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On the bright side, if Russell Crowe and Elizabeth Banks exploded in a fireball, at least the fire department was on scene...

The stars almost ended up playing roadkill after their van was clipped by a fire truck while they were shooting their movie The Next Three Days in Deutschtown, Pa. 

Per the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the actors' vehicle was parked on a street near Duquesne University when the emergency unit raced around a corner too quickly and whacked the van's front bumper. No doubt the next three minutes were a little scary, but luckily no one was hurt in the collision and filming on the crime drama continued on as scheduled.

Reps for Crowe and Banks were unavailable for comment.

The Next Three Days finds the pair costarring as a married couple whose life is turned upside down when she's arrested for murder and he fights to clear her.

We're sure it's good and all, but the flick doesn't sound nearly as exciting as dodging fire engines.

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This is what you call a good sport. (Demi Moore and Perez Hilton, grab a pencil and start taking notes.)

Russell Crowe, not exactly renowned for his loving relationship with the media, fought back at an Australian gossip hound's less than complimentary take on his workout regimen after photos appeared of him this week supplementing his regular 13-mile bike ride with smoke breaks and tacos.

So what did he do? He didn't throw a phone, write a poem or start a Twitter war (ahem). He simply challenged Judgy McColumnist to accompany him, video camera in tow, on one of his rides.

"Get on your bike," his spokesman told her. "Russell wants you to go riding with him. Are you ready to die?"

The answer, apparently, was yes.

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Update: The British tabloid which first printed the story of Russell Crowe's pub ban formally issuing an apology after being informed such a prohibition never occurred.

"We have been informed that Mr. Crowe has never been to the Brickmakers pub and therefore the incident never took place," read a statement from the UK's Sunday Express.

"We also acknowledge that Mr. Crowe has not been banned, ejected or asked to leave any pub in Windlesham, Surrey or anywhere else in the UK during the shooting of Robin Hood. We apologize to Mr. Crowe for the embarrassment and stress caused directly by our error."

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Consider yourselves warned, British pub patrons. Russell Crowe might be getting his drink on in your favorite watering hole after all.

A rep for the erstwhile Gladiator is smacking down a report that Crowe has been banned from a U.K. bar after allegedly unleashing hell after a day of work on his latest flick, Robin Hood.

According to the Sunday Express, the Oscar winner was far from a merry man when the Brickmakers pub in Windlesham, Surrey, sounded last call. Crowe reportedly asked if he could pay to keep drinking after hours and was denied by the barkeep, purportedly prompting the 45-year-old actor to smash a plate and earn the ban.

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Fred Shamim/ Getty Images, Steve Granitz/ Getty Images, Jordan Strauss/ Getty Images, Alberto E. Rodriguez/ Getty Images, Barry King/Getty Images

A new batch of stars has aligned to light up Hollywood's Walk of Fame.

The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce today unveiled its Class of 2010, the 28 lucky A-listers from film, TV, music and theater whose names will be memorialized on the tourist-trap infamous row sometime next year.

The honorees were selected from more than 200 nominations and have the added distinction of receiving their stars during the Walk of Fame's 50th Anniversary year.

Leading the way in the motion picture category are Adam Sandler, Russell Crowe, John Cusack, Colin Firth, Emma Thompson, James Cameron, Mark Wahlberg, and a couple of Disney's go-to composers, Alan Menken and Randy Newman.

Those being honored for services rendered on the small screen are Jon Cryer, Jimmy Kimmel, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Sam Waterston, Bill Maher, sportscaster Chris Berman and O.G. Mission: Impossible star Peter Graves.

The recording roundup includes Van Morrison, Chaka Khan, Alan Jackson, Ringo Starr, ZZ Top, the Funk Brothers, Bryan Adams, Marco Antonio Solis and next year's sole posthumous honoree, Roy Orbison.

Only two acts made the cut for the live performance/theater category: Andrea Bocelli and Cirque du Soleil's Guy Laliberte.

No dates have yet been scheduled for the ceremonies.

•  The new Jonas Brothers video for "Fly With Me" has landed on the Internet and features some stellar choreography. Joe may not be reprising his "Single Ladies" moves, but that stuff he does with the hat? Spectacular.

•  Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson might be back together again. Given all the house calls, were they ever really apart?

•  Even after starring in The Hangover, Bradley Cooper and Justin Bartha don't have very effective morning-after cures for a long night of drinking.

•  Looks like we won't be seeing Hugh Laurie on Broadway anytime soon, unless Elton John develops House: The Musical. Hey, it could happen!

•  Susan Boyle is back in Scotland with her cat, Pebbles. Of course she has a cat named Pebbles.

•  The bromance between Russell Crowe and Ridley Scott has taken a major turn for the worse, but picturing Amy Adams and Emily Blunt palling around makes us feel much better about it.

•  Dear Mandy Moore and Ryan Adams: You crazy newlyweds actually put together a pretty neat duet. Nice work. Love, Rise 'n' Shine

If only Reese Witherspoon had lent Bret Michaels that helmet she's wearing in Big Pic, the Tonys afterparties would have been much more eventful.

We'll protect you almost as well as that helmet if you follow us on Twitter @eonline!

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The boxers weren't the only ones seeing stars last night.

Russell Crowe, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony, Eva Longoria Parker, Mario Lopez, Mark Wahlberg, Jesse Metcalf, Usher and Will.i.am were among the celebs at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas last night to watch the Oscar De La Hoya and Manny Pacquiao fight. Though De La Hoya was favored to win, the Golden Boy lost in a technical knockout.

One star in attendance drew almost as much attention as the actual fight: Will Ferrell showed up dressed in a long mink leopard coat and white sunglasses.

"It was such a weird outfit," says an eyewitness. "Everyone was staring at him."

Jeff Vespa/WireImage.com

Snoop Dogg has found himself an unlikely wizard of Oz: Russell Crowe.

The rapper has finally been granted a visa to enter Australia, allowing him to embark on a long-pending tour Down Under, after a full character assessment by the immigration department that included, among other things, a letter supporting Snoop's application by the Oscar-winning actor.

"I submit to you that Snoop Dogg poses no threat to Australia or to any individual in this country," Crowe wrote in his letter to officials.

While the Aussie's epistle no doubt gave the 36-year-old reality star's file an A-list boost, it wasn't the only piece of information taken into account by the immigration officials.

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Looks like Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe are having the world's longest, most heated phone conversation all the way through the al-Qaida/spy thriller Body of Lies. This way intense trailer just landed online, and the Ridley Scott (Gladiator, Black Hawk Down) flick looks complex and exciting enough—but can these two guys just get off the phone already and pay attention to the terrorists or whatever?

What do you think? Is this one war-on-terror flick too many, or is that an Oscar-caliber beard on Leo's face? Sound off in the comments!

Brad Pitt has put Universal in a state of angst.

The actor has pulled out of studio's State of Play on the eve of principal photography, sending Universal scrambling for a suitable replacement or else risk shutting down the highly anticipated thriller.

"Brad Pitt has left the Universal Pictures production of State of Play," Universal said in a statement Monday.

"We remain committed to this project and to the filmmakers, cast members, crew and others who are also involved in making the movie. We reserve all rights in this matter."

While there was no specific reason cited for Pitt's departure, the trades claimed the 43-year-old actor had issues with the script.

State of Play, a political conspiracy/murder whodunit based on the same-named BBC miniseries, would have reunited Pitt with his Fight Club sparring mate, Edward Norton, and a starry cast.

Now, the studio is reportedly in last-ditch talks with Russell Crowe to fill the open slot, but that's no sure thing. Crowe is expected to start filming the Ridley Scott-helmed drama Nottingham in March and would have little preparation time for Play.

Pitt was supposed to play Cal McCaffrey, a successful journalist whose investigation of a murder begins to unravel a plot involving his friend, a famous congressman with whom he worked on past campaigns.

Per the trades, Pitt had liked the first draft, adapted by scribe Matthew Michael Carnahan from the British original by Paul Abbott. But the actor soured on subsequent rewrites.

Because the current writers' strike has made it impossible for any new versions of the screenplay, Pitt balked when the studio tried to get cameras rolling on Nov. 15. Universal was hoping to have the film wrapped before another potential Hollywood labor dispute—the Screen Actors Guild could go on strike in June, shutting down any projects.

According to Variety, Universal has hinted it may sue Pitt for backing out of a pay-or-play commitment, which would allow the studio to recoup millions in salary it would otherwise be forced to pay him regardless of whether or not he worked on the movie.

Pitt's camp, however, has denied the actor breached his deal and that Pitt never approved a final script. Variety reports that Pitt was loath to leave a project that he helped shepherd for 16 months.

Should Universal fail to secure Crowe, the studio could still woo Tom Hanks or Johnny Depp. Their respective films, The Da Vinci Code prequel Angels & Demons and Shantaram, have been indefinitely postponed, among the first big-screen casualties of the writers' strike.

But if the studio can't find snag an A-lister quick, it could be forced to pull the plug on Play, because the rest of the cast—Norton, Helen Mirren, Rachel McAdams, Jason Bateman and Robin Wright Penn—have various other commitments. Chief among them is Mirren, who is due to start filming Love Ranch for director (and husband) Taylor Hackford early next year.

In the meantime, Pitt's got plenty of movies in the pipeline.

After finishing up work on the new Coen brothers CIA comedy Burn After Reading, the Hollywood hunk is attached to headline Chad Schmidt, a send-up of his own megacelebrity status about an aspiring actor trying to make it only to find he's a dead ringer for—yes—Brad Pitt.

He is also planning to team up with Meryl Streep, Jim Broadbent, Annette Bening and Sharon Stone in Ryan Murphy's Watergate-era political drama, Dirty Tricks. Finally, he's set to join forces again with his Se7en director David Fincher for the fantasy film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, based on the story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, due in theaters November 2008.