People: Penn Defies French Lawmakers

HOT SHOT
SUPER-COOL, SEAN
Sean Penn may be president of the Cannes Film Festival jury, but don't expect any buttoned-up presidential behavior from the Hollywood rebel. During a news conference on opening day Wednesday, the actor-director lit up two cigarettes in defiance of French laws against smoking in public buildings. He used profanity. And he made fun of his inability to be "wise and sober."

TRUTH:
JUDGE DOESN'T WANT CHILD THINKING BREASTS ARE COMICAL
Madonna won't know until next week whether the Malawian boy she hopes to adopt will become a member of her family. The hearing was delayed after a human rights group presented arguments on "shortcomings" in the southern African nation's adoption laws.

NOT FAIR.
WAIT, YOU'RE THAT HOT AND EVERYBODY'S NICE TO YOU?
Angelina Jolie, pregnant with twins, has some secrets for staying serene at the Cannes Film Festival: get her partner, Brad Pitt, to baby-sit, and wear comfy shoes on the red carpet. "I'm sitting and talking a lot, and everybody's being very nice to me," Jolie told reporters.

WAH!
'OBAMA IS STEALING ALL THE ATTENTION!'
Michael Moore is taking the United States' temperature again. Moore, who won the top honor at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival with "Fahrenheit 9/11," plans a follow-up to resume his examination of the nation's status in the world in the years since the Sept. 11 attacks. "Fahrenheit 9/11," the only documentary to top $100 million domestically at the box office, was a harsh, hilarious critique of President Bush and his administration in the wake of the attacks. The as-yet-untitled follow-up will have a longer-term approach, film executives overseeing the project said Wednesday.

» Pictured left: "Look at me! I make movies! Look at me!"

WEIRD TRIO
BRUCE, DEMI AND ASHTON II
Two photo agencies have agreed to pay $113,000 to Hugh Grant, his ex-girlfriend Liz Hurley and her husband for taking photos of them while they were vacationing in the Maldives. Britain's High Court says the Big Pictures and Eliot Press Sarl agencies apologized Thursday for using a long lens to violate the trio's privacy while they were at an island resort in October. The pictures appeared in several newspapers. Grant, Hurley and her husband, Arun Nayar, have released a statement saying it was "reprehensible" that photos were taken of Hurley's son playing naked on the beach.

With contributions from The Associated Press
Photos by Jeff Christensen/AP; AP