Character actor Vinny Vella (name a mob-type film or TV show, and he has probably been in it) will be in front of cameras Tuesday at the historic Morris House near Washington Square.

He'll be working on - why, yes - another mob movie.

A Sicilian Tale, by Frank Lisi, is about a religious farmer in Sicily (played by Southwest Philly-raised Joe Polito) who is being forced to kill for the local Mafia chief because he seems to be the least likely assassin. Vella's character is the farmer's brother, who lives in New York. He suggests that the farmer send his son to America.

Elaine del Valle (Donnie Brasco, The Sopranos) plays Polito's wife, and other locals include Joey Eye and Tisha Tinsman.

The film's trailer, linked via Polito's MySpace page, can be seen at http://go.philly.com/sicilian.

More from movie land

Indie-film queen Parker Posey, in a gray top and sparkly shoes, brightened up Friday's lunch rush at Di Bruno's near Rittenhouse Square simply by ordering from the counter and chatting up the clerk. Posey and Demi Moore, seen seemingly everywhere around the square, are here through the end of May with Rip Torn to shoot Happy Tears, a family drama from writer/director Mitchell Lichtenstein and producer Joyce Pierpoline. Posey and Moore, playing sisters, are rooming on the same floor of a hotel; each is here with a small dog. Shooting started Thursday, much of it at a house in Prospect Park, which serves as the home of Torn's character, the father, who has a rare form of dementia.

Friday marked the wrap of The Dream of the Romans, a romantic comedy starring Jeff Daniels as a reclusive author and Lauren Graham as the woman who gets him back out there. Casting agent Diane Heery says she had a swell time fielding offers from local actors who wanted to work as extras - though they showed up in sandals, a la Ben-Hur. Next up before cameras locally: Marley & Me (May 9), which will put Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston not only in West Chester but also on a Philly street for a scene or two (plus one day in The Inquirer's newsroom). Transformers 2 is up for June.

Signs are pointing to a sale of the Gladwyne mansion of filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan, who put the pile up a year ago for $8 million and then cut the tag to $7.25 million and then to $6.25 million. I hear that the selling price will be in the high fives. Montgomery County records show he paid $4.5 million when it was built in 2000 on nearly two acres. The Shyamalans now live on a 123-acre compound in the western reaches of the Main Line. Shyamalan's latest, The Happening, is scheduled to open wide June 13, and he's in early preparation for The Last Airbender, a live-action adventure.

Hair, hair

On his way to the Flyers' flight to Montreal last week, Scott Hartnell popped into Chroma Hair Gallery in Old City - where Joffrey Lupul goes - to have his signature curls straightened. Stylist Natalie Guercio, who says she spent 25 minutes blowing it dry and flat-ironing it, says Hartnell did it as a joke to amuse teammates.

Edmondo Blando, owner of Salon Vanity (1126 Walnut St.), was named a 2008 rising star by Allure magazine - dubbed "up-and-coming stylist and colorist to book now."

Two Philly women are part of the touring company of Hairspray, starting Friday at the Academy of Music: Vedra Chandler, who understudies five roles, was born in Philadelphia and raised in Camden, attended Haddonfield High, and graduated from Harvard. Also, there's Ms. Gnomiagre, who plays Cindy Watkins. She was born Lauren Brown and graduated from Frankford High.

Power of the press

KYW Newsradio reporter Mark Abrams may have saved face for sister station CBS3. Abrams and other newsies were waiting in Conshohocken Tuesday for Hillary Rodham Clinton when a Clinton aide began bellowing about CBS3's chopper, hovering above. Fearing that CBS3 reporter Dick Sheeran would face a scolding when he arrived, Abrams called CBS3's assignment desk. Within 25 seconds, the chopper left. Impressed, David Greene, National Public Radio's White House correspondent, turned to Abrams and asked: "Can you order me a milkshake?"

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Contact columnist Michael Klein at 215-854-5514 or mklein@phillynews.com.

Read his recent work at http://go.philly.com/michaelklein and http://go.philly.com/foodanddrinq.