There's been lots of chatter lately over Penelope Cruz's steamy kiss with Scarlet Johansson in the new Woody Allen film, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, which opened in New York last Friday—enough chatter that we almost missed the following tidbit yesterday in The Hollywood Reporter: Ms. Cruz, who's also enjoying critical praise for her role in Elegy, Isabel Coixet's adaptation of an acclaimed Philip Roth novel, will receive a Gotham Award Tribute at the 18th Annual Gotham Awards at Cipriani Wall Street on Dec. 2.

"Penelope's body of work embodies what is exciting and vibrant about filmmaking today, in particular independent filmmaking," said Michelle Byrd, executive director of IFP, the national independent filmmakers organization that presents the awards, in a statement.  read more »

VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA
Running time 96 minutes
Written and directed by Woody Allen
Starring Penélope Cruz, Scarlett Johansson, Rebecca Hall, Javier Bardem

Woody Allen’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona, from his own screenplay, is close to his 40th feature film in an almost 40-year career that began in earnest in 1969 with Take the Money and Run, and has proceeded through the years with more ups and downs, more ins and outs, more breakthroughs and breakups, and more hits and flops than that of any other director I can think of, from any period in film history. Now in his 70s, he has managed to astound me by coming up with one of the most felicitously written, edited, acted and directed romantic comedies of his entire career.  read more »

Model Agyness Deyn and Strokes guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. are engaged. [Us]

Woody Allen's new film Vicky Cristina Barcelona premiered Wednesday night at the Hotel Plaza Athenee on East 64th St.; stars Scarlett Johansson and Rebecca Hall didn't show up. [WWD]

At the screening, Vicky Cristina Barcelona star Javier Bardem gloated over his sex scenes with Ms. Johansson, Ms. Hall and real-life girlfriend Penelope Cruz. [P6]

Mariah Carey is paying $125,000 to rent the Stone Meadow Farm in East Hampton for one week to celebrate her recent marriage to Nick Cannon. [P6]

Someone has been RSVPing for events under Gossip Girl stars Blake Lively and Penn Badgley's names, and now people are wondering who's playing a joke on Serena and Dan. [Rush & Molloy]

We sometimes long for the days when Scarlett Johansson was best known as one of the angsty, combat-boot wearing teens in Ghost World, or, a few years later, as the soul-searching former philosophy major-cum-sexy cigarette smoker who flirts with Bill Murray—cue Jesus and Mary Chain song—in Lost in Translation. Her career since then has had a few unfortunate blemishes, namely her roles in the box office bombers The Black Dhalia and Woody Allen’s Scoop, and a Tom Waits cover album that was met with mixed reviews.

Then came the whole Barack Obama thing. Ms. Johansson made headlines as one of Mr. Obama’s hip and notable endorsers, gushing to the press over the casual e-mails she claimed to have exchanged with the presumptive Democratic nominee, only to get totally dissed by him for allegedly inflating their friendly Internet relationship.  read more »

ELEGY
Running time 108 minutes
Written by Nicholas Meyer
Directed by Isabel Coixet
Starring Penélope Cruz, Ben Kingsley, Patricia Clarkson, Peter Sarsgaard

Isabel Coixet’s Elegy, from the screenplay by Nicholas Meyer, based on the short novel The Dying Animal by Philip Roth, enters a metaphysical region between life and death that few films have ever dared to explore. Ms. Coixet and Mr. Meyer have managed to capture much of the bittersweet humor of Mr. Roth’s brilliant confrontation of old age, his own included. The director and the scenarist are aided in no small measure by a very accomplished cast headed by Ben Kingsley as David Kepesh, Mr.  read more »

Siblings who share true, unfettered love and affection with one another are rare—let alone kin who kiss with tongue. Not so in Celebrityville, where a little harmless necking among family members is apparently a-okay. Indeed, a new music video features Penélope Cruz and her sister, Monica, making out. And real sexy like, too.

What’s perhaps even stranger than watching the bespectacled Volver star lustily nibble on her sister’s lower lip is the fact that her brother, Eduardo Cruz, came up with the concept. Mr. Cruz, a Miami-based musician, apparently asked his sisters to star in the video to garner some much-needed publicity. The sonic short’s concept: fittingly bizarre. Soeurs Cruz play sexy translators, who, for whatever reason, have been asked to translate a lesbian porn film. During the viewing, one thing leads to another and the two lovely ladies start getting hot and heavy. [The Sun via HuffPo]

In Vogue's holiday issue, actress Penelope Cruz unloads on the paparazzi that fueled the story that she and U2's Bono were having an affair:  read more »

The Weinstein Bros. are in talks with a slate of Hollywood song-and-dance types to star in the film adaptation of the Broadway musical, Nine.

According to Variety, The Weinstein Company is negotiating with Penelope Cruz, Catherine Zeta Jones, Sophia Loren, Javier Bardem and newcomer Marion Cotillard (who recently played Edith Piaf in the highly-praised biopic, La Vie En Rose) to appear in the adaptation.

Bardem follows Raul Julia in the role--Julia played director Guido Contini, who, in the musical inspired by Fellini's 8 1/2, must juggle his many lovers and his career; Antonio Banderas played the role in the revival.

Loren would play Contini's mother, who appears in the musical as a ghost.

Michael Tolkin is writing the screenplay; Rob Marshall will choreograph; and Arthur Kopit and Maury Yeston, who did the original book and music and lyrics respectively, are executive producers.

• Variety