LOS ANGELES, California?Reese Witherspoon?s very telling slip of the tongue about her boyfriend, Jake Gyllenhaal, was the highlight of one of our most amusing, memorable interviews of 2008.

This is the first of three parts in which we recall some of the funny, sad, touching and fascinating moments culled from our exchanges with stars this year.

Reese Witherspoon

Let?s start with that humorous incident with Reese. The world?s top-paid actress, who fiercely refuses to talk about Jake, was discussing her movie with Vince Vaughn, ?Four Christmases.? She said about the holiday film: ?It?s somewhat of a romance. The main reason I did this movie was to work with Jake. I mean? Jake??

Reese suddenly realized her slip... and paused. The room at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills reverberated with laughter. Blushing, Reese laughed, too, and covered her face with both hands. Then she bent down, lifted the tablecloth and used it to cover her face.

In the next few minutes, everyone, including Reese, continued laughing. She took a big sip of tea from a cup. Then finally, she managed to say, ?Oh, my God. I?m so embarrassed.? Smiling, she kept saying, ?Oh, my God??

Then she repeated the sentence that started it all, this time saying the correct actor?s name: ?The main reason I wanted to make this movie was to work with Vince!? She added, ?Because he?s so funny and great. Jake is funny, too.? The mood in the room changed from somber and routine to light and funny. Earlier, the 32-year-old actress was talking rather perfunctorily about the movie she had to promote and yap about. Now, we were all in a laughing spirit.

?A little Freudian slip, huh?? Reese was teased. She gamely admitted, ?Yeah, I know, isn?t it??

So when Reese was asked why she wouldn?t talk about Jake, the man in her life since her divorce from actor Ryan Phillippe, she playfully answered, ?Why am I not talking about Jake? I?m talking about Jake. Jake, Jake, Jake ? Jake, Jake, Jake, Jake, Jake, Jake??

Amid gales of chuckles, she continued, ?Jake, Jake, Jake, Jake??

Are they going to get married? ?Oh my gosh,? she said and laughed again. ?Is this my fault? Did I open this can of worms?? Well, are they going to tie the knot, she was asked again. ?We?re very happy,? she declared. ?All is well. Yeah. No plans other than just to be happy.?

Emboldened, the reporters asked Reese more questions about Jake. Like, what is great about Jake? ?I don?t know, you tell me,? she playfully parried the question. ?You?ve all met him. You know what?s great about him.?

Hearing such comments as ?He?s bright? and ?He?s cute,? Reese said cheerfully, ?I agree. I agree.?

Scarlett Johansson

Many stars were vocal about their support for Barack Obama in interviews during the US presidential election campaign. Ed Harris actually told us that he was moving out of the US if Obama did not get elected. One of the most passionate about her endorsement of Obama was Scarlett Johansson.

Asked how she and the senator from Illinois met, Scarlett offered this answer: ?I was at a function to raise awareness for Obama. I had been supporting Barack online for some years. I couldn?t believe that he was actually standing in front of me. I think the first thing I said was really stupid like, ?Hi, nice to meet you. I love your wife. You?re married to Michelle. It?s really nice to meet her husband.? Or something like that. He was like, ?Oh yeah, she?s great. She?s my partner. I?ll be sure to tell her that.? ?

Chuckling over that recollection, Scarlett continued, ?That was all I could say because I was so awestruck by this incredible speech that he had just given. And it is true that I found his wife to be an inspiring woman. So it wasn?t the most glamorous first meeting.?

Colin Farrell

Hollywood?s ?bad boy? has mellowed. Colin admitted, ?The trip, the journey personally got a little bit out of hand so I just stepped back? It was a natural break? I?m 31, I?m a father and again, I have quieted down selfishly because it suits me. Maybe I just want a little peace.?

With the change in pace also came the smaller but more rewarding films like ?In Bruges,? which recently earned him a Best Comedy/Musical Actor nomination in the Golden Globe Awards.

Colin has revealed that his son James, 5, was diagnosed with Angelman Syndrome, a rare form of cerebral palsy that slows development and impairs speech and motor skills.

Asked if he has any regrets in his life so far, he answered, ?I have a couple of regrets. I?m not going to tell you any of them. You always regret if you?re part of something and somebody gets hurt.

Sean Combs

The guy with the ever-changing moniker?Diddy, P. Diddy, Puff, Puff Daddy, Puffy?disclosed a defining moment that shaped his life. ?When I was 11, I asked my mother if she could buy me a pair of sneakers,? said the star of a TV adaptation of the play ?A Raisin in the Sun? (he goes by the Sean Combs name as an actor). ?I know it sounds simple but she just didn?t have the money. The look I saw on her face really hurt me because she was embarrassed she didn?t have the money. From that day, I was like, ?I don?t want to see that look on her face ever again.? My first big scheme was to deliver newspapers. It was my dream to be able to buy my mother something or to help out with the bills.?

But as a grown up, Sean realized something else: ?After losing my father and three of my best friends to gun violence, I realized I had money but I didn?t have anything. I had these people around me and they just disappeared. I was very depressed and upset. I was crying all the time. I got caught up in money. That woke me up and taught me a lesson.?

Russell Brand

Russell who? He is dubbed the randiest man in show biz in the UK. He?s famous in his country as a stand-up comic, newspaper columnist, television and radio host and book author. He almost stole ?Forgetting Sarah Marshall,? his US film debut.

The messy-haired wit said things like: ?Daniel Craig is a challenge to my heterosexuality. If I knew I was about to die, I?d be out there chatting up Daniel Craig. I?m going to give him such a big cuddle, that man. I could be a vicious Bond girl!?

Russell, asked how he felt about being away from London while he shot ?Forgetting?? in Hawaii, quipped, ?What I felt was being ostracized certainly by my own countrymen and a sudden sense of bereavement for the lack of sexual opportunities. To be denied orgasms is a challenge but well worth it to appear in this fantastic film??

On how he and Kristen Bell prepared for their acrobatic sex scenes: ?We obviously had to familiarize ourselves with each other on account of the intimacy of those scenes. While people in London seemed very excited about the opportunity I was afforded?being in such proximity to a beautiful actress like Kristen Bell?I was very nervous because I was surrounded by burly teamsters and intimidating men. My attitude toward your own genitalia dramatically changes. Also, the male genitalia is not an organ that responds particularly well to lights and focus.?

He added, ?What?s more, they made me wear flesh-colored pants [actually a pouch] which I can only describe as being the color of prosthetic limbs and they cover my genitalia. They compromised my dignity but I?m expected to perform sex acts. I didn?t want to let down my nation, which is England so I thought that it was very important that I looked sexually dexterous. That further heaped pressure on me. I must say that Kristen was incredibly patient and tolerant as she bore some of the worst rutting that I can recall seeing in a film.

Latest quotable quote: It was reported that on the red carpet of the premiere of Adam Sandler?s ?Bedtime Stories,? where he is in the cast, Russell, asked on who he wants to kiss on New Year?s eve, dished, ?I think all of the Jonas Brothers.?

Robert Downey Jr.

Like many people, including film critics, we were happy that he landed a big movie role in ?Iron Man.? Robert is one of the finest actors of his generation?and he brought credibility and integrity to the title character in the latest movie adaptation of a Marvel comic book series.

When we featured Robert as ?Iron Man,? we wrote that we hope the movie does exceedingly well and that we foresee a franchise for him. The film was a smash and a second film is being readied?we are so glad for Robert. And his performance as a five-time Oscar winner who goes to the extreme of having his skin dyed so he can play a black sergeant in ?Tropic Thunder? netted him a Golden Globe Best Supporting Actor nod.

Observers saw parallels in the lives of Iron Man?s alter ego, Tony Stark, and Robert, who has been sober for five years now, after his phase of drug arrests, highlighted by a year?s stay in a prison for probation violation.

To think that Robert was at first considered a long shot for the role. He shared how he fought to get the role: ?First, I went for a general meeting at Marvel Comics. They were starting to meet people for ?Iron Man.? Jon (Favreau, director) was already on board. I went in and talked about the project. I walked down the hallway and saw all the posters for their movies, game and toy divisions. I thought, ?Wow, this is an interesting setup they have here.? Avi (Arad, producer) walked me outside. It was that quick. No one said they wanted me to do anything.

?I talked to Jon. I started looking at the character a little bit and I felt like I was the man for the job. It turned out that I was alone in thinking that. Jon and I struck up a friendship despite the fact that he didn?t think I would wind up on the shortlist for the title role. I told Jon, ?With your permission, I?m going to make it to that shortlist. If there?s a screen test, I?ll blow those other clowns out of the water.? ?

E-mail the columnist at rvnepales_5585 @yahoo.com and read his blog, ?The Nepales Report,? on http://blogs.inquirer.net/nepalesreport.