Sideshow:

Controversial contrarian documentarian

Michael Moore

, who last week announced his next major project at Cannes, says the film will examine America as an empire and assess our standing in the world since Sept. 11.

But, Moore insisted, the film won't just be an extension of

Fahrenheit 9/11

, which savaged the Bush administration for its handling of the war on terror.

"This isn't about Bush," Moore said. "Regardless of who the president is come November, we have a big mess, a big, big mess to be cleaned up, and I don't know whether it can be cleaned up."

Dustin Hoffman

doesn't seem to have a very high regard for marriage. Or does he?

"There's so much about marriage that's unnatural. I don't think it's natural to be monogamous," said the thesp - ironically enough - in reply to a question about his long marriage. The

Graduate

star and his second wife,

Lisa Gottsegen

, have been married for 27 years. (His first marriage, to

Anne Byrne

, lasted 11 years.)

Hoffman, who says he never was "in the 'in' group" at school, says his success in Hollywood is the result of "a freak accident."

Do you think

American Idol

has lost its edge? Do you agree with critics who say it's stuck in a rut?

Idol

host

Ryan Seacrest

does. He tells

Larry King

the show needs to be more unpredictable.

"I . . . feel like I'm going to the same place, sort of doing the same thing," Ryan says. "Unpredictability is always fun in life, do you agree?"

Larry says

Simon "Darth Vader" Cowell

believes the solution is to replace Ryan and judges

Randy Jackson

and

Paula Abdul

with new talent.

This seems to shock Ryan. "That's shocking," he says, before challenging Simon to try his hand hosting

Idol

. "I'm positive he couldn't" hack it as a host, Ryan says.

Basic Instinct II

star

Sharon Stone

said Friday that she decided on her 50th birthday in March to cleanse her spiritual house.

"Anybody who isn't going to be on my side - I got rid of them," said Sharon in Warsaw, Poland, where she was doing a promo gig for Lexus cars. (Not even the ice-pick killer is above working for The Man.)

"I fired the people out of my life who weren't working with me successfully, professionally. I got rid of the people who weren't really my friends. I stopped trying to date the men who didn't really like me."

So,

um

, is there anyone left?

Desperate Housewives

star

Marcia Cross

tells AP Radio that the show, which has its season finale tonight, will fast-forward five years to give viewers a glimpse into the future lives of the ladies of Wisteria Lane. Cross, 46, offers a spoiler that we won't repeat, except to say her character, Bree, will make "a big leap."

Ugly Betty

star

America Ferrera

told

David Letterman

on Thursday that she

loved

having

Lindsay Lohan

on the show: "She was gracious and showed up on time. . . . She was really great and lovely." America said LiLo was

sooo

lovely that "she's going to be back for five episodes in the third season."

Ugly

's second-season finale will air Thursday.