Brody and gang bring the 'Love'

By Mark Shanahan and Paysha Rhone, Globe Staff  |  September 17, 2008

Actor Adam Brody and director Boaz Yakin dropped by Vox Populi for a little pre-film soiree on their way to the screening of their new movie, "Death in Love," at the Boston Film Festival. (Josh Lucas was expected to join them there.) The film stars Jacqueline Bisset as a Jewish woman whose affair with a Nazi concentration camp doctor forever affects the lives of her sons. Lucas plays the eldest son, and Brody portrays his young friend and co-worker, against type, Yakin said. "What people are used to from Adam is the good-looking but geeky Jewish boy. In this movie, he plays the only non-Jew and the only person completely comfortable in his skin." Brody says his character seduces Lucas into a homoerotic, but not explicit, relationship. "We don't hook up in it exactly, but it is definitely a romance. We dance together." And what's next for the "O.C." star? "I don't know," he said. "I wish it were more up to me. The lazy part of me would love a sitcom."

A new ranking of the Top 10 "family-friendly" law firms in the country includes Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky & Popeo, but is the honor deserved? One Boston lawyer doesn't think so. Compiled by Yale Law Women, the annual survey rates firms' parent-leave programs, on-site child care, and leadership opportunities for women. Boston firms Mintz Levin and WilmerHale both made the Top 10. But in a letter to AmericanLawyer.com, Rebecca Pontikes questions whether Mintz Levin lives up to its reputation. Pontikes, an attorney at Davis, Pontikes & Swartz, claims Mintz Levin has been sued twice in recent years for discriminating against female associates with children. "Before bestowing these distinctions on firms, the groups honoring them should do better background checks," writes Pontikes. "These surveys smack of being nothing more than a public relations contest won through manipulation by the firms' human resources departments." Mintz Levin fired back this week, claiming Pontikes's letter is full of errors. "We can only hope that [Pontikes] does a better job gathering facts on behalf of her clients before stating her opinion with such certainty," Mintz Levin attorney Michael Gardener wrote in a reply to American Lawyer.

Ben Affleck is getting back behind the camera. The "Gone Baby Gone" director is in negotiations to write, star in, and, yes, direct "The Town," a heist-romance hybrid based on Chuck Hogan's novel "Prince of Thieves." The story centers on a love triangle between a female bank manager, a thief who steals more than her heart, and a smitten FBI agent trying to bust the bad guy. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Graham King is producing and Affleck will rewrite an existing script by Peter Craig with help from Hogan. ("Unfaithful" director Adrian Lyne was previously attached to the project.) Affleck also co-wrote "Gone Baby Gone."

Don't expect to see Jennifer Lopez in Boston before winter. Originally slated to start shooting in the fall, JLo's new film "The Governess" won't get going until December at the earliest, we're told. The romantic comedy, directed by Nigel Cole and written by Kevin Wade and Wendy Braff, is about a professional thief who poses as a nanny to three unruly children of a wealthy widower.

We've told you that designer Nicole Romano will be on the runway at The Estate next Tuesday for her fashion show - which celebrates the DVD release of "Sex and the City." But get this. The RISD grad, whose pieces were featured in "Sex," will be joined by stylist, Bravo reality TV star, and celeb-mag staple Rachel Zoe - she of the coiffed, but never too coiffed, locks and fabulous ensembles. And a little something from "Sex" stylist Patricia Field will be on hand, too: One of her looks will be auctioned off.

Dane Cook was at Artists for Humanity Epicenter last night celebrating the latest issue of Boston Common. Not coincidentally, the Arlington-bred comedian is on the cover of the new issue. Cook costars with Kate Hudson in "My Best Friend's Girl," which opens Friday.

Patriots wives and girlfriends paid a visit yesterday to Cradles to Crayons, where they sorted clothing and other items to be given to needy kids. . . . Celts captain Paul Pierce stopped by the Modell's store at the Fresh Pond Shopping Center yesterday, surprising a bunch of student athletes from Belmont and Watertown and buying each one a copy of the team's championship DVD. . . . DJ extraordinaire Paul van Dyke put his feet up at the InterContinental Boston after his gig at Marina Bay Beach Club. . . . . . . Another big name's been added to trumpeter Chris Botti's star-studded Symphony Hall gigs this weekend. In addition to Sting and Steven Tyler, word is John Mayer will make the scene.

Kelli Pedroia, wife of Sox second baseman Dustin, warned Quincy high schoolers about the dangers of tanning yesterday. Pedroia, who's had two cancerous moles removed, told her story to the teens and challenged them not to tan in preparation for their prom, said Amy Mason, with the Melanoma Foundation of New England. The foundation is sponsoring a $1,000 drawing in each New England state for high school classes who persuade 70 percent of their students to shun sun and tanning beds. Mason said she thinks Pedroia, who also chatted with small groups of students, won some converts. "She's very warm and down-to-earth and easy to relate to," she said, "and unfortunately her story is so emotional to hear."

A dream home deserves a dreamy designer to give tours, no? Actor-model Rib Hillis, who grew up in Newton and now stars on ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," will lend his charm to the Robert F. Kennedy Children's Action Corps' Concept Home fund-raiser in Weston today. We chatted with Hillis yesterday as he jetted out of Toledo, Ohio,where the makeover crew just rebuilt a home for a family with 11 boys - eight of whom were adopted. "It's humbling," he said. "You experience the hardship they've gone through." The married father of 5-year-old twins admits many still most associate him with his steamy pillow-fight photo shoot with the "America's Next Top Model" cast in 2005. "That was definitely not my worst day of work," he admitted, laughing. . . . Maria Menounos stopped into Burton's Grill in the Fenway after the screening of her film "Operation Shock and Awe. . .some" at the Boston Film Festival.

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