Neil Sean: Simon Cowell Would Love to Take On Movies

LONDON – He's the king of "American Idol" and "X Factor," but Simon Cowell would also love to take on Hollywood movies.

“It’s the new option for me, but I need to be sure we can do it well — I don’t do anything half-hearted," he told me. "So ideally if the right script comes along, sure, we will get started."

Penelope Cruz is in town making the movie musical “Nine” with Hugh Jackman. Looking far more dowdy than she does in her L’Oreal ad, she sniffed haughtily, "I hope with this movie I can move on as an actress — all anyone ever wants to know about me is what it was like dating Tom Cruise. There were men before him, and I had a career too."

Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones is now out of rehab, and according to my moles, back with his 20-year-old Russian girlfriend. Wife Jo Wood has been seen putting on a brave face by going out with young friends to gigs, but I hear Ronnie is “totally smitten."

Reality TV star Kelly Osbourne slapped a reporter this week in London due to the fact that no one will write nice things about her. It happened on the same day that her TV show was axed and she told me, “I read about it first in the paper — how nasty is that?"

"Harry Potter" star Daniel Radcliffe is determined to upset Warner Bros. to no end with his revelations of sleeping with an older woman and wanting to play a drag queen.

Having met Dan on many occasions, you get the impression that he wants to move away from Potter at all costs. A mole reveals that he is “more than nervous about his stint on Broadway, but hopes that this will make Hollywood see him as a serious actor.“ But having seen him revealing all on stage, I can report that it's hard not to feel like you're just seeing Harry Potter naked.

Keira Knightley opened her new film “The Duchess“ this week, and it appears even she may think this historical romp is a dud. The trailer for the movie features images of the late great Princess Diana, and this has angered fans. I hear both Prince William and Harry find the whole thing distasteful. “I have never seen the trailer, so I have no idea what you’re talking about,“ she trilled to a very thin crowd in London’s Leicester Square. Do we believe her?

Looks like Madonna is having the last laugh with her brother Chris, who came to London and tried to sell his sister down the river with an “explosive“ tell-all book. "My Sister Madonna" was supposed to reveal “hidden gems that we never knew about the 50-year-old pop icon.“

Well, Madonna publicly slammed her brother for revealing all, and managed to get him banned from major TV shows by claiming she would snub them if they allowed him on. It worked — the expensive book has bombed in book charts. Chris, who refused to go on a book-signing tour believing that fans would “get him,“ won’t be raking in the cash as he first thought — a mole at the book's publisher tells me: “We paid him lots, but the book is a bit of a let-down really."

Princess-in-waiting Kate Middleton is becoming snappy with those around her. Why? Because she is trying to quit cigarettes, and Prince William hates the vice. But William told my mole, "I am OK until I go out at night and once the girls light up, it makes me crave them too.“

Let me fill you in on the snatched holiday snaps of Prince William and Kate, who recently came back from holiday. Yes, the couple knew of the snatched snaps — there will be no official complaint and let’s be honest — it’s not as if they were caught naked or anything. As a mole close to Prince William put it, “there are far worse things that can happen — let’s not worry too much."

She may have played the Queen on screen, but dizzy Dame Helen Mirren has been trying to out-shock all the young stars beneath her with stories of loving cocaine. The actress who claims not to have had any “surgery“ is shall I say more worried about the fact that people may not see her as a sex bomb. She told me “I love the fact that young boys still like me and find me attractive — I am down with the kids."

Prince Harry wants to go back into the army and the frontline. Want to know first why that will not be happening? As Harry now knows, it's the cost. A mole reveals “we can’t afford the expense of him back there right now, and it's not like before when he was a secret. This time, someone will want him and that means a lot of security.“

Zac Efron was in town recently making a movie at Shepperton Studios, and he became a regular at the famous third space gym. Like director Guy Ritchie, he never worried about peeling off his clothes to show off his buff bod to other stars in the gym.

New Kids on the Block hit town this week, and like so many stars of yesterday they want fans to know where they're staying. So far they are all are booked into St. Martin’s Lane hotel.

Neil Sean is a FOX News Channel contributor who has reported extensively on the royals, entertainment and lifestyle trends from London.