Annabella Sciorra and Padma Lakshmi attend the after party for the 'Baby Mama' premiere in New York. (photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage.com)

The In-Crowd

Despite spending 69 days working under the scrutiny of New York crowds, 'Sex and the City' star Kristin Davis hasn't lost her cool. "Sometimes I got frustrated over the show's shoe connection," she told Variety, "but never the New York connection. It was always smart to shoot on the street, and we loved shooting in places like Magnolia Bakery (in Greenwich Village and the Upper West Side)." But all that ambiance comes at a cost — generally the crew's sanity. In fact, cinematographer John Thomas says the flick would have been impossible without NYC's helping hand. "New York does not want to be, nor can it be, a backlot for films and television," he says. "But I still find it amazing how many locations and streets the city helped us with — without the help of the mayor's office and the patience of New York citizens, this film never could have gotten made." (photo: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images)

[Variety]

[Hollywood Reporter]

Primary Concerns

For Americans, choosing a presidential candidate becomes a personal process steeped in trade-offs and intangibles. In that light, comedian Wanda Sykes' rationale seems about as sound as anyone else's: "I'm a black woman — Hillary or Obama, I'm torn," she says. "I really just tried to narrow it down to which is giving me more problems in my life, being black or being a woman. ... I ended up voting for Obama because there were just too many Hillarys showing up and I don't think the real Hillary has been shown. There was Crying Hillary, Mean Hillary. Then there was Whiny Hillary. I'm just worried that Slutty Hillary's gonna show up. Nobody wants to see her grinding on the Liberty Bell." (photo: Jeff Vespa/WireImage.com)

[Newsday]

Minka Kelly and Jamie-Lynn Sigler attend the 'Glow in the Dark Tour 2008' party in Hollywood. (photo: Michael Caulfield/WireImage.com)

Piven Gets Plowed

Jeremy Piven grew up in Chicago theater before segueing over to side-kick film and TV roles, eventually landing his break-through role as Ari Gold on 'Entourage.' Could it be his work as the ruthless agent that landed him his first Broadway gig? He'll be making his debut on the Great White Way as Hollywood movie producer Bobby Gould in David Mamet's 'Speed the Plow.' Piven acknowledged the connection: "Listen, all of these things we're doing now, we're just chasing Mamet," he said. (photo: Denise Truscello/WireImage.com)

[NY Times]

When Things Just Clique

It's always nice to feel like you're part of something bigger, and 'Six Feet Under' alum Jeremy Sisto says his 'Law & Order' role has given him a comfortable place to hang his hat: "I ran into Edie Falco the other day and she was talking about how 'Law & Order' is like a rite of passage for actors. It feels very familiar. It's something that so many people have been a part of." But any group worth joining has its own collection of pre-existing enemies, so Sisto has encountered a few L&O haters along the way. "Sometimes people get mad that we're taking over their neighborhood, which I get," he says. "Movies and TV shows have such entitlement — it doesn't matter, they can just shoot anywhere. So every now and then we have people who are like, 'I live here, don't tell me where I can walk, this is my house!'" (photo: Chris Weeks/WireImage.com)

[NY Daily News]

Ginnifer Goodwin arrives to the Metropolitan Opera 'La Fille Du Regiment' Opening Night at The Metropolitan Opera.

Linney to Unleash in Corset Drama

Laura Linney is showing a much more vicious side of herself on Broadway as La Marquise de Merteuil in 'Les Liaisons Dangereuse.' But there is one thing this role has in common with her recent turn as the devoted First Lady Abigail Adams. "I'm actually wearing the same corset I wore in 'John Adams,'" Linney told the Wall Street Journal. "This is a very different physicality than that, though. The French were considered extremely liberal. Even though their comportment was all about ease and grace and beauty, they were the only people who slept in the nude." This battle of the sexes officially opens May 1st, when Linney will spar with Ben Daniels as Le Vicomte de Valmont. (photo: Jim Spellman/WireImage.com)

[Wall Street Journal]

Darren Star's Nameless Men

Sure, 'Sex and the City' has made Manolo Blahnik a household name and planted the pernicious seed that $800 is a perfectly reasonable price for a handbag, but the series also shaped some cultural mores outside the closet. "Women have always been objectified by men," says creator Darren Star, "and in this case the women were objectifying men. The men had names like Mr. Big, Mr. Whatever; they weren't even referred to by name. ... We were very consciously turning the stereotype on its head." (photo: Gregg DeGuire/WireImage.com)

[Macleans.ca]

Catherine Zeta Jones and Tom Jones attend the Hopkins vs. Calzaghe 'Battle of The Planet' pre-party in Las Vegas. (photo: Denise Truscello/WireImage.com)

Monkey Hear, Monkey Do

Aussie Rachel Griffiths has been playing American women on TV for several years now, but she still works at it with a dialect coach. The actress does have a theory about why the Aussies and Brits nab so many American TV roles, and not vice-versa: "...we're trained, you know? We're good trained monkeys who go to excellent schools and join excellent theatre companies," says Griffiths. "I guess TV is looking for really good-looking trained monkeys, and here I am."

Or perhaps, in a strange foreshadowing, she learned her accent from her 'Brothers and Sisters' mother Sally Fields: "...we grew up watching American television and Americans didn't grow up watching 'Skippy the Bush Kangaroo' ...we grew up with 'I Dream of Jeannie' and 'The Flying Nun' and 'Gidget,' all of that stuff. So I think it's just easier for us." (photo: Jean-Paul Aussenard/WireImage.com)

[Edmonton Sun]

Here's the Dirt

An expected 10,000 cowboy fans will mosey over to the 2008 Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival this week to visit Melody Ranch, a working motion picture studio that has been host to many of the great westerns and its stars, from Gene Autry to Roy Rogers to Gary Cooper and John Wayne. From 2004-2007, access to all of the buildings was limited at the Cowboy Festival (this is its 15th year) because the studio was taken over by David Milch's 'Deadwood' and then 'John from Cincinnatti.' Then there was the writer's strike, which shut things down for a few months. "That kinda put a damper on things, but it gave us the chance to repair things and put the town back like it was in 1865," one of the owners, Andre Veluzat said. "We moved some signage around and moved out a lot of dirt." His brother Renaud added: "(Main Street) is more level now — it was difficult for some people to walk through."

[The Signal]

Jason Schwartzman and Carla Gugino attend a dinner for Scott Sternberg of Band of Outsiders in Beverly Hills. (photo: Donato Sardella/WireImage.com)

Shooting the Bull

It seems Sarah Jessica Parker and her 'Smart People' costar Dennis Quaid have found some chemistry — just not the kind that involves experimenting with corrosive substances. When Quaid cracked a Red Bull during a recent Reuters interview, Parker was aghast: "I cannot beLIEVE you're drinking that, yuck. I've never even tasted it. I'm scared of it! Can I just smell it? Oh, it smells like bubble gum ... Oh, my God." (photo: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images)

[Reuters]

Not Exactly a Pushover

John Hurt has already had a long career in film and television, but seems to be experiencing a renaissance with upcoming roles in HBO Films' 'Recount' and the new 'Indiana Jones' movie. When asked recently whether he intimidates younger directors, Hurt said: "I hope not. I try not to intimidate. I find it hard to imagine that anyone could be intimidated by me. I wasn't like Larry [Sir Lawrence Oliver]. When I played the Fool to his Lear, the scene on the heath, I said, 'Watch out here, it's slippy,' and he hissed: 'Is it.' And I said, 'All right, slip over then and break your flipping neck, dear.'" (photo: Lalo Yasky/WireImage.com)

[telegraph.co.uk]