Socialite Allison Sarofim is also getting involved in movie production.

Ms. Sarofim, who grew up in Houston, moved to New York seven years ago. Her father is the famous Egyptian-born financier, Fayez Sarofim, a.k.a.  read more »

A large crowd waited on a damp red carpet Monday night for the premier of War Inc., a satire of strife in the Middle East starring John Cusack, Marrisa Tomei and Hillary Duff and set in the fictitious state of Turaqistan.

"It was tough playing a pop star who wasn't me," confessed Ms. Duff, who plays a local Turaqistani singer named Yonica Babyyeah. "But I am getting to an age where I enjoy taking on new challenges."

Rather infamously, in this movie one of those new challenges included filming a scene in which the singer puts a live scorpion down her pants.  read more »

"It was a great night and it was definitely a huge success by all accounts," gushed Coney Island T-shirt maven Dianna Carlin following last Saturday night's splashy grand opening party at her Lola Staar Dreamland Roller Rink in the abandoned landmark Childs Restaurant building on the boardwalk.

Sponsored by Glamour magazine and fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger (promoting a new perfume called "Dreaming"), the event featured appearances by sparkly dressed pop singer Ashanti and pig-tailed actress Marisa Tomei (sporting her own kitschy T-shirt: "I'M PULLIN' FOR PEE-WEE").

"We had 1,000 people RSVP," Ms. Carlin said. "Luckily, not all of them showed up. ... For a while, we ran out of roller skates."

Yet no one has done any skating at the makeshift rink since Saturday's party.

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Moments after Marisa Tomei climbed out of her car last night at the DKNY fragrance launch party in the West Village, a TMZ videographer captured a seemingly annoyed Ms. Tomei, 42, yelling at one of the event organizers just outside Donna Karan’s Urban Zen store on Greenwich Street.

In the Web site’s clip, Ms. Tomei looked to have a major beef with the unnamed man, yelling at him to stop talking “bullshit” all the time. Finally seeing the camera catching the exchange, the actress flashed a mega-watt smile at the lens.

In reality, however, the Academy Award-winner was anything but miffed with the publicist. We just spoke with one of his colleagues, who was also at last night’s event, and he told us that the two are actually close friends.

“It’s just an inside joke between them,” the eyewitness explained. “They’re really, really old friends. They go way back.” He also confirmed that, by all accounts, Ms. Tomei was in a great mood at the celeb-stacked shindig.

Marisa Tomei will star in the premiere of Will Eno’s “Oh the Humanity and Other Good Intentions,” at the Off Broadway Flea Theater. Previews will begin Nov. 3 for a Nov. 29 opening.

Tomei will star opposite Brian Hutchison in the collection of five short plays by Eno, who was a 2005 Pulitzer finalist for his play Thom Pain (based on nothing).

Tomei won a best supporting actress Oscar in 1992 for her role in My Cousin Vinny as Mona Lisa Vito, the girlfriend of a trial lawyer who famously stomped her leg to emphasize the tic-toc of her biological clock. Classic scene. We just hope she won’t have to wear any floral, open-backed cat suits in any of Eno’s plays.

According to the press release,

OH THE HUMANITY and other good intentions is five short plays about people like you, facing lives like yours. About life, in a word. Not suitable for children.

Read on for the full release.  read more »