Paris goes back to school

Dec 22, 2006, 13:40 GMT

heiress Paris HIlton EPA/ANDY RAIN

Paris Hilton has been attending acting classes to prepare for her latest film.

The hotel heiress - who starred in horror movie 'House of Wax' and has had a string of cameos including parts in 'Zoolander' - wants to prove her critics wrong with her latest movie 'The Hottie and the Nottie'.

A source told the New York Post newspaper: "Paris has been going to acting classes in Beverly Hills. She arrived looking very serious with a script clamped under her arm."

The new film, directed by Tom Putnam, is about a woman who refuses to marry her long-term boyfriend until he finds a suitor for her ugly friend.

Earlier this week, Paris was branded a dumb blonde by Joan Rivers.

The sharp-tongued comedienne wrote a letter to her university alumni appealing for donations to her old sorority and bitchily used Paris and fellow blonde Jessica Simpson as examples of stupid young women.

According to reports, Joan wrote to Barnard alumni: "We must support women who have a sense of confidence and self-worth.

"Where have all the smart girls gone? That is a hard question to answer in an age where Jessica Simpson and Paris Hilton pass as intellectuals."

(C) BANG Media International