Star-studded soiree for Schoonmaker?

With any luck, the upcoming fete for Martin Scorsese's celebrated film editor Thelma Schoonmaker will be a celeb-heavy affair. Organizers are optimistic that at least some of the stars of "The Departed," and perhaps other award-winning Scorsese/Schoonmaker films, will be here when Schoonmaker is honored with the Coolidge Award. We're told that invitations to the April ceremony at the Coolidge Corner Theatre have been extended not only to Scorsese, but also to Bay State boys Matt Damon and Mark Wahlberg. Last year, you'll recall, Meryl Streep received the Coolidge Award, and actors Kevin Kline and John C. Reilly, director Robert Altman, and "The Orchid Thief" author Susan Orlean all showed up to salute her. A two-time Academy Award winner for "The Aviator" and "Raging Bull," Schoonmaker has worked almost exclusively with Scorsese over her career. (Her edits of "Gangs of New York" and "Goodfellas" earned her Oscar nominations.) Other previous winners of the Coolidge include Chinese director Zhang Yimou and Oscar-winning cinematographer Vittorio Storaro.

A feast fit for . . . a prince

Preparing lamb for Prince Charles and 300 others is a scary prospect. Just ask Ana Sortun. "I'm practically having an ulcer," says the owner and chef of Oleana , who'll be making the main course at a New York dinner for the Prince of Wales on Jan. 28. Still, Sortun's got it all planned: The lamb shoulder and shank will be braised with cumin and wine, finished with pomegranate molasses, and then tucked in paper-thin Lebanese crepes. The tasty plate will accompany dishes by chefs Dan Barber and Michel Nischan as Harvard Medical School's Center for Health and the Global Environment honors the Prince as its citizen of the year. (Former Vice President Al Gore will present the award.) Sortun says she'll need some etiquette training before the event. "I don't think I've ever curtsied in my life" she said, "but it will be fun to know how to do it."

Lamont heads back to Harvard

Like Rodney Dangerfield, it's back to school for Ned Lamont. Unsuccessful in his bid to unseat Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman, Lamont's returning to Harvard, his alma mater, to become a fellow at the Institute of Politics. (The spring semester's other famous fellows include former Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey; James Baker, on leave from the Department of Justice's National Security Division; National Journal White House correspondent Carl Cannon; former Connecticut congresswoman Nancy Johnson; and Chriss Winston, director of the office of speech writing for President George H.W. Bush.) Asked yesterday whom he's supporting for president in '08, Lamont played it safe. "I'm favorably inclined toward [Connecticut senator] Chris Dodd at this point," he said

Kim Jong-il once threatened to turn Seiji Ozawa's native Japan into a "sea of fire," but that didn't stop the North Korean dictator from courting the former BSO baton twirler. A South Korean newspaper reported this week that while recuperating from an illness in Japan, Ozawa, now music director of the Vienna State Opera, was approached by an emissary of Kim's who asked if the 71-year-old maestro would lead North Korea's State Symphony Orchestra. It's a great story, if true. Unfortunately, it's not. Ozawa's spokeswoman told the International Herald Tribune yesterday that the big-haired band leader had "never heard of such a thing."

Actress Christy Scott Cashman and Debbie DiMasi previewed their new TV show the other night at Jim Cafarelli's Rustic Kitchen restaurant in Park Square. Called "Books and Blues," the show's first episode includes a discussion with author Andre Dubus III, Bruins great Ray Bourque, comedian Steve Sweeney, and the hosts' husbands, construction magnate Jay Cashman and House Speaker Sal DiMasi. Getting a sneak peek of the show were Laura Bernieri, "Greater Boston" host Emily Rooney, Citi Performing Arts Center chief Joe Spaulding, and former Mass Media Alliance founder Joan Quinn Eastman.

Alison Arnett of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Names can be reached at names@globe.com or at 617-929-8253.