De Rossi stars in Wayne Dyer's first movie; Childress could be a perfect star for Chili's

Tracy Dyer thinks fans make Portia de Rossi's life difficult.

Dyer, co-owner of Urban Junket, was recently in L.A. for the premiere of her dad Wayne Dyer's movie, "Ambition to Meaning: Finding Your Life's Purpose," which co-stars De Rossi.

"She's super nice. Poor woman was just getting mobbed by people," Tracy said. "Very humble, very sweet, very demure. Ellen was supposed to come, but she had production schedule conflicts."

De Rossi and Ellen DeGeneres would have been twice the mob scene. "My dad did the 'Ellen' show, so I got to meet Ellen. It was kind of funny. At the 'Ellen' show, they show a scene in the movie where Portia gets all [ticked] off at her husband [played by Edward Kerr] in the movie and throws a glass of red wine on him. Ellen was like, 'She's really not like that, I swear. She's really nice.'"

That's Dyer's take, too, but how nice was it for Wayne Dyer not to include any of his daughters, Skye Dyer, Serena Dyer or Tracy, in the movie, I said, trying to foment family discord. "I don't know" why he didn't use any of his daughters, Tracy said. "Would have been nice. They do have some extras in there."

Oh, Dyer probably just figured Tracy was overworked moving Urban Junket, her designer laptop and handbag-making business, from its Minneapolis Warehouse District location to the new place over in Linden Hills.

Tracy reminded me that her dad officiated at the marriage of de Rossi and DeGeneres, a detail that had escaped my attention.

"Is Juli Jay engaged?" asked e-mailer Eric Bakken. "I noticed this week that the ring [the Fox 9] traffic reporter wears on the index of her left hand had gotten bigger and moved to her ring finger! Is there something interesting going there?"

I was all over this one with my camera, as you can see at startribune.com/video, which should come with a cute dog alert. Off camera, Jay admitted that she has received a few e-mails and phone calls about the ring, about which she provides a little insight on the video.

A perfect fit Chili's, the restaurant chain, is missing a marketing opportunity by not making Vikings coach Brad Childress a commercial spokesman.

He obviously has the pipes for it.

A few weeks ago, a Jason Purtle sent an e-mail about the warm greetings Childress was passing out at the Richfield Chili's: "He was a friendly, nice guy and shook hands with a few folks and had a few passing words. You might say that Chilly was warm on a chilly night at Chili's."

Word around Winter Park is that Chili's is one of Childress' favorite places to eat. A Chili's broadcast endorsement deal for the coach could really pepper in some fun, if it included the coach screaming (because I'd like to know what his voice sounds like when he's yelling).

No hookup for Hartnett Strike that UK story about Josh Hartnett's hot library encounter from your memory.

TMZ reports: "The Daily Mirror will have to shell out around $30,000 to Josh in libel damages. The paper's lawyers acknowledged the story they ran about Hartnett having sex in a library of a Soho Hotel was false and apologized for any 'distress, hurt and embarrassment' it caused. Josh is giving the money to charity."

I'm delighted to swipe this entry off the Hartnett hookup history.

An end to the rumor That hot rumor about Roxane Battle gave her a good laugh.

"I think you have your answer," said the former KARE 11 talent and mother of one child from a previous marriage.

It was about 40 seconds of laughter.

"Yeah," said Battle, who can be seen holding Morrison's hand while they pray at the end of his televised programs. By the way, any awkwardness you sense in the hand-holding is a result of the pastor not really liking that touch on TV. That slammin' red coat Battle wears has some darts on it that give a maternity look on TV but not in reality.