Sideshow: Michelle Williams comes to Cannes

A resplendent

Michelle Williams

, 27, made a stunning entrance on the red carpet at Cannes Thursday night for the premiere of her picture

Wendy and Lucy

.

Michelle's first public appearance since the death of her ex-fiance,

Heath Ledger

, was also her first time at Cannes. She said the trip is "something you can look back on at the end of your life and think, 'That was a cool thing I did when I was 27.' "

Michelle, who was traveling without

Matilda

, her 2-year-old daughter with Heath, has a second film up her sleeve: Yesterday, she was out doing publicity for

Charlie Kaufman

's

Synecdoche, New York

, costarring

Philip Seymour Hoffman

and

Catherine Keener

.

(Her third flick,

Martin Scorsese

's

Shutter Island

, is currently filming in Boston.)

"It actually does feel kind of special to have two films at the same time," Michelle said.

People.com reports that Hong Kong-born martial-arts superstar

Jackie Chan

announced yesterday in London that he was making a film about the victims of the earthquake in China, which has cost 60,000 lives and left more than five million homeless. Chan, 54, who said he returned to China as soon as he heard about the 7.9-magnitude quake, also will help raise money for the survivors.

The press has gone mad over reports that

Lindsay Lohan

and DJ

Samantha Ronson

are having a romantic and ostensibly sexual relationship. People.com says the girls, who say they are just friends, were seen canoodling at a party on

Sean "P. Diddy

"

Combs'

yacht in Cannes.

Seems LiLo's mom,

Dina Lohan

, is a good friend of Samantha's ma,

Ann Dexter-Jones

, who describes herself on her Web site as "a New York icon, a rock star wife (to legendary

Foreigner

guitar man

Mick Jones

), a Reiki master . . . A tireless philanthropist . . . [and] a freelance writer . . . currently penning her first novel."

To everyone's utter surprise, Republican presidential candidate

John McCain

, 71, and

Ellen DeGeneres

, 50, don't exactly see eye to eye when it comes to gay marriage.

"I . . . believe in the unique status of marriage between man and woman," McCain said Thursday on Ellen's show. Ellen, who last week announced that she and

Portia DeRossi

, 35, planned to wed, said, not without some

poesy

, "It just feels like there is this old way of thinking that we are not all the same. . . . You're no different than I am. Our love is the same."

McCain wished her "every happiness," not without politesse.

In Touch Weekly says

American Idol

exec producer

Nigel Lythgoe

doesn't want (won't allow?)

Paula Abdul

to pursue her latest passion, going on

Dancing With the Stars

.

"I'd be honored" to be on the show, Paula has said. "I want to wear the pretty dresses!" (Who doesn't?)

"As far as I'm concerned, Paula is

American Idol

and our judge," Nigel tells In Touch. "It's like asking

Simon

[

Cowell

] to sing. Why would I want that? It chips away at you."

Huh?

Anybody get that?

The Cinematic Girl

, who has moved

herself

to tears with her new film, donated a custom-made white guitar, backstage passes, and the contents of her purse - including her lip gloss - for a charity auction Thursday night that raised $10 mil for the American Foundation for AIDS Research. Other stars who donated stuff to the cause included

Sharon Stone

and

Sean Combs

.

HBO has rereleased its acclaimed WWII mini-series,

Band of Brothers

(

» READ MORE: http://store.hbo.com

; $79.98; not rated). The 10-hour epic, which stars

Ron Livingston

,

Damien Lewis

and

Donnie Wahlberg

, is noted for its realistic action

and

its deft characterization.