Reports today confirm that Natalie Portman will join would-be sexy nurse Scarlett Johansson as a first-time director in the short-film compilation New York, I Love You. First known as the movie where that Hasidic dude walked out on co-star Portman, then better known as the one where contributing director Anthony Minghella hand-picked replacement Shekhar Kapur before he died, NYILY is finding its latest momentum as the film featuring everyone from Brett Ratner to Orlando Bloom to Cloris Leachman pimping out for the city tourism board. “NYC & Co., the official marketing and tourism organisation for the City of New York, is fully behind the pic, throwing its weight into sponsorship deals,” writes Variety’s Dade Hayes. “A major airline is in final talks to help ferry talent to and from the city and promote the film on its aircraft, for example.” The producers, however, cite an “explicit auteur approach” that will keep the art front-and-centre, promising Johansson the latitude to fire a maximum of 10 PA’s as she learns to flex her megalomaniacal muscle behind the camera. [Variety]