THE BUZZ MEL'S NEWEST PASSION: CELTIC BUTT-KICKING BABE.

Byline: - Staff and Wire Services

Boudicca is the hottest female in Hollywood - even though she has been dead for a couple of thousand years.

The Celtic queen, who led British tribes in an uprising against Roman conquerors in A.D. 60-61, has attracted the interest of Mel Gibson, who made Jesus a box-office hit with ``The Passion of the Christ.'' Gibson is looking to produce an epic about Boudicca, according to Variety, which dubbed it `` 'Braveheart' with a bra.''

Gibson's project is be the fourth one being floated about the warrior queen - with DreamWorks and Paramount already announcing plans for biopics and an independent script being peddled. Flush with cash from ``Passion,'' Gibson's company should be able to mount a handsome production based on a script by Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal, about the widowed queen who united the Celtic tribes of Britain. The film will be directed by Gavin O'Connor, who told Variety, ``It is a masculine story with a female point of view.''

Elton sees racism in 'Idol'

Elton John thinks there's something ``incredibly racist'' about viewer voting on Fox TV's ``American Idol.'' John - who rehearsed with the show's wannabe pop stars during a recent week in which they performed his songs - said three performers he was really impressed with ``happened to be black, young female singers and they all seemed to be landing in the bottom three.''

``These three girls would have the talent to be members of the Royal Academy or Juilliard,'' the British singer-songwriter told reporters. ``They have great voices. The fact that they are constantly in the bottom three, and I don't want to set myself up here, I find it incredibly racist.''

Fox spokesman Scott Grogin said Wednesday the network had no comment. Last week, black vocalist Jennifer Hudson was voted off the show, and the other two singers grouped in the bottom three of the remaining ``American Idol'' contestants were black singers La Toya London and Fantasia Barrino. They'd been praised by the show's judges and had become known as ``The Three Divas.''

Firing back at critics

``Zapata,'' the year's most anticipated movie in Mexico, already has drawn criticism for failing to accurately depict the country's famous revolutionary hero.

Writer-director Alfonso Arau faced the Mexican media Tuesday, acknowledging that his epic, whose full title is ``Zapata: The Hero's Dream,'' at times strays from historical fact by failing to depict Emiliano Zapata's violent dark side.

But Arau maintained that he never intended to make a historical biography of the man who emerged as the hero of Mexico's bloody, chaotic 1910-1917 revolution. ``This is a mythic fable, totally symbolic,'' Arau said at a news conference. ``Zapata doesn't shoot anybody, he doesn't kill anybody in (the movie) because he's a mystic hero.''

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) Braveheart in a bra? Or Mel Gibson, warrior princess? You decide.

(2) JOHN