'Underworld: Awakening': Kate Beckinsale likes it skin-tight

The "Underworld" franchise hit theaters nearly a decade ago, in 2003, and though its star, Kate Beckinsale, is now 38, she's continued to play an ageless vampire, most recently in "Underworld: Awakening," which premiered Thursday.

As the vampire Selene, she’s still kicking butt in a skin-tight leather costume, which may not seem the easiest task in an action- and stunt-filled movie. "Actually, it’s a costume I really liked," Beckinsale revealed at the film's Grauman's Chinese Theatre premiere.

She also told the Insider recently, "I remember the first movie I did, I was very intimidated by the costume. I trust it now. Actually, it gives you a little bit of help, if anything."

PICTURES: 'Underworld: Awakening' red carpet arrivals

"Underworld: Awakening" features some characters new to the franchise, played by "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" young star India Eisley and Michael Ealy, who with "Awakening" gets to show off his action chops for the first time since the Paul Walker-starring "Takers." Both actors shared positive experiences from working with Beckinsale.

"She's very funny, and she knows how to have fun on set between takes, and I think that's something that's important with something that's obviously dark," Eisley told Ministry of Gossip.

Ealy told reporters, "Working with Kate is as fun as it is to hang out with her. She's so ..." — the actor glanced sideways at his publicist before deciding how to word his answer, which fell just on the other side of publishable — "[very] cool."

“Underworld: Awakening,” the fourth film in the vampires-versus-lycans series, opens in theaters Friday and is expected to sink its teeth deep into this weekend’s box office sales.

RELATED:

Cannes red carpet: Kate Beckinsale, feel free to judge us

Kate Beckinsale's action chops in 'Underworld: Awakening'

Golden Globes 2012: Kate Beckinsale presents with Seth Rogen

— Emily Rome

Photo: Kate Beckinsale at the world premiere of "Underworld: Awakening." Credit: Matt Sayles / Associated Press.

Lady Gaga is losing her hair -- but what does it mean?

This just in from the Department of Celebrity Schadenfreude: Lady Gaga is losing her hair.

We're not talking about her amazing Harajuku-via-Miss Piggy collection of hairpieces; those are pretty hard to miss. No, we speak of Ms. Gaga's real live strands, which, apparently, have been taking their leave, en masse, from the artist's head.

And for the record: No, Gaga was not born this way.

The singer recently told People magazine that she occasionally must “get a chemical haircut because my blond hair is falling out." In other words: Bleach plus hair equals a bad coif romance for the Lady.

But get this: When it comes to female celebrity hair loss, she's not alone. Plenty of other famous women have been flashing bald spots, and these gals can't blame bleach for their woes. Kate Beckinsale has been photographed with a bare patch on the back of her pate. Naomi Campbell flashed some serious cranial deforestation during a shoot last year. A similar plight has, on at least one sad occasion, befallen Britney Spears. And poor Fergie; her center part is beginning to resemble Malibu Canyon.

With the thousands that studios and record labels spend on their talent (and it is the suits, not the stars, who usually pay for this stuff), you'd think that some hair guru would be on 24-7 standby in case of follicular homicide. But apparently not.

You might also be tempted to assume that this baldness was caused by some naughty star behavior. (We sure wanted to assume as much.) Sure, Hollywood is filled with anorexia, drug use and nasty weaves, all of which can cause hair to fall out.

Cannes red carpet: Kate Beckinsale, feel free to judge us

Kate Beckinsale is a jury member at the Cannes Film Festival, and the Ministry is delighted, just delighted — mostly because it gives us an excuse to run this picture of her rocking a movie-star moment on her way into the premiere of "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" on Friday in France.

"I made sure I was familiar with the directors and their previous work," Beckinsale told New York magazine. "I didn’t want to go in as a complete neophyte."

Tim Burton is president of the festival's 2010 feature-films jury, which also includes Benicio del Toro.

Other celebs hitting the red carpet, in addition to members of the "Money Never Sleeps" cast, included Michelle Yeoh, Ellen Barkin, Camilla Belle, George Lucas, Diane Lane, Gael Garcia Bernal, Naomi Campbell, Martin Scorsese and Salma Hayek with hubby Francois Pinault. 

"Money Never Sleeps," incidentally, is an out-of-competition film, so Beckinsale can simply enjoy her night at the movies.

[To see more pics from Cannes, click here.]

-- Christie D'Zurilla

Photo: Actress and jury member Kate Beckinsale arrives for the screening of "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps." Credit: Anne-Christine Poujoulat / AFP / Getty Images. 

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PREACH IT! Actually, don’t preach it. Don’t say anything, ladies. It's not really sexy.

Attention, Hollywood babes: Stop talking, stay out of the spotlight and you just might find yourself one of the world’s most desirable women! Wouldn’t that be exciting?

Don’t answer that. That’s talking.

According to a spanking-new poll of the 99 most desirable women -- released by the website AskMen.com -- the world’s best girlfriend or wife material comes in the form of an actress named Emmanuelle Chriqui. No. 2 on the list is woman named Marisa Miller. No. 4? Alessandra Ambrosio. Haven’t heard of them? Exactly.

"[Chriqui] is not out there making a spectacle of herself, which could sully her image," AskMen.com editor in chief James Bassil told Reuters. "A lot of the behavior we see in the media is not the kind of behavior that you want to see in a girlfriend or wife. You can get over-saturation, and we don't want to see their real and sometimes stained and depressed sides of their lives."

There’s more.

“All the top women we see in this list are pretty well behaved and respectable women. We don't see a lot of them parading around in public unless it is in the framework of their careers," Bassil said.

Fact: Ambrosio and Miller are Victoria’s Secret models. So it’s perfectly OK for them to “parade around” in their underwear and gigantic angel wings. That doesn’t count as making a spectacle of oneself. It’s not OK, however, for these ladies to command much attention beyond that.

Star-spotting: 25 offbeat places to impress the guests

The turkey was delicious, the mashed potatoes rich and creamy, and that pumpkin pie -- well, nobody threw it at Grandma, even after she decided to tell everyone they needed a haircut.

So it's Friday, and you're facing the brutal truth: The relatives aren't going home any time soon. They're up and raring to go, they've already done Disneyland and the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and the "Law & Order" marathon can go on only so long before someone takes the law into his or her own hands. Now what?



[Updated on Feb. 25, 2010: Sorry for the inconvenience -- because of a technical problem with our photo gallery, the link below and the photo gallery link to the right no longer work. The star-spotting list is no longer available.]

Fear not, the Ministry is here to help. 

We have a list (in the form of a photo gallery) of a few off-the-beaten-track sites celebrities have been known to frequent.

We can't guarantee you'll see George Clooney or Megan Fox during your trek, but we can offer some roll-of-the-dice spots where we've caught glimpses of the stars.

 Check it out -- and leave us a comment sharing your favorite spot to see celebrities.

-- Lisa Fung, Matt Donnelly, Scott Sandell, Christie D'Zurilla

Photo: The Hollywood Walk of Fame -- been there, done that? Click on the photo gallery at right for other potential star-spotting options. Credit: Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times

Follow the Ministry of Gossip on Facebook and Twitter (we're @LATcelebs).

Arty or party? The stars divide at MOCA's 30th birthday

The transformative power of art has nothing on the transformative power of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie -- who turned L.A.'s Museum of Contemporary Art's 30th anniversary gala into a contender for social event of the decade Saturday night.

MOCA trustees and tons of bold names stepped out for shmoozing and a much-hyped performance art piece from Francesco Vezzoli, the center of which was Lady Gaga unveiling her new single "Speechless."

We were mostly speechless over the sheer star presence, like at Grey Goose vodka's pre-ceremony cocktail hour -- where Guy Ritchie worked the room solo swilling a martini, French Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld pouted and Kate Beckinsale allowed passers-by to watch as she radiated insane beauty.

Below the bash's elevated bar was the heavily curated anniversary art collection, which required, before viewing, that any booze be checked at the door. Quelle horreur!

The brave names ditching their bubbly for art's sake: Chloe Sevigny, Eva Mendes, Zoe Saldana, Diablo Cody, Neil Patrick Harris and James Franco.

Those who preferred to stay on the surface to sip?