Say This About Ol’ Jack: He Supports His Friends

Seems like an interesting time is being had by those attending, if not covering, the Venice Film Festival. In a press conference following a screening of his film “The Crossing Guard” on Wednesday, actor-turned-director Sean Penn received both good and bad notices.

“I found the film, frankly, superficial and very trite,” said one writer. “Its ending is too easy, really pitiful.”

Retorted an unfazed Penn: “Cynicism is alive and well in Italy.” However, Penn’s main star, Jack Nicholson, was less philosophical.

“Superficial is a very tough word for me to hear about Sean’s writing,” he said.

“Sean Penn is a big-time actor and he waited three to four years to make this movie. I read all these other films you people love and they’re superficial. They’re all about explosions.”

Loose Talk

Bob Weir on the death of fellow Grateful Dead co-founder Jerry Garcia: “I think a lot of them are assuming that I’m taking this a lot harder than I am. Death is so final I can’t argue with it, and I can’t really react that much to it, ‘cause it’s a change that you absolutely have to accept right now.”

No doubt he’ll celebrate by swinging a bat, man

Michael Keaton turns 44 today.

Some mag dealers pay only lip service to press freedom

If you can find a copy of the October issue of Guitar magazine, buy it. Some stores are boycotting it because its cover features Dave Navarro and Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers locking lips. The mag claims the photo was just a joke, but some dealers “assumed we had printed some kind of homoerotic issue.”

And she mixes that and more with her bedfellows

Lauren Hutton is sure of her ability to host a talk show. As she told USA Today, “I was basically told by my mother never to talk about sex, politics and religion. So my abiding curiosities all my life have been sex, politics and religion.”

And then there’s always her fluctuating diet to exploit

So what does Oprah Winfrey have to say about her upcoming 10th season? “I think we did a really good job of pulling ourselves away from the trash pack last year,” she told the Chicago Sun-Times. “Ten years ago, I was just grateful to be on television. Now I feel a greater sense of commitment and responsibility to the work I’m doing.” One of her upcoming topics: Her new hairstyle.

And remember: Bacon tastes good, pork chops taste good

Even a gentle children’s film such as “Babe” is not above the ire of the conservative newsletter Dispatches. The film, which follows the exploits of a farm pig who turns into a herder of sheep, is propaganda. “Babe,” says writer Marilyn Duff, is a “most successful effort by animal-rights activists to make vegetarians out of our kids.”

And odds are that he’ll earn at least a mistrial

Here’s Alan Dershowitz’s tribute to the late civil rights attorney William Kunstler: “He’s probably up in heaven now suing God,” Dershowitz said on CNBC’s “Rivera Live.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 color photos

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Compiled by staff writer Dan Webster