Call It Just Another Quiet Evening at the Chateau

The Scene: Wednesday’s premiere of Gramercy Pictures’ “BackBeat” at the Hollywood Galaxy Theater. A party followed at the Chateau Marmont hotel. The film covers the early, pre-success days of the Beatles in Hamburg. “The movie could have been a disaster or a success,” co-star Stephen Dorff said. “By not thinking so much of the icons, not trying to impersonate the John Lennon or Paul McCartney of that time, there’s a certain honesty to the film.”

The Locale: The party, which went strong until well after midnight, was held in the hotel’s lobby and adjoining garden. It’s unclear how the hotel guests felt about the festivities right outside their windows. But as one party-goer mused, “It’s not exactly IBM execs who stay here.” Another said: “For the Chateau Marmont, this is a quiet night.”

Who Was There: Co-stars Dorff, Ian Hart; writer-director Iain Softley; producer Finola Dwyer; plus 700 guests, including Keith Richards, Pia Zadora, Reese Witherspoon, Justine Bateman, Tori Spelling, Jennifer Tilly, Richard Edson, Billy Wirth, Soleil Moon Frye, Nigel Sinclair, Michael Kuhn and Gramercy President Russell Schwartz, who said: “With guests from Keith Richards to Tori Spelling, I think we covered the gamut.”

Chow: Buffets from Babylon included falafel, humus, tabbouleh and chicken skewers. It was a very Roxbury Club-style, model-laden crowd, which led one woman to say: “I haven’t eaten anything since I realized I’m the oldest, fattest person here.”

Quoted: Don Was, who produced the film’s soundtrack and brought the Rolling Stones’ Richards to the film, said: “It was like taking Lee Iacocca to see a movie about Fords.”