Photos: Getty Images

How do we know this? Because we saw them literally in talks the other week, at the Edison Café near Times Square. Stone hopes to cast Giamatti as…well, someone. Sadly, the din of theatergoers enjoying pastrami and matzo-ball soup (delicious!) drowned out any hints as to what exact part they were discussing. Giamatti’s a noted chameleon — seriously, who else could play John Adams, Harvey Pekar, and Santa Claus? — so we can definitely picture him as Dick Cheney (we were hoping for Burgess Meredith, alas), though perhaps the likeliest role is puppetmaster Karl Rove. After all, Giamatti claimed he based his villain in unjustly ignored masterpiece Shoot ‘Em Up on Bush’s longtime adviser. We do know one thing — he’s not up for Rumsfeld, since we did hear him ask Stone, "Do you have a Rumsfeld?" — which is now our own personal catchphrase. —Adam Sternbergh

Work at this year's Armory Show.Photo: Patrick McMullan

That was the first sign of Armageddon at The Armory Show last night. The veteran art fair this year is under new management – Chicago’s Merchandise Mart – and also under a cloud of concern about recession. (More signs of cost-cutting: Entry fee was $30, up from $20 last year.)

The Armory Show is just one of nine contemporary art and design fairs (Scope, Pulse, Volta, Red Dot, Diva, Pool, Bridge, and Design Miami/New York) opening this week at a time when there’s more talk of Bear Stearns than bare walls. At Armory rival Scope, fair president Alexis Hubshmam says his fair is countering the downbeat mood with low prices and a bigger concentration of European dealers – “the dollar is so low now that European money and Chinese money are buying” – not to mention encouraging a change in dealer attitude. Hubshman says he told two dealers worried that the recession would dent sales to simply be friendlier to customers: “Being aloof, and the coldness of 10 years ago, won’t work now.”