All-'American' bash here

New movie based on the book and merchandising sensation will open with Hollywood-style premiere

Parents of daughters obsessed by the American Girl phenomenon know this news is a big deal:

There will be a splashy Hollywood-like premiere of ''Kit Kittredge: An American Girl'' in Chicago on June 17 for this first feature film based on the hugely popular American Girl books, which spawned the dolls and stores -- including the first one, which opened here in 1998.

Scheduled to be on hand is ''Little Miss Sunshine'' and ''Nim's Island'' star Abigail Breslin -- who plays the title character-- plus two of her co-stars with deep Chicago roots: Joan Cusack and Chris O'Donnell.

Ticket information is pending. ''Kit Kittredge'' opens June 20 with a 10-day pre-engagement run in Chicago before expanding nationwide July 2.

In the film, Breslin's Kit is a resourceful girl who solves a mystery to save her family's home during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Directed by ''Mansfield Park'' helmer Patricia Rozema, the film's screenplay was penned by Ann Peacock, who also scripted the ''The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.'' Others in the ''Kit Kittredge'' cast include longtime Steppenwolf ensemble member Glenne Headly, Jane Krakowski, Julia Ormond, Wallace Shawn and Stanley Tucci.

We've heard this before, but a friend at a weekend party in Las Vegas attended by Jessica Simpson and her Dallas Cowboys beau Tony Romo says there was marriage buzz about the couple.

Supposedly, the blond beauty sported a chunky diamond on her left hand, but slipped it ''off her finger whenever she thought someone might snap a photo,'' said the source. For the record, the couple's people continue to deny any engagement.

After they finish filming in Wisconsin, ''Public Enemies'' director Michael Mann and Johnny Depp -- who stars as John Dillinger -- head back to Chicago for another six weeks starting the middle of next month. Traffic on Lincoln Avenue could be dicey when they shoot exteriors at the Biograph Theater, but the Portage Theater's interior will be used for inside shots because the Biograph was gutted a few years ago to become Victory Gardens' new home. ... It will be quick, but Matt Damon hits town May 24 for one day of filming on ''The Informant'' -- mostly lensing Downstate.

After not acting since ''Signs'' and ''We Were Soldiers'' in 2002, Mel Gibson will play a police detective investigating his own daughter's murder in ''Edge of Darkness,'' a feature film based on a hit BBC miniseries. Gibson, who had concentrated on directing (''The Passion of the Christ'' and ''Apocalypto''), has laid low since his much-publicized DUI arrest and anti-Semitic rant in 2006. ... Aaron Brown, the ex-CNN anchor pushed aside to make room for Anderson Cooper in 2002, returns to TV this summer as the host of ''Wide Angle,'' a PBS show about international affairs.

There's a chance Oscar winner Morgan Freeman will slip into town for the Monday opening of ''The Ballad of Emmett Till,'' Chicago playwright Ifa Bayeza's play about that tragic chapter in U.S. race relations. Freeman's wife, Myrna Colley-Lee, is the production's costume designer -- her first project at the Goodman.

Things were hoppin' at Petterino's ''Monday Night Live'' open-mike cabaret as ''Sweeney Todd'' cast members joined pianist Beckie Menzie -- including Tony Award winner Judy Kaye and Edmund Bagnell. ... Gary Oldman shopped for mugs and kids' T-shirts at the Museum of Contemporary Art gift shop and dined at Hugo's Frog Bar. ... Celebrity chef and TV star Gordon Ramsay did a cooking demonstration and chatted up his new cookbook at Morton's steakery on State Street.