oor Mandy Moore. The teenage pop star-turned-actress is in Vancouver shooting the romantic comedy Try Seventeen. But the experience has been anything but romantic for her. Moore has been nursing a broken heart ever since co-star and boyfriend Elijah Wood turned his attentions to another co-star, Franka Potente (The Bourne Identity and Run Lola Run). Moore has been moping around the set while Wood and Potente bill and coo, a sight that has the crew and other actors firmly in Moore's camp. Word is, though, Wood is smitten enough to consider marrying the 27-year-old German actor and was spotted looking at rings in a swank jewelry store.

  On the set of the Stephen King alien-fighting flick Dreamcatcher was Morgan Freeman. Freeman, who spent five months in B.C. making the movie, kept a low profile and tried to stay warm. The actor makes his home in Mississippi and can't get acclimatized to Canadian winters. But after making The Sum of All Fears in Montreal last year, he admitted Vancouver seemed positively balmy in comparison. But Prince George was another story. The snow was melting and director Lawrence Kasdan had to rely on the fake stuff. Breathing it in day after day made Freeman and the rest of the cast and crew come down with the same set of annoying sniffles and other cold-like symptoms.

  Sizzling star Halle Berry was spotted walking in the trendy shopping area of Robson Street, a favorite celebrity haunt. She was none too pleased when a photographer snapped her as she window-shopped. The Oscar winner wasn't looking her best in a frumpy dress and oversized shades. Berry was en route to Victoria where she's making X-Men 2 with Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart and Famke Janssen.

  Does he or doesn't he? Robin Williams is rumored to own an island off the coast of B.C.'s beauteous Sechelt peninsula, a short ferry trip from Vancouver. Fellow luminary, Joni Mitchell, is a long-time resident of the area. But Williams took pains to tell a packed house at Vancouver's Orpheum Theatre, during a performance on his summer comedy tour, that as much as he loves B.C., he doesn't own property here. The comedian has shot several movies in B.C., including the thriller Insomnia with Al Pacino and Hilary Swank. But locals in the area where Williams is purported to live maintain that he does call the peninsula home occasionally.
 
  Insomnia co-star Swank is another Hollywood star who spends mucho time here. Seven months during the past year to be exact, filming back-to-back suspense flicks. But Vancouver was a second home to Swank before she became an Oscar-winner for Boys Don't Cry. Swank grew up in the nearby town of Bellingham, Wash. and crossed the border often to drink in bars and roam around Vancouver and its suburbs. The actor, who's never made a film in Toronto or Montreal, tells anyone who will listen that she loves Vancouver because of its friendly people, talented crews, gorgeous surroundings and laid-back vibe. She's rented houses all over the region - in ritzy West Van, beachside Kitsilano and downtown. Swank, who lives in New York with hubby Chad Lowe, recently lensed The Core, a science fiction movie, in B.C.

- Valerie Gregory