A Film a Studio Could Love

The Scene: Wednesday’s West Coast benefit premiere of MGM’s “Six Degrees of Separation” at the L.A. County Museum of Art. An elegant party followed in the courtyard. Talk about the perfect locale: One of the film’s themes is social climbing, and LACMA is nothing if not a shrine to that.

Who Was There: The film’s stars--Stockard Channing, Will Smith and Donald Sutherland; co-stars Ian McKellen, Richard Masur, Eric Thal, Heather Graham and Anthony Michael Hall; director Fred Schepisi; screenwriter John Guare; plus 600 guests, including Candice Bergen, Tim Curry, Daryl Hannah, former MGM chairman Alan Ladd Jr., Lise Hilboldt, Jeff Kleeman, David and Jackie Foster, Phil Alden Robinson, and studio execs Frank Mancuso, Mike Marcus and Jay Kanter.

The Buzz: Who gets what Oscar nomination. “This is the first film they’ve released that the new MGM management is proud of,” one industry savant said. “That’s why they’re all here. They only come to things they want to be associated with. It didn’t hurt that it already opened in New York and they know what the reviews are. They know it’s OK to be proud.”

Observed: An agent introducing himself to Guare said, “Hi, I’m one of your ICM fiduciaries.”

Quoted: “These parties are all the same,” said McKellen, “though they’re in different places with different people. What unifies them is that everybody leaves so early. Have they all gone off to another party?”

Alternative Activities: Instead of sitting through the screening, Channing and Guare went to the Formosa Cafe. She had a martini, he ordered egg foo yong. Channing said: “It reminds him of his childhood in Chinese restaurants.”

Does the Whole Cast Have a Thing About Watching Graven Images?: Sutherland said he sat through the screening without looking at the movie. He said he never sees films he’s in. “I don’t look at them. I don’t see it. I can’t. I never have. It’s not my job.”

Money Matters: Tickets were $75, and more than $30,000 was raised for LACMA’s film department.

Ambience: It was a cool night and the heat lamps were turned up to the marshmallow toasting setting. Standing near one, it felt as if your head were baking. You half-expected the Fire Department to arrive and declare all big-haired women a hazard.

Awkward Moment: There were projection problems for the first few minutes of the screening. About 80% of the film was on the screen, the rest was somewhere in the curtains. It was corrected quickly enough so L.A.’s first projectionist lynching was averted.