HEALTH WATCH Ben Affleck is the latest celebrity to check himself into alcohol rehab, following such stars as Paula Poundstone and Metallica's James Hetfield. Affleck's publicist released a statement Friday that the ''Pearl Harbor'' star had entered rehab three days earlier. ''Ben is a self-aware and smart man who has decided that a fuller life awaits him without alcohol,'' publicist David Pollick said. ''He has chosen to seek out professional assistance and is committed to traveling a healthier road with the support of his family, friends and fans.'' Affleck has a history of alcoholism in his family; he has blamed his father's drinking for the breakup of his parents' marriage. Tim Affleck, now sober, is himself a California rehab worker who once counseled Robert Downey Jr. The younger Affleck is being treated at Promises in Malibu, the same clinic where Poundstone and Downey are staying. ''Pretty soon the tour buses will be up here,'' one neighbor complained to the New York Post....
Citing laryngitis, Madonna canceled Friday night's concert at New Jersey's Meadowlands, angering thousands of fans by refusing to reschedule the concert, offering only to refund tickets. She is expected to perform Tuesday in Boston as scheduled....
Niki Taylor has been rehospitalized for an infection related to the injuries she suffered in a near fatal car crash in April. She was hospitalized for nearly two months after Atlanta surgeons repaired extensive liver damage sustained in the crash, in which she was a passenger. The infection marks the supermodel's second setback since her release into a private physical therapy program; in early July, she was readmitted so doctors could drain fluid from her liver. Since Tuesday, she's been at Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, Fla., near her home, and is said to be in stable condition....
Mira Sorvino denied a People magazine story that she and now ailing Mariah Carey got into a physical fight on the set of their upcoming film ''Wisegirls.'' The story quoted producer Billy Blake as saying that during the first week of filming, the two stars wrestled on the floor, and Carey threw a salt shaker at Sorvino. Blake issued a statement denying having witnessed any altercation, since he wasn't on the set that day, but People stood by its story, saying Blake had told the magazine that eight eyewitnesses had phoned him about the alleged incedent. For her part, Sorvino denounced the article as ''irresponsible journalism.'' While she admitted ''words were exchanged,'' she said in a statement, ''No physical fight ever occurred between us, and the idea is as insulting as it is laughable. We finished the film dancing at an impromptu wrap party in high spirits and exchanged gifts and warmest goodbyes. My heart goes out to her, and I am praying for her speedy recovery.'' Carey remains under psychiatric care at a cottage on the 60 acre grounds of Silver Hill Hospital in New Canaan, Conn., where she checked herself in nearly two weeks ago, citing exhaustion.
MATRIMONIAL BONDS For their wedding on Saturday, Pierce Brosnan and Keely Shaye Smith took a lesson -- and a security team -- from Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston's wedding last year. The Irish actor and his bride sold the rights to photograph their wedding to England's Hello magazine for a reported $1 million, and security guards successfully prevented competing paparazzi from getting a lens in edgewise. The Catholic ceremony took place at 800-year-old Ballintubber Abbey in County Mayo, Ireland. Hundreds of locals and tourists waited outside, but all they got to see was Brosnan's hand waving from the window of his Mercedes, license plate 00MO7 (''MO'' for Mayo), and nothing of Smith in her Richard Tyler gown, as she arrived in a Rolls-Royce. After the ceremony, the couple celebrated at a reception at Ashford Castle, 20 miles away, with entertainment by the Chieftains, who took a break from their U.S. tour to perform for the couple. Brosnan, 49, and Smith, 36, have two sons, 4-year-old Dylan, and 6-month-old Paris, who was christened at the abbey on the eve of the wedding. It's the second marriage for Brosnan, whose first wife, Cassandra, died of ovarian cancer in 1990.
Speaking of the Pitts, remember the ''Friends'' episode where the gang discussed which celebrity they would permit each other to have a fling with? Apparently, Aniston has such an agreement in real life with Pitt. Her choice is Aerosmith's Steven Tyler. ''He is the one person that Brad says I can have if the opportunity presents itself,'' she tells Elle magazine. ''I don't know how old the man is, but he's phenomenal, that energy.'' (He's 53, Jen.) The deal is one sided, though. Asked with whom Pitt is allowed to break his marriage vows, she says, ''That never comes up.''
LEGAL BRIEFS Robert Iler has been indicted on felony second-degree robbery charges for his alleged role in a mugging last month in New York City. At a grand jury hearing on Friday, the 19-year-old female friend who was supposed to be the ''Sopranos'' star's alibi failed to corroborate his story that he was walking with her at the time of the robbery, the New York Post reports. She said he was with his three friends, all of whom, like Iler, have pleaded innocent. If convicted, the 16-year-old could face up to 15 years in jail.
LECTER'S LODGE Now Anthony Hopkins can have as many friends for dinner as he likes. He just bought a 4,000 square foot house on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean for $3.8 million, the Los Angeles Times reports. The home, built in the 1950s, has 5 bedrooms, a swimming pool, a fireplace, a spa, and a sauna. Fittingly, the 62-year-old ''Hannibal'' star apparently doesn't want to make himself too easy to find; the Times would say only that the house was somewhere in the Los Angeles area.
REEL DEALS Rapper turned actor Pras, who's done both comedy (''Mystery Men'') and action (''Turn It Up''), will do both in ''Indiana Jackson,'' which he successfully pitched to Disney. Pras will earn six figures to coproduce and star in the movie as a playboy who travels to Africa to retrieve a lost artifact. Jackson will be accompanied by a sidekick, Precious Stone, played by an actress yet to be cast. Tyger Williams (''Menace II Society'') will write the screenplay....
With the success of DreamWorks' ''Shrek,'' Universal is jumping on the ''children's book into computer animated feature'' bandwagon in a big way. Last week, producer Brian Grazer announced he would adapt ''Curious George'' as a computer animated movie instead of live action. Now, Tom Hanks is set to coproduce and possibly voice one of the characters in a computer animated version of Maurice Sendak's bedtime monster classic ''Where the Wild Things Are.'' Former Disney animator Eric Goldberg, who codirected ''Pocahontas,'' will direct....
''Gladiator'''s Djimon Hounsou will costar in ''East of Harlem,'' the semiautobiographical drama from Irish writer/ director Jim Sheridan (''In the Name of the Father''). He'll play a Harlem artist who befriends an Irish immigrant (Paddy Considine) who moves to New York. Shooting begins later this month.
TUBE TALK If Denis Leary can do it, why not fellow comic monologuist/ movie character actor John Leguizamo? The Emmy winning HBO regular has signed a deal with CBS to develop a cop drama -- ''with some humor in it,'' Leguizamo tells the Hollywood Reporter -- for the 2002 season. The seven figure deal may be one of the richest ever for a Latino actor.
Other film actors plotting a return to the small screen next year are Oliver Platt and Geena Davis, even though each starred in a series last season that was quickly canceled. After the demise of Platt's ''Deadline,'' last fall, however, he got another chance to shine as a recurring character on several episodes of ''The West Wing,'' for which he has been nominated for an Emmy. Now he has a deal with CBS to develop a series in 2002, though he has yet to choose a premise or writers. Davis is also meeting with network executives who, she must hope, won't hold her to blame for ''The Geena Davis Show.'' And CBS has even signed a deal with Nathan Lane, whose last TV series was 1998's short lived ''Encore! Encore!'' The deal allows CBS first crack at any series Lane develops once he leaves the Broadway storming ''The Producers'' next year....
ABC has greenlit a TV movie and possible pilot called ''Extreme Team,'' starring Bai Ling (''Anna and the King'') and Eric Mabius (''The Crow: Salvation'') as members of a ''Mission: Impossible'' -like team of government agents who are all skilled in extreme sports. What, no Dan Cortese?
