Styles & Scenes

Eastwood's ready for the Oscar battle

Atten-shun! At ease, soldiers.

It was a gathering of all the young dudes and all the old dads at the premiere of “Flags of Our Fathers” at AMPAS in Beverly Hills.

Producer/director Clint Eastwood, producer Steven Spielberg and screenwriter Paul Haggis stood at attention with Paramount honcho Sumner Redstone on the red carpet. Better watch out, guys, he’s tough. If your box office body count isn't high enough, he might toss you off the lot.

Despite not-so-flag-waving reviews of Eastwood’s first film in his patriotic WWII epic two-parter, Monday's audience response to the potential Oscar-running film was loudly enthusiastic and quietly respectful. But maybe nobody really wanted to “make his day.”

Two “Flags” stars Neal McDonough and Barry Pepper, who served in Spielberg’s other war epics, “Band of Brothers” and “Saving Private Ryan,” did  their red carpet duty. Also showing up for inspection: Joseph Cross, Timothy Olyphant, Paul Walker, Adam Beach and Eastwood’s son, Kyle Eastwood.

But Ryan Phillippe was MIA. Maybe he didn’t want to battle the rumors about his troubled marriage to Reese Witherspoon. Nyah,I’m sure he had a really good excuse to miss the big night.

He could have been on location in Morocco or Texas shooting “Stop Loss” (also known as the Untitled Kimberly Pierce Project). Phillippe stars in the modern-day war drama about an American soldier who returns from Iraq and refuses to return when ordered to go back.

Now there’s a war movie whose time has come.

Photo Credits: Two old war horses, Clint Eastwood and Steven Spielberg band together at the LA  premiere of  "Flags of Our Fathers. "
Lester Cohen/WireImage

Suspicions over Scientologist Suri Sightings

Even with all the Emmy awards buzz, Hollywood insiders are still asking, "Where's little Suri?"

There are still no photos, not even a cartoon likeness, of the TomKat spawn.

And TMZ has reported some strange things about Suri Cruise’s birth certificate. Like the late filing date (8 days after her April 18 birth) and the unusual signatures (an illegible signature of a “friend”) and the missing parental signatures. Hmmmm.

Now suddenly, we have, not one, but two breathless Suri reports from Leah Remini and Jada Pinkett Smith, both babbling about the baby to People magazine.

Call me suspicious, but does anyone else think it's odd that both of these gals are also Scientologists?

First, church member Remini raves about seeing the MIA baby to People. She says she even got to pick up the TomKitten. Gosh, she must be one of the chosen "clear" ones.

Now Pinkett Smith, Cruise’s “Collateral” co-star and new fan of Hubbard's teachings, is also spouting off to People about having seen the missing Scientology link.

Who will be next to Suri spot? Scrolling down the church’s role call list, here are some distinct possibilities: John Travolta and Kelly Preston, Jenna Elfman, Jason Lee, Isaac Hayes, Kirstie Alley and/or Lisa Marie Presley.

But here's someone it probably won't be: Steven Spielberg, who is most definitely not a Scientologist.

Plus I hear he's still pretty PO-ed at Tom for having sicced the Scientologists dogs on a friend of his, a doctor who has had success treating kids with Ritalin.

But be warned, Camp Cruise. People magazine - and people in general - aren't as dumb as they look.

And if the next FOTC (Friend of Tom Cruise) to report seeing Suri just happens to be another Xenu Freak, folks are gonna get suspicious.

Make that more suspicious.

Photo Credits: Jada Pinkett (Yeah, I saw Suri. What, you don't believe me?) Smith talks about her new show, "Everybody Hates Chris" at the 2006 TCA press tour July 17. Hey, I'm not gonna question her. Go ahead, you ask her.
WireImage/Michael Caulfield

Photo Credits: Cruise - with gritted teeth and a death grip on the phallic-shaped Lifetime Achievement Award - tries to hug it out with Spielberg at the Chicago International Film Fest July 15. But the director, reportedly still miffed about Cruise siccing Scientology picketers on a doctor pal, keeps the actor at arm's length.
WireImage exclusive coverage
 

Sean Connery's Hollywood fans are shaken n' stirred

“If Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then flattered you must be,” AFI Chair Sir Howard Stringer told Sir Sean Connery, the iconic Scottish actor best known for being Bond, James Bond. “Because at any moment in time, people around the world are doing Sean Connery impersonations.”

That was certainly true at AFI’s Life Achievement Award dinner at the Kodak Theatre Thursday. Almost everyone paying homage to Connery -  Mike Myers, Tippi Hedren, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Harrison Ford, Andy Garcia, Craig Ferguson, “Deadwood’s” Ian McShane and Eddie Izzard - did their best (and often worst) Connery accent.

Connery’s “First Knight” costar Julia Ormond recalled that while the rest of the cast struggled in and out of period costumes, Connery had his fastened with Velcro so he could get to the golf course fast. And when she went to audition for Sabrina” with Harrison Ford, Connery gave her this advice: "Give him a Swiss kiss."

“What’s a Swiss kiss?" she asked. (Cue the accent) “It’s the same as a French kiss,” he replied. “Only you yodel.”

Pierce Brosnan recalled seeing “Goldfinger” at age 11 in London and finally meeting Connery after a dangerous fireball stunt in Brosnan’s first Bond flick. “We got the take and later on the lot, I ran into Sean who said (cue the accent),  “I saw what you did. Pretty good. Are they paying you enough money?”

His “Untouchables” costar Garcia recalled Connery impatiently watching director David Mamet try to get Garcia to turn towards the camera so they could see his face. Cut the accent. “C’mon kid. Its not Hamlet,” Connery groused from off-set. Several takes later, Mamet whined, 'We still can’t see both your eyes.' Connery rolled his eyes and said (accent, please), “You saw both his eyes. They’re just very close together.”

But it wasn’t all impersonations...

Photo Credit: Sir Sean Connery - better known as James Bond - still the actor that men want to be and women want to be with - at the American Film Institute 34th Life Achievement Award.
WireImage/Gregg DeGuire

All the post-Oscar party poop

Ah, the Oscars post parties. More like ugh.

It's been a veeeery long awards season and you'd think everyone would just go straight home after the Academy Awards, right? I mean, aren't these people a little sick of each other after all these months of award shows?

Apparently not.

Immediately after the ceremony, everyone who held — or had hoped to hold — a little gold naked man headed straight for the Governors Ball, an elegant Art Deco decorated affair in the Kodak Ballroom.

Ever-gracious George Clooney was still acting like he was campaigning, talking to every single press person about his final win, followed around by his still-intrepid pub Stan Rosenfield and CAA head dude Bryan Lourd. Clooney even posed with rival hunk Matt Dillon, whom he beat out for the best supporting actor honors. Wow, guys. Talk about playing well with others.

You’d think he might relax, take a week off, get away from it all at his Lake Como retreat. But he had no time to chill. Clooney was getting on a plane Monday to go back to the New York set of “Michael Clayton,” the dramatic thriller in which he plays a slick attorney whose defense of high profile creeps comes back to haunt him big time.

“Brokeback” couple Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams sat at one high-level table together, looking like they couldn’t wait to get out of their formal duds and get home to Matilda. Williams was even on the cell phone, perhaps talking with the baby sitter? Then she disappeared for a few minutes, leaving an exhausted Heath to sit back and chill by himself.

When Reese Witherspoon finally walked into the ball, dozens of cameras started madly flashing, as her hubby Ryan Phillippe walked behind her, carrying her train. Talk about a supportive husband. She ended up at the “Walk the Line” table, along with her parents, Joaquin Phoenixand his mom, and was happily dancing in her seat to the piped-in big band tunes and bopping her glass of bubbly up and down.

Lauren Bacall was having as much trouble finding her table as she did with the TelePrompTer lines on the show.

“Tsotsi” Oscar winner Gavin Hood was chatting with his boyhood idol Steven Spielberg about having won an early filmmaking award or kudo that was apparently partly sponsored by Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment. Hood said that honor inspired him to take his film director career path. “And now you’ve got an Oscar,” Spielberg said, congratulating the South African winner of the best foreign language film.

After an hour, some great Wolfgang Puck food and celebratory bubbly, everyone started asking where everyone else was going next. “Are you going to Prince’s party?” “No, I’m going with the 'Crash' folks,” said Ludacris who actually ended up at the crowded Elton John AIDS fundraiser and the exclusive Vanity Fair bash in West Hollywood, Calif.

Don't these people ever sleep?

Photo (top): Reese Witherspoon celebrates with her mom at the Governors Ball.
(Jeff Vespa/WireImage)

Photo (bottom): Heath Ledger doesn't seem to notice that Michelle has left the table at the Governors Ball.
(Jeff Vespa / WireImage)

Let the pre-Globe parties begin!

Judging by this weekend’s schedule of pre-parties and events, Hollywood’s hot list may be pretty fried by the time the actual Golden Globes Awards start Monday night.

The American Film Institute hosts its annual luncheon at the Four Seasons on Friday to honor high-profile films such as “Brokeback Mountain,” “Capote,” “Good Night and Good Luck,” “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” “King Kong,” “A History of Violence,” “Munich,” “The Squid and the Whale,” and “Syriana.”

And some of the films' stars and some big directorial guns -- George Clooney, David Cronenberg, Steve Gaghan, Bennett Miller, Peter Jackson, Steven Spielberg and Ang Lee -- are expected to be on hand.

Also honored at the AFI lunch will be the cast, crew and creators of TV shows such as “24,” Battlestar Galatica,” “Deadwood,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “House,” “Lost,” “Rescue Me,” “Sleeper Cell,” ”Sometimes in April,” and “Veronica Mars.”

Friday night is the first GQ magazine and American Cinematheque bash will be held at the Regent Beverly Wilshire, with big stars conveniently supplied by Creative Artists Agency.

On Saturday, ICM will host its pre-Globes bash at the Mondrian's Skybar; HBO will host a big pre-Globes blowout at the infamous Chateau Marmont on Sunset, while Lions Gate and Showtime will have a combined supper soiree  at Morton's restaurant in West Hollywood.

On Sunday, the Los Angeles chapter of the British Association of Film and Television Artists (BAFTA/LA, for short)  will hold its annual tea and crumpet crumble at the Park Hyatt.

Expected stars include: Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams, Felicity Huffman, Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Maria Bello, Jeff Daniels, Ziyi Zhang, Terrence Howard, Q'Orianka Kilcher, and “House” star Hugh Laurie, who, although he plays an American doc, is really a Tea Bag (that means a Brit).

And the usually star-studded Mike Medavoy-Vanity Fair soiree will crank up Sunday night at the Argyle Hotel, not at Medavoy's pad as in years past. Rumbles of VF's West Coast Editor/Mistress of Impoliteness Krista Smith exercising too much control over the guest list may mean this is the last year for the joint venture.

"Vengeance" author weighs in on "Munich"

To say that Steven Spielberg’s “Munich” has been a hot topic of controversy during this awards season is putting it mildly. But one person who hasn’t been heard from is George Jonas, author of the book, “Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team,” on which Spielberg’s film is based.

According to Jonas, he was never shown the "Munich" script during its many incarnations. Nor did he speak to any screenwriters or to Spielberg, even after the production was finally greenlit in spring 2005. His sole contact has been "Munich" producer Barry Mendel, who had initially contacted Jonas in July 1998, asking about film rights to the book. When Mendel called in spring 2005 to tell Jonas that filming was moving to Budapest, Hungary, Jonas offered his help, saying Budapest is his native city.

"Help? Maybe you can recommend some restaurants,” was Mendel’s reply.

Jonas had planned to see "Munich" at the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. screening on Dec. 6. When Mendel heard this, he called Jonas to ask if he would consider not going, promising a private showing instead. Jonas agreed, and Universal Studios set things up at the Varsity Theatre in Toronto on Dec. 7.

Jonas understood the producer’s hesitancy. In a revealing and provocative personal piece titled “The Spielberg Massacre” written for MacLean’s, a leading Canadian weekly news magazine, he writes, “There's no telling how an author might react to the Hollywood version of his book under the best of circumstances, and here the circumstances may not be the best. The sixty or so voters for the Golden Globes will be at the L.A. screening. The producers don 't want to take a chance that I might rain on Spielberg's parade.”

His thoughts after seeing the film? "Moral posturing allows you to have it both ways. In Tinseltown terms, after the gunslinger blows everyone away, he has a proper crisis of conscience."

Did his “Vengeance” source, “Avner” (not his real name), really have a moral crisis, as he did in “Munich?” “Avner may have questioned the futility of his mission toward the end — targeted assassinations barely slowed down terrorism, let alone stopped it — but he never questioned the morality of what his country had asked him to do. He had no pangs of guilt.”

On the difference between "Vengeance" and Spielberg’s movie: “'Munich' follows the letter of my book closely enough,” he writes. “The spirit is almost the opposite. 'Vengeance' holds there is a difference between terrorism and counterterrorism; 'Munich' suggests there isn't. The book has no trouble telling an act of war from a war crime; the film finds it difficult. Spielberg 's movie worries about the moral trap of resisting terror; my book worries about the moral trap of not resisting it.”

Does he think Spielberg should not get an Oscar for not solving the problems of the Middle East?

“Spielberg should get an Oscar for making 'Munich,' the gritty Hollywood flick. For not solving the problems of the Middle East, he should get a Nobel Peace Prize, like everyone else.”

Steven, Angelina and Brad show up for Munich

It wasn't really a premiere. But last night's special private screening of "Munich" at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater was about as close to one as Steven Spielberg's controversial, but still Oscar-hopeful film is gonna get.

According to his reps, Spielberg flew in from New York early and drove straight from the airport to make an appearance at the film's 6 p.m. reception in the lobby of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Other than Spielberg's presence, it was a low-key affair, offering light fare, drinks and a dessert table. There was no "red carpet' to walk. A small group of photogs were allowed to shoot the director posing with "Munich" stars Eric Bana and Daniel Craig, screenwriter Tony Kushner and producer Kathleen Kennedy.

Spielberg talked to a few friends such as Variety's Army Archerd and TV talk show host Larry King. "He hasn't seen his friends in a long time. Steven released 'War of the Worlds' and 'Munich' this year and has been working for the past 18 months," explained Spielberg's longtime PR spokesman, Marvin Levy.

The loudest party buzz was over Patrick Goldstein's column yesterday in the Los Angeles Times about the "Munich" awards marketing mess. Levy shook his head when he spoke of Goldstein's piece, then waved his hands as if to shoo the story from existence or memory or both. But Spielberg did, as Universal reps had hoped, speak briefly to two trade reporters and commented on his film's personal and political messages to The Envelope.

"I hope that people who see this movie understand that it's a human story above all else," Spielberg said. "This film is about these five characters. Before all the other noise gets in the way of what our intentions were, this is a human story, told with a tremendous amount of empathy and told in a very balanced fashion and I'm very proud of that."

But Spielberg's appearance was just the first surprise. A veritable second coming occurred when all the hushed party whispers about Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie being "on their way" turned out to be true. The hot couple walked into the almost-empty lobby minutes before the 7 p.m. screening began and mere moments after Spielberg had left.

Photo: Daniel Craig and Eric Bana with "Munich" director Steven Spielberg at a special screening of the film at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater.
(Jeffrey Mayer / WireImage)