Styles & Scenes

It's Oscar time for Terrence Howard

If you thought the Screen Actors Guild Awards was star-jammed on Sunday, you should have snuck behind the scenes to Karen Wood’s Backstage Creations SAG Talent Retreat.

That’s the lavishly decorated celeb-only room where the stars gather before, during and after the show to chat, have a glass of bubbly or just relax from the awards pressure. Of course, another major reason to do the retreat is to get lots of free stuff from merchants displaying star swag in the room.

"Matador" star Pierce Brosnan admired Amouage fragrance from an Irish perfumer. The handmade bottles are so cool they’re the only perfume bottle in the Smithsonian. Marcia Cross and Eva Longoria (hanging on squeeze Tony Parker) loved Shu Uemura cosmetics, also used on the “Desperate Housewives” set. “Entourage” star Jeremy Piven picked up some Phyto hair product for his limping locks. “This is good stuff,” he pronounced. Yeah, baby. Hug it out.

“Crash” star Terrence Howard, looking hot in his D&G duds, felt so at-home that he hung out in the retreat until his category was called. Then he ran out, helped picked up the award for best ensemble cast and returned with “Crash” costar Don Cheadle, who was limping from an unexplained foot injury. Cheadle took a seat on a cream colored sofa, holding the carved wooden cane he’d bought in Kenya.

After picking up a blue Le Vian watch to match his suit, Howard, nominated today for a best actor Oscar for his lead role in "Hustle & Flow," tried to buy the B&W photos by Wall Kandy for his new house. Then he got so excited about a free trip to the Starwood Resort — the St. Regis on Bora Bora — that he announced he was booking his trip the very next day. Better wait until after the Oscars on March 5, Terrence. Angela Bassett drooled over the Bora Bora beach trip too but Ed Harris and his wife Amy Madigan were the most enthusiastic. And impatient. Harris suggested, “Let’s leave tonight!”

Take me with you. Please.

Photo: Terrence Howard synchronizes his free watch and Angela Bassett plans her next vacation at the Backstage Creations SAG Talent Retreat.
(Jesse Grant / WireImage)

Give Haggis a Hyatt Regency bathrobe

“Crash” writer-director Paul Haggis looked natty in a dress suit as he walked through the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel and Spa lobby to attend Saturday’s Directors Guild of America Awards.

As he got on the escalator, he glanced at the large crowd of casually-attired lobby lookie-loos, desperately hoping to see some famous faces like Reese Witherspoon, Heath Ledger, Michelle Williams, Clint Eastwood, George Clooney or Jake Gyllenhaal arriving for the DGA show.

He — and everyone else — couldn’t help noticing one barefoot couple wearing the hotel's thick white terry cloth bathrobes for their star-spotting adventure.

Maybe they were talking a breather between the jacuzzi and the mani-pedi?

“That’s a good look,” a surprised Haggis told a fellow escalator rider. “I could have gotten away with wearing that tonight. After all, the event’s not televised.”

The award-winning writer and first-time feature film director didn't win the top honors."Brokeback Mountain" director Ang Lee did. But one attendee noted, "This really is the one awards where you really are happy just to be nominated."

Still, bet a cuddly white terry robe might cheer him up.

Photo: Give this man a fluffy white bathrobe, stat! Paul Haggis shows off his nominee platter backstage at the Directors Guild of America Awards
(Steve Granitz / WireImage)

"Crash" has a political party

Movies and politics make great bedfellows.

Especially in this 2006 awards season when several films in the Oscar race address hot political topics such as the Iraq war, the African AIDS crisis, oil, terrorism, homophobia, freedom of speech and transgender issues.

No surprise then to see politial activist-author Arianna Huffington at the Showtime/Lionsgate party to celebrate the respective Globe nominations of "Weeds" and "Crash" Saturday night.

Huffington arrived with producer Lawrence Bender, who is producing the historical political thriller, "Manhunt," which will star Harrison Ford. The film will be based on James L. Swanson’s new book (due out in February) about President Lincoln’s murderer — actor John Wilkes Booth — and the real story of the lost 12 days when the entire country was searching for the escaped killer.

Huffington, whose website www.ariannaonline.com is reportedly making beaucoup bucks, was also seen chatting with kausfilesblogger Mickey Kaus, who has a new blog — bloggingheadstv — that features streaming video of Kaus and “Nonzero” author Robert Wright, discussing and disagreeing about sex, greed, power, politics, and, naturally, movies about sex, greed, power and politics, of which there are more than you can shake a stick at this season.

What does Huffington think about “Crash"'s Oscar chances?

“With everything that’s happening right now after Katrina, the topic of racial inequality in this country is more important than ever. A film that hopes to win an Oscar should have some level of appeal on a cultural level as well as on an artistic level.”

Also sounding very political was “Crash” star Matt Dillon, there with costars Chris 'Ludracris' Bridges and Jennifer Esposito. After chatting with former Fox honcho Bill Mechanic (also an executive Board of Governors member for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) and Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. head Philip Berk, Dillon once again talked about how great it is to be rewarded for making “Crash,” and how great the ensemble cast was and how great the writer-director is and how it was hard for them to get a film made about such a controversial topic.

Sounds like Matt's really getting the hang of the awards campaign trail.

Matt Dillon's really big year

Even if Matt Dillon doesn't pick up a Golden Globe award on Jan. 16 for his supporting role in “Crash,” this is still his big year.

Long considered one of the ultimate Hollywood outsiders, Dillon won an award for his "Crash" supporting role from the Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Assn. and received a tribute award for his career at the recent Gotham Awards. Next, Dillon will be honored for his body of work at the upcoming Ray-Ban Visionary Award (hosted by Hollywood Life magazine) on Jan. 22 during the 2006 Sundance Independent Film Festival.

The actor is definitely keeping darn good company. Last year, the honor went to Kevin Bacon at the ceremony held in the Stein Eriksen Lodge in Park City, Utah. Previous winners include New Line Studios exec Mark Ordesky and HBO exec Colin Callendar.

But Dillon's still a humble guy. Speaking from the set of his new film, "You, Me and Dupree,” he put awards in perspective.

“This is all pretty new to me. I won an Indie Spirit award a few years ago [for 'Drugstore Cowboy'] but I wasn't in the country at the time. But it's all very exciting. Listen, I've never met an actor who does this for awards and most of the time, we don't even do it for the money. So it's really nice to be acknowledged for your work.”

And he's especially proud of "Crash," which is up for a best screenplay Globe.

“This was a phenomenal cast with excellent filmmakers, Paul Haggis and Bob Moresco, what can you say? They're amazing and really took some chances and risks with this project.”

Photo: Matt Dillon has every reason to smile this year, seen here at the Gotham Awards.
(Jim Spellman / WireImage)