‘Dances’ Debut Draws Big Guns

The Scene: Sunday night’s premiere of “Dances With Wolves,” Orion Pictures’ new epic Western, co-produced, directed by and starring Kevin Costner. Costner’s wife, Cindy, organized the event, a benefit for Tripod, a support group for deaf and hearing-impaired children, and Futures for Children, which serves American Indians. After the screening at the Cineplex Odeon Century Plaza Theaters, guests walked down Constellation Boulevard to a mammoth party tent decorated in American Indian motif.

Who Was There: Kevin Costner--who calls the movie “my love letter to the past”--and the film’s other stars, Mary McDonnell, Graham Greene, Robert Pastorelli, Rodney Grant and Floyd Red Crow Westerman. Also--Rosanna Arquette, Dan Aykroyd, Timothy Busfield, Michael Crawford, Chevy Chase, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tony Danza, Rick Dees, Jodie Foster, Mel Gibson, James Earl Jones, Marlee Matlin, Michael Ovitz, Gregory Peck, Victoria Principal, Bob Saget, Tom Selleck, Martin Short, Jobeth Williams, Robert Wuhl and many, many more.

Dress Code: Black tie optional. Many of the cast members came in American Indian dress. Worst idea of the evening: a white zip-up turtleneck under a tuxedo jacket.

Fashion Statements: While the Indians from the cast wore traditional dress, the American Indian teen-agers on hand went for outfits a little bit Sioux territories and a lot Melrose Avenue.

Chow: A Thanksgiving-style feast, with turkey, duck, salmon, corn pudding, stuffing, vegetables, pie and cobbler, catered by Rococo.

Favors: Soundtrack tapes, wolf pins and a paperback documenting the production--the back cover of which describes it as “the most original and exciting movie book ever created.”

Irony: In the movie, the wise chief Ten Bears stresses the total happiness that can come from spending a quiet evening around the fire, but this is Hollywood, after all, and benefit organizers opted for a blowout for more than 1,000 people.

Triumphs: Party planners projected color slides of the prairie onto the walls during the party, giving the illusion that Century City was really Big Sky country.

Glitches: Despite its billing as the “most original and exciting” movie book ever, many people mistook the book for a program and left it behind.