The Rain’s No Pain at ‘Medicine Man’ Bash

The Event: The benefit premiere Wednesday of Disney subsidiary Hollywood Pictures’ and Cinergi Productions’ “Medicine Man” at the El Capitan Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. As if on cue, nature kicked in to complement the film’s story about finding a cure for cancer in the endangered rain forest. “Somehow it’s appropriate that it rained in L. A. for the opening night,” co-star Lorraine Bracco said as a light drizzle fell.

The Scene: The audience exited the El Capitan, which was lit like a neon Roman candle, and trod the obligatory red carpet to a Moscow Circus-size tent behind the theater. The 1,000 guests entered through a 20-foot-long tunnel filled with foliage, mist and bird sounds. Inside there was more green on display than on St. Patrick’s Day at a Dublin pub. Party Planners West had draped the tent’s massive ceiling with aqua taffeta. The floor was emerald Astroturf, and live shrubbery entwined the tent poles.

Entertainment: An eight-piece samba band played and two dozen Brazilian carnival dancers circulated. “Vegas meets the rain forest,” one guest pronounced.

Who Was There: The film’s stars, Sean Connery and Bracco, and director John McTiernan; guests included Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd; Disney execs Frank Wells and Jeffrey Katzenberg; Cinergi’s Andrew Vajna; plus Marvin and Barbara Davis, Alan and Cindy Horn, Mike Ovitz and Edward James Olmos.

Dress Mode: Mostly after-work, with a few exceptions. Jackie Collins wore an ankle-length faux leopard-skin coat because she “wanted to blend in with the environment.”

Quoted: Lorraine Bracco, with her strong New York accent, describing the experience of working for weeks in the jungle: “Yeh, the at-one-with-nature was major.”

Money Matters: Ticket prices started at $250. With Cinergi covering the party’s entire cost, more than $150,000 was netted for three environmental groups--the Rainforest Alliance, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Nature Conservancy, whose chairman, Dick Weinstein, said, “If we don’t save the rain forest, we don’t save ourselves.”

Chow: A Brazilian-style menu from La Cuisine that included saffron rice with seafood, grilled chicken and cassava vegetable chili. One guest, recalling the film’s plot, said he hoped “there’s no cure for cancer somewhere in these beans.”

Observed: A uniformed security guard was stationed at a pay phone near the tent’s entrance. When the phone rang, he answered “Amazon rain forest” in a detached, business-like voice.

Overheard: Two actors, one in TV, the other in film, discussing the amazing selection of AA meetings they can choose from when they’re in Los Angeles.