Anne Hathaway Finally Gets Smart!Reports that Anne Hathaway broke up with boyfriend Raffaello Follieri go undenied by her reps, Ivanka Trump reveals a childhood trauma, André Leon Talley threatens to style again, and other celebrity reports in our daily digest.
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Ryan Seacrest Is Casting for BoysThe ‘American Idol’ and E! host has yet another job, Ethan Hawke gets one step closer to making his nanny his second wife, plus new ‘Gossip Girl’ gossip, all in our daily roundup of the day’s gossip columns.
Your Daily Intel Editors Are Characters in ‘Definitely, Maybe’!Last night, we went to the Ziegfeld premiere of the movie Definitely, Maybe. It’s that movie where Ryan Reynolds tells his daughter (Abigail Breslin) about all the women he’s loved over the years. Now, we won’t give away the ending, because that would be sort of like telling you what happens in the final episode of the show How I Met Your Mother. Okay, it would be exactly like that. So, anyway, one of the characters that Reynolds dates in the course of his storytelling is a lovely young writer, played by Rachel Weisz. She’s struggling to make it, and on her second meeting with Reynolds (at a book party for her literary-legend ex-boyfriend), he asks her what she’s been up to lately. And she replies, wait for it
I’m writing these really dumb items for New York Magazine while waiting for my big break to come.
If you were sitting in the Ziegfeld Theater last night, at that very moment you would have heard — from the far reaches of the back of the audience — an audible shriek. That was us.
Definitely, Maybe [Official site]
New Year’s Resolutions for the Best New YorkersRecently, we were watching John Waters’s 1998 movie Pecker, which starred all kinds of great people like Martha Plimpton and Lily Taylor and Edward Furlong, before he got weird and started getting arrested and dating his manager. Anyway, as in all John Waters movies, there were about five really brilliantly funny parts in it, one of which was a game the characters played called “Shopping for Others,” in which they’d go to the supermarket and sneak things into the shopping carts of fellow shoppers when they weren’t looking. (Like a long phallic gourd in the cart of a mousy single woman or a stack of Depends for a smarmy dude in tight jeans, etc.) Anyway, we got to thinking: How about if, this year, we make New Year’s resolutions for others? We’ve never made New Year’s resolutions ourselves — it’s weird, every year New Year’s Eve rolls around, and we realize we’re still kind of perfect! — but we’ve always felt we were missing out on that great American tradition. Not to mention, frankly, there are people that could use our assistance. So. To celebrate the great New Yorkers who make this blog possible and to help them continue their gloriousness into 2008, we’ve generously ginned up some resolutions for their benefit.
John Mack Gives Zoe Cruz the Heave-hoFINANCE
• John Mack decided to can Zoe Cruz just three weeks after naming her as a strong potential successor at Morgan Stanley. Two execs, Walid Chammah and James Gorman, will take Cruz’s place as overseeing the firm’s trading and risk operations. [NYT]
• Eddie Lampert has lost quite a bit of his luster: The star investor sometimes mentioned as the heir to Warren Buffett lost millions on a big investment in Citigroup, and the earnings debacle at Sears is only making things worse. [Deal Journal/WSJ]
• A small local council in Scotland managed to trump the Donald’s $2 billion plan to build “the world’s greatest golf course.” It was just never clear on where Trump’s hair would fit in the course. [NYP]
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Ba Ba Ba, Ba BarbaraleeHollywood players like Ben Stiller, Toby Maguire, and Steven Spielberg can’t figure out which Democrat to support for president, so they’re donating to multiple ones. (Tom Hanks, Will Smith, and Jennifer Aniston, however, are firmly in Camp Obama.) Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel was passed over for appointment as executive director of New York State Council of the Arts, perhaps because she has donated money to Spitzer, who’s now trying to look ethically pure. Gwen Stefani loves breast-feeding even though she’s been getting bitten. Ashlee Simpson and Pete Wentz refused to be photographed with their KY Intimacy Kit swag bags at Lollapalooza because they were scared of Joe Simpson. Tracy Morgan wants to get his SCRAM ankle bracelet “blinged out” at Jacob the Jeweler.
Back of the House
Stars Sate Our Curiosity at the ‘No Reservations’ PremiereNo Reservations, the new movie where Catherine Zeta-Jones plays (history’s most gorgeous) chef, had a prescreening last night, and Justin Ravitz was there to take down the red-carpet thoughts of the principals and attendees. The movie’s stew of rom-com clichés, from the hard-talking but vulnerable lady boss to the brash young hunk who breaks down her defenses, was tired when the Automat opened, so our questions ranged far outside of the kitchen, and so did the answers (Abigail Breslin? Just too cute). Aaron Eckhart said that he doesn’t know about the “cool and popular” new restaurants, citing Raoul’s as his favorite place to eat. Now there’s a sentiment we have “no reservations” about.
See pictures and quotes from Catherine Zeta-Jones, Katie Lee Joel, Aaron Eckhart, Alto chef Michael White, and others from the No Reservations premiere in Party Lines [NYM]
Breaking: NBA Stars Get ChicksNew Jersey Net Jason Kidd likes the company of women. Supermodel Maggie Rizer was busted for throwing away garbage behind a pizza parlor. Jennifer Lopez is starting to sound more and more like a Scientologist. Former New Jersey Governor James McGreevey has a boyfriend but still likes creepily cruising the town for new guys. Lily Allen performed at Irving Plaza a little drunk, but it went smoothly. Abigail Breslin is set to play a doll in an upcoming HBO movie. Seann William Scott was reported to be sighted at a gay bar with David Geffen, but the bar doesn’t exist and he actually dates a Victoria’s Secret model.
