It's not easy being famous. Especially being famous for contributing to the year's biggest movie event, The Twilight Saga: New Moon.

"I'm at the point of physical collapse," Chris Weitz, the film's Cambridge-educated director tells Entertainment Weekly as part of the mag's semiotico-sociologico-economic analysis of the film. Continues Weitz, "Hopefully I will now lapse into obscurity. That's my plan." As if!

Weitz, 40, and the film's burning-bright stars, Kristen Stewart and Rob Pattinson, say it's not easy to deal with the pressures of celebrityhood.

"I don't know how the Beatles felt but I imagine it was close to this," Rob said at the pic's Lalaland premiere. "Very few human beings will ever get to experience the love we feel at Twilight events." His costar and rumored lover (they've denied it a thousand times!) Kristen has little love for reporters: "I would rather spend tonight hanging with the fans than answering any more questions."

Even the costars are hot . . .

On a lighter New Moon note, People.com asks the film's costars about their first real-life kiss. "I was playing truth or dare," says Kellan Lutz, 24, who plays Emmett Cullen. "I was probably 7. I learned to hold the girl and I won as best kisser." Peter Facinelli, 35, who plays Dr. Carlisle Cullen, says his first smooch came at a carnival in New York when he was 15.

"It went horribly," says PF, who is married to Jennie Garth. "I found out that this girl was dating someone that I knew and the guy was very upset . . . and I almost got my [derriere] kicked over my first kiss."

Taylor Lautner: A straight-edge stud

New Moon's other megastar, Taylor Lautner, 17, tells Rolling Stone he has never been drunk, smoked pot, or touched cocaine. TL, who started learning karate at age 6, takes fame with a grain of salt: "This could have happened to anyone who played Jacob. It's Twilight. It's not me personally." What P.R. technique!

Brangelina gives & gives again

The Hollywood Reporter says the nation's greatest lovers, Angelina Jolie, 34, and Brad Pitt, 45, gave $6.8 mil to charity in '08. The money was distributed to various orgs, including Global Health, Human Rights Watch, the Armed Services YMCA, and the Make It Right Foundation, which is helping to rebuild New Orleans.

Woody's latest It-Girl

Brit news service UKPA reports that supermodel-turned-singer-turned-French-first-lady Carla Bruni will make her film acting debut in a Woody Allen picture.

Carla made headlines when she married French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Feb. 2, 2008, only nine weeks after meeting him.

Woody "asked me to be in his next film," Carla said, adding that she knew nothing about the role: "I do everything a little bit blindly - if I don't, I won't do anything." For Carla, it seems, being in a Woody is a life's dream: "I'd like to, you know, when I'm a grandmother, to have done a Woody Allen film." But she's not naive: "I'm not at all an actress. Maybe I'll be absolutely terrible."

Stars cash in this holiday season

The New York Post reports that several hot stars are making serious bank by signing to perform at private parties for Very Rich Folk.

Rihanna will make her Middle East singing debut as the headliner for a New Year's party at the Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi for the cool sum of . . . $500,000.

Stunning beauty (and staggering talent) Alicia Keys is being paid $250,000 for a birthday bash in Manhattan.

Tidbits 'n' pieces

Christie's is auctioning off a photo of Roman Polanski and his then-wife Sharon Tate taken by David Bailey in '69 shortly before Tate's murder. It's expected to fetch more than $10,000. On a film note, Bailey, 71, is said to be the inspiration for David Hemmings' ennui-ridden antihero in Michelangelo Antonioni's '66 classic Blowup.

Oprah is hosting an "intimate" TV special with Barack and Michelle Obama's family at the White House. Christmas at the White House: An Oprah Primetime Special will air Dec. 13 on ABC.

John Mayer's Battle Studies has debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard album charts with 286,000 copies sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Andrea Bocelli's My Christmas is at No. 2 with 185,000, while Norah Jones' The Fall debuted at No. 3 with 180,000.

Lindsay Lohan will retain her job as artistic adviser at fashion house Ungaro, despite its founder Emanuel Ungaro's complaint that LiLo's first collection was "a disaster."

Samantha Morton: An optimistic film

Samantha Morton (The Messenger), who was raised from age 4 in a series of foster homes, tells USA Today she drew inspiration from her own life for her directorial debut, The Unloved, which tells the story of a child growing up in Britain's foster-care system. "It's an optimistic film. It's semi-autobiographical," she says. "I'm here now. I've survived the system."

SM, who wrote The Unloved when she was 16, has two daughters, Esme, 9, and Edie, 1, with partner Harry Holm. The film isn't the only way she helps: "I'm working at the moment with the government in [Britain] to raise awareness of social work and the care system."

Heaven: Kissing both girls

"It's one of the perks of the job, I guess." So says Josh Duhamel about new flick The Romantics, a Big Chill-esque ensemble piece that has him kiss both Katie Holmes and Anna Paquin.

Speaking of KH, her hubby Tom Cruise's reps this week denied new reports that the couple's marriage is a minefield of pain and nastiness.

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Contact "SideShow" at sideshow@phillynews.com. This column contains information from Inquirer wire services.