Mum's the word on Harry Potter
Don't bother asking Brendan Gleeson about the plot twists in the next "Harry Potter" picture. Yes, he plays Professor Alastor "Madeye" Moody in "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," but, no, he doesn't know how it all turns out. "I could just tell you straight I have no idea," the Irish actor told us this week. "It's all too facinating, but I'm afraid I'm in the same pot as everybody else." Gleeson, who's been in some 44 movies since 1990, will be honored at this weekend's Magners Irish Film Festival, which opens tonight . Gleeson just wrapped up work on "Potter" and "Beowulf" -- Robert Zemeckis's 3-D adaptation of the English classic -- but it was his work on Brad Gann's "Black Irish" that brought him to Boston. "I'm genuinely thrilled about coming back to Boston," said Gleeson, who'll be feted after Saturday's premiere of "Black Irish," in which he plays a lush who likes to gamble. "I did get to see a lot of the Red Sox games while I was at different pubs," Gleeson said. "Let's call it research."
Bridget, Heather make ‘Gray’ matter
If Tom Brady is Bridget Moynahan's leading man, then Heather Graham is her leading lady. In Moynahan's new movie, "Gray Matters," the paramour of the Pats QB gets up close and personal with the gorgeous Graham, and the effect can be summed up this way: Hubba hubba. Describing the movie as a screwball comedy with a gay twist, Variety says the scenes between the two women are the best thing about the film, "particularly Graham's and Moynahan's leggy swingtime pas de deux." Hmm. Way back in June, we ran into Graham at the Nantucket Film Festival and asked her about sharing the screen with Brady's gal Bridge. "She's great. She's wonderful," the "Boogie Nights" babe said of her faux flame. "Bridget's great to work with. She's a talented actress."Rumsfeld might be reluctant star
Donald Rumsfeld is gone, but he won't be forgotten. Indeed, the outgoing secretary of defense is likely to play a prominent role in Errol Morris's next film. The Cambridge filmmaker, who managed to make a star of sorts out of former defense secretary Robert McNamara in his Oscar-winning film, "The Fog of War," is developing a documentary about the abuse and torture of Iraqi inmates at the Abu Ghraib prison. The movie's being backed byFormer Extreme singer Gary Cherone and Spanish singer Marisol were among the featured acts at Sanctum Sounds' anniversary party at the Paradise Tuesday. The recording studio, which has offices in Boston and the Big Apple, has expanded into artist management since first opening their doors. . . . Kyra Sedgwick, in town filming "The Game Plan," was at Tuesday's performance of "Twelve Angry Men," playing at the Colonial Theatre. . . . Governor-elect Deval Patrick and a group of family and friends dined at Davio's in Park Square on election night. . . . Meanwhile, we're told that a TV at Kerry Healey's HQ was tuned to "Dancing with the Stars" as soon as it was clear she'd lost.
The 2006 Miss Massachusetts pageant is right around the corner -- Nov. 18 and 19, actually -- and we're told the comely Cristina Nardozzi is cohosting the shindig at the Quincy Marriott. The former Bridgewater State beauty has gone on to bigger and better things since winning the '05 pageant. Recently, according to various celebrity-stalking websites, Nardozzi's been spending quality time with Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh, whom she apparently met while working as a featured extra on "Ocean's Thirteen." Soderbergh, who's nearly 20 years older than Nardozzi, divorced his first wife Betsy Brantley in 1994 and split from second wife, E! correspondent Jules Asner, earlier this year.
Boston arts patrons James and Audrey Foster have ponied up $1 million to endow the aptly named James and Audrey Foster Prize, the biennial award given to an area artist by the Institute of Contemporary Art. Foster, president and CEO of Charles River Laboratories, and his wife, Audrey, have been longtime collectors and supporters of contemporary art. The four finalists for this year's Foster Prize are Boston visual artists Sheila Gallagher, Jane D. Marsching, Kelly Sherman, and Rachel Perry Welty.
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