For a moment we felt like maybe we should change our Web site’s name from Hollywood.com to Bollywood.com.
That’s because HBO’s Post-Emmy party at West Hollywood’s Pacific Design Center had a distinctly Indian flavor to its massive tented environs. The color scheme was a distinct Bombay sapphire, with sitars, sari-ed servers, Indian-style cuisine and traditional dancers throughout. Female guests were even offered bindis, those distinctive forehead jewels made into a multicultural fashion statement a few years back by Gwen Stefani.
I had to admit, it was incredibly impressive–although wasn’t the cable net supposed to be all about Rome these days? I felt a little lost–a feeling that compounded when I found myself surrounded by a gang of actors from the Emmy-winning series Lost (maybe the ABC stars got literally lost looking for a non-existent party for their network and ended up at HBO). Actors I’d just partied with in Hawaii, I might add. I was starting to get mental jet-lag.
“Winning tonight was obviously the capper of a really incredible year for us,” Matthew Fox told me after collecting a warm hug from his co-star Harold Perrineau. “We got a wonderful, wonderful year, and I think it’s pretty rare that a show wins in its first year. I thought the competition was incredibly tough. I did not expect to win tonight, and so for the show to win like that and for us all to be able to celebrate like this tonight, it’s just been wonderful. We’re all very happy.”
“I think for the first few seconds I just lost my mind,” said purple-tuxed Perrineau. “The first few seconds was blank–I heard Lost, and then I was like ‘OH–we won!’ [laughs] I was really happy and was pumping my fist. It’s a good thing for us. We’ve been working really hard and I think we have a great show.” Daniel Dae Kim agreed: “Time just stopped for a second because I was with all of my cast members and I just heard ‘LO–‘ And then we all jumped up and started screaming. And we started our big trek down the aisle and we were all just hugging each other.”
There were literally hundreds of industry insiders schmoozing and boozing inside the party, which made it decidedly difficult for me to do some star-spotting at first. I did dozens of sweeps for long-legged Charlize Theron–an Emmy nominee for playing Britt Ekland in HBO’s The Life and Death of Peter Sellers–and her beau Stuart Townsend in the short time she was there, but never physically saw her. I heard she kept popping outside for cigarettes, and that she got in the face of an Us Weekly reporter who approached her looking for scoop-age. When the reporter backed off and said “Okay, maybe later,” Charlize and Stuart responded “Maybe never.”
If I couldn’t spy Charlize, I had no trouble zeroing in on Halle Berry, drop dead gorgeous in her cobalt blue Ungaro gown. Halle, who produced HBO’s Lackwana Blues, told me her favorite moment of the Emmy show was Blues star Epatha Merkerson‘s win. “It’s like they called my name,” said Berry. “To be a part of producing something so another woman of color could shine like that and reach a goal. I know what it’s like to do that, and to think that I had a small part to do with that was the highlight of my night.”
Berry held court with the Blues crew, nosh Indian food in front of her and playing kiss-kiss with pals that stopped by to kiss her ring like Alfre Woodard, Gabrielle Union and Star Jones (Star and her hubby Al couldn’t have spent more than 20 minutes inside the party, solely shmooze with Halle, who shared her hairdresser with Star on the red carpet).
At some point I inexplicably ended up at the Ali G table with Sacha Baron Cohen and his gal Isla Fisher (Wedding Crashers) as they entertained Lost‘s Naveen Andrews and his flame Barbara Hershey. Naveen was tickled to have encountered Sacha, and frequently invited his Lost co-stars to come meet the British comic. “He’s one of my idols so I’m really thrilled,” Naveen confided. He also told me how he and Barbara managed a relationship that crossed the Pacific. “Barbara‘s in Hawaii with me. If she has to come to back for meetings, she comes back, but otherwise we’re together most of the time. You know, three weeks is the most that you can spend apart.”
After a few Indian-influenced performances, the music alternated between high energy pop, dance and hip-hop tracks. Young actress Daveigh Chase (The Ring) was a regular on the dance floor, while an amusingly tipsy Adrian Grenier of Entourage swayed and boogied just off the dance floor, flirting with pretty girls, smoking and constantly being interrupted to pose for snapshots, which he always did with a sly smile. He had to be the most photographed person at the party after his show’s breakthrough year. “It broke through for me a long time ago,” Grenier told me. “As far as the public opinion, I really don’t know. I’ve always been a fan.” Was his whole Entourage entourage joining him? “I think it’s just me and Jeremy [Piven] tonight.”
Marcia Cross came late and commandeered a table with three guy pals and sought out champagne to no avail–the bustling Moet bar at the center of the party had temporarily run dry. Just as I remarked to her that it had gotten tough to get a glass of bubbly in the party, one of her enterprising friends went to work, and came back with joyous news: champagne was on the way. Marcia whooped “We found some!” She then nearly glowed when I asked about her co-star Felicity Huffman‘s win. “It was fantastic and well-deserved. I mean, she’s only at the beginning of showing us what she can do.”
The table for best comedy winner Everybody Loves Raymond–the show aired on CBS but was produced by HBO–was crowded with a wealth of Emmys. Sitting down, Brad Garrett was nearly as tall as series co-creator Phil Rosenthal (not a short guy either) standing up. “When the nominees and Desperate Housewives was announced, the house erupted,” said Ray Romano. “And then when we won, they were like ‘Aaaaahhh.’ I actually almost felt guilty winning. But it’s good, though, because it’s our last one.” His next project? “I have no idea. I’m doing stand-up, I’m looking at scripts, and there’s always Dancing With the Idiots.”
Emmy winner Doris Roberts revealed that she went into the ceremony downright cocky, spending a moment at the mantle that held her quartet of earlier trophies. “I told the girls–there are four of them–I said ‘Move over, because I’m going to bring another one home tonight.'”
Quentin Tarantino was there in a bold dragon-and-tiger print Japanese shirt that bucked the tuxedo standard, along with his date, a beautiful African-American woman who he snuggled next to all night as a never-ending series of film geeks approached to chat up the loquacious director. The West Wing‘s Kristin Chenoweth snatched a magnolia blossom–the state flower of Louisiana and a perfect match for her strapless white Kevan Hall gown–out of her table’s centerpiece and tucked it in her hair.
Jenny McCarthy got girly with her sister in the Lancome lounge, where cosmetics artists touched up their makeup as they sipped fruity-looking cocktails, while Kyra Sedgwick and Cynthia Nixon retired to a private table and engaged in a close-faced, private conversation for a good long while. Ray Liotta, who won his outstanding guest actor in a drama trophy last Sunday at the Creative Arts Emmys, had it on hand to tote around during the party.
Because of a plethora of tricky little hard-to-spot steps throughout the party, I saw no less than five female guests bite it and face-plant in their glamorous gowns during the night (no one was seriously hurt–except their pride).
I had a hard time tearing my eyes off of Gilmore Girls‘ Lauren Graham, who looked decidedly un-momish (or is that MILF-ish?) in her ruby red Pamela Rowlands gown and glittery Larraine Schwartz baubles as she sat with her best friend from college, now an HBO employee. Lauren told was especially taken with the gala’s Emmy Idol segment with the singing stars. “I loooooved it,” she purred. “There’s nothing I like better than a talent contest, I don’t care when or where, and if Donald Trump is doing it, I’m in. And when I saw Donald Trump backstage, I said ‘You’re hilarious,’ and he said ‘Vote for me!’ He’s so aggressive. I said ‘Okay, okay, I will.'”
The hour grew wee-er but the party was still in high gear when Sacha and Isla hit the dance floor, hips grinding together as they swayed to Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy.” That’s when I decided it was time to ditch the tux jacket and shake my booty, too. After all, when in Rome–or India–or even that damn Lost island, it can never hurt to do as Ali G do.
