Director F. Gary Gray is a "go" for the 18½ Philadelphia Film Festival, as he'll introduce his shot-in-Philly thriller Law Abiding Citizen, starring Jamie Foxx and Gerard Butler.

LAC will get two screenings, at 6 and 8:30 p.m., on Oct. 15, the day before the movie's national release.

Gray will introduce only the 6 p.m. screening, at the Prince Music Theatre (1412 Chestnut St.).

Tickets will go on sale Thursday (10/1) to film society members and on Monday (10/5) to the general public. The Prince is a 450-seater.

Director Lee Daniels will be at the Prince to introduce the 7:30 p.m. Oct. 18 screening of the fete's closing film, Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire.

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MidAtlantic -- the locally focused taproom from chef Daniel Stern in the Science Center at 3711 Market St. -- is in its training phase. Opening date will be Tuesday, Oct. 6.

The press notes say: "MidAtlantic will celebrate the intersection of the region’s Pennsylvania Dutch cooking and the produce market stalls that ran from the top of Market Street to the banks of the Delaware River in the 1700s."

Here's the menu and drink list. Some ye olde names, such as Schuylkill fish house punch, the standpipe and shrub.

Most prices are $18 and under, and there's a nightly three-course $30 dinner, as well as nightly specials (hot dogs on Wednesdays, seafood stew on Fridays, etc.).

Between takes. (HUGHE DILLON / PhillyChitChat.com)

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James L. Brooks and his untitled comedy were out on the Parkway in front of TGI Friday's on Tuesday night, and the scene had star Reese Witherspoon shivering.

Though the overnight temperature had dipped into the 50s, she had to wear a short black dress.

Paul Rudd was also in the scene.

Photog HughE Dillon of PhillyChitChat.com says he heard that the actors had to reshoot a scene that was originally done in Washington, D.C.

Between scenes, she put on a coat that said "Prop Dept."

Old City is in line to get a Euro-style wrap-and-fry shop.

It's called European Republic, and it's an offshoot of a New York Times-praised frite shop in Huntington, Long Island.

A European Republic sign recently went up outside the papered-over corner storefront at Chestnut and Strawberry Streets (next to Amada) that over the years has housed Meju, Mandoline, Dardanelles, Sabooor! and Tropico.

Workers at the original European Republic say that one of the founders is behind the new location.

Opening is expected within a few months.

(The description in the Times clip calls to mind a short-lived place about 10 years ago called The Frite Shop at 619 South St.)

Clark Gilbert in the dining room of Gemelli. (MICHAEL BRYANT / Staff Photographer)

A health inspection is expected shortly for Koo Zee Doo, the Portuguese BYOB planned for the former Copper Bistro space at 614 N. Second St. in Northern Liberties. (You read about it first here on Aug. 12.) Husband-and-wife owners David Gilberg and Carla Goncalves suggest peeping a draft of the menu here. Update: Goncalves advises that her signature biscuits -- which lured patrons to her previous stops at Ugly American, Coquette, Matyson, and Loie -- will be offered at lunch (which is planned to start in November on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays). For dinner, she'll bake traditional breads, such as broa (a crusty corn bread). Opening is targeted  for Thursday (10/8).

Up the block, at the southwest corner of Second Street and Fairmount Avenue, will be an Italian BYOB tentatively called La Fuente. It's awaiting zoning approval. In a case of coming full circle, the spot used to be an Italian eatery called Chiamicello's before CREI real estate occupied it.

Gemelli, chef Clark Gilbert's first solo act, opened Tuesday (9/29) in Narberth.

With the Phillies most likely headed to the playoffs, Fox29 has retained the freelance services of Steve Bucci.

Bucci, who was downsized by CBS3 in 2007 after 10 years, has a new book, Steve Bucci's Total Phillies Trivia.

Since his stint at CBS3, Bucci has done shifts for Comcast SportsNet.

Sportscaster James Brown will talk about his faith-based book, Role of a Lifetime, at Mount Airy's Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church (2800 Cheltenham Ave.) in a free program from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday (10/1).

Brown, a host of CBS Sports’ The NFL Today and Showtime's Inside the NFL, will be introduced by the Rev. Alyn E. Waller, Enon's senior pastor.

(c) Steve Brown / Looking Glass Photography / Bucks & Montgomery Living Magazine

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Central Bucks East grad Justin Guarini, who jumped into the national consciousness seven years ago on the first season of American Idol, is now a husband and daddy.

Details are scarce, as Guarini cut a deals People for exclusivity.

He and Reina Capodici, the daughter of his Lenape Middle School English teacher Karen Capodici, were married Saturday in a small ceremony in the garden of a private estate off of River Road overlooking the Delaware in Bucks County.

Capodici's 4-year-old daughter, Lola, was front and center as the couple exchanged vows before the minister, Stephanie Anne Thompson of St. John United Church of Christ in Riegelsville.

The ring bearer handed the rings among the 55 attendees so they could bless them. Both mothers did readings.

Just as the couple was about to exchange the rings, Guarini knelt and took from his suit pocket a box a necklace. He and his bride placed the necklace on Lola, said Karen Lavery, director of media for Bucks and Montgomery Living Magazine, who attended.

Reception was at the Doylestown family home owned by his mom, Kathy and stepfather, Jerry.

Guests chose filet mignon or salmon. Adam Brand of Cutting Edge Entertainment -- Guarini's employer just before Idol -- handled Saturday's reception. There's supposed to be a larger celebration at a later date.

"I traveled all over the world, and I found the love of my life at home," Guarini, who turns 31 next month, told me last year when the couple announced their engagement. Guarini popped the question after a fireworks display at Epcot in Walt Disney World, where he was filming a promotional commercial.

Capodici, 27, is a 2001 grad of CB West, where her mom now teaches.

Capodici's dad, Bernie, is a percussionist and fronts Drivetime, a smooth-jazz cover band. (That's Guarini singing "What You Won’t Do for Love" on its site.) Guarini and Drivetime have an Oct. 10 gig booked at the Sellersville Theater in Bucks.

Guarini, who hosts for TV Guide's cable station, most recently launched Sketched Out, a sketch-comedy/music show that he and creative partner Shaun Ingram are planning to shop around to TV outlets later this year. Guarini calls it a takeoff on shows he grew up watching: Abbott and Costello, Burns and Allen, Carol Burnett, Flip Wilson, and You Can't Do That on Television.

The couple, who recently leased a house in Doylestown Township, have planned a honeymoon later this year.

Kerri-Lee Halkett with her anchor Emmy.

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Saturday night was the Mid-Atlantic Emmy Awards at the Loews Hotel, which covered a year's worth of TV work from Pittsburgh to Philly (and South Jersey and Delaware).

Awards in 70 categories were doled out over a not-so-brisk 3½ hours.

Though CBS3 won the most by a station (15), Fox29 won the glamour prizes: The station-excellence award, morning show and top anchor (Kerri-Lee Halkett).

Fox29's Bill Vargus won for sports anchor, sharing the award with Jason Bristol of Harrisburg's WHP. Vargus, laid off earlier this year, won last year. He dedicated the award to his wife, Sue Serio, and to "people everywhere who are unemployed."

NBC10's Lori Wilson, noting that she was presenting the evening's first award and that is also her first Emmy show, drew titters by saying: "I'm a virgin."

Top weather anchor was CBS3's Kathy Orr, who was a no-show.

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