Inqlings: Three Philly films meet Rockies

More than 1,000 films were submitted for next month's Sundance Film Festival in the "U.S. dramatic" category. Of those 16, three with Philly ties will make their world premieres in Park City, Utah.

The romantic comedy

Arlen Faber

was known as

The Dream of the Romans

during its springtime filming under the eye of

John Hindman

near Rittenhouse Square.

Jeff Daniels

stars as a wealthy author living as a hermit for 10 years until

Lauren Graham

helps gets him out of his house. (That house happens to be at 2032 Delancey Place.) Trivia: The title was changed because the line containing "the dream of the Romans" was cut from the film.

Also making its world premiere will be

Dare

, for which screenwriter

David Brind

, a Rittenhouse Square native, got such young stars as

Emmy Rossum

,

Zach Gilford

and

Ashley Springer

to join

Sandra Bernhard

,

Ana Gasteyer

and

Alan Cumming

in a feature set in a suburban prep school. Brind based the

Adam Salky

-directed flick on an award-winning short he wrote at Columbia University.

Film No. 3 is

Push

, directed and produced by West Philly native

Lee Daniels

and based on the best-selling novel by

Sapphire

about a young girl in Harlem struggling to overcome obstacles and discover her own voice. The cast includes

Gabourey "Gabby" Sidibe

,

Paula Patton

,

Mo'Nique Imes

,

Lenny Kravitz

and

Mariah Carey

.

Philly's Heery Casting, which worked on

Arlen Faber

and

Push

, will help find actors for the next big film shooting here:

F. Gary Gray's

Law Abiding Citizen

, starring

Jamie Foxx

and

Gerard Butler

. Heery is looking for actors ages 18 to 70 - especially men 30 to 45 - for the shoot, running from January to March. Open call will be next Saturday at the Southwark House, across from the Rizzo Ice Skating Rink at Front and Ellsworth Streets in South Philly. Union actors should report from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. and nonunion from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Bring a photo. Details:

» READ MORE: www.heerycasting.com

Meanwhile, Indian filmmakers are having a blast here. Dharma Productions is the second film company from Mumbai, in a chilling coincidence, shooting an action film here involving terrorism. For the film, known as

KP 15

, real-life couple

Saif Ali Khan

and

Kareena Kapoor

were spotted last week at a SEPTA station in East Falls. The first production, still untitled, wrapped last month. It created a stir over the summer by using the PNC Bank at 16th and Market Streets as an "FBI office."

Also film-related:

Nolan Reese

, son of Eagles broadcaster

Merrill Reese

and wife

Cindy

, is an assistant editor of the

Tom Cruise

movie

Valkyrie

, which comes out Christmas Day. (Can only imagine Merrill Reese's review: "It's g

oooooood!

") Nolan, who worked on the TV shows

Summerland

and

Charmed

, is a grad of Germantown Academy and Boston University.

Filmmaker

Spike Lee

is scheduled to speak at Temple University's Mitten Hall at 7 p.m. tomorrow. It's free, though Owls get priority seating.

That rumor that

Georges Perrier

and

Chris Scarduzio

are splitting up their restaurant empire? Shot down. They've appointed

Marc Grika

to the new position of regional manager; he'll oversee their three Center City enterprises, Le Bec-Fin, Brasserie Perrier and Table 31, which he previously ran.

The Free Library's culinary-arts collection at the Central Library will be named tomorrow in honor of culinary educator

Julie Dannenbaum

, who also will endow an annual lecture by a cookbook author.

Jose Garces

, chef-owner of Amada, Tinto and Distrito in town, will go first;

April White

, coauthor of Garces' cookbook,

Latin Evolution

, will interview him. Starts at 7:30 p.m.

Philly's restaurant community will gather at 6 p.m. tomorrow at Finnigan's Wake (Third and Spring Garden Streets) for a Toys for Tots fund-raiser. Co-owner

Mike Driscoll

puts out a great spread for the Delaware Valley Suppliers Association; admission is a minimum $20 donation or a new, unwrapped toy.

In December's Philadelphia Magazine, which looks back at 100 Philly moments from the last 100 years, an item asks: "Does anyone know why the hell we once put

Telly Savalas

on the cover?"

Art Spikol

, art director in 1976, says staff heard that TV's

Kojak

was coming to town and thought he'd work for April. "I . . . knew that Telly alone would never move copies, so I brought along a little girl who was the cutest thing I'd ever seen," Spikol recalls.

His 7-year-old daughter,

Liz

.

Which would have been fine, except for a detail he says he missed: "Liz's peekaboo white underpants, which became a talking point for all her little classmates at the Philadelphia School," Spikol says. "Very embarrassing." Liz Spikol is now executive editor of Philadelphia Weekly.

A business with a sign reads "Apothecary." Of course you would think it was a drugstore. As first reported on City Paper's "Meal Ticket" blog, owners of the Center City cocktail lounge have bowed to pressure from the Pennsylvania Board of Pharmacy, which found the name too authoritative for its bureaucratic taste. So now Apothecary is simply APO. Wait till the American Bar Association hears about Legal Sea Foods.

The Philadelphia Wings'

John Christmas

, a Lower Merion High grad, has decided to take the season off to establish LEAPS (Lacrosse, Education, Attitude, Perseverance, Success), a nonprofit designed to educate kids in inner-city Philadelphia about lacrosse and the importance of positive thinking.

Reader

Steve Gary

notes that the finishing touches are being put on a new Bank of America branch at 47th Street and City Avenue in Bala Cynwyd - a corner that previously hosted a mattress outlet. Does that bode well for the economy - a mattress store being replaced by a bank?