The red carpet outside the Kodak Theater had already been rolled up and Jon Stewart had gotten his last laugh: the Academy Awards were officially over. Unofficially, however, for everyone who ended up clutching an Oscar–and especially for those who needed to fill their empty hands with several flutefuls of Dom–it was time to party! Get into the limo with Hollywood.com as we hit all of the hottest post-Oscar bashes:
The Stop at the Top: The Academy’s Governors Ball
The Oscar attendees streamed out of the Kodak Theater and headed to the Governors Ball on the rooftop of the Hollywood & Hollywood complex by staircase, escalator or elevator–by any means necessary–to feed those actresses who’d been starving themselves for who knows how long to fit into their glamorous but unforgiving gowns.
Guests entered through an outside area designed to look like an oriental garden with cherry blossom trees, a water wall, illuminated rice paper screens and a sculpted ice bar serving cocktails. Light tubes in geometric shapes dangled from the ceiling and the entire lighting scheme changed color throughout the evening. The glitterati settled into streamlined chairs in warm ivory fabric that matched the color of the immaculately presented table linens on the sleek glass-top tables accentuated with floral arrangements of bamboo and white orchids, as an orchestra performed on a tiered stage as singer Patti Austin warbled jazz standards throughout the night, prompting Jamie Foxx to sing along from the dance floor as he made certain every beautiful woman in the house knew his party-hopping itinerary for the evening.
The champagne flowed freely as the stars noshed on a elite menu crafted by Wolfgang Puck that included marinated baby artichokes with lemon aioli, tuna tataki with sweet soy, matzo with osetra caviar, chopped vegetable salad, sweet crab stuffed tiny Spanish peppers, citrus marinated shrimp, green and white asparagus with prosciutto celery root soup with Fuji apples and 24k gold flakes and smoked salmon cut in the silhouette of an Oscar, followed and a main course of pan roasted organic chicken with black truffle risotto. The unbelievable meal was capped by one of Puck’s famed desserts, in this case a selection of Oscar-shaped shortbread cookies, raspberry ice cream and raspberry/fudge-filled cake dubbed Oscar’s “Sweet Fantasy.”
The mood was slightly less revelatory than at Oscars past, but it was still one A-list bash. Jack Nicholson sat at the head of one table that included Catherine Keener, who had given into comfort over style by going barefoot and had to be coaxed by a friend to nibble on anything, and the ever-regal Queen Latifah, who held court with Ludacris while wrapped in a luxurious fur. Meanwhile, the crowds parted like the Red Sea to provide access for another Hollywood royal, Lauren Bacall, and when trophy-toting Philip Seymour Hoffman took his seat he got a round of applause.
“This ends our running around for a while,” George Clooney told his directing “rival” Ang Lee with a hug and a pat on the back. The Oscar-winning actor was a table-hopping favorite and revealed that he was glad to have finally come to the finish line. “Altogether, it’s been fun,” he said. “There’s part of it that you’re really sort of glad it’s over. It’s actually a long, long process. I’m going to have a couple of drinks and I’ll tell you exactly how I am. A little vodka maybe.” Clooney’s favorite moment: “I guess the highlight was after winning I went backstage into the green room and there was Robert Altman standing there. I loved being able to sit down with Robert Altman for a minute and getting him a Scotch. I really liked that.”
It was definitely couples’ night, though most of the star pairings were squirreled away in quiet little corners of the ballroom. Jessica Alba’s beau Cash Warren gallantly covered her chilly bare shoulders with his tuxedo jacket at one table, while Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony hashed out, having failed to bring along a cell phone, exactly how they’d call for their car when they wanted to head out. Rachel Weisz and Darren Aronofsky created a parentally glam corner in one end of the room, while Tim Burton and Helena Bonham Carter provided a more gothic pairing in another spot near the band. Splitting up for most of the dinner were Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams: he hung out at their table, while she and pal Busy Phillips chatted about her baby with Paul Giamatti and his wife.
There were some notable no-shows; a handful of nominees including Joaquin Phoenix, Keira Knightley, Felicity Huffman, David Strathairn and Frances McDormand were nowhere in sight, nor were Charlize Theron or Jennifer Aniston.
The award for grandest entrance went to Reese Witherspoon, whose voice was already faltering after so many interviews and congratulations. She and her Oscar were whisked into the ballroom by security, as her husband Ryan Phillippe helped her navigate her way to her table so she could rejoin her parents at last. There would be no table-hopping for Reese; she never had to budge from her seat as the most elite of the A-list trekked to her side to kiss and congratulate Hollywood’s newly-anointed queen.
But vying with Reese for the title of belle of the ball was an unlikely contender. Oscar host Jon Stewart, seated squarely at the center of the action, was the nucleus around which the party revolved, with everyone making a point to do a drive-by for some hearty post-awards backslapping as he told them that he thought the gig was great, and that the winners list reminded him more of the Independent Spirit Awards than the Oscars. Of all the cozy couples in the house, he and wife Tracey came the closest to true canoodling, spending most of the evening side-by-side with Jon’s arm draped warmly around her shoulder.
Soon enough, however, the glitz and glamour of the Governors Ball came to an end, as the stars skated out to hit the other after-parties–except for George Clooney, who had a flight to New York first thing in the morning to shoot “a scene in a middle of a field with cows.” Still, his night wasn’t over quite yet: “I’m going to go find my friends,” he said. “They’re all hiding in a pub somewhere.”
[PAGEBREAK]Rocketing Over to the Rocket Man’s Bash: the Elton John AIDS Foundation Party
Forget Saturday night, Sunday night was all right for fighting–traffic, on the way to Sir Elton John’s annual fundraising bash for his AIDS Foundation. The road to West Hollywood’s Pacific Design Center was clogged with a sea of limos, town cars and Escalades heading to Elton’s after-party–as I sat in sail’s pace traffic for 45 minutes, I glanced over at the chauffeured ride next to me and saw Salma Hayek, whom I’d chatted with on the red carpet earlier in the day. We exchanged looks of frustration intermittently until a noble security guard saved the day, sending Salma down the superstar VIP express lane to the valet, and sending me to a not-so-VIP secret parking spot that nevertheless shaved a half hour off my travel time. I raced down the red carpet past George Lucas and into the enormous tented area that held the party.
The bash had been going on throughout the day, beginning as an Oscar viewing party that drew the likes of Sharon Stone (with a dreadfully sky-high socket-induced ‘do), Eric McCormack, Tori Spelling, Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne, Carmen Electra, Macy Gray, Molly Sims, Jenna Elfman, Melina Kanakerides, Samaire Armstrong and–in a red-hot Cavalli gown–Nicolette Sheridan and her beau Michael Bolton. The assembled gathered (along with just about every actor you’ve ever seen on TV who couldn’t get a ticket to either the Oscars or the Vanity Fair party) to oooh and aaah over the ceremony on the many plasma screens strategically set throughout.
There was also a live auction in which two 2007 Audi Q7s–the first to be sold in the United States and Canada–were auctioned off to raise funds for the Foundation at $160,000 and $120,000, respectively. Ever the dedicated AIDS activist Sharon Stone wowed the crowd when she pushed the minimum bid on Sir Elton’s red Yamaha grand piano up to $170,000.
Lindsay Lohan made a strategic stop just long enough to sit herself alongside Sir Elton and his husband David Furnish (and their adorable lapdog–a genuine canine, not a personal assistant) for about 20 minutes (luckily Linds was in a Versace, to the approval of Elton’s tablemate Donatella) before bailing for Vanity Fair. Paris Hilton made a longer go of it (the buzz circulating all week was that the recent Vanity Fair cover girl had been mysteriously banned from attending that party), showing up in a god awful long gown decorated with peacock feathers on the hemline. I appreciated the symbolic nature of the famous showboat’s frock, but it was far from flattering and leaving a trail of multicolored plumage as she headed to the bar to order tequila shots for her sister Nicky, her boy toy Stavros Niarchos and Mischa Barton ex Brandon Davis.
Paris and Nicky split for the Us Weekly/Rolling Stone bash on the roof of the building next door, replaced by two more Hiltons: mom and dad Kathy and Rick, who took a table in the VIP section strategically far away from another new arrival, Nicole Richie, sipping water in another corner. Dressed in a black, Nicole had gone platinum blonde for the Oscars, and spend most of the evening talking to her apparent best friend: her cell phone. Just as Salma sidled into a booth next to perennial pop star Prince, Grammy winner John Legend took the tiny stage alongside the VIP area and launched into a rousing performance that brought many of the younger stars like Desperate Housewives’ Andrea Bowen out to the dance floor.
Back in the VIP lounge, Kevin Spacey huddled in a corner with his expansive all-male posse and the A-list crowd suddenly went DDD when Pamela Anderson bounded in on the arm of photographer/director David LaChappelle in a dress so daring she practically redefined the night to be about her own Golden Globes. She took time to bump her pneumatically-enhanced assets against the slightly more restrained rack of Carmen Electra, then gave her former Home Improvement co-star Tim Allen a squeeze just as Sir Elton joined Legend onstage. The host took to the piano and sung a gorgeous ballad that I had never heard before, then he and Legend (or is that John and John?) blew the crowd away with a lengthy duet of “Rocket Man”–any other crowd would have held their blazing lighters aloft during the finale, but even the industry-heavy crowd’s world was rocked by the performance.
The moment Elton and John left the stage, the biggest stars made a beeline for the exits (not without grabbing their goodie bags, of course) meaning it was time for a party shift. As I readied for my exit, it was time for a quick pit stop at the phalanx of Port-a-Johns outside, where I watched starlet Maggie Grace tug on the handles on not one, not two, not three, but four obviously occupado lavatories before she realized that the little light by the handle meant someone was in there, finally heading into one of the several dozen with their doors wide open.
Trouble with the johns at Elton John’s? How Lost can you get?
[PAGEBREAK] Crash-ing More Bashes
After a quick sprint up to the Us Weekly/Rolling Stone first annual Oscar bash, where I discovered Paris and Nicky had left the building and Carmen was on her way out. Upstairs, even the publicists bemoaned the sad turnout for the affair—Entourage-less Adrian Grenier was the only star in sight. Hmm, no celebrities drinking, smoking and canoodling a party thrown by a magazine whose sole purpose is to out celebrity drinking, smoking and canoodling? SHOCKER!
Then I stopped by nearby West Hollywood nightspot Pearl, where Amnesty International was throwing a soiree to honor the Oscar-winning Best Picture, Crash. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the official after-party honoring Crash (that would have been Lion’s Gate’s bash on the Sunset Strip), so the only presence from the film there was producer Bob Yari.
It did draw an Oscar winner, however…from 1994: Mira Sorvino was honored at the gathering for her work with the international human rights organization, and the pregnant star showed up Prada-clad and beaming, if slightly humble. “I said, ‘I don’t think I’ve done enough to deserve this,’” Mira told Hollywood.com, “but they were very insistent and sweet. I’m very grateful to have the honor.” She certainly looked posh, but she shattered the illusion about what her prep time was like. “When you have a 16-month-old, it’s kind of crazy. It’s not the glamorous, posh, get-pampered day that you read about in the magazines. It’s kind of like… juggle baby until she’s happy.”
Juggle babies? We were too busy juggling parties! Onto the next one…
Bonfire of the Vanities: Vanity Fair’s Oscar Afterparty
You want to know who showed at the most elite of the elite Oscar night bashes at Morton’s restaurant? Everyone. Seriously, like, think of a living person who’s famous and they were probably there. When was the last time you saw Winona Ryder on a red carpet? Heck, even Salman Rushdie came out of hiding for this one (I’m not kidding). Sadly, I wasn’t exactly on the guest list myself but Hollywood.com did pull some strings to get a short escort inside the party (suffer, Paris!), which was guarded from even the most creative crashers as if it were Fort Knox.
The high-powered party was in two rooms: the main restaurant, where most of the tables had been cleared away, and a huge heated tent in the back lot where the main action was. There were at least two bars, maybe three, and people mostly stood around talking in clusters. All of the most powerful of the power couples had rendezvoused there and circulating with their mates: Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony, Madonna and Guy Ritchie (yep, still together), Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn (oh yeah, very together), Felicity Huffman and William H. Macy, Jessica Alba (in a new outfit) and Cash Warren, John Travolta and Kelly Preston, jovial Jay and Mavis Leno, Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw, Mischa Barton and Sisco Adler and even ever-shy Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams, who were constantly being chatted up by various partygoers.
Best of all was watching Nicole Kidman’s press rep testily shoo away a TV video crew as they tried to steal a shot of Nic and Keith Urban cuddled together in a corner booth. Clooney skipped this one, but Teri Hatcher showed solo (seriously, guys, they’re not together). Philip Seymour Hoffman showed up sans his newly won Oscar, which he cautiously left in the car fearing he’d lose it in the party. Terrence Howard was the last A-lister to make the party, popping in around 1:15 a.m. He didn’t have an Oscar, but at least he didn’t have to Crash.
Hmm, where to go next? There was no chance of sliding by security at super-agent Patrick Whitesell’s private party in Pacific Palisades. Everyone was expecting the party at Prince’s house to be more sedate than usual. Rumor had it that Jamie Foxx had some banging wee-hours bash happening at the penthouse of the Regent Beverly Wilshire, and there was certainly sure to be celeb spillover at the bar of the Four Seasons…And then suddenly the perfect option presented itself.
Home, to bed.
