BRITS IN LA/TAKING ON TINSELTOWN

James Bartlett reports on kissing problems as new man James McAvoy braves a morning TV interviewer and Sir Ben flirts with a teenager.

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Bartlett writes: "Next big thing James McAvoy has been here, there and everywhere in LA over the last week, repping his new vehicle Wanted, and it’s box office take of $50m gave his career a fresh and upward path.

Appearing on popular TV show Today, McAvoy was as much under threat as any cinema hero, this time from a (married mother-of-two) cougar in the form of attractive presenter Ann Curry (more Sex and The City Samantha than Wanted Angelina, age-wise).

She insisted on pressing McAvoy about his experience kissing La Jolie (yawn), and when McAvoy brushed her off by talking about such intimacy as just a part of professionalism - like a kiss he would have with her - she responded by turning to camera and saying she would "throw him on the floor, if he tried!"

Back on the street, the Hollywood Chamber Of Commerce announced the names of it’s 2009 recipients of a star on the Walk of Fame.

There’s only one Brit on the list but he has enough presence for several.

Yes, it’s going to be a Knight at the stars for Sir Ben Kingsley, giving him another thrill to add to his own on-screen snogging session with teen sensation Mary-Kate Olsen in upcoming movie The Wackness.

Posted July 2, 2008.

James Bartlett is correspondent for the Irish Herald and formerly wrote the L.A. Confidential column for the Irish Examiner USA. He has been published in over 70 magazines and newspapers worldwide and is the voice behind “Only In America” on JackFM 105.9 in Oxfordshire. He can be reached at jbartlett2000@hotmail.com