New York, May 7, 2008 – With all of the hype surrounding the imminent Sex and the City movie, we’re a little tired of hearing about it, so certainly the stars must be sick of talking about it, right?  “No, I’m not sick of it”, Mario Cantone told us at the DKMS benefit gala on Wednesday.   “I’m sick of being asked what’s happening, and who dies, because, you know, I can’t say anything about anything.”  Most annoying, Cantone confided, is people asking him to relate funny incidents that occurred on the set.  “There were no funny incidents except for the fact that I yelled at all the paparazzi and the people on the meridian on Park Avenue and told them to get a life and go home”, Cantone went on, sort of answering the question – even though we didn’t ask.  “I was like, don’t you have anything better to do?  And they were like, ‘No!’  I took the bullhorn, I said, ‘Well, you all look very beautiful – too bad the camera is on us.  Go home!’”  But Cantone says he had a blast doing the movie.  “And no one dies.  Wait – I die.  I do!  I get killed by a double-decker tour bus.”  Spoiler!?

Cantone hosted the gala at Capitale, which featured performances by Natasha Bedingfield and German pop star Sarah Connor, who has a great voice, and is not to be confused with the character in The Terminator.  Cindy Crawford was honored – she wants to help raise awareness because she lost a brother to leukemia.  Amy Ryan, Eva Mendes, Morgan Fairchild and fashion designers Francisco Costa and Derek Lam lent their support.

New York, May 7, 2008 – Barbara Walters appeared at a midtown Manhattan bookstore on Wednesday to sign copies of her new memoir, Audition, and, as usual, photographers were brought in to shoot pictures for a short while before the author got down to signing copies for fans. 

New York, May 5, 2008 – Not many guests dressed in theme for this year’s Costume Institute Gala, understandably, since the exhibition’s theme, superheroes, is difficult to adapt to chic designer eveningwear.  But the red carpet was chock-a-block with superstars, literally.  A woman wafting toward us broke out in a giant smile – it was Julia Roberts, arm-in-arm with Giogio Armani.  George Clooney was over there, talking to a reporter.   Janet Jackson quietly made her way through the throng with beau Jermaine Dupri.   There was a lot of excitement on the red carpet when David and Victoria Beckham arrived; they lingered on the museum steps to catch up with Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony.  While chatting with Hayden Christensen, we glanced up to see Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes beaming as they headed inside for dinner. 

And the boldface names just kept coming - Beyonce, John Mayer, Ellen Barkin, Mary J. Blige, David Bowie, Kate Moss, Donatella Versace and on and on - a seemingly endless parade of stars. 

Scarlett Johansson breezed by with designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, and said thanks and waved her diamond ring when congratulated on her engagement.  The actress’ Lost in Translation director Sofia Coppola was not just surprised, she had no idea who Johansson’s fiancé Ryan Reynolds is. “I don’t know who he is, but that’s great news”, Coppola said.

Tom Brady posed for a few photos with girlfriend Gisele Bundchen, and then ducked inside and left her to the glare of the spotlights.   Gisele liked her Versace dress because it was “light and fresh”, and told us that her favorite superhero is Wonder Woman. 

Diane Kruger was going for a Xena the Warrior Princess look with her Ferretti dress, and told us that she and her man Josh Jackson critiqued one another’s outfits as they got ready for the ball.  “It’s good, because he says, ‘Boobs are showing, put some tape on’, stuff like that”, Kruger told us, laughing.  Do superheroes need double-sided tape to keep their costumes in line?

New York, May 3, 2008 – John Goodman prepared for his role in Speed Racer by growing a mustache, he said at Saturday’s U.S. premiere, the big finale for the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival.  Goodman insisted that the Wachowski brothers, who directed, are not weird.  “They’re very funny”, he said.  Actor Kick Gurry seconded that, and added that the “crazy talented” Wachowskis are not really reclusive.  “They like the art to speak louder than words,” Gurry said, noting that they attended Speed Racer premieres in London and Berlin.  “They’re doing a movie over there, so they couldn’t be here”, he told us.

Emile Hirsch said he was pleased to be a part of the movie, because he grew up watching the 1960s Speed Racer TV series. “It was the show I always would wake up and watch on the Cartoon Network.  They have the reruns of them”, the 23-year-old Into the Wild star said.  His favorite car is the Mach V, “Speed’s car”.  Susan Sarandon’s character makes lots of pancakes in the movie. “I feel like I’ve been preparing my entire life for flipping those pancakes”, said the Oscar winner, who brought along her kids Eva Amurri and Miles Robbins to the premiere.

Stephen Colbert popped in to check out the movie with his wife and three kids, as did Fred Durst, who was a juror for the Tribeca festival this year.  Robert De Niro slipped in just before the movie started.

Photos: Joy E. Scheller

Los Angeles, May 1, 2008 – Cameron Diaz was not expected at the Hollywood premiere of What Happens in Vegas, due to the death of her father on April 15.  But the actress surprised us all by turning up at the Mann’s Village Theater, unannounced.  Diaz greeted fans, but did not speak to reporters – not that she ever does – and she clung to co-star Ashton Kutcher on the red carpet.

In addition to Cameron Diaz, the premiere drew Vince Vaughn, Eva Longoria Parker and Juno writer Diablo Cody. 

New York, May 1, 2008 –  Uma Thurman gave a disturbing account of harassment in a Manhattan courtroom on Thursday at the trial of a man accused of stalking the actress.

OAN was on the scene, and as usual, our highly trained legal team dug deep to find the real story: the Kill Bill star chose the Louis Vuitton Manhattan GM bag for her appearance at the New York County Supreme Courthouse.  Thurman left the $2,100 handbag unzipped, her scarf dangling chicly from both ends.

Courtroom sartorial rules can be so confusing, but it seems that the Birkin bag is appropriate courtroom attire when one is accused, while Vuitton is the choice when one is on the right side of the law.

New York, April 25-29, 2008 – The low-key, high-profile Tribeca Film Festival has taken over all of downtown New York from Union Square to Battery Park City with screenings, panel discussions and, of course, parties. 

Shoppers on busy Broadway gape as celebs like Cheryl Hines, William H. Macy and Nick Cannon pose in front of cameras at the AMC 19th Street Theater, right out in the open.  Late Friday evening, Bruce Willis and his girlfriend Emma Hemming nonchalantly strolled into the theater practically unnoticed – they came to support his daughter Rumer Willis at a screening of the dark thriller From Within. 

At the screening of teen prom-anxiety comedy Bart Got a Room, William H. Macy said he has a soft spot for the this festival because his wife Felicity Huffman’s movie Transamerica was sold at Tribeca.  Huffman got an Academy Award nomination for her performance in that film.

In Lake City, Sissy Spacek plays Troy Garity’s mother.  What’s he like, we wanted to know, having grown up with activist Jane Fonda as his real-life mother?  “He’s funny, he’s a fantastic actor, he’s not spoiled, he’s very politically aware, environmentally aware.  I’m his biggest fan,” Spacek raved.  “His movie mom and his real mom are both proud”, the Oscar winner told us, beaming.

Side note: British actor William Mosely popped in at the Lake City premiere, and he blushed when we asked which of her lovers Tilda Swinton brought to the set of the Chronicles of Narnia sequel, which hits theaters in May.  He hemmed and hawed but finally blurted: “She did have her 29-year-old lover on set.”  Mosely approves. “You know, nobody’s ever going to stop Tilda from being her own person”, he told us.

Spacek, Fonda photos: Caroline Torem Craig

Washington, D.C., April 26, 2008 - Apparently the impending presidential election has put the Hollywood set in a jovial mood, because Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ dinner drew a heavy contingent of celebrities, most of whom had stayed away during the Bush administration years. 

Joining the usual powerful media figures like Martha Stewart and Katie Couric at the Washington Hilton was everyone from Donatella Versace to Ashlee Simpson to Grey’s Anatomy star Eric Dane.  Panting tweens lined the hotel lobby and screamed in ecstasy when the Jonas Brothers arrived.  Padma Lakshmi was there, and so was her ex, Salman Rushdie with a gorgeous young date. Awkward!  New York Daily News owner Mort Zuckerman told us that he was “amazed” by the new smaller size of his competitor, the New York Post.  Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner attended, but managed to hide from cameras all evening.

Craig Ferguson hosted the dinner, rambling on a bit, and President Bush himself played maestro, picking up a baton and conducting a marching band.  W also donned a cowboy hat and even sang. 

The stormy evening didn’t stop revelers from hitting the parties.  Pamela Anderson popped into the Bloomberg party at the Costa Rican Embassy for just a few moments, and dashed off to catch a plane, we hear.  Over at the brand new Newseum, Rosario Dawson hosted Capitol File’s party, where Pete Wentz deejayed.