Cash withdrawn on bio

By BEN WIDDICOMBE
DAILY NEWS GOSSIP COLUMNIST

Sunday, May 6th 2007, 4:00 AM

Don't ask Rosanne Cash about the new biography of her stepmother, June Carter Cash, written by her half-brother John.

We tried it, and got shot down.

"I don't discuss that book," she snapped, fixing our reporter with an icy glare.

"Anchored in Love: The Life and Legacy of June Carter Cash" comes out from Thomas Nelson next month.

We snooped through an advance copy of the book and couldn't find much that would offend fans of the late Johnny Cash and his wife. John Carter Cash writes: "Mom would have been overjoyed to see Reese Witherspoon win an Oscar for portraying the life of June Carter Cash in the acclaimed film ‘Walk the Line.'"

But Rosanne is on record as not loving the public's curiosity about her family.

"My father was much like Matisse in that he had a creative rebirth at the end of his life," she told reporters in London last year. "But much of the product that has come out post-mortem has been one-dimensional and exploitative."

Piven at tipping point

Jeremy Piven gripes in the June Esquire magazine about this column's story of his boorish behavior at the Aspen restaurant Matsuhisa.

"The part where I gave them a ["Entourage"] DVD as a tip - that's the most insane thing I have ever heard," he says. "Who carries around a DVD?"

That's funny, Jeremy - when a rep from HBO (who was at the table) called later to complain about the item, she acknowledged, "Some DVDs were given as gifts to the staff."

They still would have preferred cash, buddy!

Polley could be dead on revival

No wonder serious film people hate gossip columnists.

When I met indie film queen Sarah Polley, who adapted and directed the magnificent "Away From Her," I just wanted to talk about her role in "Dawn of the Dead," my favorite zombie movie.

"I don't think [my character] did die in the end," she said, referring to the film's ambiguous conclusion. So there could be a sequel!

(Julie Christie's performance in "Away From Her," by the way, has Oscar nomination written all over it.)

Also at the Cinema Society screening, sponsored by The Wall Street Journal, was Debra Messing, her arm in a cast due to torn ligaments. We asked her about the road not taken, a theme of her Tribeca Film Festival movie, "Purple Violets."

"I really wanted to do the Peace Corps, and it was whether or not I went to graduate school for acting or the Peace Corps - and I really struggled with it," she said.

"I don't regret it because it was a wonderful experience and I met my husband [in acting school], but in a parallel life I wish I had experienced the Peace Corps."