Styles & Scenes

George is back! Raise a cup of Nespresso!

There is a god.

And said deity just announced that George Clooney will be presenting an award at the Golden Globes on Jan. 15.

Along with Rachel Weisz, Sarah Jessica Parker and John Stamos.

Clooney's presence, which is already delighting French TV audiences hooked on the award-winning actor/producer/director's new Nespresso commercial, is sure to liven up an already exciting awards night.

But the big question is which of the seven Globe parties (eight, if you count the off-site CAA bash) held in the Beverly Hilton and the old Robinsons-May space will George hit? 

Julia mouths off at Clooney's award

And the winner of the "Best Impersonation of a Whale Swallowing Plankton" contest is...

Julia Roberts!

Better luck next time, George.

Photo Credits: Julia and George Clooney's backstage big mouth match at Friday's 21st American Cinematheque Award honoring the Oscar-winning actor (and director and producer and activist and pot-bellied pig-owner).
Steve Granitz/WireImage

George Clooney's older woman?

George Clooney and Ellen Barkin are dating?

Okay, I admit it. When I first heard about the Oscar-winning hunk getting icky cozy with his "Ocean's Thirteen" co-star - an over 50/double divorcee/mother of two - I got a little creeped out.

I mean, this guy could 'date' (and I mean 'date' in precisely the way you think I mean it) any woman in Hollywood. Oh, let's be honest and say it, George could easily get any woman in the world. Twice.

But their new May-December relationship makes a perverse sort of sense. George is always dating gorgeous women younger than his 45 years. And after a while, all the hot young babes start to make those annoying "Where is this relationship going" and "I want a family" whiney noises.

But with Barkin, a good seven years Clooney's senior, there's no biological clock ticking. Heck, it's not even plugged in anymore. So there's no need to keep stalling that dreaded walk down the aisle.

Finally, someone the eternal Hollywood bachelor/hunk can have steamy "Sea of Love" escapades with and not worry about when she'll hit him with an inevitable marriage ultimatum.

Besides, George is not her first younger man. After her divorce from Gabriel Byrne and before her marriage to Revlon magnate Ron Pearlman, she dated David Arquette. At the time, he was 23 and she was 40. You go, girl. Anyway, it's not like she's robbing the cradle for George, the way Demi Moore did with poor Ashton Kutcher.

And despite reports of Barkin hawking her jewelry given to her during her five-year marriage to billionaire ex-hubby Perelman, she did get a fairly sizeable settlement - something like $20 million. So she can even afford to 'Go Dutch.'

Can't beat that with a stick, huh, George?

Photo Credits: Newly single Ellen Barkin still knows how to party like a rock star, seen with pal Rebecca De Mornay at Amy Sacco's "Cocktails" party at the Chateau Marmont in July, 2006. But can she keep George Clooney's interest once "Oceans 13"  has wrapped?
WireImage/Michael Caulfield

Santa Barbara gets awards happy

Last year the Santa Barbara International Film Festival was the best place to see Oscar nominees such as George Clooney, Heath Ledger and his "Brokeback Mountain" costar/real-life love Michelle Williams, Phillip Seymour Hoffman and scads of other hot Oscar-nodded writers, producers and directors.

Will next year be as star-studded? You betcha.

"The pressure is really on now after last year,” admitted Roger Durling, SBIFF executive director, at the Fest's Inaugural Award for Excellence in Film given on Sunday to Kirk Douglas at a glitzy black tie gala fundraiser held at the Bacara Resort.

Durling will make picks based on films and performances he sees at Toronto and Telluride film festivals. So has he seen anything he likes so far? “I have but it’s just too early to talk about it.”

But by December, Durling will be talking and making his picks for the various SBIFF honors (Modern Master, Riviera, Breakthrough Performance, Montecito and Attenborough Awards) that will probably be bestowed on some 2007 Oscar nominees. “We’re announcing a month before the Oscars and we open the festival the week after nominations are announced,” Durling explains. “Last year, the nominations were out on a Tuesday and the following Friday, George Clooney was up here accepting his Modern Master Award.”

But enough about Oscars. Durling is also excited about the possibilities his new summertime Awards Gala will open up...

Photo Credits: George Clooney talks about life, passion and movies, at his Modern Master Award at the 2006 SBIFF
WireImage

Hollywood braces for "Blood Diamond" War

Get ready for the big "Blood Diamond " PR War between Team De Beers and Team Zwick.

Nelson Mandela will act as a spokesman for the international diamond cartel to  defuse any negative publicity caused by Ed Zwick's new film “The Blood Diamond,” starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly and Djimoun Hounsou, due out in December.

The film, a fictional tale, is set during the all-too-real ‘90s decade of African civil wars when rebel armies seized control of diamond mines, traded conflict diamonds for arms and murdered, raped and mutilated thousands of innocent people.

The film’s barely finished shooting but the World Diamond Council has already asked Zwick, the film’s producer/co-writer/director to add a disclaimer at the end that puts the nasty rough diamond trade in the past and the current industry in a better light.

Honest, those creepy rebels with nasty amputation habits are gone. Today's mining conditions are way improved and diamonds are now carefully documented thanks to the Kimberly Process, a voluntary industry agreement made in 2000, which tracks and certifies the movement of rough diamonds.

Human rights groups such as Amnesty International don’t buy it. But if you do, I’ve got some great New Orleans property near some lovely new levees you might also like. Zwick’s response? He gave it to E! Online yesterday.

A bitter battle is clearly brewing. But how will Team De Beers, headed by Mandela, do against Team Zwick? Let’s compare the players. Ready for their turn at bat are the “Blood” actors, all politically active and involved with a variety of humanitarian causes.

DiCaprio is outspoken about ecology and global warming issues. His website was redesigned and launched in 2004, the same year he joined the boards of NRDC and Global Green USA. Hounsou was born in Benin, near Niger. He participated in Amnesty International’s Live for Darfur concert series last fall. It's safe to say that he has strong opinions on the illicit diamond trade’s impact on Africa peoples. And Jennifer Connelly was just named Amnesty International USA's (AIUSA) Ambassador for Human Rights Education last winter.

But Zwick may also have a trump card, an actress who could give his team an unbeatable hand....

Before we say Good Night, Arianna

Arianna Huffington has said she's really, really sorry to her readers and promises to never run unattributed quotes on her HuffingtonPost blog site again.

But she's never apologized to George Clooney. And she still maintains she had permission to run his quotes as a blog.

But Camp Clooney is pleased as punch that their March 15 statement about her blog being nothing more than recycled interview quotes, not a blog written by Clooney, has sparked discussions about blogdom ethics, honesty and the attribution of quotes.

Clooney’s publicist Stan Rosenfield maintains, "For the hundredth time, what Huffington calls a misunderstanding was, and still is, a blatant misrepresentation. She did not have permission to use George’s quotes and make it look like he wrote a blog,” says Rosenfield. “We asked her to clarify this on March 13 and when she refused, George released his statement on March 15.”

So before we bid "Good Night, and Good Luck" to the George Clooney blog brouhaha, there are a few statements Arianna made that bear examination for the public record.

In a March 15 Envelope blog item, explaining why she sought permission from freelance publicist Lisa Taback to use Clooney's old quotes in a blog, Huffington explained: "I had met Lisa Taback at every “Good Luck” event and she was always with George. She told me to just send her the compiled quotes for the blog and that she would run it by George. The fact that it was for a blog was very unambiguous. Naturally, I didn't think twice about it."

After reading the story, Taback told The Envelope,  “There are a couple of inaccuracies,” including Huffington's description of their meeting and phone conversation.

Taback said that while she had met Huffington years ago when doing PR for a Michael Moore film, she didn't meet Huffington at any “Good Luck” events, not even the only “Good Luck” event Taback organized at the GM penthouse in the Beverly Regent Wilshire. The Feb 12 reception was hosted by talk show host Larry King and honored Clooney and “Good Night, and Good Luck” co-screenwriter Grant Heslov.

"Arianna didn't attend,” says Taback. "Her sister did." Huffington's producer pal Lawrence Bender brought her sister, Agape Stephanopoulus, to the reception.

That week Huffington called Taback about using a quote from Clooney for her blog. Taback sent an email on Feb. 17 to her Warner Independent Pictures boss Laura Kim seeking permission  to reprint a partial quote from the Guardian.

A copy of Taback's email fowarded to The Envelope from Kim indicated that after Huffington's sister attended the "Good Night" event, Huffington's interest was sparked in reprinting Clooney's Guardian quote.

Kim's Feb. 18 response gave Taback the go ahead.

Kim explained to The Envelope: "Arianna requested to use an attributed quote from The Guardian. Larry King's interview was never brought up. I gave the okay because everyone does that, uses a quote and links to the original article."

Taback also recalls a phone call prior to the Clooney blog posting, when she asked Huffington about quote attribution. “I said, "You are going to source the quotes to the Guardian, right?' And Arianna replied, “Naturally.”

In an interview with The Envelope, Huffington denied that this phone conversation took place. "All our contact was done by email," Huffington said.

On March 13, the day the faux blog went up, Taback says she spoke to Huffington by phone in the Caribbean and emailed her boss, Kim, who sent us a copy of the missive:

"I spoke to Arianna --  She is on a boat right now...     They are moving the blog down to the bottom of the HuffPost immediately.  She is afraid if she removes it completely that it will cause more attention.   They are replacing the item on Yahoo immediately.   It will be removed completely from the blog by tomorrow.     Arianna is sorry if it was misleading – they never attribute where comments originally appeared.  (although I told her it was misleading.....)Please call me if you want to discuss more..."

So we think that ends this chapter from our end. Over to you, blogosphere.

Photo Credit: Hey, maybe Arianna Huffington got permission for Clooney's Larry King quotes from Shawn King, whom she really did meet at Shawn’s Skybar album launch party.
(Eric Neitzel/WireImage)

Say you're sorry, Arianna

The ongoing tussle between George Clooney and Arianna Huffington isn't cooling off. It’s heating up.

This week Clooney told New York Daily News columnist Lloyd Grove that he's furious after his phone conversation with the Huffster. He said Arianna told him that all this publicity since his statement denying writing a blog for her Huffington Post website - a blog she compiled using several of the Oscar-winner's unattributed past quotes - could be "bad for his career."

But judging from the responses of Arianna’s readers to this incident posted on her site, it looks like it’s her blog career that may be in jeopardy.

Respected blogosphere denizens, such as the The New Republic's "The Plank" blog and web-guru Jeff Jarvis, are baffled less by her blunder in not securing approval from Clooney and his uberpub Stan Rosenfield than by her  insistence that it was kosher to post Clooney’s quotes without attributing the sources, Britain's Guardian newspaper and Larry King’s CNN talk show.

“Public domain” is how she justified using his unattributed quotes in our March 15 phone conversation for a March 16 story in the LA Times Calendar section. C'mon. Every journalist knows they're not supposed to run quotes without attributing them. Writers have been forced to resign from major newspapers, including USA Today, when it was discovered they'd used quotes from other sources without attribution.  And bloggers routinely link to their sources when referencing stories and/or quotes. It's not just ethical and non-copyright infringing, it's also polite and inclusive.

Arianna’s stubborn insistance that she did nothing wrong is raising hackles. And suspicions.

“She got caught because Clooney wouldn't let get her get away with it,” an inside source told me.  “Now everyone is wondering if this is the first time this has happened. Given her arrogant reaction, she may have bull-dozed her other celebrity bloggers like this - used past quotes - and they've just kept quiet about it.”

And people are wondering about the other celebrity bloggers on her long contributor list that includes Walter Cronkite, Diane Keaton, Nora Ephron, Bill Maher, John Kerry, Norman Mailer and Chris McMillan, Jennifer Aniston's hairdresser. So if any of you famous folks are unhappy, now's the time to speak out.

On the surface, Arianna getting people to write for her site who know nothing about blogging, including etiquette and ethics, appears to be a generous attempt to include, in her words, “some of the most interesting voices of our time that are not already there.”

Gosh, how else would the voice of Larry David, whom she says phones his blogs in from a cell phone when he's on the set of his HBO show “Curb Your Enthusiasm, be heard?

But make no mistake. Famous names are also a huge draw for her almost 1-year-old blog site. And admitting that she goofed using unsourced quotes for Clooney's concocted blog might hurt business because it raises the issue that this is the norm, not the exception, on HuffPo. But that 's exactly what's happening with her staunch refusal to take responsibility for a serious mistake.

The bottom line on the Clooney/Huffington tussle is this: if Arianna would simply admit making an error and apologize - to Clooney and her readers - for not crediting the quotes, all would be forgiven. Of course, she should also promise never to do it again. Ever. Since she's relatively new to the blog world, it’s almost a slam-dunk that she'd get a pardon. Or at least a second chance.

Gosh, has the longtime political observer learned nothing from watching politicians such as Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George Bush, even California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger do that always winning “Admit and Apologize” act?

Photo Credit: Arianna Huffington and HBO's "Real Time" host Bill Maher, also one of her many celebrity bloggers, pose for the  paparazzi outside Vanity Fair's star-studded Oscar bash on March ,5 2006.
(Eric Charbonneau/WireImage)

Arianna asks, Who IS this guy?

One of the biggest questions inside Hollywood is why Arianna Huffington would seek permission to post George Clooney's blog item from Lisa Taback — an independent publicist working on the “Good Night, and Good Luck” Oscar campaign — and not from Clooney's personal publicist, Stan Rosenfield.

Rosenfield, infamous for deftly handling stars who don't need publicity — also known as 'The Keeper of the Clooney” — is, and rightfully so, fiercely protective of his superstar charge. Is it really possible that Arianna didn't know that Stan is the go-to guy for all things George?

“I had never spoken to Stan before Monday when he called,” says Huffington, speaking from the Caribbean for a piece on the blog brouhaha that will run Thursday, March 16, in the Los Angeles Times Calendar section.

“Hollywood is not my beat so I had never heard of him before,” she explained. “But I had met Lisa Taback at every “Good Luck” event and she was always with George. She told me to just send her the compiled quotes for the blog and that she would run it by George. The fact that it was for a blog was very unambiguous. Naturally, I didn't think twice about it.”

Huffington sent Taback, not Rosenfield, the blog item, exactly as it would eventually appear on her site. Three days later, Taback responded with "Of course this is fine, Arianna." Huffington even emailed the email correspondences to this writer as proof.

"Once I got the approval from Lisa, I went ahead and ran it: George Clooney’s words put into blog form," says Huffington.

Bet she won't do that again.

Clooney to Arianna: I Did Not Blog

Oscar winner George Clooney may make politically provocative films like "Syriana." But he doesn't write politically provocative blogs.

So imagine his ire when Arianna Huffington used some of his recent answers to political questions in a way that makes it look as if he wrote one for her Huffington Post blog site.

"He doesn't object to the quotes," says Stan Rosenfield, Clooney's rep. "He said those things and those are his views. Arianna asked for permission to use the quotes and he gave it to her. What he didn't give permission for was the use of his quotes without source attributions to make it appear that he wrote a blog for her site. Which he did not. When he saw the posting Monday, we called and asked her to make the change, to simply attribute the quotes and make it clear that he did not write a blog. But she refused. And it's now Wednesday."

Rather than keep waiting, Clooney got proactive and issued this statement:

"Miss Huffington's blog is purposefully misleading and I have asked her to clarify the facts. I stand by my statements but I did not write this blog. With my permission Miss Huffington compiled it from interviews with Larry King and The Guardian. What she most certainly did not get my permission to do is to combine only my answers in a blog that misleads the reader into thinking that I wrote this piece. These are not my writings — they are answers to questions and there is a huge difference."

In the pulled-from-interviews quotes, Clooney criticizes the Democrats' failure to speak out about the Iraq invasion for fear of being criticized for being unpatriotic.

And the "Good Night, and Good Luck" writer-director-star also invokes Edward R. Murrow: “When you hear Murrow say, ‘We mustn’t confuse dissent with disloyalty’ ... it’s like he’s commenting on today’s headlines.”

Or today's blogs.

UPDATE: George is wrong, sez Arianna, and here’s her side of the story just emailed to "The Envelope" via publicist Ken Sunshine’s office.

“When I first invited George Clooney to blog after a screening of "Good Night, and Good Luck" in New York a few months ago, he said he wasn't sure how a blog worked. So we put together a sample blog from answers he had given on 'Larry King Live' and an interview with the Guardian in London, and sent it to him to rework in any way he wanted.

"A publicist working with George on the promotion of 'Good Night, and Good Luck,' emailed back saying, “I will get it to him and get back to you as soon as I hear anything.” Three days later, she emailed again, approving, without any changes, what we had sent: 'Of course this is fine, Arianna!'

"And once we had the approval, that’s what we ran: George Clooney’s words put into blog form.”

According to Shawn Sachs at Ken Sunshine’s office, Clooney's camp asked her to issue a statement saying she lied and misled Clooney, which she refused to do. “They also asked us to take down the blog which we did.”

Then why is it still up?

“It is?” asked Sachs.

Yup. Just click on the Huffington Post link in the item.

“Oh, you’re right. Here it is. I’ll call you back.”

UPDATE No. 2:

: Arianna Huffington has posted a full response on her blog, calling it an "honest misunderstanding." You can read her full statement here.

UPDATE No. 3- 11:34 AM PST: Ken Sunshine's office has emailed The Envelope to say that the Clooney blog is being removed from Huffington Post.

But Arianna's defense does not impress Clooney rep Stan Rosenfield much: "I read (Arianna's) response. This wasn't a misunderstanding. It was misrepresentation."

Clooney's camp insists they did not ask HuffPo to take down the item or to release a statement about lying and misrepresentation. They say they only asked for a posted qualifier explaining that the item was not written by Clooney but was a compilation of quotes from past interviews with Larry King and The Guardian.

So there.

Photo: No, George Clooney is not carrying a box of his political blogs. Because he doesn't write them and don't ask him to! He's actually filming his new movie "Michael Clayton" in New York.
(RJ Capak / WireImage.)

Vera Wang curries fashion favor at the Oscars

Now that the Oscar dust has settled, which designer was the most popular on the red carpet?

You could call it a tie. Dior dressed two big names: presenter Charlize Theron and the adorable first lady of the evening, best actress Oscar winner Reese Witherspoon.

Theron’s forest green silk gown with a benign tumor-sized shoulder bow didn’t win over most style seers. But Witherspoon’s honestly vintage 1955 beaded Dior frock was a major thumbs-up, despite criticism that the gown was "too much dress" for the petite actress.

But Vera Wang also dressed two important ladies — both best actress nominees — and both of her creations were wildly hailed. "Brokeback Mountain" nominee Michelle Williams wore a Wang curry-hued '30s-inspired chiffon gown. And "Pride & Prejudice" nominee Keira Knightley looked to-the-manor-born in Wang’s fishtail hem burgundy gown.

And here's a surprise: Versace, usually deemed a bit too racy for the Oscars, came in third, designing for three presenters: Jessica Alba's gold gown, Salma Hayek's blue wrapped gown and Hilary Swank's strapless black number.

Other fashion forces at the 2006 Oscars:

Photo: Michelle Williams won fashion favor at the Oscars for her curry-colored Vera Wang chiffon gown.
(Steve Granitz / WireImage)