New York, April 22 - May 2, 2009 – Cheryl Hines called it a “small miracle” that she pulled together such a cast – Meg Ryan, Timothy Hutton, Justin Long and Kristen Bell – for her directorial debut Serious Moonlight, which screened at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival. She’d worked with Adrienne Shelley on Waitress, and was offered the Moonlight script by the late actress’s husband, Andy Ostroy.  “So suddenly, I was offered this golden opportunity that I knew would only come once in my life, and I read the script and I absolutely loved it,” Hines told us. 

Hines did not meet with Meg Ryan in person to discuss the project. “I was actually on location shooting something else, but we had a lot of conversations on the phone.  And it was the first time I’d ever met her; I had never met her before this film,” Hines told us.

Ryan said what Hines brought to the director’s chair is humor.  “When you have someone behind the lens who is funny and who knows what funny is, you can relax.” Ryan said.  We couldn’t resist asking the When Harry Met Sally star if she ever goes to Katz’s Delicatessen, the setting of the 1989 movie's most infamous scene.  “I just got a t-shirt,” Ryan said, laughing.  “They finally sent me one.”

Despite rampant rumors, there is no Jackass 3 movie in production.  “We’re not working on it right now,” Johnny Knoxville told us at the Tribeca Festival screening of The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia, which he produced with Jackass director Jeff Tremaine. “It’s been on imdb for the last two years, but it’s not true,” said Tremaine.  “If we decide to make one, we’ll make one.  But we have not decided to make one yet,” he added.

Gary Coleman, who says he’s embarrassed that he was in the movie Midgets vs. Mascots, nonetheless showed up at the film festival to promote it. Director Ron Carlson says this classy production was the brainchild of a marketing company.  “A couple of people decided, you know, we could have two teams put together and compete against each other, and have it just outrageous. And, uh, little people and mascots really seemed to be like, the right mix,” Carlson explained.  He got the job after the producers had approached 40 different directors.  “I was probably the only one that said yes.” 

Photos: Dennis Van Tine & Joy E. Scheller