TINSELTOWN SPYWITNESS.

Byline: Joel Stratte-McClure

LUCKY STARS: Woody Allen was feeling lucky following the premiere of ``Match Point'' at the Los Angeles County Museum of Modern Art.

``This is a movie about luck, and I had nothing but luck while making it,'' said Allen, accompanied by wife Soon-Yi Previn. ``Everything I wanted fell my way. Every actor was available. Every break I needed I got.''

Allen's luck continued last week when the film, which opens on Wednesday, received Golden Globe nominations for best picture, best director, best screenplay and best actress in a supporting role.

How will Allen's luck - and the film's ``that's the way the ball bounces'' theme - fare during awards season?

``Life doesn't always go this well, but luck definitely rules this movie,'' said Allen. ``Luck is a very, very big thing - much bigger than people like to think.''

The cast members - who include Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers and Emily Mortimer - agree that luck certainly plays a role for Allen and themselves.

``Woody believes that absolutely everything comes down to luck - in this movie, in his life, in everything,'' said Mortimer. ``People don't like to admit how much luck plays a part in our lives,'' added Johansson, who received the Golden Globe nomination for supporting actress and also stars in Allen's next film, ``Scoop.''

``You like to think that you have a destiny or were meant to do this or that. But I've had an unbelievable amount of luck coupled with being in the right place at the right time.''

And how does Allen, who recently turned 70, deal with things when the ball bounces the wrong way? What will happen if he's not lucky enough to get a Golden Globe? Has age made him Zen if his lucky streak runs out?

Not quite.

``I panic, I get depressed and nervous, I can't handle it and then I make a lot of wrong decisions,'' Allen said. ``And it doesn't get any better as I get older.''

Let's hope his luck holds.

DUCKING PREMIERE: Greg Kinnear sneaked out of the recent premiere of ``The Matador'' at the Westwood Crest Theatre and went to a nearby Japanese restaurant for some sake with director Richard Shepard.

But Pierce Brosnan - along with wife Keely Shaye Smith, Dennis Quaid, Jim Belushi and cast member Hope Davis - stayed for the screening. They watched Brosnan play a hard-drinking, bumbling hit man - ``a facilitator of fatalities'' he calls himself - before heading to the cast after-party at the GM Penthouse suite at the Regent Beverly Wilshire.

Brosnan's role in the film released on Friday, which earned him a Golden Globe nomination for best actor in a musical/comedy, is the antithesis of his James Bond image. But he doesn't like people making comparisons.

``It's a lot of rubbish that this is an anti-Bond film - that's just how they're selling the movie,'' said a bearded Brosnan. ``I'm proud of my work and the Bond legacy, but I really don't care about my image. I just want to stay employed.''

Brosnan obviously enjoyed an acting job that didn't require Bond's constant finesse and poise.

``I'm sure being Bond was a great thing for him,'' said Davis. ``But it was freeing for him to shed the Bond image and get down and dirty.''

``The Bond image wasn't even on the radar for us,'' added Kinnear. ``We would have had a disappointing film if we consciously tried to play on the anti-Bond stuff.''

Certainly neither Bond nor Brosnan was on Shepard's mind when he wrote the script.

``I didn't think any sane actor would take this part,'' Shepard admitted. ``This character is a pathetic mess, but the baggage Pierce brings to the movie - as Bond, Thomas Crown and Remington Steele - makes him funnier than I intended.''

Nice work if you can get it!

CELEBRITY SWAPS: How did Eva Longoria, Nicky Hilton, and Jessica and Ashlee Simpson avoid the paparazzi when they went Christmas shopping? They, and many other camera-shy celebs, did their buying on eBay.

Longoria bought boyfriend Tony Parker an Xbox 360 with wireless controllers, while Hilton got sister Paris an original Ben Stern black-and-white photo of Marilyn Monroe.

``The Xbox is something that Tony couldn't live without it,'' said Longoria. ``Plus, I wanted to earn cool points from him by buying online and encouraging his video game playing. What girlfriend does that?''

Jessica Simpson went to eBay for a 30 GB white iPod and Bose speaker system for her assistant, while Ashlee gave hers a black iPod Nano with speakers. No word on whether either sister got a present for, or from, Nick Lachey.

Kristin Cavallari bought a Kate Spade Dog Pet Carrier for her pooch, Bentley. Why? ``Because Bentley will love his new doggie bag - and it goes perfectly with every outfit I have!''

Not that celebs don't do some Christmas shopping in public.

We caught Courtney Love, looking thin and fantastic in a suede miniskirt, coming out of RBK on Robertson Boulevard on Monday afternoon. She was juggling packages as she jaywalked across the street to Curve.

WE SAW U: Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt at a special screening of ``Munich'' at the Academy on Wilshire Boulevard on Tuesday night.

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1) ALLEN and PREVIN: What's luck got to do with it?

Kevin Winter/Getty Images

(2) LONGORIA: Bought her boy video games.

David Livingston/Getty Images

(3) KINNEAR and BROSNAN: Which one fights the bull?

Steve Granitz/WireImage.com