'Two Lovers' director James Gray: Did I 'destroy' Joaquin Phoenix?

James Gray has directed Joaquin Phoenix in three movies, including his latest, the engrossing "Two Lovers." So he's trying not to blame himself for Phoenix's announcement that he's quitting acting to become a rapper. "At first I thought he was kidding," he told us at a Cinema Society screening hosted by Salvatore Ferragamo.

"Then I find he's built a recording studio in his house. He's working with Diddy. I tried to talk him out of it. He got very angry. He said, 'Dude, I'm finished. I've been doing this for 30 years. Don't criticize me for it.' I feel very bad about it ... like I'm the guy who destroyed Joaquin Phoenix. I said to him, 'Is it my fault?' He said, 'It's not. Forget it.' I still feel bad. But Joaquin is his own man. He's a true artist. For 15 years, he hasn't watched his own movies. I said, 'Why haven't you seen them? He said, 'I don't want to repeat myself.' I said, 'Buddy, it's over for you now. Why don't you watch this one?' I hope he'll be like Sean Penn and retire 42 times."

Kate Winslet found the illiterate people she studied for her Oscar-nominated role as a Nazi in "The Reader" so deeply ashamed of their weakness that they can't have relationships. "None of the people I worked with were married," the beauty told us. "They're afraid of being found out. They can't indulge in intimacy." What's more, "they had no imagination. They'd never read fairy tales. They can't go into those emotional environments." No wonder her character seems to be in hell.

Gloria Steinem has no pity for whimpering investment bankers. "They don't make anything," she tells us. "They just move money around. Now they're getting a dose of real life." The still-gorgeous feminist is happy with President Obama so far. "My only worry is that he thinks he can accommodate the right wing. He doesn't understand that they're zealots. But I think he's beginning to now."

Sandra Bernhard's tip for looking good in a recession? "Voluptuous is sexy, too," the svelte comic tells us. "In this economy, a lot of people can't afford to go to a gym. Just buy a couple of weights and lift them at home."

Surveillance: Producers Webster Stone and Bonnie Timmerman are back from L.A., where they've been casting their movie about Mary Surratt, the only woman hung for her involvement in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln ...

... Pharmaceutical billionaire Stewart Rahr may be venturing into the music business - via the Balkans. He's been squiring singer Bleona Qereti, known as the Madonna of Albania, to meetings with producers Timbaland and David Foster. They've also huddled with Jay Leno...

... Amanda Righetti, who stars on "The Mentalist," must have had a premonition that her new movie, "Friday the 13th," would do frighteningly well at the box office. She and director hubby Jordan Alan went shopping for jewelry at Barney's on Thursday the 12th...

...Stunning Stephanie March, lunching at the renovated Oak Room, swooned over chef Joel Antunes' menu. That's a compliment coming from Mrs. Bobby Flay...

...Get ready for a dangerous collision between political pundits and stand-up comics at the Gotham Comedy Club on Monday night when Ellis Henican, Jim Mendrinos, Leighann Lord, Maureen Langan, and Gerald McCullough face off in "It's News To Us."
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