People: Jul. 31, 2006

Q&A COURTENEY COX ARQUETTE

This summer, former Friend Courteney Cox Arquette voices a cow in Barnyard and plays a geeky scientist in Zoom.

Did you deliberately make two family movies back to back? No, Barnyard I did when I was breast-feeding. I also did a cameo then in The Longest Yard. Some people are disappointed when they see that parts of me have gone back to their original size now.

In Dirt, an upcoming FX show, you play a tabloid editor. Is this revenge against the gossip industry? It was inspired by an actual incident. When I was pregnant, I was driving, and paparazzi were tailgating me. I foolishly tried to outrun them. I was hormonal. [It made me think] there has got to be something we can do on the paparazzi.

What do you like about producing? I like control. Finding projects. Some of the money stuff I’m not nuts about. When you have to talk about money, people get weird.

Your husband David Arquette just finished writing and directing his first film. Did you help? It’s a political horror film called The Tripper. It’s gory and irreverent. [Actor] Thomas Jane, my brother-in-law, and I edited it. We made David leave the room.

Your office is freakishly neat and David’s is, well, not. Walking from his office into mine feels like walking from a snowstorm to a beach. There’s not a room in the world big enough for all his stuff, so he has a storage unit. I don’t understand the storage unit. David is the opposite of me. We probably met for major reasons. I’m supposed to become more like him, and he’s supposed to become more like me. But I still don’t like storage.

AND AFTER THE SHOW …

A perk of owning a media empire is that you can use it to squash pesky rumors about your sexuality. In the August issue of O, which is about friendship, OPRAH WINFREY, right, and her best friend, O editor GAYLE KING, far right, responded to gossip that they share more than aha moments. “I understand why people think we’re gay,” says the talk-show host. “I get why people have to label it–how can you be this close without it being sexual?” So that’s over, and now everyone can go back to not thinking about Oprah in that way again.

TOUR DE FORCE

Just when Americans thought it was safe to ignore the Tour de France, another scrappy U.S. cyclist and medical marvel has ridden into the breach left by Lance Armstrong. Pedaling with a bum hip, FLOYD LANDIS, 30, a Mennonite raised in Pennsylvania, didn’t seem like the guy to bet on, especially after he dealt with a devastating one-day drop from first place to 11th (because of a loss of energy, known as a “bonk”) by having a beer. It must have been a stout, because Landis, who suffers from a degenerative hip condition, returned the next day to set a blistering pace through the Alps, gaining third place and ultimately the yellow jersey that signifies first place in the world’s most grueling sports event. “He went from the penthouse to the outhouse to the moon,” said his coach, Robbie Ventura. The new superstar will celebrate with hip-replacement surgery. And we skip the gym because our back kind of hurts?

SCREEN TEST

Find your celebrity intelligence quotient with this quiz of the latest breakups, restraining orders and middle-age road trips.

1) CHRISTIE BRINKLEY, 52, SPLIT FROM ARCHITECT PETER COOK, 47, BECAUSE:

A) He carried on an affair with a teenager he met in a toy store B) He refused to stop singing Uptown Girl at karaoke night C) He flies into a jealous rage when her Total Gym infomercial with Chuck Norris comes on TV D) If 50 is the new 40, then Cook is more interested in the new 10

2) JOHN CUSACK OBTAINED A RESTRAINING ORDER AGAINST A HOMELESS WOMAN BECAUSE SHE:

A) Insisted on holding a boom box blaring In Your Eyes outside his bedroom window at night B) Sent letters over his fence in bags with rocks and screwdrivers inside C) Kept asking him to explain his character’s motivation in Con Air D) Is really Jack Black in tights promoting Nacho Libre door to door

3) TOM HANKS, DENNIS MILLER AND RON HOWARD RENTED A BUS AND TOOK A ROAD TRIP TOGETHER TO:

A) Celebrate Hanks’ 50th birthday by visiting major league ballparks B) Celebrate Hanks’ 50th birthday by finding Meg Ryan C) Get their kicks on Route 66 D) Film The Da Vinci Code 2: Electric Boogaloo

ANSWERS: 1) A, 2) B, 3) A