15 posts tagged "Cinema Society"
Aliens Like To Look Good, Too
At last night’s Cinema Society screening of The Host, there were no questions about the caliber of Saoirse Ronan’s performance as a young woman overtaken by body-snatching aliens—everyone loved it. But there were some queries about how to pronounce the Oscar-nominated actress’ name. During the after-party at Jimmy in the James Hotel, which attracted the likes of Olivier Theyskens, Patti Smith, and Gabourey Sidibe, guests turned to Ronan’s fellow cast members for advice. “It’s Saoir-se,” said co-star Raeden Greer. “Sounds like inertia,” she stressed.
Diane Kruger plays the film’s supreme alien invader. The actress gave a cool performance as an emotionless villain, but what really stood out were her character’s white pantsuits. “It’s actually quite silly,” the actress told Style.com. “We filmed in New Mexico and it is impossible to keep a pristine white outfit clean in the desert.” So how did she do it? “I was forever being chased by some fluffer who dusted me off and prevented me from sitting down!” Jason Wu, in particular, expressed an appreciation for Kruger’s fine-tuned on-and-off screen aesthetic. “I really came out tonight for Diane,” said the designer. “She’s one of the chicest women in the world. She just has it—there are very few people like that out there.”
Alex Cross Hits NYC
It didn’t take much for Tyler Perry to shed his iconic Madea costume and immerse himself in the title role of suspense thriller Alex Cross. “I’m actually a serious guy, so it wasn’t really a departure from my everyday life,” said the actor/writer/director at last night’s Cinema Society screening hosted by Summit Entertainment and Grey Goose at the Tribeca Grand Hotel. In the film, which co-stars Ed Burns and Matthew Fox as a twisted serial killer, Perry (pictured) reprises novelist James Patterson’s protagonist from the popular novel series based on a homicide detective twice played by Morgan Freeman, in Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider. Despite admitting the fight scenes and weapons training were new to him, Perry balked at reaching out to Freeman for any advice. “The man played God,” he quipped. “You don’t call God and ask how to play a role.” He did, however, have words for another man, named Tom Ford. Sporting one of Ford’s jackets, Perry lauded the designer’s menswear line. “He makes clothes for guys my size,” he told Style.com. “I just take it off the rack and it works—but I pay full price so Tom and I have to talk.”
Later, the crowd, which included Perry’s co-star Carmen Ejogo (pictured), Hilary Rhoda, Lily Kwong, and Theophilis London, headed to Graydon Carter’s soon-to-be-opened Beatrice Inn for the after-party. “I was here a long, long time ago,” said Debbie Harry, who arrived just after 10 p.m., referring to the haunt’s past life as an Italian-American eatery. “Graydon seems to have a knack for these things, but it was a much different place—not as chic. It was sort of like eating at a Subway.”
A Night With The Psychopaths
The film Seven Psychopaths is certainly a unique one—a neo-western, achingly funny comedy with about as much gore as the entire Hostel franchise. Director Martin McDonagh told Style.com at the film’s Cinema Society and Hugo Boss-hosted screening in New York last night, “I wanted to explore my love of American cinema and to question our fondness for violence and to question cinematic violence.” And how did he get such a strong ensemble cast? “I knew Colin Farrell from In Bruges. Sam Rockwell and Chris Walken and I did a play a few years ago, and Woody Harrelson I knew from ten years back from the bars of Dublin,” he said at the Chelsea Cinema as cast members including Rockwell, Walken, Michael Pitt, and Abbie Cornish (pictured) made their way down the red carpet. Castmate Amanda Warren revealed of the on-set experience, “They were all so funny, you knew when you were together on set you were going to get a real ab workout.”
Although knee-slapping gore fest Seven Psychopaths is certainly a conversation piece, with the general election just a few weeks away, politics were the topic of the evening at the No.8 after-party a few blocks away, where the cast members were joined by the likes of Gerard Butler, Mariska Hargitay, and Julian Schnabel. Scarlett Johansson, arm in arm with artist Domingo Zapata, received praise for her speech at the Democratic National Convention. “Thank you so much. I was scared,” she admitted. Blythe Danner, taking a break from canvassing in Pennsylvania to support her longtime friend Christopher Walken, sported a Vote for Obama pin. “I almost like politics better than acting,” said Danner.
Hamptons Liv-ing
In between a weekend packed with events, not to mention the kick-off of London’s Olympic Games, partygoers in the Hamptons made it out Friday night for the Cinema Society and RentTheRunway.com’s beachside screening of director Jake Schreier’s latest effort, Robot & Frank. After dinner by Gabby Karan and Gianpaolo de Felice’s Tutto il Giorno restaurant, the guests and the film’s stars, Susan Sarandon, Frank Langella, Liv Tyler, and James Marsden cozied up on the white couches and blankets by the pool to watch the film, about an ex-jewel thief (Langella) who gets a robot companion (voiced by Peter Sarsgaard), who eventually becomes his heist-mate. “It was very low budget—we were all in that house and there was a 110-degree heat wave and we had no air conditioning and no trailers,” Tyler told Style.com. “That poor robot was baking in the heat,” Sarandon added before the movie got underway. “I found the robot to be easier than some of the people I have worked with.”
While the crowd watched the film outside to the sounds of waves crashing on the beach, Barbara Walters and a few other curious guests snuck inside Jerry and Judy Della Femina’s East Hampton home to get a glimpse of the Opening Ceremony. “I don’t have a television so I have to make an effort to see the Olympics,” Sarandon admitted once the screening ended. “There are always so many beautiful stories though. My son-in-law Kyle Martino is actually calling the soccer for MSNBC, and I don’t know how much Ping-Pong they will show, but I know some of the team that is from the U.S., so I am curious to see that.” (Sarandon is one of the celebrity world’s biggest supporters of table tennis, as a part owner of New York’s Spin Ping-Pong club.)
Saturday would see the annual Super Saturday yard sale and fundraiser for ovarian cancer in Water Mill, but Liv Tyler wasn’t up to face the crowds. “I’m having Super Saturday at my house,” she joked. “I’m renting a farm house here this summer and I like to push wheelbarrows around and ride my pickup truck. That’s my favorite thing—driving all around town in my pickup truck, listening to music from the tape player. With everyone else driving around in their Range Rovers, it’s pretty funny.”
Lucky Zac
It is difficult to imagine Zac Efron at war, armies of teen female fans not withstanding, which makes his latest role as a returning marine in The Lucky One no mean feat. “Nothing in my own life even comes close,” said an earnest, Balenciaga-suited Efron at last night’s Cinema Society screening of the film. “But I did have my imagination, and believe it or not, I spent some time on Camp Pendleton.”
Luckily for audience credulity, the Nicholas Sparks adaptation mostly centers on Efron’s post-war quest to find, then woo, the woman whose photo he believes kept him safe in the trenches (Efron later told Style.com that his only real-life talisman is his family). She’s played by Taylor Schilling, who arrived at the James Hotel after-party looking the very picture of luck in a Calvin Klein dress and Fred Leighton rocks. Joining them were director Lee Daniels, singer Natasha Bedingfield, and snowboarder Shaun White, who wore an Acne suit accessorized with an unprintable slogan pin (a less charming luck charm, perhaps). On the roof, Dylan Lauren held court in one corner, SNL‘s Abby Elliott and Vanessa Bayer in another. “He’s so cute, isn’t he?” said Elliott of Efron. “And yes, I cried. I always cry. The Notebook is my favorite thing, like, ever.”