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NY Daily News JV Gossip Lloyd Grove reports that Gina Gershon "halted production" of the ABC pilot Ugly Betty yesterday by demanding that she be allowed to keep a $650 pair of shoes:

"It's a classic case of an actress letting her part go to her head," reports a Lowdown spy on the set. "The funny part is that they hired a dialect coach to make her sound Italian, and she was talking to the producers in the accent, saying that she couldn't sign the contract until her lawyer read the contract. Then she says she will not sign unless the contract is changed to let her keep her wardrobe, and Disney [ABC's parent company] has a strict policy saying actors don't get to keep their wardrobes."

[Producer Salma] Hayek was in L.A. yesterday and apparently unaware of the shoe business. Her co-executive producer, Silvio Horta, told Lowdown: "It was just a minor, minor delay. ... There's a pair of shoes that are pretty fabulous, and I'd want to keep them as well."

While Gershon's actions fall somewhat short of production-crippling, one-woman wildcat strike, we have to admire the dedication to craft that led her to conduct her mild diva-fit while still in character. A lesser actress would just drop her expensive, coached accent, "forget" that she'd "accidentally" put the expensive shoes in her purse before leaving the set, and force some poor PA to drive across town to retrieve the purloined Choos.