Julianne is a game-changer

Cindy Adams

Julianne Moore plays Sarah Palin in this weeks Game Change on HBO. Its based on the best-selling book. Spending 2 1/2 hours at a time in her trailer studying Palins videos, learning to speak and move as she does, Julianne says: I was terrified because it was my first time ever playing a living person. Especially one so idiosyncratic.

Ed Harris as Sen. John McCain snaps things to Sarah like: Its not about you, its about the country. And plainly states shes only needed to close the gender gap. Told to uphold her position she must learn 20 pages of dialogue, she replies, I can do that. And there are scenes with Julianne as Sarah shouting back: I am not your puppet!

Question is, how do movie people like executive producer Jay Roach cast these roles? How did Julianne, whose roles characterized as depicting a devoted yet unhinged Sarah Palin, get this part?

Im the one who recommended Julianne for it, Disney boss Bob Iger told me. She was in a pilot for a TV series when I was head of ABC. Shes great. Terrific to work with. Shes a friend, and I remembered her well. Shes got the likeness down pat and the voice inflections perfectly. I could envision her as Sarah Palin. I told Jay, You should cast Julianne Moore as Sarah Palin.

EVERYONEs moving to New York. Matt Damon, Ben Stiller, Jennifer Aniston. Latest celebrity to take up space in our town? Mickey Mouse. He chugged his newest, mind-boggling cruise ship, Disney Fantasy, into port for christening.

Built in Germany over 18 months, this nice little dinghy takes 4,000 passengers in 1,250 staterooms. Has two Broadway stages and theaters, plus Satellite Falls, a circular splash pool for adults, with benches and a cascading rain curtai! n. Night life with pubs, clubs, taverns, four restaurants. Spa, golf course, basketball court, pingpong tables, 2,500-square-foot gym. Even wall art that recognizes you. I mean, we are not talking no ordinary rowboat here.

Ask its cost to build, and not even chatty Minnie Mouse will squeak a number.

Christening night, Jerry Seinfeld entertained Tim Gunn, Mariah Carey who wants to bring my two kids here Nancy Grace with mom Elizabeth, and Alan Cumming, who explained why he was there: Because this is my life. Said Seinfeld: Im working on a boat so I can get to see what the end of my career will be like.

Bloomberg showed. Not as funny as Seinfeld, the mayor said: I work for a dollar a year. At that price I cant even afford a stateroom.

Walking the ships 1,115-foot marble floor to the Palo restaurant, Disney CEO Iger told me about Neil Patrick Harris, the nights MC. When I worked for ABC, he was green-lighted as Doogie Howser. He stayed for 12 years. When the first show was pitched to me, he was about 16 and always looked like he was 12.

Said Harris: Listen, Im a dingbat for vacations. I take them every year, and I love Disneyland. My kids are 17 months. We have a nanny, but my partner and I concentrate on all the minutiae. We are not parents from afar. I have four more episodes of my current TV series, and we signed for an eighth year. Then I start Smurfs 2 in Montreal in May. Reason I work so hard is I have to buy diapers.

EITHER the mailmen or the Hiltons are slow. A photo card just arrived saying Kathy, Rick, Paris, Nicky, Barron, Conrad Hilton all wish you Happy New Year and peace, health and happiness. Right. Thanks . . . Tatum ONeal back into rehab. A substance relapse. Brother Redmond is ! in anoth er rehab. Same problem . . . Anyone know, lacking cash to put up East 57ths gorgeous townhouses in the 30s, why each building has extraordinary penthouses? Builders got them for payment.

RATED P for Parenthood is a delicious family-oriented, kid-oriented, uncle- and aunt-oriented, grandma- and grandpa-oriented romp about having a kid, carrying it, mothering it, fathering it, nursing it, toilet training it, schooling it, supporting it, staying up all night for it. Music and lyrics by Dan Lipton and David Rossmer, whove written for Kelli OHara and Sutton Foster. Musics great. Actors great. Parenthood semi-great.

Octomom, dont stay home sucking your thumb. Go to the West Side Theater/ Upstairs. Youll love this show.

LEST you miss these social notes: John Loeb, son of the late Ambassador John Loeb and socialite Sharon Handler, got married. Would tell you more, but I wasnt invited . . . Also p.r. man Steven Rubenstein, son of p.r. man Howard Rubenstein, and Bess Wohl, married this week. Black-tie reception for names even juicier than the pastrami was at ready? Katzs Deli.

Only in New York, kids, only in New York.