Stars

Natalie Zea says she prefers doing comedies, but her characters in two high-profile dramas find themselves in peril this week. "Oh, God, I know. I gotta get away from this," she said Friday with a chuckle. "I've got to go do some sort of slapstick comedy!" The laughs will have to wait, at least on the small screen. In Fox's "The Following," she plays Claire Matthews, the former wife of serial killer and cult creator Joe Carroll (James Purefoy) and former lover of the man who put him away, FBI agent Ryan Hardy (Kevin Bacon)

Get past discussions of artistic intent, of the potential career benefits that the cast might have seen in making "Spring Breakers. " What it really boiled down to is this: "None of us had ever experienced spring break," says James Franco. "Really. " That goes for him, and writer-director Harmony Korine, and former child-stars turned "Spring Breakers" wild girls Ashley Benson, Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens. "Actors who start their careers early miss some key experiences in life," Franco confesses.

Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens and, to a lesser extent, Ashley Benson break out of their squeaky clean child star images in "Spring Breakers" playing three of four college students whose spring break in Florida takes them from parties to jail and a criminal underworld. (The fourth is played by writer-director Harmony Korine's wife, Rachel.) Best known for their roles in Disney Channel or ABC Family shows, the 20somethings have talked about transitioning into more adult roles. Selena Gomez Age: 20 Career: Started on the pre-school show "Barney & Friends" and spent her teen years in "The Wizards of Waverly Place" on the Disney Channel.

The NCAA tournament is where legends are born. Bryce Drew's buzzer beater for Valparaiso? Check. Derrick Rose nearly clinching a title for Memphis in 2008? Double check. Illinois' run to the title game in 2005, with its miraculous comeback against Arizona in a regional final? Triple check. Even if they never play another minute of basketball, we can relive their accomplishments each spring. RedEye talked to a pair of Chicago hoops legends about March Madness memories, and how they've become difference-makers off the court.

It's the greatest tournament in the galaxy! The “ This Is Madness: The Star Wars Character Tournament ” has had Star Wars fans debating who will win the title of Best Character, and they've made their voices heard on message boards everywhere. In the end, it's all going to come down to which character gets the most votes. (I had cast my votes for Lando Calrissian and Darth Vader in the first round. Lando got trounced by Solo, as I expected. I just couldn't bring myself to vote for Grievous, who - for all his bluster - was offed when he got a serious case of heartburn from Obi-Wan Kenobi .)

Stardom, thy name is Shailene. Already set to star as Mary Jane Watson in "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" and in the highly anticipated, Chicago-set "Divergent," Shailene Woodley--who should have won Best Supporting Actress for "The Descendants" but wasn't even nominated--will now play main character Hazel Grace Lancaster in the big-screen adaptation of John Green's popular novel "The Fault In Our Stars," Entertainment Weekly reports. The 21-year-old actress has certainly already proven she's much more than "that girl from 'The Secret Life of the American Teenager,'" and her upcoming slate of roles pretty much guarantees standing as the next big thing in Hollywood.

The internet has been buzzing with talk about a "tournament" that's coming up. It hasn't even started yet and its already stirred up some controversy with arguments over how some of the contestants were seeded within their respective regions on the tournament bracket. It has even caused one paticipant to exclaim " This is madness !" No, I'm not talking about that other tournament featuring that sport where men in shorts bounce a ball and try to get it through a hoop. I'm talking about the one that matters: The Star Wars Character Tournament . Taking place over the next couple weeks, the SWCT will decide who is the greatest Star Wars character in the galaxy!

Lucasfilm announced Monday that the recently completed fifth season of its animated "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" would indeed be the last on Cartoon Network. In a message and video to fans on the starwars.com site, supervising director Dave Filoni and Lucasfilm explained the decision and offered a peek of what is ahead for the franchise after Disney purchased Lucasfilm more than five months ago. "As we enter into an exciting new era focused on the next 'Star Wars' trilogy, Lucasfilm has decided to pursue a new direction in animated programming," the company wrote on the site, explaining that it has decided to postpone "Star Wars: Detours," an animated series from "Robot Chicken" masterminds Seth Green and Matthew Senreich, and Todd Grimes.

t seems like 2013 is the year of Michelle Williams. Two of them, to be exact. First, former Destiny's Child Michelle Williams appeared alongside Beyonce at the Super Bowl, is starring in the touring production of "Fela!" and is set to release her fourth studio album and star on a reality TV show, "My Sister's Keeper. " (And what have YOU accomplished so far this year?) Meanwhile, former "Dawson's Creek" star Michelle Williams appears as Glinda the Good Witch in "Oz the Great and Powerful," which hits theaters Friday.

On NBC's fantastic “Parks and Recreation,” Nick Offerman has turned Ron Swanson into such a spectacular, hilarious symbol of contained emotion and old-fashioned, meat-and-potatoes masculinity that it feels necessary to establish that Nick Offerman is not Ron Swanson. “I love musicals like crazy,” says the 42-year-old Minooka, Ill., native, whose new film “Somebody Up There Likes Me” opens March 8. “I think I have a frustrated Broadway chorus member somewhere in me. And so while I can watch 'The Sound of Music' and 'Singin' in the Rain' over and over again, I think Ron would rather eat glass.” Like Swanson, Offerman enjoys woodworking (he has his own shop, which you can visit at offermanwoodshop.com)