Janet Jackson ready
to laugh at herself

Plus: ‘Passion’s’ symphony for the devil

By Jeannette Walls with Ashley Pearson

MSNBC

updated 2:40 a.m. ET March 3, 2004

Looks like Janet Jackson is ready to spoof Nipplegate.

The singer is planning to appear on Saturday Night Live, says a source, who adds that she will both sing and host the show. “She’s penciled in for April 10, but nothing is set in stone yet,” says the insider.

Another source familiar with the situation adds, “She’s stayed out of the public eye since the whole Super Bowl fiasco. She’ll almost certainly do a skit that will refer to and spoof [the incident] in hopes of encouraging everyone to chill about this whole thing.”

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Janet Jackson’s spokesman had no comment at press time, and according to a rep for SNL, “It is not confirmed at this time.”

Symphony for the devil
IAMGE: "Passion"
New Market Films / Icon Production
John Debney, who composed the music for “The Passion of the Christ,” says he did battle with Satan while scoring the flick.

Debney had written music for a number of movies such as “Liar, Liar,” “Spy Kids,” and “I Know What You Did Last Summer” — but he says he was visited by the devil while writing the score for the film about the last hours of Jesus Christ.

“I had never before subscribed to the idea that maybe Satan is a real person, but I can attest that he was in my room a lot and I know that he hit everyone on this production,” Debney said, according to a lengthy interview that ran on Assist News Service, a Christian news agency.

Debney claims that Satan’s image kept appearing on his computer screen while he was trying to compose music. “The first time it happened, it scared me,” he said. “Once I got over the initial shock of that, I learned to work around it and learned to reboot the computers and so I would start talking to him. . . . The computers froze for about the tenth time [one] day and it was about nine o’clock at night and so I got really mad and I told Satan to manifest himself and I said, ‘Let’s go out into the parking lot and let’s go.’ It was a seed change in me. I knew that this was war. I am not a physical person, but I was really angry on this occasion.”

Debney’s spokesman confirms to The Scoop that the composer did, indeed, say those things.

Notes from all over
IMAGE: Paltrow
Fred Prouser / REUTERS
Gwyneth Paltrow has been giving acting tips to model Kate Moss, according to the London Sun. . . . Kabbalah devotee Madonna is set to perform at Israel’s historical King Solomon’s Mine, reports the World Entertainment News Network, which also claims that she has scheduled a special concert in the archaeological remains of Timna National Park, north of Eilat, in the Red Sea Desert. Her rep couldn’t be reached for comment . . . Sean Penn sure did an about-face on Oscar night. The one-time Hollywood basher borrowed his tux from none other than Giorgio Armani — the quintessential dresser to the celebs. Sean Penn selected “a three-button Giorgio Armani tuxedo with notched grosgrain lapels and a classic wing-collar evening shirt with a grosgrain bowtie,” reported Armani. Penn's wife, Robin Wright Penn, was also decked out in Armani — as were Tom Cruise, Johnny Depp, and Billy Crystal.