Ben Stiller and Christine Taylor's little girl, Ella, has a friend in Hollywood: Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes' daughter Suri. Last evening outside of Cipriani 42nd Street, where Mr. Stiller was being honored by the Museum of the Moving Image, Ms. Taylor told us that Ella and Suri have had a couple of playdates. (Now that Ms. Holmes is in town performing in All My Sons, she and Suri have been spotted around New York.)

"And it's like any other playdate," said Ms. Taylor, who was wearing a long black Carolina Herrera dress. "I mean [Suri's] amazing and [Tom and Katie] are terrific. And when little kids get together you just let them do their thing, there's no outside elements. Ella likes being the older sister—and we haven't had many [playdates] but whoever's children that they're playing with, it's always a great thing to see your kids connecting."  read more »

The Wall Street Journal's Laura Landro drops by for a review of the Greenwich Hotel in Tribeca, co-owned by none other than Bobby De Niro. Ms. Landro seems rather impressed by it all ("We gave high marks to the comfy Dux bed, the marble bath with its Moroccan tile floors, dual-head shower... and short but deep soaking tub, and the room's large high-definition TV... Our higher-end room was spacious by the standards of many downtown hotels with rooms the size of closet") but questions whether the timing of its debut, through no fault of the hotel's, was a little off.

It opened in April, just after the Bear Stearns collapse and a few months before the financial calamity erupted next-door in the Financial District.

On a recent midweek evening amid the financial meltdown on Wall Street, things were a lot more sedate, with few guests in evidence. Now, with the threat of global recession, it may be tough to attract the foreign visitors and expense-account clientele that have made New York a boomtown for such high-end properties in recent years. The Greenwich's $6,500-a-night duplex suite and a still-unfinished 2,500-square-foot penthouse with a roof hot tub could be a tough sell.

We got the details on Armin Amiri's plans for the space formerly known as Cafe Socialista, which he is turning into an exclusive all-night diner.

At a lunch in honor of Bill Maher's Religuous, we solicited opinions on religion and religious person Sarah Palin from Kathleen Turner, Joy Behar, Janeane Garofalo, and Andre Balazs. 

We took a walk down a rather dissolute memory lane with David Carr and Tom Arnold at a Soho House celebration for the film adaptation of Toby Young's How to Lose Friends and Alienate People (bonus: info on star Kirsten Dunst's burgeoning writing career!).

Robet De Niro expressed ambivalence about a poorer--but grittier!--post-crash Manhattan at the premiere of What Just Happened?

We got shut out of Rupert Murdoch's party for New York Post writer Steve Dunleavy, but had a pretty good time anyway.  read more »

Barry Levinson’s What Just Happened? is not a particularly good or funny or incisive inside-Hollywood movie, but no one who was leaving the film's premiere on Wednesday evening at the Museum of Modern Art seemed to mind. Afterward, on the second and third floors of the nearby 21 Club, Sean Penn--who before the film started had spent at least three minutes having a gesticulation-heavy conversation with Robert De Niro--was at Table 6. In the film, he plays himself playing the lead role in an overly violent action movie.

What are his thoughts on the financial crisis? “I’m not going to comment tonight," he said. "I’ve had a couple, I’m going to leave it at that."

A few minutes earlier, a significant-looking balding man walked by and said very loudly, “Harvey Weinstein will never speak to me again!” Then an 80-pound woman with razor lips and very touchable-looking hair adjusted the tight, thick leather choker around her neck. Nearby, Men’s Health editor in chief Dave Zinczenko was blocking the way by talking with two men. “This bastard always steals things!” one said to the other about Mr. Zinczenko. Har-har-har! Around the corner there was Cybill Shepherd, dress cut low, talking to four men. And Barbara Walters and Steve Buscemi and Peter Dinklage; Roger Waters, Bob Balaban and Jay McInerney.  read more »

In an 11-year-old tape anonymously leaked to Page Six, Harvey Weinstein can be heard warning director Quentin Tarantino of potential "weird late night phone calls" from Robert De Niro, who was apparently angry about the salary he received for Tarantino's 1997 film Jackie Brown. [P6] 

Actor Shia LaBeouf will not be charged for a July drunk driving incident due to insufficient evidence. [TMZ] 

OK Magazine's Kent Brownridge may be putting a moratorium on the purchse of celebrity baby photos. Meanwhile, staffers are complaining that he seems "addled." [P6] 

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The much-anticipated 11 a.m. City Council hearing today on whether to require board members of certain nonprofit organizations to disclose personal financial information has been canceled, according to the Council’s web site.

The proposed law would have required people like Oscar de la Renta and Robert De Niro to publicly disclose financial information because they, as well as other celebrities and many wealthy people, belong to boards of nonprofits that get public money.

According to this New York Times article, Michael Bloomberg was not in favor of the move.

UPDATE: According to a City Council spokesperson, the hearing was canceled at the administration's request.

Vanity Fair editor and restaurateur Graydon Carter has admitted what many have long suspected (hoped?): There is nothing that special about his ultra-exclusive Waverly Inn, the design for which was apparently "shamelessly" and "ruthlessly" borrowed from other places.  [P6 ]

Leonardo DiCaprio is off-again with Israeli model Bar Refaeli. [NYDN] 

During the filming of Righteous Kill, Robert DeNiro took 50 Cent to a shooting range to "break the ice." [People] 

Reformed drunk-dialer and Insider correspondent Pat O'Brien is having weird delusions of grandeur, as evidenced by an email he sent out to the staff of his show (sample: "Even Joe Biden said, 'You should be running for president!'") [  read more »

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen's West Village neighbors are becoming increasingly irritated by the girls' "military presence" on their block. [P6] 

Kanye West was arrested yesterday for breaking a photographer's camera at LAX. [TMZ] 

At the premiere of their joint venture, Righteous Kill, neither Robert De Niro nor Al Pacino would comment on the swipe director Francis Ford Coppola took at the two of them in GQ. [NYDN]

Barack Obama will join Michael Phelps on the season premiere of Saturday Night Live this weekend. [People]   read more »

The Real Deal checks in with Robert De Niro this month. Here's how the greatest living actor got into New York real estate:

Robert De Niro's real estate empire started in the 1980s, when the actor was living Downtown near Drew Nieporent's restaurant Montrachet. To hear the celebrity restaurateur tell it, De Niro would come in and "sit at the last table with his back to the restaurant," to preserve his anonymity.

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New York can make you, and it can ruin you. Fast.

Case in point: Novak Djokovic.

Last year, in his two weeks at the Open, Djokovic transformed himself, on our stage, before our very eyes, from a gifted-but-little-known Serbian up-and-comer into a full-fledged star. Yes, it had much to do with his daring, nerveless play, but it was more than that.

Robert De Niro and wife Grace Hightower sat in the Djokovic player's box during his Open final against Roger Federer; they treated him to dinner at Nobu during the tournament and at Wakiya after he lost the final. Maria Sharapova cheered him on every step of the way, and rumors started running high that they began dating at the Open.  read more »