Saturday, December 20, 2025
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Vanity Fair Builds a Big Tent, And Two by Two The A-List Came

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Vanity Fair upped its Oscar game last night. They build a huge multi level tented building in the parking behind Sunset Plaza. Traffic snaked back and forth on Sunset Boulevard in both directions. There was a big security plan, with metal detectors at the check in. And then you arrived to find an avalanche of stars. Stars and stars. Two by two, or three by three, they came.

Inside the main room, just to the right, if you could find them through the fog of formally attired people, Jane Fonda and Anjelica Huston set up a beach head. Many stars, old and young, were crowded into this area including Jane’s beau, Richard Perry, and Sarah Paulson, plus Quincy Jones, who was busy looking for Petra Nemcova, and Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks. Rosaria Dawson and Gabrielle Union weren’t far away. Sitting on a couch in a section nearby, the fabulous oldies group– Mickey Rooney and Martin Landau. And they were hosting this year’s nominee June Squibb.

Praise god– Don Rickles and his wife were entertaining Don’s many fans. “Do you have any Oscar jokes? I asked Rickles. “If you’re paying me!” he said. I did get a photo.

Just at the entrance to this room I tripped over Bill Hader, who was reconnecting with Will Forte and Paul Rudd, with a big group of comics around them. Hader made a beeline to see Larry David. In time that group was joined by hit pop star Ed Sheeran, who’d just come over from playing at Elton John’s AIDS Foundation fundraiser. Only 23, Sheeran– who’d been hanging with Taylor Swift–is about to break out in a big way. His new single comes this week, with a new album in June.

From there I headed to the upper level party, where Bill Murray and a big group had come to occupy a huge round room with Art Deco-ish banquettes– a hold over from past VF parties. They store their sets! This is where a lot of guests were dining on In and Out Burgers. Here were lots of people carrying Oscars, from “Gravity” and “12 Years a Slave” crew to winner Lupita Nyong’o. Super model Karolina Kurklova and her husband Archie Drury were getting burgers. Amazing since it looks she only eats celery stalks!

And yes, chowing down, was our old pal Kerry Washington, a month away from giving birth, radiant and round.

The thing about Vanity Fair’s parties is that when they’re at their peak, you really think you’ve seen the magazine come alive. The rooms just seem to turn and churn with celebrities: Kelly Ripa and Michael Strahan obviously didn’t sleep last night since they were still up at almost 2am and did their show live at 6am!

Spike Lee was busy being asked to take pictures with everyone. Michael B. Jordan scooted around. Seth Rogen was in deep conversations. I did get to meet Clint Eastwood’s squared jawed son Scott, and the great actor DB Sweeney hanging out with Sony Pictures Classics’ Tom Bernard and media mogul Jay Penske.

Sometimes the party seemed like a parade in a dream. Kate Hudson, more beautiful than ever, waved at me and mouthed Hello as she swept through the room.Who had time to stop? Maybe she was on her way to Lady Gaga, who was easily the hit of the night after also coming over from Sir Elton’s soiree.

Another great VF bash– maybe the biggest ever and the best. When we left at 2:30am, guests were still in force. Wow!

 

Oscars: 40 Mil People Watched the Show, And Not Much Else

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Oscar ratings: 40 million viewers watched the show, and a huge number of them (a 12 rating) were between 18-49. But Hollywood should remember that a lot of those people were over 49, and went to see “Philomena” and “12 Years a Slave” and “Captain Phillips.”

The real winner is the Red Carpet Live show that preceded the Oscars. Those ratings increased every half hour leading up to the real show. Robin Roberts had been on my flight out to L.A. with a big crew of assistants and stylists. I guess it paid off!

The broadcast of the Oscars seemed good if a little flat inside the Kodak theater. All the musical numbers worked, and Ellen DeGeneres played it safe throughout. The weird things were John Travolta mispronouncing Idina Menzel’s name– and looking like a vampire. Why doesn’t he take that crazy wig off his head? Zac Efron had trouble reading the TelePrompter.

And then the whole issue of Will Smith getting to present Best Picture, not even wearing a tie. He had the biggest flop of the year with “After Earth.” Will and Jada in person are very very nice. But maybe Oprah or Sidney Poitier should have given Best Picture.

Oscars Bring Rewards for “12 Years,” “Gravity,” Darlene Love

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There were some sweet victories at last night’s Academy Awards. “12 Years A Slave” picked up Best Picture, Adapted Screenplay and Supporting Actress. The movie made history too as first one ever directed by a black man to win Best Picture. Thank god, because it was the best. When the ceremony was over Harvey Weinstein told me: “The best movie did win.” And he meant it.

At the same time “Gravity” won Best Director for Alfonso Cuaron, plus Oscars for cinematography, editing, musical score, and so on. At the Governor’s Ball following the show, one table had about six Oscars mixed in with empty bottles of Champagne and designer water. David Heyman, who brought Cuaron to “Gravity” from directing the best Harry Potter movie, couldn’t believe his eyes.

Meantime Darlene Love got sweet revenge on Phil Spector. The Morgan Neville directed documentary “20 Feet from Stardom,” won Best Doc. Darlene took the stage and sang a cappella. It was a glorious moment in Oscar history. I can only hope convicted murderer Spector, who screwed Darlene and all his artists out of money they were owed, was watching from prison. If “12 Years a Slave” was about liberation, then so was “20 Feet from Stardom.” Hallelujah!

 

Meantime, the show was so oddly set up by category that the main floor bars were constantly crowded. Cate Blanchett and Sally Hawkins hung out there for a bit, as did director John Singleton, Julia Roberts, Dermot Mulroney and Anne Hathaway.

I ran into Lady Gaga at one point, who couldn’t have been sweeter or more low profile. When Lupita Nyong’o won her award, there was a huge cheer from all the bars. You could hear a pin drop as she gave her beautiful acceptance speech. Bette Midler also got a thunderous ovation after she finished singing “Wind Beneath My Wings.”

Later at the Governors Ball, Bette told me, “I’m glad I did it, but I’m glad it’s over. I hadn’t sung live in quite a while. I was very nervous.”

More from the Oscars shortly…

Oscars Predictions: No One Knows Anything as Gravity Goes Against 12 Years a Slave

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Oscar predictions: no one knows anything. The whole weekend has been spent listening to people wonder whether anyone saw “12 Years a Slave” and voted for it. We’re about to find out. Did the Academy go for the big studio, “easy” choice in “Gravity”? Or did they finally cave in, see Steve McQueen’s movie, and realize how important it is?

Best Picture is not about a movie being “entertaining.” It’s about leaving a legacy from the film community.

The big problem tonight is that “12 Years” could lose several categories before we get to the end of the evening. “Gravity” looks like a lock for Editing, Cinematography and other tech awards. It could be that we go from a Best Supporting Actress win for Lupita Nyong’o early on, and then not much until the very last award. That means we’ve got a real nail biter.

Meantime, the Oscar prognosticating sites have pretty much gone the safe route. None of them have made any kind of left or right of center choice. My only weird thought is this: Matthew McConaughey and Leonardo DiCaprio cross each other out, and Chiwetel Ejiofor wins. It’s not that I don’t want MM to get a statue. But if the four actors who won the Spirit Awards win the Oscars, it’s going to be a fizz.

Thankfully, there’s a lot of entertainment on tonight’s show: U2, Bette Midler, Pink, Idina Menzel are among the performers. Neil Meron and Craig Zadan will not disappoint.

Sadly no appearance tonight from Judi Dench. She’s in India. And why should she make such a long trip with Cate Blanchett set to win? She and Woody Allen will be the most noticeable absentees. Woody never comes to the show. And everyone will be looking for Christian Bale. Let’s hope he makes it.

 

Super Model Petra Nemcova Is Living In Haiti on a Full Time Basis

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EXCLUSIVE Czech super model Petra Nemcova takes her charities seriously. She told me last night at Charles Finch’s annual Chanel dinner at the great Italian restaurant Madeo in Beverly Hills that she’s living in Haiti full time. And she does mean full time. The great beauty does have places to stay around the world when she goes on shoots. But she said she’s got a decent house in Haiti.

“Don’t worry, I’m not living in a tent,” she assured me. She is however building schools and getting money to Haiti businesses who are still in a massive rebuilding effort after the 2010 earthquake. Her charity is called the Happy Hearts Fund. Nemcova was propelled into this work after nearly being killed in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that took the life of her fiancee, Simon Atlee.

Finch’s dinner, like Harvey Weinstein’s, was a direct rebuke to the celebrity rat-fest going on up at the Beverly Hills Hotel for the Motion Picture Fund. Almost no bold faced names pay for those tickets, and everyone gets a photo op as they scoot away with swag under their arms.

At Finch’s, I ran into past Oscar winner Anne Hathaway and husband Adam Shulman, director Paul Haggis, actor Danny Huston, Clear Channel’s John Sykes, and a boatload of beauties.

Earlier in the evening, up at the Polo Lounge at the Beverly Hills Hotel — the MPTF is curtained off from the rest of the hotel– I bumped into “Wolf of Wall Street” director Martin Scorsese, ebullieny as usual, with his wife Helen, his three daughters, son inlaw, and new baby granddaughter Sarafina. And on a collision course: Meryl Streep, husband Don Gummer and their actress daughter Mamie Gummer.

Exclusive: Piers Morgan Says He’s Staying at CNN to Do “Big Name” Interviews

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CNN’s Piers Morgan, who is ending his nightly show on the network, isn’t going anywhere. He told me last night that he’s staying at the network. “I’ll make a deal to do 20 ro 25 shows a year, all interviews with big names. That’s what I wanted to do in the first place, not reports on snow storms and that kind of thing.”

Morgan said his producer, Jonathan Wald, has already made a deal to stick around. What does he think will replace his current show? “A news program of some kind,” he said. He also acknowledged that his campaign for gun control was like “beating my head against a wall.”

Morgan was one of dozens of big names who attended a swanky dinner at the Montage Hotel in Beverly Hills last night thrown by Harvey Weinstein to show off numbers from a possible new Broadway musical called “Finding Neverland.”

Oprah Winfrey, Robert DeNiro, Meryl Streep, U2’s Bono and Adam Clayton, Harry Styles from One Direction, Josh Groban, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, Gayle King, Sharon Osbourne, Tyler Perry, Irving Azoff, Universal Music chief Lucian Grange, Bob Balaban, Dermot Mulroney, plus Steve Coogan with Philomena Lee, Jason Sudeikis and Olivia Wilde, hit songwriter Diane Warren, Netflix’s Ted Sarandos and Nicole Avant, all went wild from performances by the show’s composers Gary Barlow and Eliot Kennedy and Laura Michelle Kelly.

Jason Alexander turned up as a surprise performer and narrator of the show. Weinstein said he’s been trying to get Alexander to join the permanent cast that already includes Matthew Morrison from “Glee.” But Alexander told me last night, just like recent “Seinfeld” reunion during the Super Bowl, was a one off experience.

Alexander– this is an exclusive— is preparing his own show for Broadway, not a musical– possibly for next year.

The reception to the “Finding Neverland” songs must have been gratifying for Weinstein, who tried unsuccessfully to mount a version of the show in the UK last year. It fizzled. This new edition sounds like the right thing. Harvey told his guests that getting this show up “is the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”

While Weinstein has invested in a lot of hit stage shows, this is the first one he’s created from scratch. It’s based on his Oscar nominated Best Picture starring Johnny Depp and directed by Marc Forster.

For the final number, the Neverlanders were joined by Darlene Love, Tata Vega and Judith Hill from the documentary “20 Feet from Stardom.” That film won a prize earlier in the day at the Independent Spirit Awards.

 

“12 Years a Slave” Wins Indie Spirit Awards, Which are Now Junior Oscars

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Good news and bad news: Steve McQueen won Best Picture and Director for “12 Years a Slave” at–not the Oscars, but the Independent Spirit Awards. Four actors won as well: Cate Blanchett, Matthew McConaughey, Lupita Nyongo and Jared Leto– for the Spirits, not the Oscars. But there’s a good chance all of these people will win Oscars on Sunday. And that begs the question: what’s the difference?

Not much anymore. There is now so much overlap from the Spirits and the Oscars that it’s undermining each awards show. The Oscars are the big time. They should be for the major movies, and the art films that cross over to the main spotlight.

The Spirit Awards used to be for the real indies, small art house films, films from smaller distributors, and not from the majors. But today we had a film backed by Fox win almost everything. It’s a little crazy. You can say the “Dallas Buyers Club” or “Blue Jasmine” had small budgets, but they were released by corporations with huge resources.

So do watch the Spirit Awards tonight on IFC. They’re like the non dress rehearsal for the Oscars. The Spirit Award winners should have been “Fruitvale Station” and director Ryan Coogler, Oscar Isaac from “Inside Llewyn Davis,” Brie Larson for “Short Term 12,” and supporting actors from other independent movies.

Because they weren’t, the feeling in the tent in Santa Monica was flat. There’s no longer a sense of kids who’ve gotten away with something. It was very much a case of the adults running the show. If there’s an indie film community, there was no sense of it at today’s show. And that’s very sad. Film Independent had better do something to get back to their stated purpose.

Great speeches today from Coogler, who did Best First Feature, and Jared Leto, who has become a surprisingly astute breath of fresh air this season.

The following is a complete list of the winners:

Best Feature: 12 Years a Slave (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Producers: Dede Gardner, Anthony Katagas, Jeremy Kleiner, Steve McQueen, Arnon Milchan, Brad Pitt, Bill Pohlad

Best Director: Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Best Screenplay: John Ridley, 12 Years a Slave (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Best First Feature: Fruitvale Station (The Weinstein Company)
Director: Ryan Coogler, Producers: Nina Yang Bongiovi, Forest Whitaker

Best First Screenplay: Bob Nelson, Nebraska (Paramount Pictures)

John Cassavetes Award (For best feature made under $500,000):

This is Martin Bonner (Monterey Media inc)

Writer/Director: Chad Hartigan, Producer: Cherie Saulter

Best Supporting Female: Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Best Supporting Male: Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club (Focus Features)

Best Female Lead: Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine (Sony Pictures Classics)

Best Male Lead: Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club, (Focus Features)

Robert Altman Award: Mud (Roadside Attractions / Lionsgate)
Director: Jeff Nichols, Casting Director: Francine Maisler, Ensemble Cast: Joe Don Baker, Jacob Lofland, Matthew McConaughey, Ray McKinnon, Sarah Paulson, Michael Shannon, Sam Shepard, Tye Sheridan, Paul Sparks, Bonnie Sturdivant, Reese Witherspoon

Best Cinematography: Sean Bobbitt, 12 Years a Slave (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Best Editing: Nat Sanders, Short Term 12 (Cinedigm)

Best International Film: Blue is the Warmest Color (France- IFC Films)

Director: Abdellatif Kechiche

Best Documentary: 20 Feet From Stardom (Radius-TWC)

Director/Producer: Morgan Neville, Producers: Gil Friesen, Caitrin Rogers

Uh Oh: Terrence Malick’s “Lawless” — with Gosling, Mara, Fassbender–Was “Mostly Improvised”

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In Terrence Malick’s last movie, “To the Wonder,” Ben Affleck said not a word. The  movie made 12 cents and is best used as a sleep aid. Now I’m told that one of his two next films, which are somewhere near completion, is completely improvised. “Lawless,” which will need a new title since we just had a movie called “Lawless,” stars a bunch of big names.

Ryan Gosling, Rooney Mara, Michael Fassbender are three of them. It’s about — we’ll see if it’s about anything– love triangles. Gosling, Mara, and Berenice Marlohe comprise one of those triangles. Marlohe told me last night at Armani’s cocktail party for Martin Scorsese that she has no idea what the plot is since she only got 20 pages of script. This should be fun.

A lot of stars turned out for Scorsese including Robert DeNiro with wife Grace Hightower; Samuel L. Jackson, and Glenn Close. Scorsese was first to leave, which DeNiro didn’t realize right away. Finally it dawned on him, amusingly, that he was letting strangers chat him up after the honoree was gone. But the party was cool, the people were beautiful, and Armani has the nicest store on Rodeo Drive. It was all good!

No headlines, but Samuel L. Jackson said he will be front and center when wife LaTanya Richardson opens on Broadway with Denzel Washington for “A Raisin in the Sun.” “I said I’d come to the first preview,” Sam told me, “and she said, No no  no! But I’ll be there opening night.” Then he heads to Europe for the next “Avengers” movie.

Elsewhere last night: “12 Years a Slave” director was guest of honor at the annual British consulate party branded the GREAT British Film reception. Lots of Brits crowded into a tented backyard. But it wasn’t raining! Yet. Among the guests: Helen Mirren, Jacqueline Bisset, Sally Hawkins, and 20 of the 26 British nominees for the Academy Awards caught up with each other over canapes. I was happy to see the great Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, aka Mr. Eko from “Lost.” He stars in a new TV series called “Odyssey” which we will see soon, and he’s in “Pompeii” and just wrapped “Annie.” Adewale told me he had to go to boot camp for “Pompeii” for three weeks four hours a day of training. He skipped the canapes!

American Hustle: Former Lead Singer Doesn’t Want to Do Steely Dan’s Dirty Work No More

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Thanks to a story in The Hollywood Reporter by Matt Belloni, we may be able to solve a little mystery.

Some time ago I asked the folks connected to David O. Russell’s “American Hustle” why they didn’t include Steely Dan’s track “Dirty Work” on their soundtrack. The song comes on near the beginning of the film and frames the story beautifully. If it had been on the accompanying CD, “Dirty Work” would have found a new audience. The track was included in Steely Dan’s 1972 debut album “Can’t Buy a Thrill.”

The answer I got: Steely Dan refused to sign off on it. They wouldn’t let the song be part of the “American Hustle” soundtrack. Everyone else signed off on the CD full of ’70s songs, except for Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. I did immediately think that it had something to do with the lead vocalist.

David Palmer sang lead on “Dirty Work” and is all over ‘Thrill.” But he left Steely Dan in 1973 when they released their second album. A couple of years later he turned up on Carole King’s album “Wrap Around Joy.” He co-wrote the two hits, “Jazzman” and “Nightingale.”

Now Belloni reports in THR that Palmer is suing Steely Dan over digital royalties concerning “Dirty Work” and those other tracks. SoundExchange, which collects and distributes digital royalties from firms like Spotify, Pandora, and SiriusXM, wants to pay Palmer separately under his original Steely Dan agreement as a featured vocalist. The band doesn’t want to pay him.

I notice on DogstarRadio.com which monitors SiriusXM playlists that once “American Hustle” kicked into high gear at the box office “Dirty Work” started getting four or five spins a day. If that happened on Pandora and iTunes Radio, as well as digital downloads from Steely Dan albums on iTunes and Amazon, Palmer has an interesting case. Imagine how much better the song would have done had it been included on the “Hustle” album.

PS Everyone else on the “Hustle” album signed off on the soundtrack, from Elton John and Paul McCartney to America, ELO, the Bee Gees and Donna Summer. If I were Palmer, I’d be pissed.

Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Tragic End: Cocaine, Heroin, Rx Pills

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It’s sad to say that Philip Seymour Hoffman’s death was a blockbuster. The NYC Coroner has determined Hoffman had cocaine, heroin, and pills in his system. The needle hanging out of his arm was just one piece of the terrible puzzle that did him in. For some reason, just heroin sounded reasonable for an addict. But Hoffman was obviously on a major binge. What makes no sense is why he was alone, or buying drugs on the Lower East Side, taking money out of an ATM for druf dealers– and no one was with him. An Oscar winning actor shooting a major film franchise– and no one was monitoring his activities. His condition could not have been a surprise. There are more questions here than answers. Tragic.