New York, May 23, 2006 – It seems that the pent up demand for the Olsen twins and Liv Tyler is fairly acute. Both Mary-Kate Olsen and Liv Tyler, well accustomed to flashbulbs, were temporarily blinded by the overzealous camerawork at the Free Arts NYC benefit auction on Tuesday evening. (And we must say that from the back, Mary-Kate looks like Cousin It from The Addams Family.)

The Armani-sponsored auction drew a fashion-ey crowd that included model Jacquetta Wheeler and designers Gilles Mendel and Carlos Miele to the Phillips de Pury gallery in Chelsea.

Tyler and her rocker husband Royston Langdon dashed off to the Museum of Modern Art’s film benefit honoring Walk the Line director James Mangold. Liv was quick to credit Mangold with helping to launch her film career by casting her in his first directorial effort, Heavy, in 1995. When a celebrity weekly reporter asked the young mom how she maintains her admittedly smoking body, Tyler was quick to end the interview.

We tried to no avail to get Mangold to dish about highhanded diva antics from his stars, which have included Robert De Niro, Angelina Jolie and Reese Witherspoon. He elegantly eluded the issue with, “It’s never about the size of someone’s trailer. …It’s always about the work.”

Oh well, at least Dallas Roberts told us that though he’s grateful that Mangold cast him as Sam Phillips in Walk the Line, “You know, you probably would want to play Johnny Cash if you got all of your chips.”