells AP Radio. Ultimately, the actor says, he "decided to go for the spirit of the character, given the dramatic circumstances of his life." The new flick, "Rudy," tracks Giuliani's response to the Sept. 11 attacks and his battle with prostate cancer.

RETIRED: Ryan Seacrest may be leaving his role as "American Idol" host for the talk-show circuit. Joining new gabfesters Sharon Osbourne and Ellen DeGeneres, Seacrest has signed on with Twentieth Television to do a half-hour syndicated talk show, according to The Hollywood Reporter. That should fill out what is left of Seacrest's free time; the "Idol" chatter also moonlights as a DJ on L.A.'s Star 98.7 FM, where he apparently just signed a contract extension that runs through 2005. He also is the regular substitute host for the "Rick Dees in the Morning" show.