TINSELTOWN SPYWITNESS.

Byline: Joel Stratte-McClure

SPIRITUAL STARDOM: The Vatican and Habitat for Humanity were the talking points at the party following the U.S. premiere of ``The Nativity Story'' at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Tuesday night.

``I was completely taken aback when a group of nuns asked me for my autograph after I was introduced at the world premiere in Vatican City on Sunday,'' confessed Oscar Isaac, who just flew in from Rome and plays Joseph in the film that opens today. ``Fortunately, the sisters here tonight don't recognize me.''

Catholic sisters weren't the only ones in the audience of 7,000 in Paul VI Hall in Vatican City. ``There were more cardinals than in St. Louis after the World Series,'' said scriptwriter Mike Rich.

Attending the local premiere, which benefited Habitat for Humanity, were quite a few nuns as well as Angie Harmon, Jason Sehorn, Mickey Rooney, Emile Hirsch and Gary Busey. They and many with the film -- including director Catherine Hardwicke, Shohreh Aghdashloo and Shaun Toub -- plan to do volunteer work for the nonprofit that builds and renovates homes in low-income neighborhoods.

``We'll use every tool, including guilt, to get everyone on board,'' joked Randall Wallace, who wrote ``Braveheart'' and is the founder of Hollywood Habitat for Humanity.

Fortunately, the cast learned how to press olives and grapes, make bread and cheese, milk goats and build stone houses before they shot ``Nativity.''

``I'll be a humble servant,'' said Aghdashloo.

And where is Keisha Castle-Hughes, who plays the Virgin Mary and skipped the premieres, in all of this? The Academy Award nominee for ``Whale Rider'' is, at 16, unmarried and pregnant with her first child. Does life imitate art?

EVERYONE'S A SELF-CRITIC: Why were Felicity Huffman and Don Cheadle huddling in the Melrose room at the Sofitel on Beverly Boulevard on Tuesday at 7:30 a.m.?

``Have you ever done this before?'' Huffman, dressed in a sexy, tight-fitting Dolce & Gabbana dress, asked nervously.

``No, never!'' Cheadle insisted. ``I guess we'll just have to wing it and hope we rock.''

Then the co-presenters stepped up to the podium in the Beverly Ballroom to announce the nominations for Film Independent's 2007 Spirit Awards. Both actors, who won Spirit Awards earlier this year, were slightly hesitant.

``I don't have my glasses,'' Huffman said on her way to the stage. ``And sometimes these TelePrompTers are impossible to read.''

``Let me apologize in advance before I pronounce the nominees for the best foreign film,'' began Cheadle, who said he'd ``been working too hard to see most of the nominated films,'' which included ``Little Miss Sunshine'' and ``Half Nelson.''

They didn't even give themselves favorable reviews.

``That was nerve-racking, and we made so many faux pas!'' said Huffman as they left the stage. ``And you'll notice they didn't give the foreign films to the blonde.''

``The curtain call was kind of lame, the audience looked bored, and we didn't have a zippy ending,'' agreed Cheadle. ``It was terrible.''

So just what were they doing in the Melrose room?

``We didn't, as you probably noticed, bother to rehearse,'' admitted Cheadle.

``We just ate.''

Would they return next year if, as rumored, the awards are held even earlier in the morning?

``Anything to boost independent films,'' said Cheadle.

``I'd get up at 2 in the morning to wear Dolce & Gabbana,'' concluded Huffman.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) ISAAC: `Nativity Story' star finding favor with nuns and cardinals

Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

(2) HUFFMAN and CHEADLE: Disspirited at Spirit Awards nominations?

Kevin Winter/Getty Images