RSVP : Keaton Vanishes at ‘Amelia’ Screening, Too

“Enigma” was a word much heard in the lobby of the Directors Guild Theatre on Monday night as the audience for “Amelia Earhart: The Final Flight” pondered the mystery and appeal of the famous aviator who vanished on an adventurous, around-the-world flight in 1937.

At the post-screening party, sky blue buttons with the slogan “I Saw Amelia Earhart” were handed out to promote the Turner Television Network movie, which will air Sunday.

But the guests didn’t get to see the movie’s star, Diane Keaton, an actress with her own brand of enigma. Keaton appeared in the lobby, empty of all but the press, for only a few moments some 20 minutes after the screening had started.

Escorted by director James Foley, she had come directly from the set of “Unstrung Heroes,” the movie she is directing, but was dressed to perfection in white with ropes of pearls. She walked the gantlet of flash cameras and replied to a question from a television reporter.

“How did it feel” to make the Earhart film?

“It felt like a lot of work.”

Then Keaton exited into the night.

There were rumors she might return for the reception, but there was no sighting. Instead her co-stars Rutger Hauer and Bruce Dern were there to pick up the praise from the crowd, which also included the movie’s writer, Anna Sandor, director Yves Simoneau, TNT execs Dennis Miller and Alan Sabinson, Dana Delany, Geoff Lewis, Donna Mills and a whole raft of agents.

Of the evening’s most compelling character, Earhart, William Morris agent Steven Weiss said, “I think she’s an icon, and luckily, a mystery, so people’s perception of her can be molded.”

Photos of Earhart, taken by the late Albert Bresnik, were on display in the lobby attracting much more attention than the ‘30s-style band playing in front of an empty dance floor. The crowd also concentrated on sampling the wide variety of food from a menu that followed Earhart’s final flight from America through the Caribbean, Africa, India and Southeast Asia.

“It’s better eaten backward” was overheard as the notion of eating New York cheesecake before West Indian jerk beef, Nigerian moi moi and Malayan spring roll clearly wasn’t one person’s idea of a real adventure.