Alicia Silverstone steps in something deep

The "Clueless" star has a point to make, but what is it? Madonna uses her private jet to check out church: Wassup with that? Plus: Drew Barrymore, more on Robert Downey Jr. and O.J.'s latest fight.

Published December 7, 2000 5:52PM (EST)

Alicia Silverstone may have been beaten out by Shania Twain for PETA's sexiest vegetarian honors, but she hasn't been completely overlooked by the award-doling gods.

The "Clueless" star has just been honored by the U.K.'s Plain English Campaign, which hands out annual awards for grievous assaults on the English language. She's this year's "Foot in Mouth" winner, honoring the celebrity who makes the most baffling statement of the year.

Her winning utterance? "I think that 'Clueless' was very deep. I think it was deep in the way that it was very light. I think lightness has to come from a very deep place if it's true lightness."

"That quote left us all scratching our heads and that's exactly what the Foot in Mouth award is all about," Plain English Campaign spokesman John Lister told the BBC.

I suppose it all comes down to the terrible lightness of being deep.

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And lots of noisemakers, too

"I see it as a terrific party with a great door prize."

-- "Erin Brockovich" director Steven Soderbergh on the Oscars.

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Ave Madonna, will travel

Will Madonna's next performance be at her wedding in Scotland?

Details of the perma-pop star's allegedly impending nuptials are starting to emerge after Madonna and her fianci, Guy Ritchie, were spotted checking out Scotland's Dornoch Cathedral and nearby Skibo Castle.

According to Scotland's Daily Record, the couple zipped up to the Highlands in their private jet -- and made a beeline for the cathedral, where Madonna tested out the acoustics by singing "Ave Maria."

"It was like a scene from a romantic movie. It was really touching," one Material Girl witness told the paper.

The $2 million ceremony and reception are to take place Dec. 22, with the groom in a kilt honoring his Scottish roots and the bride clad in Versace. Their baby, Rocco, is expected to be christened at the same time.

Since couples intending to marry in Scotland must register two weeks in advance, we'll all know if the rumors are true soon enough. Scot's honor.

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I made a movie and all I got was this lousy T-shirt

"I made T-shirts for the crew at the end of the shoot. They said, 'Shove it up your crevasse.'"

-- Robin Tunney on her very thoughtful gift to the crew of "Vertical Limit," in which she plays a woman who gets stuck on a mountain in a deep crevasse.

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Still supremely disappointed

Regrets? Diana Ross has a few. But the diva says she's still nursing a grudge against the promoters of last summer's Diana Ross and the Supremes "reunion" tour for calling the whole thing off midtour.

Many blamed the abrupt cancellation last July on Ross' scuffle with former Supremes Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong over a stark disparity in pay -- and Ross' refusal to trim down her $20 million fee to beef up the comparatively paltry $3 million offered to Wilson and Birdsong. When these two Supremes balked, the producers brought in two "Supremes" who'd never before sung with Ross -- and audiences lost interest.

But backstage at Tuesday night's National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Heroes Awards, at which Ross was honored, she laid the blame squarely on the producers.

"Regrets? Yes!" she said when asked about the tour. "Shit, yes!

"You know, it was just devastating to be doing a wonderful tour that the fans wanted to see, and the promoters, because of financials and because they were selling their company, pulled the tour."

Her regrets, however, do not extend to her refusal to give her fellow Supremes a bigger cut of the action. Ain't no mountain high enough to get her to admit she might have been wrong there.

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Juicy bits

Those of you who think Drew Barrymore has class don't know how right you are. The actress is now the subject of a for-credit course at Oberlin College in Ohio. Taught by students once a week as part of the school's Experimental College, "The Life and Times of Drew Barrymore" will bring students together to watch a Barrymore movie and, afterward, discuss it. According to USA Today, for the final exam, students will be required to do a skit based on a scene from one of her flicks. Now, now, everyone can be one of Charlie's Angels and kick bad-guy ass.

Another Robert Downey Jr. downer. The actor reportedly checked himself into a Los Angeles hospital over the weekend seeking treatment for depression after his recent arrest on drug charges, for which he could face six years in jail. He was released from the hospital Sunday. Meanwhile, the actor's plans to star alongside Sharon Stone in "Basic Instinct 2" have reportedly been nixed following his arrest. Stone said she cried when she heard the news. But then again, that's hardly unexpected.

The driver who's alleging that O.J. Simpson ripped his $300 glasses off his face and gave him a nasty scratch in the process has a slightly different recollection of his scuffle with Simpson than the one Juice man recounted on TV earlier this week. Jeffrey Pattinson says that after Simpson's car cut him off and blew through a stop sign on Monday, he flashed his lights at the former football star to warn him that "there are children in this area." And he was startled when Simpson stopped, got out of his car and approached him. "So I blew the stop sign -- what are you going to do? Kill me and my kids?" Simpson reportedly screamed at him, as a young girl in Simpson's car yelled, "No, Daddy. No, Daddy." Chilling ...

But not quite as chilling as this: According to the New York Post, the British government has asked Princes William and Harry to plan their own funerals in an effort to avoid confusion should they meet a premature end. Officials have reportedly asked them to select their own guest list and musical play list. "The princes are sure to choose songs they know instead of moldy old funeral dirges," a "royal insider" apparently told the paper. "But the government would be mortified if they chose a Spice Girls tune." Even if that's what they want, what they really, really want?

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Miss something? Read yesterday's Nothing Personal.


By Amy Reiter

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