"Michael Moore and I actually have a lot in common - we both appreciate living in a country where there's free expression," Eastwood told the star-dotted crowd attending the National Board of Review awards dinner at Tavern on the Green, where Eastwood picked up a Special Filmmaking Achievement prize for "Million Dollar Baby."

Then, the Republican-leaning actor/director advised the lefty filmmaker: "But, Michael, if you ever show up at my front door with a camera - I'll kill you."

The audience erupted in laughter, and Eastwood grinned dangerously.

"I mean it," he added, provoking more guffaws.

Sitting well out of range at a table in back, Moore - who received a special "Freedom of Expression" award for his anti-Bush polemic "Fahrenheit 9/11" - chuckled.

What a difference from last summer, when Moore's supporters complained that death threats were arriving almost daily and the director showed up at the Democratic Convention with a security detail.

Back then, Moore was outraged when CNN anchor Bill Hemmer suggested during an interview that some folks might want to see him dead.

"Can you think of any other interview in the history of television where a politician or a movie director was asked about people wanting to see him dead?" Moore seethed to me at the time.

But, in this case, Moore's rep told me yesterday: "Michael laughed along with everyone else, and took Mr. Eastwood's comments in the lighthearted spirit in which they were given."

Phew.

Other NBR award winners included Annette Bening for Best Actress in "Being Julia," an absent Jamie Foxx for Best Actor in "Ray," "P.S." star Topher Grace and "The Phantom of the Opera" star Emmy Rossum for Breakthrough Performances, Michael Mann for Best Director for "Collateral," and "Finding Neverland" for Best Film.

In accepting the Career Achievement Award, Jeff Bridges gave a moving tribute to his wife of 30 years, Susan Geston.

Russell exercises his influence

Stretch or Die!

That could be the slogan for hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons' latest grand obsession: Making America - and eventually the world - a better place through yoga.

Simmons told me he's spending millions on a celebrity-glutted infomercial to evangelize the mystical practice from the East.

"I have Donald Trump, Serena Williams, Prof. Robert Thurman [Uma's dad], Puffy and the Rev. Run and my wife all in this yoga infomercial," said the hyperactive Simmons, while simultaneously conducting multiple competing conversations and flacking for this afternoon's charity screening of the inspirational Samuel L. Jackson movie "Coach Carter" at the Loews Lincoln Square theater.

Simmons breathlessly continued: "We filmed Donald in his office, and he says, 'I knew Russell when he was a fat lunatic' - before yoga - 'and now I know Russell when he's thinner and less of a lunatic.'"

Could yoga help with the strength, flexibility and spiritual enlightenment of Trump's comb-over?

Simmons carefully replied: "Donald's already so strong in all those categories, I don't know what could enhance it. Plus, he hasn't signed the release."

The 46-year-old Simmons - who says he's shed 45 pounds since pal Bobby Shriver took him to his first yoga class in Santa Monica 11 years ago - went on:

"We got Serena in Hong Kong saying she does yoga before she plays tennis. Rev. Run [Russell's younger brother Joe Simmons of Run DMC] is standing in front of his Phantom Rolls-Royce and talking about the relationship between yoga and Christ consciousness. And Kimora [Russell's wife] is in an absolutely insane pose, with her legs behind her head.

"I'm also going after Christy Turlington, Annette Bening and other celebrities whose lives have been changed by yoga. Sting is waiting to see what we've filmed before he commits."

Simmons said all profits will go to philanthropic pursuits.

"This infomercial is a multimilliondollar investment, and I'm going to buy tons and tons of television time!" he said. "They spent $50 million on all that Tae Bo crap and made a lot of money, so I'm not worried about getting the money back from yoga."

The briefing

Foot-in-mouth extraction: The year is young, but I was all ready to give Wenner Media exec Kent Brownridge Lowdown's "Most Tasteless Remark of 2005" Award - for comparing the Brad Pitt/Jennifer Aniston split to the tsunami - until he got on the phone to apologize. Brownridge, who oversees Us Weekly, had opined to another newspaper: "For a celebrity weekly, this is our tsunami." Yesterday he told me: "I used an inappropriate metaphor and I'm sorry that I in any way compared a monumental tragedy in human life to this. ... I wish I'd said that this was our equivalent of covering the presidential election. I didn't mean to offend anybody." Okay, Kent, you get a pass this time.

'Smokey' gets in her eyes: Mira Nair, meet Burt Reynolds. On second thought, maybe it's not such a good idea. At SoHo House's Grand Classics screening of "Tootsie," the "Vanity Fair" director told Lowdown: "Who would I never cast? Probably Burt Reynolds." What's her beef with the 68-year-old Oscar-nominated and Golden Globe-winning actor? "I just don't like looking at him," she explained, bursting into a maniacal cackle followed by regret. "S---! You're just putting me in this corner. He was good in 'Boogie Nights.' "

I coulda had a B8: There is absolutely no connection between the high-end boutique B8 Couture and the glitzy nightclub Bungalow 8 (known as "B8" to its regulars). "It's not the same name - I didn't know of the club before I got your message," B8 Couture owner Karine Bellil told Lowdown yesterday. "The 'B' is because my family name is Bellil and the 8 is because I am one of six children and my mom and dad make eight." Bellil, in any case, said she doesn't fear the wrath of Bungalow 8's Amy Sacco, who claimed blissful ignorance.

With Hudson Morgan