Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe WHY BEN IS GRATEFUL TO COLIN AND BRITNEY Ben Affleck says reports Colin Farrell dated Britney Spears gave him and fiancée Jennifer Lopez a much-needed break from the limelight. Advertisement "It's so weird," the "Daredevil" star told reporters in Pasadena. "I've been in a public relationship before with Gwyneth (Paltrow) and it wasn't quite the same thing. And I don't know what's different about it. I didn't anticipate things would be different. I just thought, 'OK, there's a degree of helplessness that kind of goes along with this," but I was a little bit shocked. Now I realize there's only so much you can say about that stuff, then there's somebody else, like Colin Farrell's dating Britney Spears and you're off the hook." Farrell plays Bullseye to Affleck's Daredevil in the big-screen comic-book adaptation due out Friday. Advertisement So, why did the "Sum of All Fears" actor decide to play the blind hero in the eagerly awaited actioner? Affleck reveals it is because his boyhood dream was to be a superhero. "When I was a kid, I think there was a contrast between that hero and others in the spectrum of the comic universe, many of whom were kind of variable chaste, Boy Scout, black-and-white, golden-age, '50s comic-book heroes that were predictable," Affleck explained. "They were fighting intergalactic foes and it was fun in a little-kid way, but it was nothing I could identify with. "As I got into pre-adolescence and into adolescence this guy was more realistic. It sounds funny to say that about a guy who puts on a red suit and fights crime at night, but it was like he was a flawed hero," Affleck explained. "And he had his own struggles. He was openly religious. He had these tragic love affairs. He struggled with himself as much as he struggled with the rest of the (world). He didn't always do the right thing. I guess that resonated with me." OSCAR NOMINEE DUNCAN STILL A FAN Michael Clarke Duncan still is so awe-stuck by certain movie stars he takes his camera with him wherever he goes --just in case. Advertisement Nominated for his portrayal of an innocent man on Death Row in "The Green Mile" three years ago, the former bouncer says he still gets a charge out of having his picture taken with actors he has always admired. "I was at the Broadcast Film Critics Awards and I brought my camera and I interrupted Robin Williams and I said, 'Can I take a picture with you?' and he said, 'Sure,' so we made goofy faces and took the picture. And to me that's going up on my wall," he told United Press International. He added: "That's history. That's fun to me. I still have my camera with me. When I go to Montel Williams, I'm taking a picture of me and Montel... I'm still in awe of these superstars. They're superstars to me. I don't see myself as one. I just see myself as sneaking inside. I get all geeked up and when I see these people I'm like, 'I've gotta take a picture. Please let me take a picture with you,' and they're like, 'Yeah, sure.' DEBBIE GIBSON TO JOIN 'CABARET' CAST Deborah Gibson has signed on to play Sally Bowles in the hit musical revival "Cabaret" at New York's Studio 54. Advertisement Best-known as a 1980s pop singer, Gibson has appeared on the Great White Way in "Beauty and the Beast" and "Les Miserables." She joins the cast of the Tony Award-winning show "Cabaret," which also features Neil Patrick Harris, Carole Shelley and Tom Bosley, on Feb. 21. "Cabaret" was directed by Sam Mendes, Oscar-winning director of "American Beauty," with Rob Marshall, director of the Oscar-nominated film musical "Chicago," and with music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb and book by Joe Masteroff.
