Tons of stars turned out Tuesday night for Vanity Fair’s kickoff party for the Tribeca Film Festival.

While some of my interviews will air on Fox News Channel today, here’s some scoop you won’t see anywhere else!

Robert DeNiro co-founded the event with the goal to revitalize downtown Manhattan after 9/11. Oprah’s pal Gayle King seemed to think it’s been a success. She told the reporter next to me on the red carpet how impressive and inspiring it is that things are going so well today for the festival and the city. When it was my turn to interview Gayle, I hoped for a similarly moving soundbite, so I asked, “Gayle, what did you say you like about Tribeca?” And she told me, “Because it’s where all the hip and cool people are.” Right. Not exactly the touching tribute to NYC I was hoping for, but hey, at least she was nice enough to stop and talk.

Gorgeous “Top Chef” host Padma Lakshmi told me she’s helping select the Festival winner for best documentary. She seemed pretty calm about the process, saying, “I tell them what I think and the other judges will tell me what they think and we’ll decide. I don’t think it will be that complicated, I’ve made a couple documentaries so I also have the perspective from the other end.”

And lots of people were talking politics.

Actor/director Matthew Modine told me, “I think if you were going to vote for somebody, you’d vote for somebody that could inspire, if I were on a basketball team and we were a losing team and this guy took the job, I’d want somebody that could excite us and make us proud to be Americans again.” When I asked if he wanted to name his favorite candidate, he simply said, “Well, he’s a gentleman and he’s not in the Republican party.” OK, I guess we can solve that riddle!

Beautiful British import Natasha Richardson is a U.S. Citizen and has been following the election closely. She won’t reveal her pick for President, but did tell me, “I do have a lot of hopes for the next President. I hope the elected next President is someone of their word, who tells the truth, who stands for principle, and who does not let some of the atrocities that have been going on lately go on.”

But we didn’t hear from funny guys Jerry Seinfeld, Billy Crystal or Larry David. They all cruised by the press-line, without talking to reporters.

Superstar Sigourney Weaver did stop to say hello. She tells me she’s proud her New York-centric film “Baby Mama” is kicking off Tribeca. She added, “It was shot here, it has a bunch of great New York actors in it, so I’m delighted, I think it’s great for the festival and great for us.”

We’ll keep you posted on the big films and bright stars of the Festival, which runs through May 4th. And tune in to Fox Report tonight at 7:45pm for more Tribeca Film Festival news.