Catherine Zeta-Jones wants to talk to dead people.The “Mask of Zorro” actress says she was thrilled when a psychic was brought in to rehearsals on her new movie “Death Defying Acts” because she wishes she could speak to some of her relatives who have passed away.

Catherine said: “I was fascinated by the psychic. I wanted to know what it felt like when you’re channeling or doing whatever it takes to get to that state of mind, so he changed my perspective on it.”

“I would love to be able to contact people on the other side. If I could speak to my grandmother tonight, I’d be doing it. So I do believe.”

“Death Defying Acts,” a biopic of illusionist Harry Houdini, has flopped at the US box office, taking just $3,560 in its only weekend of showing.

However, Catherine, 38, insists she isn’t worried about it damaging her career.

She added: “I haven’t actually reached my sexiest point yet. I’m not going to be playing a 19-year-old but I’m not going to be playing old grannies any time soon.”

A host of stars including newly weds Jay-Z and Beyonce Knowles turned out to see the Joe Calzaghe-Bernard Hopkins fight in Las Vegas in the early hours of the morning.

Arnold Schwarzenegger also took a break from governing California to attend the light heavyweight bout at the Thomas & Mack Center.

However, Welshman Calzaghe had some home celeb support from actress Catherine Zeta-Jones, with Tom Jones also performing before the main event.

Whether that was what saw Joe through in his time of need is debatable – as was the result.

The undefeated champion was named a split-points victor after originally being knocked by 43-year-old Hopkins down in the first round

There’s yet another armchair fashion critic who is getting bored with all the picture-perfect celebrities on the red carpet: Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Yes, she always tries to look her best, especially when she knows she’s going to be photographed, she says, but she doesn’t want to look like a cookie-cutter star either.

“What’s with the ponytail at the Oscars?” she wonders aloud.

Zeta-Jones says that while she loves to have someone else do her hair, she likes to pick her own clothes and especially her own makeup. And if she does have a makeup artist, it’s Zeta-Jones who gets the final word.

“I’ll direct them and then I’ll do the last fiddle. I like when they’re done to put the
last bit of lipstick on,” says Zeta-Jones, who was in New York earlier this month to cut the ribbon on the renovated Elizabeth Arden Red Door store and spa on Fifth Avenue. The landmark building in Midtown has been home to Arden since 1930.

The star of “Chicago” and “No Reservations” is the brand’s spokeswoman and she easily admits to being a makeup junkie — with false eyelashes as one of her favorite items.

“Style is such a personal thing and you need it in this business,” she says.

Her biggest fashion challenge is staying away from black. (On this day, she’s in a
slim-cut blue dress with a wide black patent-leather belt.)

She has learned, though, not always to wear a full-length dress, even for a formal affair. “You know, I’ve got a pretty good pair of pins,” says the 38-year-old actress with a laugh

Hollywood star Catherine Zeta-Jones complained about the stuffy atmosphere in the press conference room at the Sydney Opera House this morning.

“Is it hot in here or is it just me?” she asked, dressed in a Roberto Cavalli dress with cream Jimmy Choo heels.

“It’s you!” gushed some males in the media contingent.

Comedian Merrick Watts presented the screen siren with a bouquet of flowers and a box of chocolates and was rewarded with a kiss on the cheek. The Welsh actress, who arrived in Sydney yesterday to promote her new film, Death Defying Acts, by Australian director Gillian Armstrong, said she enjoys working with Australians.

Which is just as well, as the film also stars Australian actor Guy Pearce and comes after her recent appearance in South Australian director Scott Hicks’ film No Reservations.

“I think there is a great camaraderie with us Aussies and Brits,” she told reporters. “I felt very much at home.

“The funny thing is when Scott Hicks or Gillian Armstrong for that matter question (her character’s) accent, it’s like, ‘What do you know?’.”

Zeta-Jones, who is only in Sydney for three days, said she hoped to come back soon to make a movie here.

“I did a movie here years and years ago playing a little part in The Phantom, and I really loved working here,” she said.

“I really got to see a bit of Australia so I would love to come back and do a movie some time.”

Reports have it that Hollywood stars Michael Douglas and his wife Catherine Zeta Jones are planning to make a movie in India. “I’m looking forward to going to India. Michael and I are developing a script that will be set up in India.

“We will take our kids and all of us will come there, set up camp in India and shoot a film,” Zeta Jones is quoted by newspaper Times of India.

It may be recalled that Michael Douglas came to India two years back and announced his plans to make ‘Racing the Monsoon’, an action adventure about a diamond heist aboard an Indian train.

It is still not clear whether the movie they plan to shoot together is indeed ‘Racing the Monsoon’ or a new project.

37-yr-old Zeta Jones is happily married to 62-yr-old Douglas. The couple lives for most part of the year on the island of Bermuda with their two kids. Zeta Jones can currently be seen on Indian screens in her romantic comedy movie ‘No Reservations’.

The 37-year-old, who once admitted that reducing after giving birth would be hard, featured in the InStyle magazine showing off perfectly toned legs and a trim midriff.

The actress has to be extra cautious now about her fitness regime as she is playing role of a New York chef in her latest flick ‘No Reservations’,

“I have to drag myself to the gym like everyone else,” Daily mail quoted Zeta-Jones, as saying.

“But I do eat sensibly and have lots of chicken – although if I could eat only three foods for the rest of my life, it would also be smoked salmon sandwiches with potato chips crunched inside and fish and chips if I did not put on weight,” she added.

The sultry beauty once said that she ‘ate for Wales’ and tipped the scales at 13st during her first pregnancy.

She also revealed that she indulged in her favourite sandwiches while carrying Dylan, now aged seven and Carys, now four.

Welsh star Catherine Zeta-Jones admits that she has the bad habit of using a lot of swear words when she’s taking. And, she blames her Welsh roots for this.

“I’m from Wales, I have a mouth like a truck driver,” Contactmusic quoted her, as saying.
As a result, Zeta-Jones has to constantly mind what she is saying, especially in the company of her two young children with American actor Michael Douglas.

The Oscar winning star recently admitted that preparing for her role in her most recent movie ‘No Reservations’ was “pretty terrifying”, as she had to wait on tables – something she had never done in her life.

Zeta-Jones spent time working in a restaurant to prepare for her performance as perfectionist chef Kate in the romantic comedy, and quickly realised that she had a lot to learn.

“I went out on the floor, which was really pretty terrifying because I’ve never been a waitress,” she said.
“I know that other actresses have but I’ve never been out there before and I started screwing up my lines and forgetting what sauce it was,” she added.

The 37-year-old revealed that she is very ‘insecure’ as compared to what others think.

“I’m more insecure than I let anyone know,” the Sun quoted her, as saying.

The actress insisted that sometimes people project themselves as tough souls to deceive others.

“Sometimes you protect yourself with this kind of armour that people see more than they see you,” she said.

Zeta-Jones is married to actor Michael Douglas, and the couple has two kids, 6-year-old son Dylan Michael Douglas, and a 4-year-old daughter, Carys Zeta Douglas.

Celebrity magazines OK! and Hello! are to meet in England’s highest court on Monday for the final round in a lengthy legal battle over photographs of the 2000 wedding of Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

In a case that will help establish how far individuals are protected against media intrusion, the House of Lords must decide if OK!, which had a deal to buy exclusive rights to the wedding pictures of the Hollywood movie stars but was trumped by unauthorised shots in Hello!, is entitled to compensation.

OK! was originally awarded damages of just over one million pounds ($1.9 million), but was stripped of that by the Court of Appeal. It is that decision which is now being challenged before the law lords.

Legal experts believe up to six million pounds are at stake in the case, with legal costs over the course of more than three years of up to five million pounds.

Douglas and Zeta-Jones will not be in court for the hearings, at which lawyers are expected to argue over whether by publishing the unauthorised pictures Hello! was guilty of “economic tort” by depriving OK! of sales.

Hello!’s lawyers are expected to argue that this would create a new law of “image rights” not recognised previously under English law.

Two cases in 2004 favoured celebrities over the media.

In 2004, the law lords decided that supermodel Naomi Campbell’s rights were breached when a newspaper ran a story saying, correctly, that Campbell had visited Narcotics Anonymous.

In the same year, the European Court of Human Rights condemned Germany for failing to stop press photos of Princess Caroline of Monaco which it said violated her right to respect for private life.