Hollywood came back in force to DC for the White House Correspondents Dinner. Many showbiz Democrats passed on the dinner when President Bush was the guest of honor. "I skipped it the last four years," Dana Delaney told our Gatecrasher colleague Laura Schreffler at Friday's Creative Coalition/Capitol File screening of Barry Levinson's "PoliWood." Ludicris, partying with Kevin Bacon and Kerry Washington at Friday's People/Time party, promised that, with Barack on the mike, "This year, people won't be nodding off!" While the New York Times boycotted the dinner (it doesn't want its reporters looking chummy with the pols they cover), other news organizations gloried in the administration officials and celebs they'd wrangled for their tables. ABC touted top White House aides Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod, along with Jon Bon Jovi and Kate Walsh. CBS scored Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner. CNN claimed Ashton Kutcher, Demi Moore and Tyra Banks.

Fortune nabbed Glenn Close and George Lucas while Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw did Time. Bloomberg landed coveted pirate-survivor Richard Phillips. Strangely, "Gossip Girls" hunk Chace Crawford chose to sup with Fox News' O'Reilly/Hannity gang.

It doesn't seem possible that one more word could be written about Marilyn Monroe or Frank Sinatra, but J. Randy Taraborrelli insists. In "The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe" (to be published in August by Grand Central Publishing), he describes a scene where Sinatra, in his underwear, discovers his house guest Monroe naked, peering into the fridge. The two, um, defrost. Perhaps Taraborrelli was on the produce shelf, watching. Let these people rest.

Adrien Brody planted the kiss heard round-the-world when he locked lips with Halle Berry at the 2003 Oscars. But he eased up a bit for the scene in "The Brothers Bloom" where his bashful character makes out with a willing virgin played by Rachel Weisz. "She really forces me to submit," Brody told us at the Cinema Society/Thakoon & Nars screening. Weisz rated Brody "a wonderful kisser." And was it a challenge for her to play a virgin? "No, no," said the 38-year-old mom with a wink. "[My first time] was very recent."

Edward Norton plays identical twins in "Leaves of Grass." So did he get paid double to portray a bearded Oklahoma pot-dealer and his tweedy Brown classics professor brother? "I actually got paid half what I usually make," the "Incredible Hulk" star told us at Monday's benefit for the pioneering Soho Rep Theater. Tim Blake Nelson, who wrote and directed the indie, said, "Edward is so good, you forget he's one actor." P.S.: the Tulsa-raised Nelson says, "South eastern Oklahoma has some of the greatest pot in the world."

Surveillance: Alex Rodriguez just moved into his $40,000-a-month rental on Central Park West…Angelina Jolie got two days off from "Salt" to join Brad Pitt at Cannes. (The kids are staying home.),....Lawyer Marc Dreier, due to plead guilty to scamming investors out of $700 million, has been doing interviews with "60 Minutes."...

Brandon "Greasy Bear" Davis remains the black sheep of oil heiress Nancy Davis' family. Brandon, looking thinner but still sweaty, walked the red carpet at Nancy's 16th Annual Race to Erase MS gala in LA on Friday. But when it came time for her sons to pay tribute, Brandon was missing. Also at the sold-out dinner, our Bonnie Robinson reports were honored Terri Garr, expectant parents Tommy and Dee Hillside, and still-on couples Kim Kardashian and Reggie Bush and Casey Johnson and Courtenay Semel..

Azzedine AlaÏa,still fuming that none of his dresses were included in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's new Costume Institute show, blames Vogue editor Anna Wintourfor icing him out of the exhibit. "She behaves like a dictator, and everyone is terrified of her," he tells Women's Wear Daily. "But I'm not scared of her or anyone."

Charlize Theron gave Will Smith some payback before she presented "America's Sweetheart" as she called him, with a Simon Wiesenthal Center honor the other night in LA. "The first time I worked with him [on 'The Legend Of Bagger Vance'], he punched me in the face," she announced. "He was training for 'Ali.' encouraged him to show me a couple of move. I was completely knocked out…Seriously, though, I'd be happy to be punched out by you anytime."Said Will: "I swear it was an accident."

Martha Stewart loves Four Seasons restaurateurs Julian Niccolini and Alex von Bidderbut wishes they would stop coming over to her table to talk about their hobbies. Especially self-regarding Julian. "Yes, we all know Julian is now keeping bees," needled the domestic diva at Tuesday's roast benefiting City meals-on-Wheels. "He received them as a gift a few years back, which shows you two things about Julian. First, he's the kind of man to whom someone would send a box of bees. And, secondly, he's the kind of man who would open a box of bees and say, 'These are a gift from one of my many admirers!'"

More celebrities are opening up to Los Angeles Confidential, now that New York's own Jason Binn is editorial director. David Arquette told the mag that he's not proud of some of his past behavior. "I've fought the bartender at Coach & Horses because she wouldn't give up the short stick for the pool table, and I've gotten beaten up outside of the Roxbury because I was a p— to Alyssa Milano." Arquette's tuning up his karma by working with Feeding America.