An Insider’s View of the People, Parties, and Pomp Leading Up To the Oscars
On Friday night, Ari and Sarah Emanuel held a party in their palatial home in Brentwood. The whole back lawn was tented. As soon as I arrived Brian Swardstrom and his partner, Peter Spears (in a beautiful white corduroy jacket), swept in with the incredibly gorgeous Tilda Swinton in a black Dior kind of caped blouse with sleek black pants and black high heels. Whoa! It’s as if Tilda invented chic. Of course, Tilda and I have this faux-project that we are continually developing: a hip-hop version of The Sound of Music, and on Friday night, Tilda was wondering how we were going to translate lederhosen into contemporary terms. Of course, hilarity ensued.
The beautiful screening room looked like the interior of a sleek Cunard ship, the walls and chairs covered in plush blue velvet with dark wood birch trimming. One would have thought they were in Louis B. Mayer’s screening room itself. Congregated in the screening room and tent were the likes of Robert Pattinson, Robert DeNiro, John Malkovich, Michael Lynton, Stephen Daldry, Bazz Luhrman, Josh Brolin, Diane Lane, Emil Hirsch, and Sienna Miller.
Ari plucked me away from my group and took me across the room to meet his brother Ezekiel, who was the former chairman of the Department of Bioethics at the National Institute of Mental Health and is now involved in health policy. The two Emanuel brothers, Rahm & Zeke, now work right next door to each other in Washington, D.C. I don’t know what the mother of the Brothers Emanuel took each time she was pregnant, but whatever it was it produced superheroes. Each brother is so extraordinary that it defies the imagination. The greatest compliment I ever received was when Ari took me over to meet Zeke and said, “This is the fourth Emanuel Brother. You’ll love him. He’s just like us!” The sheer headiness of that remark can energize me for the rest of my life.
The alluring and sexy agent from Endeavor, Stephanie Ritz (who reps the hotter-than-hot Robert Pattinson of Twilight fame), introduced me to a young manager from Three Arts, Nick Frenkel, who manages the coolest young talent around town — to whit, Robert Pattinson, Summer Phoenix, Justin Theroux, Steven Strait, and Lynn Collins. At first we bantered about and told many jokes. Everyone was laughing hysterically. As the conversation wore on and Nick and I began getting to know each other, I discovered that Nick’s father was a Holocaust survivor who was freed from Auschwitz at the age of 12. He went on to make a big success of his life in the dairy business and raised Nick and his sister. So here, in the midst of the most Hollywood of parties, amidst all the glamour and tinsel, with the din of the chatter and music surrounding us, Nick and I had one of the “realest” conversations I ever had in Los Angeles. Here, in the season of the Holocaust dramas, I found, by chance, one person whose father actually experienced the greatest horror of the 20th century. Nick didn’t and doesn’t want to know too much about it now. One day he will go on the journey that every son or daughter of survivors takes, when he feels strong enough and wise enough. I bow at the feet of the survivors — the only time I ever bow to a human being. I love life in Hollywood because in the midst of the most important weekend of celebration I can connect with someone whose real experience mirrors the very movies we are celebrating.
Of course the next morning I went to the David Linde and Felicia Rosenthal Universal brunch in honor of Milk and Frost/Nixon. I then went on to Barry Diller and Diane von Furstenberg’s picnic luncheon for Graydon Carter where the pages of Vanity Fair come alive, and I wondered what interesting — and real — stories would play out before me. All I have to do is scratch the surface …
My 15 minutes are almost up, and when the Best Picture is announced my carriage will be turned into a pumpkin.
An essay on name dropping. What, exactly, is the point of the article?
A total waste of time…unless you live and die by celebrity worship.
Oh, come on, the guy is thrilled and having a great time, and dropping names is a huge part of the fun. I hope he tells us about the Red Carpet trip, too!
Mr. Rosenman:
“A star-struck Hollywood producer with a small part in “Milk” dishes from the red carpet.”
I’m sure this was the personal shiznit for you, but did it ever occur to you that some of us would find this utterly nauseating?
You’re “The Man Who Once Met Andy Griffith”.
BFD!
Man, this guy has his head so far up celebrities’ butts he can see fillings! Horrible!
I do agree with one point, however. MILK is most definitely being judged on material instead of merit. If MILK sweeps the Oscars, it would be for the same reason Jimmy Carter won the Nobel: to give his political opposite (Bush) ‘a kick in the leg.’ That’s a quote from Nobel Committee member, BTW.
So how many soon-to-be white ribbon-wearing Academy members voted for MILK to give Prop 8 proponents ‘a kick in the leg’ as opposed to voting for a real screen gem?
Don’t answer, it’s a rhetorical question.
Here’s another one. Who were the big winners the past two years? Ummm…
Screw this. I’m tuning in to the Peoples’ Choice Awards. At least there’s some connection to film and box office reality there.
Too funny. Another pretentious backslapping name dropping self absorbed hollywood nitwit gushing in his blog like anyone cares. The Oscars will have by far their lowest rating ever this year, partly because of movies like MILK which were elevated not for their quality but for their content. Academy voters that voted for their own agenda continue to kill the awards and put them into their deathbed. Wheres TORINO and BLACK KNIGHT?
Hey, I saw Michelle Malken at CPAC! She’s even smaller in person.
Yawn.
Can. Barely. Type. These. Words. So. Drowsy. After. Reading.
I finally thought I something I care about less than the oscars: the current condition of the rear left tire of the Chevette I traded in on a new car in 1981. Wasn’t sure I was going to come up with anything.
I just hope the author took a good long shower afterward. He needed to get the scum off himself after hobnobbing with that gang of horribles. I can’t understand how someone can get this orgasmic over hanging out with pretentious empty-heads. Strike a pose! I do make an exception for the guy whose dad actually experienced the holocaust. He would at least have something interesting to say. As a lawyer in L.A. during the seventies and eighties, I represented a large number of A- and B list Hollywood celebrities. When I got home I talked about traffic, the weather, the judges, opposing counsel, anything rather than talk about the “pretty people.” And I NEVER socialized with them (and yes, I was invited).
I find your fawning over Meryl extremely unattractive.
This is the 5th consecutive year we will skip (boycott, actually) the Oscars. Life is improved without it. The last time it had any relevance for our family was when LOTR won – when a movie people actually gave a d@mn about was nominated. Life is also much improved without having to watch mentally challenged narcissists prattle on about the Evil Bushitler and their glorious Dear Leader.
Skip the Oscars and enjoy life.
ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
I have BOYCOTTED the Oscars for years and it’s because of this ilk and spewing that I have!!! And MILK is propaganda pink!
It is so wonderful to be able to watch this big event, where all the well to do actors/ actresses put on another show.
So nice to hear them express their appreciation for the freedoms that made it all possible for them to reach their dreams, (millions$$$$$$)
huhh….oh crap what was I thinking, I must have been dreaming.
The day I watch that drivel is the day I need to be committed.
I’m not worthy.
what is this drivel doing in PJ media?
Aw . . . c’mon, guys and gals. You know darn well if you had a chance to do a Hollywood hangout, you’d do it in a heartbeat and shrag (share/brag)it with wall your friends/readers. I haven’t watched the oscars in years because I don’t like that crowd, but I be shragging with the worst of them if I had been.
I’d rather sit down for a spot of tea with Anita Bryant!
I don’t believe I have ever read a more sycophantic bag of words than is.
As soon as I saw ‘very unique’ I thought ah, an idiot.
Turned out to be a vacuous fawning idiot.
11. Peg C.:
Right on! I have not watched the Oscars in many years. The idiots can dribble on their selves without my participation. I don’t go to most of their movies either.
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Who is John Galt?
How, exactly, did Milk deal with the “same issue” as Prop 8? Unless the failure of half the population to embrace all things homosexual counts as an “issue”.