There’s Something About Cameron, Leelee, Frances and Paula
BEVERLY HILLS, Oct. 22, 2001–It was an Industry estrogen fest at the Four Seasons hotel when Premiere Magazine hosted its eighth annual Women in Hollywood luncheon, luring a plethora of A-list leading ladies to salute a sisterhood of superstars, including honorees Cameron Diaz, Frances McDormand, Leelee Sobieski and producer Paula Wagner, who was feted by her producing partner, superstar Tom Cruise.
Early arrivals included an arm-in-arm Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu, who were there to support their Charlie’s Angels co-star Diaz, recipient of the Icon award. “I’m so proud,” Barrymore said. “Her intentions are so pure and that’s why things like this come to people like her.” They might also have been there to chow down! Added the young actress about the superstar trio: ” We’re very good friends. We hang out all the time, we go hiking, we eat. Everything is based around food.”
They also hope to reunite on a movie set soon. “We want to work together again, that’s for sure,” said Liu. Barrymore was cagey on the subject of donning their wings again for an angelic sequel, but definitely had something in mind. “We’ll do it and then we’ll talk about it,” she said.
The Riding In Cars With Boys star was looking very svelte and sexy in a polka-dot Miguel Adrover blazer and a soft, round hat. She confessed she isn’t always up on her of-the-moment labels. “I don’t know designers. I buy, like, Old Navy.”
Honoree Diaz was equally unprepared to answer who had created the pink knit off-the-shoulder sweater she was wearing as she worked the press line–but she knew where she bought it. “I got it at Barney’s,” she said with a wink as her handler checked the label for her. “I got it a couple of weeks ago.” She was also not quite up to speed with plans for an Angels follow-up, claiming to have heard only from reporters that her gal pal Drew had something up her non-designer sleeve. “We’ll have to have a conversation, then!”
Although Diaz said she was in the midst of taking a year off, she still has a few high-profile projects in the pipeline for the fall, including director Martin Scorsese‘s Gangs of New York with Leonardo DiCaprio and Vanilla Sky, the latest venture from writer/director Cameron Crowe. Paramount studio chief Sherry Lansing had high praise for the latter film, which her company produced, as well as Diaz’s performance and promised that the studio would be backing both heavily come the Hollywood awards season.
“[The film] which we will support for the Oscars obviously is Vanilla Sky,” Lansing told me. “Her performance is extraordinary. You’re gonna see her give a performance like you’ve never seen her give before. Tom Cruise is absolutely amazing, and Penelope Cruz, and also Cameron Crowe’s work.”
As for Cruise, he cruised in at the last minute and surprised everyone by walking the red
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carpet, although he offered little by way of conversation other than to reveal the whereabouts of the other Cruz (Penelope) in a slick Spanish accent: “Barceleona.” On hand to honor Icon recipient Wagner, his former agent and now partner on films like the Mission: Impossible movies, Without Limits and The Others. Cruise also warmly greeted his Eyes Wide Shut co-star Sobieski.
“He’s such a nice person, he really is,” Sobieski said. “And he’s the biggest star and he’s the nicest one. And that’s really incredible. It’s when someone has everything and they’re so nice and kind, that you really realize that they’re a wonderful talent.”
Sobieski, an elegantly tall young thing with luminous, milky skin, was singled out as a wonderful talent herself, receiving the Emerging Talent Award from Ralph Lauren Glamorous. Absolutely stunning in a slightly revealing Christian Dior suit, Sobieski was proud to be in such prestigious company. “I’m so flattered. It’s such an incredible group of women, and I haven’t been a woman all that long. And I haven’t been a woman in Hollywood for all that long, either.”
“She’s amazing,” said actress Christine Lahti, who directed Sobieski in her current film My First Mister. “She was 16 when she made my movie and if you see the movie you’ll be a little dumbfounded. Every time I see the movie I can’t believe she was 16. She’s got a kind of sophistication and complexity and wisdom that is way beyond her years.”
Leelee had her look-alike mom Elizabeth Sobieski in tow, and didn’t shy away from physical comparisons to certain celebrities. “I do get the Helen Hunt thing,” said the actress, admitting that she sometimes flips past photos of Hunt in magazines and thinks for a minute it’s herself. “And when I was younger and a little bit smaller and I would go into, like, a sneaker store and get ‘Oh my God, Jodie Foster!'”
Another thing she has in common with Foster is an aptitude for higher education. Currently in her first semester at Brown, the 19-year-old actress is studying an assortment of erudite subjects, including Japanese literature and society, poetry and the physical environment, history of art and architecture, and fine arts. “It makes you feel more full inside,” she revealed. “When you come into Los Angeles and the Hollywood scene and you’ve been filled up with knowledge a few days before, that makes you feel good.”
Frances McDormand–another Icon honoree–managed to slip past most of the press, but other actresses in attendance were chattier, including curvaceous Shannon Elizabeth,
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who revealed she is hoping to pattern her career after Cameron Diaz‘s; Denise Richards, looking smashing in a skintight Chloe sweater and slacks and those killer eyes; Erika Christensen (Traffic), looking every bit the luscious young starlet; and an oh-so-thin, freshly-shorn Selma Blair (Legally Blonde). Speaking of hair-raising surprises, Jennie Garth was almost unrecognizable with her newly brunette locks, courtesy of Juan Juan Beverly Hills.
The new look isn’t intended to help steal bad girl roles from her old rival Shannen Doherty. “I’m not really doing anything right now,” Garth admitted with a giggle. “I’m enjoying life.” She is, however, looking forward to returning to the Hills of Beverly in a follow-up to her hit series 90210, which she says will hit the airwaves again as a two-hour movie. “I would be willing to do it again,” she revealed, saying the cast and crew was like a second family to her.
Security was strict at the posh hotel, but that didn’t dampen the spirits of the luncheon guests, who all arrived dressed up and fired up for an afternoon of power-noshing with the Industry elite in the hiply re-costumed Four Seasons ballroom, complete with black tablecloths and napkins (and yes, there were plenty of gentlemen on hand, as well, including DreamWorks honcho Jeffrey Katzenberg). Premiere magazine publisher Kim Pinto said the stars weren’t going to let global concerns stand in the way of the femme-centric celebration.
“We felt it appropriate to postpone it, given that it was [originally scheduled for] Sept. 20, but there was no thought at all of canceling it,” Pinto said. “We did make a number of calls to ascertain that people were comfortable coming here. I think we have to honor our jobs and our commitment to our industry, and that’s what we’re doing today.”
