THE SZISH DISH: Hollywood's Home Wreckers

Nov. 14, 2006 — -- The Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe romance has ended, pushed to its limits by Phillippe's alleged indiscretions with Australian starlet Abbie Cornish on the set of "Stop Loss."

Will the indie title score big box-office numbers as a result of Phillippe's philandering? Will newcomer Cornish become famous -- or infamous -- for destroying Phillippe and Witherspoon's picture-perfect marriage?

If recent history is any indication, if both sizzle both on- and offscreen, the film benefits. But for the most part, when a film gets more ink in the gossip columns than on the entertainment pages, its box-office receipts don't get much of a boost.

In the 2005 action film "Mr. and Mrs. Smith," Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie had the kind of sexual chemistry that makes audiences swoon. Their co-starring roles as husband and wife may have led to the beginning of the real-life "Brangelina" love affair, and, in turn, to the demise of Pitt's long-running marriage to Jennifer Aniston.

Though some critics and fans slammed Jolie as a home wrecker, American moviegoers dropped nearly $200 million to see the movie -- not because it was a great film but because of rumors about the palpable passion (both on - and offscreen) between its co-stars.

Tom O'Neil, columnist for TheEnvelope.com, the Los Angeles Times' film awards Web site, doesn't predict similar results for the Phillippe-Cornish onscreen pairing. "The sympathies of moviegoers are solidly with Reese," he said. "They may very well hold a grudge against 'Stop Loss' because it witnesses the scene of the crime, what broke up her seemingly perfect marriage."

Yet New York Daily News gossip columnist Ben Widdicombe maintained that in Hollywood, success is often born from scandal. "Home wrecking is such a practiced art in Hollywood, there should be an Oscar for it," he said. "It won't do Abbie Cornish any harm to be mentioned just before her film comes out. At the very least, people might learn how to spell her name."

Perhaps. But Cornish's skirmish with the husband of a beloved leading lady -- did we mention that Witherspoon and Phillippe have two small children? -- may not bring her the all-important likability factor. "When Americans turn on Hollywood home wreckers they recoil like disgusted snakes," explained O'Neil.