January 20, 2004
MAN OF SUBSTANCE?
To immerse himself in the mindset of a psychologically troubled man for the sci-fi thriller The Butterfly Effect, Ashton Kutcher, along with costar Amy Smart, cased a seedy corner of Vancouver, where the movie was shot. "We were doing character research, and there's a pocket of town down on Hastings Street that's kind of the junkie capital of North America," says Kutcher, 25. "We went down there in disguise, and hung out, just observing people." So, did anyone try to sell the actor drugs? Says Kutcher: "Yeah, but we just said, 'No, we're good. We've already got ours.' "

SCARLETT'S BIG DATE
Best actress double-nominee Scarlett Johansson already has her dress picked out for this month's Golden Globe Awards. "It's long ... it's soft, and, um, kind of sexy," she revealed during a taping of the Sharon Osbourne Show. As for who will be on her arm, "I would love to say that I had a hot date to go with, but I'm actually going with my mom," she admitted. "I know it's so dull and dorky, but my mom's the only other person that I can really go and, like, you know, talk with like, 'Oh my God, can you believe she's spilling out the sides?!' "

LOVE, NUGENT-STYLE
Ted Nugent and wife Shermane have big plans for their upcoming 15th wedding anniversary: "We're probably gonna kill something and cook it – probably a deer," says the 55-year-old rocker, who received 40 stitches in his leg after a freak chainsaw accident recently on the set of his VH1 reality series, Surviving Nugent. In the show, which debuts in April, seven contestants must live off the land and hunt game on a Texas farm, avoiding elimination, in hopes of winning the grand prize of $100,000. So how long would Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie last on the rocker's ranch? "If Mrs. Nugent was in charge, not but a few moments," he tells us with a laugh. "But if I were in charge they would last forever."

NOT YOUR AVERAGE JANE
It pays to work with Antonio Banderas. Just ask Jane Krakowski, who graduated from playing Ally McBeal's saucy secretary to winning a Tony portraying the mistress of Banderas's character in Nine on Broadway. Banderas gave all the female stars of the show "really beautiful golden, diamond necklaces," Krakowski tells PEOPLE.com. "He personally designed them and gave them to us opening night." Next up for Krakowski: She's slated for a series that's in development for CBS, and filming the remake of the 1966 drama Alfie with Jude Law. "Antonio Banderas for one half of the year and Jude Law for the start of the second half," Krakowski says, "it's been a good year!"

Written by: SEAN DALY
Reported by: SEAN DALY, and KEENAN MAYO

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