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Dry Heat
With downpours in the forecast and the Golden Globes’ soggy red carpet still fresh in people’s minds, the Screen Actors Guild put up a tent outside its 16th annual awards ceremony on Saturday night. And wouldn’t you know it? There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. But the weather was pretty much the only thing that was different about the SAGs, as many of the same actors—Mo’Nique, Christoph Waltz, Sandra Bullock, Jeff Bridges, etc.—took home the same top prizes they won at the Globes. Drew Barrymore, this time in Monique Lhuillier, even gave the same rambling, um-filled speech.
The good news, besides the fact that this awards show clocked in at two hours, not three, was the surprising number of red-carpet thrills. It was a big night for Alexander McQueen: Anna Paquin rocked a plunging Spring runway dress, and Bullock was every inch the winner in her glamorous Old Hollywood-style column gown. Kate Hudson looked smoking in her pale, backless Emilio Pucci (sadly, we can’t say the same for her co-presenter Justin Timberlake‘s butter-knife beard). And speaking of white dresses, we were 100 percent with Dexter‘s Michael C. Hall when he thanked his wife, co-star Jennifer Carpenter, for wearing her leg-baring Paule Ka cocktail frock. Meryl Streep made a serious upgrade, opting for a lush green-and-white-print Balenciaga over the basic black Chris March she chose for the Globes. Nicole Kidman went bold as well, in a graphic sequin-embroidered Oscar de la Renta number. Ginger-haired nominee Carey Mulligan was overlooked, but her red Lanvin was riveting. Ditto blonde Diane Kruger‘s custom-made gold Jason Wu. Julianna Margulies went two-for-two in another well-judged Narciso Rodriguez dress. How’s that for consistency?
See a list of the SAG award winners >
—Nicole Phelps Continue reading
Snow Business
Skiers have a term for the luxuriously smooth, dry snow that was falling on Park City, Utah, all weekend: “Champagne powder.” But the real fizzy swirl right now is the 26th annual Sundance Film Festival. Celebrating independent filmmaking is the festival’s raison d’être, so naturally there’s a ton of star-packed parties to slalom through.
The one Diesel and Absolut sponsored for James Franco and his film Howl got things going Thursday night, but corks (or, just as often, beer caps) didn’t really start to pop until Friday. That was when Philippe Chow whipped up a post-premiere dinner at the Bing Supper Club for actor/director Josh Radnor and the cast of his endearing ensemble dramedy HappyThankYouMorePlease. “I love it already, from day one,” gushed Malin Akerman. It was the Swedish-born Canadian actress’ first Sundance, and Park City reminded her of the ski hamlets she romped around in as a kid. “Everyone kind of lets their guard down because it’s cold and you’re all bundled up and cozy.” Nor does the talent necessarily waste precious time showering, she added. “Who cares? You can’t smell anything!”
Later that night, Akerman presented a “Fresh Faces” award to cast mate Zoe Kazan at a Gen Art party honoring a cadre of promising young actors. Kate Mara (who lights up HappyThankYouMorePlease as a Southern-born cabaret singer in New York) insisted that in the two years since she’d been named one, her face hadn’t changed. “I like to think it’s still fresh!”
More indie darlings were being toasted at the premiere for Mark Ruffalo‘s heavy-metal redemption tale Sympathy for Delicious—including Orlando Bloom. “It’s a different kind of muscle,” Bloom said. “You feel stripped of big sets and scenery.” (Or, in the case of this film, in which the actor plays a strutting goth rocker, a shirt.) Meanwhile, Ruffalo stroked his beard to demonstrate one of the perks of the facial hair he was sporting this weekend. “Some of the pretty girls do that,” he said. Currently bearded Mad Men idol Jon Hamm, who was turning heads at Tao’s pop-up club Friday night, can presumably say the same.
Dressing down, skipping the morning shave: It works for festival board member Kenneth Cole. “Everything here is meant to be very relaxed. It’s not Cannes—it’s not a costume,” the designer said at his Saturday-night party at Sky Lodge. Not that there aren’t drawbacks to ski-town festivities, as a sarcastic Joseph Gordon-Levitt pointed out: “Oh yeah, I love wet feet.”
—Darrell Hartman Continue reading
Cherry Bomb
Sundance, like prom, is an event where young queens are made. Last year, the unofficial crown went to breakout British star Carey Mulligan. This year, the chosen one is Kristen Stewart—hardly an unknown quantity, and an actress who often gives the impression she’d rather be anywhere but in the spotlight.
The 19-year-old Twilight star has had no chance of ignoring it in Park City, of course. Not that its glare has revealed a whole lot: You’d never guess that the quiet, narrow girl going around town in a hoodie and ripped jeans, sporting chopped hair that brings to mind a young Joan Jett, is the star of The Runaways. The movie is the hottest ticket at the festival, although Stewart’s other Sundance film, Welcome to the Rileys, in which she plays a Southern prostitute, isn’t that far behind.
Jett came to town, too, playing a show with her band the Blackhearts on Saturday night at Harry O’s. She got Jared Leto and Catherine Keener to join in on her rebel yell and brought Stewart and her Runaways co-star Dakota Fanning up on stage. No chance of returning to the relative anonymity of the front row after that.
Stewart doesn’t chat much, except in handler-approved situations such as the red carpet at the Runaways premiere, where she had this to say about the finer details of playing Jett: “She has a very distinctive growl, and also the way she plays the guitar…” But Stewart’s version of the rock legend is younger, more vulnerable than the one most people know. “She wasn’t always this intimidating,” the actress went on, as Jett did an interview a few feet away. The Runaways depicts a fame-destined girl going through that hardening process—it shows, as Stewart put it, “the building of the armor.”
—Darrell Hartman Continue reading
Extraordinary Circumstances
Harrison Ford‘s new film, Extraordinary Measures, hits theaters today, but it’s already garnered plenty of advance press—not only for the way the 67-year-old actor hollers, “I already work around the clock!” but also for the figure he cuts in a pair of blue jeans. Perhaps the latter is why last night’s Cinema Society screening was packed with so many appreciative ladies—Brooke Shields, Jennifer Esposito, Kiera Chaplin, and Xena: Warrior Princess Lucy Lawless, included. Among the fashion-heavy crowd at the Bowery Hotel after-party were Alex Lundqvist, Charlotte Ronson, and Lorenzo Martone, who told us, “January just blew by without stopping and now it’s almost fashion week!” Ford himself isn’t all that interested in sartorial pursuits, good jeans-butt or no, but his co-star Brendan Fraser did confess to a weakness for clothes. “John Varvatos,” the actor declared. “Now he’s a great American designer.”
—Bee-Shyuan Chang Continue reading
Coney Island High
Last night at the Box, burlesque beauties were out and downtown hipsters were in when Sophomore’s Chrissie Miller screened a new short film by her friend and frequent collaborator Cass Bird (for a teaser, click here). Shot on the Coney Island boardwalk, the movie is a cool-kid confessional-cum-lookbook, with Leo Fitzpatrick reminiscing about his “childhood of capers,” Virgins frontman Donald Cummings cussing left and right, and long-legged ladies modeling Miller’s signature denim cutoffs and tank tops.
“I’ve shot Chrissie’s lookbook for a few years now, but we wanted to do something bigger and better,” Bird said at the party, which drew pretty types like Vanessa Traina, Jessica Stam, Jen Brill, and Shoshanna Gruss. Miller, who has always prided herself on being one of the queens of the downtown scene, was quite pleased with the project. “I’m done with street cred. I’m ready to sell out, baby!” she laughed. “Look! I basically made an art house Jersey Shore!”
—Derek Blasberg Continue reading