April 9, 2007

Scarlett Johansson: Actress. Bombshell. Prognosticator?

In the May issue of Seventeen magazine, the stacked starlet quips, "If two people are single -- and one's a guy and one's a girl and they're both famous -- you're going to be linked with somebody. If it's somebody one week, it's going to be somebody else the next week. It's either me or Jessica Biel."

You'll recall that earlier this year, the shapely shopping pals were both rumored to be snuggling up to Justin Timberlake, and now Scarlett, 22, has supposedly been spied sucking face with Ryan Reynolds, 30, who just last month was seen spending quality time with the hard-bodied Biel.

According to Perez Hilton, the reigning Sexiest Woman Alive and the six-pack-sporting actor were joined at the lips last weekend in New York, where they purportedly engaged in saliva-filled public displays of affection at various hot spots.

Johansson, who recently laughed off chatter that she was seeing an oats-sowing Ryan Phillippe (by the by, Us alleges Reese's ex recently "hooked up" with Lindsay Lohan), and Reynolds, whose engagement to longtime love Alanis Morissette went belly-up in early February, reportedly kicked off their smoochfest Friday night with a lovey-dovey dinner at Rao's, followed by more schmoopiness at club Azza.

The next evening, they were said to be nibbling on one another at TriBeCa eatery Odeon, with an onlooker telling Perez, "They were totally making out the whole time."

Gushed another bystander to People, "They were definitely holding hands. They were a cute couple!"

It was apparently the same story on Sunday night, when they were spied breaking bread in the late afternoon with some pals.

"Ryan and Scarlett were being quite cute, enjoying each other's company," recounts an eyewitness to Perez, "and I saw Ryan give her a quick kiss on the cheek, after which she blushed and looked very coquettish ..."

So are these alleged buss stops the sign of a hot new hookup?

When contacted for comment on the romance rumblings, reps for both Johansson and Reynolds gave MSN.com the exact same sidestepping statement, telling us, "I don't comment on my client's personal lives," with Ryan's mouthpiece tossing in for good measure, "No comment."

At least Reynolds knows what he's getting into with Scarlett, who enigmatically tells Seventeen that she prefers to be upfront with her boyfriends, when she's not being coy.

"I can't stand mind games," she explains. "But I think you should be mysterious and flirtatious. You should always have some mystery in a relationship. You don't wanna know what the person's thinking all the time. And you don't want him to know what you're thinking all the time."

Yeah, good luck with that, Ryan.

Meanwhile, in the constant game of musical chairs that is the Hollywood dating scene, Scarlett's ex, Josh Hartnett, continues to cuddle up with Penélope Cruz, whom he reportedly joined for a steamy getaway to the Turks and Caicos Islands a couple of weeks back.

Turns out the facial-hair-challenged actor, who was last seen caressing the thigh of Sienna Miller, and the Spanish looker, previously linked to Orlando Bloom, were also in New York over the weekend, per Perez, with an eagle-eyed operative spying them dining a deux Saturday night.

"They were definitely together," says the mole.

Hartnett shouldn't be surprised if his ears start burning a bit this summer. That's when Scarlett is due to join Penélope in Barcelona to film Woody Allen's latest opus.

Next: Nicole's Womb Watch; Naomi's 'Glowing Stage'