Bruce Campbell Talks about Spider Man II

After shooting scenes as the villainous Snooty Usher opposite Tobey Maguire in the currently-lensing "Spider Man: II," Bruce Campbell reports Tobey's back to his old fit self. Thus he lays to rest doubts about whether Maguire would gain back enough weight to fill out his Spidey costume -- since he segued into "Spider-Man II" just a few short months after wrapping his role as a jockey in "Seabiscuit," which required the actor to lose upwards of 20 pounds.

Declares Campbell, star of the cult favorite "Evil Dead" series of horror flicks, "Yeah, actors do all that dumb stuff to their bodies like gaining weight, working out way too much to bulk up for a part. I've done it enough times to be sick of it."

Tobey, he adds, is "a really spry fellow, really wiry and fit. You can really see him growing into the part. Apparently there was a lot of resistance to cast him at first, but you can't cast Tom Cruise in a part like that. I think people are going to like him even better the second time around."

Ironically, Campbell was forced to put on extra weight for his upcoming indie horror/comedy flick "Bubba Ho-Tep" in which he plays none other than King of Rock 'N Roll, Elvis Presley.

"It sucked. I had to wear a fat suit every day and all the make-up and wigs. It gets really hot, but I really just learned to work past it thanks to Ossie (Davis)," who stars in the film with him.

Says Campbell about his experience working with 85-year-old Davis, "It was like working with a diplomat. This guy has a bizarre stature about him, very calming. He easily seems 20 years younger than he is. Easily."

"Bubba Ho-Tep" opens in New York on Sept. 26 and in LA on Oct. 2.

ON THE PERSONAL SIDE: Things between Vivica A. Fox and chart topping rapper 50 Cent seem to be heating up by the minute.

Sources say the recently-divorced Fox got a visit from none other than her hip-hop honey the other day while the actress was shooting a guest spot on the UPN sitcom "The Parkers." And get this -- her character on the show is actually an older professional that the younger Tyrell, played by Ken Lawson, briefly dates.

Fox, who is 39, and 50 Cent (a.k.a. Curtis Jackson) who is 27, set tongues wagging when they turned up together at last month's MTV Video Awards -- becoming the latest older woman-younger man celebrity matchup in the list that also includes Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher, and Cameron Diaz and Justin Timberlake.

Besides her new romance, Vivica also has a spate of films coming out in the next year -- including Quentin Tarantino's highly-anticipated "Kill Bill: Volume One," due from Miramax Oct. 10, with Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu and Daryl Hannah.

GETTING AN EARLY START: TV/movie/pop princess Hilary Duff doesn't celebrate turning Sweet Sixteen officially until Sept. 28 -- but she already got surprised-partied last week by former flame Aaron Carter and his brother Nick, who journeyed to Toronto to help support Hilary and promote her charity, Kids With a Cause. And the former "Lizzie McGuire" was also surprised when she walked into her suite at Toronto's Fairmont Royal York Hotel and found 16 vases filled with a dozen roses each, plus a gift, waiting for her. Turned out the goodies were from Aaron as well. (Looks like someone still cares...) Hilary saved the gift -- which she allowed visiting press to believe had come from a secret admirer -- to open when she was alone.

STORMING THE HOUSE: The USA Network's Sept. 29-premiering "House Wars" reality show -- in which family groups compete to win a house by blitz decorating models from top to bottom -- proved way more challenging than planned. According to host Kelly Packard, "We went through every weather element" on the show's Arizona location. "We had sand storms that blew over scaffolding, we had electrical storms. It was 119 degrees our first two days of shooting, when we did a majority of stuff outside, and I couldn't believe people actually managed to work as hard as they did. We also had flooding," she notes, referring to this summer's disastrous Southwestern downpours. "We had to stop filming for a couple of days." Nevertheless, "We got it done in three weeks," Packard informs.

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