Oscar Parties 2007
Submitted by news on Thu, 02/22/2007 - 10:29
TMZ:: Oscar Parties 2007
Here's a preview of the food and decor that will highlight the 79th Academy Awards' Governors Ball, the traditional postshow party held in the Grand Ballroom of the Hollywood & Highland Center. For the 13th consecutive year, Master Chef Wolfgang Puck and his team (including Pastry Chef Sherry Yard) will create an exquisite sit-down dinner for some 1,500 celebrities and their guests. The theme of this years Governors Ball is Tuscan Countryside. The decor will feature iron archways covered with ivy and colorful flowers. Seating arrangements are designed to create a "relaxed intimacy". The 79th Academy Awards will take place at 5 p.m Pacific (8 p.m. Eastern) on Sunday, February 25, 2007. - Brett Moore
Where's The (Oscar) Party?! - Martin Lewis
("The Night Of 100 Stars" Academy Awards Viewing Party held annually at the Beverly Hills Hotel)
This week there is only one serious concern among people in the City Of Angels. It's not the Obama versus Hillary contest. It's not Anna Nicole Smith's will. And it's certainly not Britney Spears' new hair-do (or "don't").
This week is Oscar week. And in a town that sees more awards shows and parties than any other city in the world - that means something serious. This is Super-Bowl, World-Series and presidential inauguration week all rolled into one.
So as party-planners plan - thousands of Angelenos plot. They are plotting WHERE they should view the Academy Awards. There is a popular misconception that the Academy Awards ceremony itself is a desirable event to attend. Well it is - IF you are a major nominee. And by that I mean someone likely to be sitting in the first few rows. We're talking Best Actor and Actress nominees and celebrity presenters. But for everyone else - even for less prominent nominees and executives - it can be an unrewarding ordeal. Just think back to past years when they have announced the winner of the Best Albanian Animated Documentary In Another Language category. The winner is invariably located 38 rows back sandwiched between some seat-fillers from UCLA in Men's Wearhouse 'togs'. That's because the Oscars long ago became primarily a glitzy TV spectacle rather than a ceremony in which an academy honors excellence. And that means that the producers only really care about the big famous faces they can show in close-up. Everyone else is just 'camera fodder' for the wide shots. An amorphous mass of rental tuxes and over-priced drapery and creperie.
So unless they have a dog in this year's race that mandates them being at the Kodak Theatre, squeezed uncomfortably among the 3,400 sardines, the savvier movers and shakers in town have a couple of things on their mind. One is which after-party can they be seen at. (You Are Where You're Seen). The other is Where To Watch The Awards.
The after-parties tend to blur into one endless parade and hustle. By the laws of physics the density of the paparazzi become even denser in the presence of all those statues and starlets. So even if you make it onto the hallowed guest list of the Vanity Fair or Elton John party - be ready to be trodden on, spilled-upon, shoved, jostled and credential-challenged. And then there's the age-old problem. Whether to stick with the party you're at - or seek golder pastures (more Oscar winners), more kudos by being seen at a hipper party - if you can find your limo, your partner, your publicist, your bodyguard. And if you don't have three of those four - then you don't belong there anyway.
In some ways even more crucial - you have to determine where to watch the actual ceremonies.
Back in the 1970s and 1980s, the smart players in L.A. gravitated to the viewing party thrown at Spago by super-agent Irving "Swifty" Lazar. Though the general public were largely oblivious to who Swifty Lazar was - that was of no consequence. The invitees DID know who he was - and they were there because they had been invited by him. It was a party that had at its heart the bonds between an agent of the old school and his buddies. Not only clients - but the friendships forged in the trenches of the industry and its social milieu.
The viewing party that has inherited much of that mantle in recent years has been the "Night Of 100 Stars" party held at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Now in its 17th year, it's the party of choice for many of Hollywood's top actors. Oddly for a Tinsel-Town event, the title has actually become an UNDER-statement in recent years as the star quotient usually approaches 200. The definition of "star" is simple. It's actors you know by name and/or face. And they can't get in just by being famous. They have to have entered into the social circle or poker school of the man who organizes it - veteran music agent Norby Walters. Walters - who handled some of the top R&B acts (Luther Vandross, Gladys Knight, Patti LaBelle, Dionne Warwick) - is one of those ebullient old-timers who seems to know everyone and who everyone seems to know.
The party is styled like the original Oscars and the present-day Golden Globes. Guests sit at tables watching the awards over a gourmet dinner and fine wines - then as soon as the Oscars go to commercial break - the stars get up to mill, table-hop and schmooze.
One of the secrets of the bash's success is that Walters has identified the most overlooked group of stars in Hollywood on Oscar night. With the exception of years in which Oscar is celebrating an anniversary that ends in a zero or a five - there is no place at the Kodak Theatre for Academy Award winners and nominees from past years. If you're not nominated for yet another award in the current year - or aren't a current $25 million-a-film box office star - then you have no guaranteed place at the fair-weather Oscar ceremony.
Which is why in recent years the party attendance has swollen with scores of former Oscar winners and nominees - ranging from Jamie Foxx, Richard Dreyfuss and Martin Landau to Lynn Redgrave, Jennifer Tilly and Shelly Winters. Walters must have one of the most diverse Roladexes in Hollywood. I attended his Oscar party a few years ago - covering it for Time.com - and I was astonished to experience what seemed like an acid-flashback of the past 50 years of acting.
On one table Gary Busey was sweet-talking Bridget Fonda... Amanda Plummer over-awed by Janet Leigh ...Cliff Robertson and Peter Boyle here... Sally Kirkland and Sean Young there... Recognizable faces everywhere. There were cult figures as well. There may have been an occasion before in the history of the universe that placed Maximillian Schell AND Charlene Tilton in the same room - but I somehow doubt it.
For this year's party, Walters has already rounded up no less than 25 previous Oscar nominees and winners including Martin Landau, Ernest Borgnine, JoBeth Williams Piper Laurie and the remarkable Celeste Holm.
For those who have not yet found their way into his address book - Walters has arranged to open up his party to the world via a webcast. So if by chance during the acceptance speech of the Oscar for Best Use Of CGI Effects To Distract From A Plot Inconsistency, the cameras at the Kodak Theater dwell on some bored actors in the 83rd row gazing at their cell phones - they'll probably be watching the "Night Of 100 Stars" podcast and wondering why they didn't go there instead...
Happy Oscar Viewing!
THE ENVELOPE says
Party faithful
Glitzy bashes still draw Hollywood's elite, but under-the-radar parties are gaining cachet.
Everyone knows about the Governors Ball and the A-list Vanity Fair bash. And everyone who isn't anyone watches coverage of celebs arriving at these post-parties on their high-def, 42-inch plasma screens. Yawn.
But the coolest Oscar parties are the semi-secret ones held in the days and nights leading up to the Oscars. These less-public, no-red-carpet, media-free agency soirees for agents, managers, studio honchos and stars are routinely held at private homes on Oscar weekend.
If you are an A-lister, you probably already know about most of them. And if you don't, well, you probably aren't invited.
These days the famous and powerful do perfunctory pit stops at the big public parties, pose for a few photos and then flee to the more sedate bashes away from the prying eyes of the media and slathering sponsors. Even the freewheeling Golden Globes are going that way.
While all the media coverage was focused on the WB/In Style party and the Paramount/DreamWorks fete at last month's Globes, the big stars actually left those parties quickly and ended up at either Bryan Lourd's Creative Artists Agency gathering or Prince's private party high in a Beverly Hilton penthouse. That trend is set to continue for this year's Oscar celebrations.
The Sunday day-of parties are still the big three: the academy's Governors Ball, Vanity Fair and Elton John's annual AIDS Foundation bash (with James Blunt performing).
But no studios are throwing congratulatory bashes. No post-parties are planned for Paramount, New Line, Fox/Searchlight, Universal/Focus, Disney/Buena Vista or Picturehouse.
On the down low this year, Warner Bros. is hosting a nominees dinner at the Hotel Bel-Air on Friday. About 250 guests are invited, so expect the big guns, such as Martin Scorsese, Mark Wahlberg, Leonardo DiCaprio, Djimon Hounsou and Ed Zwick. But don't expect cameras. The exclusive event is media-free.
Of course, these lower-key industry insider parties have been going on forever, but many are gaining on the big, media-friendly events.
Industry observers are saying Jeffrey Katzenberg's Motion Picture & Television Fund "Night Before" party on Saturday is now more popular than Vanity Fair's Sunday bash at Morton's. Why? No red carpet. No nosy media. No gown or tux necessary. And you can avoid the gaze of Vanity Fair's new live party webcam.
Even studio pre-parties are on the wane. Along with the Warners party this Friday, there was a party on Feb. 7 at Simon's L.A. in the Sofitel, celebrating the nominations for "Babel" director Alejandro González Iñárritu, "City of Men" director Alfonso Curón, and "Pan's Labyrinth" director Guillermo del Toro. But that's about it.
Meanwhile, there are more options than ever for those who want to see and be seen (in private) before the big night.
The new addition to the bunch is Giorgio Armani's fete at Ron Burkle's Green Acres Estate in Beverly Hills on Saturday. The Champagne reception and exclusive showing of his new Armani Privé couture line will no doubt have a very special audience that probably will include Victoria and David Beckham, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony and Armani's faithful fashion fans, such as George Clooney, Annette Bening and Warren Beatty.
Speaking of fashion, Barry Diller and wife Diane von Furstenberg will host a private luncheon at their home on Saturday afternoon.
And London-based fragrance and skin care mogul Jo Malone is doing a cocktail party Thursday for Miramax's nominated "The Queen" and "Venus" at the Sunset Tower Hotel on the Terrace overlooking Hollywood. Expect to see the indefatigable front-runner Helen Mirren and the irrepressible dark horse Peter O'Toole at this private fete.
Then there are The Night Before and Friday night's agency parties thrown by ICM's Ed Limato, CAA's Lourd and Endeavor's Ari Emanuel. Each of these is a friends- and clients-only event at the agents' homes.
Even the 79th annual Governors Ball immediately after the telecast will be following the new low-key trend. The formerly formal assigned-table dining has been scrapped in favor of a Tuscan-style buffet with casual seating that will include sofas, banquettes and lounge areas as well as stand-up tables and bars.
So will nominees have to serve themselves? If they want to. Wolfgang Puck's open-kitchen feel (seen at Cut and Spago) will feature 14 interactive kitchens and chefs cooking for — and in front of — the guests.
Doubtless, Oscar winners may have enough studio minions to fetch them food. And there will be 800 servers. But some giddy winners may want to try their hand at juggling an Oscar and a plate of pasta, sushi or tapas.
Elizabeth Snead, Special to The Times
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