Bynes gets more bad publicity per gallon

THE SAGA of Amanda Bynes gets crazier and sadder.

The 27-year-old actress has been hospitalized for a mental-health evaluation (a/k/a a 5150 involuntary psychiatric hold) after a witness said he spotted flames on her pant legs from a small automobile gas-tank-related fire in the driveway of a Thousand Oaks, Calif., home.

Deputies responding to a 9-1-1 call Monday night said Amanda had started the fire, according to Ventura County sheriff's Capt. Don Aguilar.

Amanda grew up in Thousand Oaks.

Deputies determined that she met the criteria for a psych hold and took her into custody, where she can be held for 72 hours of observation, Aguilar said.

Haven't the last six months of observation been enough?

"It's dark, it's 8:45 and I just see her laying down, stomach up and her pant legs on fire, a trail of, you know, fire and gas, and I pull over," passer-by Andrew Liverpool told KABC.

In Touch, meanwhile, spoke exclusively with the homeowner, Bonnie Braaten, 73, who believes that Amanda may have been on drugs during the incident.

"The man from the fire department said she was 'whacked!' Acting all strange," Braaten said. "I think she must have been high on something."

Tattle thinks Braaten meant that Amanda was acting "whack." If she'd been "whacked," the psych hold would not be necessary.

No charges were filed against Amanda, and responding fire officials did not administer any medical care, Aguilar said.

TMZ.com added that Amanda's dog was burned in the fire, which could have been a lot worse had the car's gas tank been full, and that when Amanda was confronted about the fire, she left in a taxi.

Since when can you hail a taxi in Thousand Oaks?

* Beyonce has had another run-in with a fan.

TMZ.com says that while Bey was performing "Halo" in Montreal on Monday night, her hair got caught in an actual fan.

Stagehands had to cut her free with a scissors.

* Because Forbes wants you to feel like an underachiever, here are the year's (June 2012-June 2013) top celebrity earners under 30: Lady Gaga ($80 million - in 2011 she was No. 1 with $90 million), Justin Bieber ($58 million), Taylor Swift ($55 million), Scottish DJ/producer Calvin Harris ($46 million) and Rihanna ($43 million). Jennifer Lawrence was the top-earning thespian ($26 million).

* True-crime author Ann Rule is suing Seattle Weekly, claiming that she was defamed by a 2011 article written by the fiance of a convicted killer.

The lawsuit, filed in King County Superior Court, says freelance writer Rick Swart's story hurt Rule's reputation and book sales.

Swart wrote about Liysa Northon, an Oregon woman who served 12 years in prison after killing her husband.

His article was favorable to Northon, who said the killing was in self-defense. Rule's 2003 book about the case painted Northon as a liar who tried to make it appear that she was a battered spouse.

Seattle Weekly editors didn't know Swart and Northon were engaged when they published the story.

* Chris Brown's lawyer has entered a not-guilty plea for him to a hit-and-run charge that led to his parole being revoked.

A spokesman for the Los Angeles city attorney's office says charges of driving without a license and driving without proof of insurance were dismissed yesterday after Brown's attorney presented proof that he was licensed in Virginia.

* The Toronto International Film Festival has unveiled phase one of its high-profile lineup.

The opening night film will be Bill Condon's "The Fifth Estate," which stars Benedict Cumberbach as WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. John Wells' "August: Osage County," which stars Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts, is among the 16 galas announced yesterday.

Also to premiere at Toronto is the Nelson Mandela biopic "Long Walk to Freedom" and "The Railway Man," the World War II POW drama starring Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman.

Tattle expects to return for this year's festival, the 38th, which runs Sept. 5-15.

* Young, vibrant conductor Andris Nelsons, the incoming director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, has canceled a weekend appearance at Tanglewood after suffering a concussion following a freak accident in Germany.

Mark Volpe, the orchestra's managing director, said Monday that Nelsons collided with a door that unexpectedly swung open at his home.

Yeah, sure he did. And the dog ate his sheet music.

* Actress Samantha Futerman ("The Big C") is collaborating on a book about her improbable discovery that she had an identical twin.

If she was an identical twin wouldn't she be working on the same book?

Deep, huh?

Oh, wait, she is.

Samantha has a deal with G.P. Putnam's Sons. She will write the book with Anais Bordier, the adopted daughter of a French family whose friends had seen Samantha's movies and swore that the actress and Bordier looked exactly alike.

Bordier learned that she and Samantha, who grew up in New Jersey, were born in the same town in Korea on Nov. 19, 1987. She contacted Samantha earlier this year through Facebook and the women discovered in May that they were indeed twins.

* The 1980s band Flock of Seagulls says someone stole their rented van with about $70,000 of equipment inside about 2 a.m. Sunday from the Comfort Inn in Downey, Calif.

The Los Angeles Daily News reported that hotel video recorded the theft.

Amazingly, Flock of Seagulls still tours, they're next off to London, and has $70,000 worth of equipment.

As for the thief? He ran. He ran so far away.

- Daily News wire services contributed to this report.

On Twitter: @DNTattle