"No, not a true story! Not a true story!" Helen Mirren says about the London Sun report claiming that she's been invited to Buckingham Palace to have tea with Queen Elizabeth II. World Entertainment News Network reports that she added, "We will never (hear a response from the Palace), I don't think. And if we did, I wouldn't tell you anyway."

Pondering the possibility of such a powwow with the British sovereign, Mirren expressed misgivings: "You know, what would I do? I don't think I could handle that. No. 'Thank you, Ma'am, for being who you are, and allowing me to be you.' I mean what do you say? Very, very difficult."

This Oscar weekend George Clooney revealed what he's done with the statuette he won last year for "Syriana." When he gets visitors to his Italian villa — like Walter Cronkite — he asks them to pose for a picture holding it.

"There's always great people who stop by," he says. "So whoever came by I made them take a picture . . . and they all had to give, like, their own made-up acceptance speech. There's some really funny pictures."

Norah Jones told Blender magazine that she keeps her 8 Grammy Awards locked up in a box in her closet because she's afraid she'll drop them. "They're really heavy," she says. "I'm scared I'll drop one on my head. I can just see the headline: 'Norah Jones murdered by her Grammys.'"

Helen Mirren has been invited to Buckingham Palace to have tea with Queen Elizabeth next month, reports the London Sun.

"Her Majesty was last night rooting for Helen to win an Oscar," the paper adds. "She is a big fan and has her own set of DVDs showing the 61-year-old actress’s roles in the 'Prime Suspect' dramas and 'Calendar Girls.'" But not "The Queen."

"There is no way Her Majesty would sit down and watch a film about the days after the death of Princess Diana," a royal source says. "The memories and the subject matter are far too close to the bone. But equally the Queen still wants someone who is one of her favourite actresses to get the credit she deserves."

Screenwriter Peter Morgan and director Stephen Frears have also been invited to join the gals.

(Miramax)

"Paramount Pictures is tuning up 'The Long Play,' a rock 'n' roll epic that will be developed as a directing vehicle for Martin Scorsese," reports Variety. "William Monahan is set to rewrite the script, reteaming the dual Oscar winners from 'The Departed.' 'The Long Play' follows two friends through 40 years in the music business, from the early days of R&B to contemporary hip-hop." Meantime, Monahan will work with "Departed" star Leo DiCaprio on an adaptation of Hong Kong thriller "Confessions of Pain" for Warner Bros.

Ellen DeGeneres burst into tears on her TV talk show on Monday when she was shown a taped post-Oscars video full of celebs praising her host work, including Kate Winslet, Marc Anthony, Helen Mirren and Will Smith.

"I'm crying for many reasons," she said. "I'm tired, so I'm emotional. It represented so many things to me. It represented that people believed in me, they took a chance on me to hold something like that together.

"It was harder than I thought and I was scared to death," she added. "It was incredible."

Photo: "I cannot imagine what you people are going through," Ellen addressed nominees from the stage on Oscar night. "Everything is on the line for you. And that's why it's my job . . . to relax you, to put your mind at ease and make you forget that this is make-or-break night for you." (ABC)

Just before the Oscarcast began, best supporting actor champ Alan Arkin told Access Hollywood that he wasn't rooting for co-star Abigail Breslin to win the supporting actress race: "I hope she loses frankly. No, I'm serious. I am not joking. What, next year the Nobel Prize? It's enough. She has had enough attention. I love her and I love her family. I feel enough is enough. She is a kid, she needs to have a childhood."

Maybe many Oscar voters are quietly glad now that they didn't pay respects to Eddie Murphy. He didn't pay them much respect when he heard the news that he lost the supporting-actor Oscar to Alan Arkin. He stormed out of the ceremony, according to US Weekly. He was so unsupportive that he didn't even stick around to watch "Dreamgirls" costars sing their dazzling medley.

(DreamWorks)

"Helen Mirren is the 'Queen' bee of Oscar buzz online," says the Hollywood Reporter. "The actress was mentioned on the blogosphere in connection with the Academy Awards more than anyone else in the best actor and actress categories in the weeks leading up to Sunday's main event, according to research from Nielsen BuzzMetrics. Mirren drew 16.3% of the Oscar buzz among her fellow nominees in the 60-day period ending Feb. 18, a frame when movie studios are stepping up their marketing campaigns. Finishing second was Forest Whitaker, with 12.4% of the buzz; Meryl Streep followed with 11.7%.

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