UPDATED 11/18 AM: All week I was bursting to tell you about Saturday night’s surprise 70th birthday party at the Monkey Bar for director Martin Scorsese. But it wasn’t clear whether Scorsese actually knew what was happening, and I didn’t want to spoil the fun. On Monday night, I talked about it with Robert DeNiro at the premiere of “Silver Linings Playbook.” He told he couldn’t be there because he was representing the Tribeca Film Festival in Doha. He said, “I think Marty knows about it by now.”
Still–we waited. And so last night Steven Spielberg (with wife Kate Capshaw), Daniel Day Lewis (with his wife Rebecca Miller), and Leonardo DiCaprio (said to be very chummy with his “Wolf of Wall Street” costar Margot Robbie) were among the 120 guests invited to Graydon Carter’s Monkey Bar. I’m told that Scorsese–busy shooting “The Wolf of Wall Street”– was told that just 12 people were coming. What a surprise when he saw the guests! Harvey Keitel and Joe Pesci were among those on the guest list. Famed writer Philip Roth was there as well. In the end, the Monkey Bar was filled with everyone he’d ever worked with, from manager Rick Yorn to documentary filmmaker Albert Maysles, and of course Marty’s loyal and Oscar winning editor Thelma Schoonmaker. Thierry Fremaux, who runs the Cannes Film Festival, flew in just for the party.
Inside, there was dancing, and of course a montage of blooper clips from all the Scorsese films. I’m told that guests each got little “flip books” with the name “Marty” emblazoned on them. There was music and dancing, although Spielberg cut out around 11pm, exhausted from promoting “Lincoln” all weekend to junket press that had been flown in from all over the world.
DeNiro wasn’t the only luminary who couldn’t make it. “Saturday Night Live” producer Lorne Michaels had to spend the night at NBC for his show–and it was his birthday, too.
