Oscar-winning dame Ellen Burstyn will star in The Little Flower of East Orange, the new Off Broadway play by Stephen Adly Guirgis to be directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman. According to Variety, the play is a ghost story set in an upper Manhattan charity hospital and is set to begin previews March 18.  read more »

With only one wide release—MGM’s Awake (No. 6)—the box office had a slow weekend, with few, if any, changes either here or nationally in the top five. But that didn’t keep The Savages (No. 8) from making an impression. On two screens in the city, the Tamara Jenkins family drama starring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney averaged close to $40,000—a stellar opening for such a slow time.

In the wake of so many dysfunctional Thanksgiving dinners, perhaps receipts were buoyed by people’s desire to see a family more messed up than their own. The film has also certainly been helped by the skillful word-of-mouth and marketing campaign launched by Fox Searchlight—they of Sideways and Little Miss Sunshine fame. Don’t be surprised if this one meets the same Oscar fate—both good and bad.  read more »

Laura Linney--whom we think of as a certain kind of actress--says she’s the happiest she’s ever been. (Definitely a good thing; see: The Nanny Diaries, The Squid and the Whale, The Truman Show, et cetera ad infinitum.) The 43-year-old actress' new movie The Savages, directed by Tamara Jenkins and costarring Philip Seymour Hoffman, opens tomorrow. In the film, the esteemed actors do turns playing siblings who are faced with putting their father, played by Philip Bosco, in a nursing home. Ms. Linney’s character, Wendy, a down-and-out playwright fast approaching her 40th birthday, lives in the shadow of her more successful brother, a fellow writer. "For me, things are nothing but good," she said in an interview with Reuters. "For Wendy, she's living like she's 28 [years old] or even 11. She just hasn't had the opportunity to move forward."

Ms. Linney has heaped seven films on her professional plate over the last two years. "I just really enjoy it,” she said. “I find it constantly challenging. It's taken me to parts of the world I never thought I'd see and I've worked with people whom I admire and learned from. It's pretty damn good."

Director Tamara Jenkins (Slums of Beverly Hills) delivers that rare gift for the holidays: a meaningful movie about the ravages of age.  read more »

From The Lord Norman Foster

The supporters of The New Globe Theater--the proposed Castle Williams arts center on Governors Island--already have lots of famous friends. (Moby! Pacino! Amy Sacco! Philip Seymour Hoffman! Moby!!).

And there's more: Lord Ralph Voldemort Fiennes has not only "shared his enthusiasm and insights into theater design over coffee" with the New Globe folks, but has added his name to their list of supporters.

Scorsese at home.

Also, Robert De Niro--who's starred in plenty of Mr. Scorsese's films--might still be looking for an uptown place, too. His wife, Grace Hightower, was reportedly checking out the $49 million triplex apartment at 823 Park Ave.