TINSELTOWN SPYWITNESS.

Byline: Elizabeth Snead

SHARPENING SPIDER SENSES: There was certainly no arachnophobia at Monday night's gala premiere of ``Spider-Man'' at the Mann Village Theatre in Westwood.

Director Sam Raimi; score composer Danny Elfman; and stars Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Willem Dafoe, James Franco and Cliff Robertson were in attendance along with more than a few friends, including country singer Leanne Rimes, ``Friends'' star Matthew Perry, Andy Garcia, Amanda Peet, Gene Simmons of KISS, Jon Voight, ``NYPD Blue's'' Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon and ``Frailty'' director Bill Paxton.

Dunst showed up in a sexy sheath dress with a ``growing it out'' shaggy hairdo with short bangs. It took the starlet well over an hour to get down the 200-foot carpet because after her recent Vanity Fair cover appearances, the blue-eyed blonde is one red-hot property. It had been more than reported in gossip columns that Dunst and Maguire became a romantic item during the filming, and much has been made of the ``chemistry'' between them, especially during the upside-down-in-the-rain kiss seen in the film's trailer.

Dunst, clearly skilled at the art of screen kissing, got her start at age 12 when she bussed Brad Pitt in ``Interview With the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles.'' But if the rumors are true, Maguire wouldn't be the first actor to get snagged in the perky actress' web. Her most recent serious beau was her ``Bring It On'' co-star Ben Foster (``The Laramie Project,'' ``Liberty Heights'').

But Dunst and Maguire seemed to keep a safe distance at the after-party, a wild and webby affair held in a huge tent by the Wadsworth Theatre. Her table was close by his, but she mingled and boogied to the rock tunes while he kept company with his buds.

The happiest man of the night had to be 79-year-old Stan Lee, Spider- Man's real father, who started working at Marvel comics at the age of 17. Spider-Man first appeared in 1962.

``I thought that humanizing Tobey's character was the greatest thing they did. So often with a film like this, they end up losing the characters and concentrating on the special effects. While the effects were marvelous, it was really a story about a shy boy in love with a girl. It was exciting, empathetic and romantic. It has something for everyone.''

ART IMITATING LIFE IMITATING ART: Woody Allen's new movie, ``Hollywood Ending,'' starring Tea Leoni, Debra Messing, Treat Williams and George Hamilton, is the tale of a neurotic director (played by - who else? - Allen), a once-revered genius now dubbed a pathetic has-been. But when his new film is dubbed ``fantastique'' by the French, everything, and everyone, changes.

So it's more than merely ironic that ``Ending,'' which opens today, has been selected to open France's most prestigious cinema event, the Cannes International Film Festival, which runs May 15-26. And the honor necessitates Allen's first attendance at the French festival.

At a screening at the Writers Guild in Beverly Hills last week of Turner Classic Movies' upcoming documentary, ``Woody Allen: A Life in Film,'' Mark Rydell, who plays Al in the film, talked about the Cannes selection.

``I'm still trying to arrange my schedule to go,'' said Rydell, also an award-winning director/producer (``On Golden Pond,'' ``Cinderella Liberty,'' ``The River,'' ``The Rose''). ``And I just talked to Woody last night about going. He's really excited about going and, naturally, really nervous about going.''

He shouldn't be nervous, not if the film is any barometer. In a scene from ``Ending'' included in the documentary, Al (Rydell) excitedly informs Val (Allen), ``The French have seen your movie! They're calling it the greatest American film in 50 years! You're being hailed as a great artist, a genius!''

To which Allen replies, ``Here, I'm a bum. There, I'm a genius. Thank God the French exist.''

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) MAGUIRE: Web master.

Doug Mills/Associated Press

(2) ALLEN: Mon dieu!

Chris Pizzello/Associated Press