In this article: Doug Jones: meet the Silver Surfer Birthdays Last week's Who's News Also: Extra! More Doug Jones Ask Lorrie Lynch a question about a celeb!

I thought Hollywood wanted to make a movie out of Pat Conroy's best seller "Beach Music" with Brad Pitt starring in it. I remember reading that a screenplay was finished. What happened?
V.J. Redding, Gilbert, Ariz.

Pitt's interest in Beach Music has abated, says producer Alan Ladd Jr., who now is hawking Robert Schenkkan's script around Hollywood. And Conroy's literary agent, Marly Rusoff, says the author's 2003 memoir, "My Losing Season," also is in "development hell." Pitt had optioned that book to co-produce with Jennifer Aniston and producer Brad Grey, but he's no longer partnered with either of them. "It's the craziest thing ..." Rusoff says. "You don't know who's on first or who's on second."

When I see young Dakota Fanning doing the press junkets all by herself, I wonder where her parents are. It's not often that the parents of child stars take a back seat.
S. Andrew, New York City

"Dakota's parents are extremely supportive of her career," Fanning's publicist tells us. "Although they are involved in all aspects of her profession, they prefer not to be in the limelight. One parent is with Dakota, 13, at various events she attends, whether it be a press junket, premiere, a photo shoot." Joy and Steve Fanning provide similar support for their younger daughter, Elle, 9, also an actress. Elle has played a younger version of Dakota in "I Am Sam" and the TV miniseries "Taken." Neither parent was involved in showbiz back in Conyers, Ga., where the family lived until moving to L.A. when Dakota's acting career took off.

Some time ago I thought I saw Russell Crowe singing with a band on "The Tonight Show." Was I wrong? Or does he really sing?
Marge Little, Eau Claire, Wis.

You were right. Crowe, a longtime rocker, has said, "My music is from the heart." His first band was 30 Odd Foot of Grunts; his newest is the Ordinary Fear of God. It's not religious, he has said. The new band has the same initials as the old, which saved him from buying new labels and T-shirts for the crew.

Who are the guys playing my favorite metrosexual cavemen on the Geico commercials? What else might we have seen them in?
Richard Johanson, Hauppauge, N.Y.

Geico won't confirm their cavemen's identities because doing so would acknowledge that they aren't real. Ya think? However, two of the Neanderthals are reported to be Jeff Daniel Phillips and Ben Weber. Phillips has some small, forgettable TV roles to his credit. Weber had guest spots on "Sex and the City" and "The West Wing." A third caveman, John Lehr, also has lots of TV experience. ABC has inexplicably ordered a cavemen pilot to be written by Joe Lawson, who helped create the ads. It looks like that Geico gecko should get some new representation.

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There are lots of reasons to see the Oscar-winning "Pan's Labyrinth," on DVD Tuesday, but actor Doug Jones supplies the coolest ones as both Pan and the Pale Man. "I'm glad I spent more time in the Pan makeup, because in the Pale Man I got a little headachy," he admits of the five-hour procedures. To save time, Jones wore a lot of the makeup back to his hotel, but didn't tell director Guillermo del Toro. "He feels responsible for us," says Jones, 46. "So if he knew I was wearing an entire glued-on torso and arms back to my hotel and being wrapped in Saran wrap so I didn't stick to the sheets, he would have felt guilty." Jones plays the Silver Surfer in next month's "Fantastic Four" sequel. On set, Jones and Michael Chiklis, who plays The Thing, bonded over their elaborate characters. "He called me his 'brother under rubber.' "

Read more of our interview with Jones.

Charlotte Church's singing has brought me to tears, literally. I believe she has one of the world's truly great voices, but now she seems to have vanished.
Charles L. Wood, Durham, N.C.

Young Charlotte, whose first CD, "Voice of an Angel," came out when she was 12, is now, at age 21, obviously expecting, she and Gavin Henson, her rugby player boyfriend, announced her pregnancy in March. If you want to keep up on Charlotte, then check out her blog, which also features video and clips from her TV show in England. It's at charlottechurch.com.

What can you tell me about the actor who plays Dr. Chase on the Fox medical drama House? I like his accent.
S. Williams, Columbus, Ohio

The accent's Australian, and actor Jesse Spencer's decision to move to the States proved fortuitous. He met House castmate Jennifer Morrison, to whom he's engaged. His dad and three sibs are real-life doctors. Spencer, 28, plays violin, guitar and piano.

I was impressed with Paul Dano in "Little Miss Sunshine." Does he have a girlfriend?
Rachel Clokey, Essex, Vt.

Sorry, Rachel. Dano, 22, is spoken for. "I have a girlfriend, who I have been dating for quite some time," he says via e-mail. "She is my sanity in much of the silliness that comes with being an actor." If that is true, then she must be working overtime, because Dano has a batch of films coming this year and into 2008.

Contributing: Bart Mills, Nancy Mills, Jon Tollestrup

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BIRTHDAYS
May 13: Darius Rucker, 41; Dennis Rodman, 46
May 14: Cate Blanchett, 38; George Lucas, 63
May 15: Jamie-Lynn Sigler, 26; David Krumholtz, 29; Emmitt Smith, 38
May 16: Tori Spelling, 34; David Boreanaz, 38; Janet Jackson, 41; Pierce Brosnan, 54
May 17: Bob Saget, 51; Bill Paxton, 52; Dennis Hopper, 71
May 18: Tina Fey, 37; George Strait, 55; Reggie Jackson, 61
May 19: Pete Townshend, 62

Ask Lorrie Lynch a question about a celeb!