The Talk Wasn’t About Oscar

The Scene: There was an unusual bit of mixing at Mann’s National Theater on Tuesday night for the premiere of Castle Rock Entertainment’s “Absolute Power.” The movie combines comedy and suspense in a murder yarn directed by and starring Clint Eastwood (who also took a producer’s credit). Also featured are Gene Hackman, Judy Davis, Ed Harris, Scott Glenn, Dennis Haysbert, E.G. Marshall and Melora Hardin. After the screening, the crowd commuted to Beverly Hills for a fete at Chasen’s.

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Who Was There: Among the 1,000 or so guests were actor / director Eastwood, his wife, Dina Ruiz, and daughter Alison (who had a bit part in the movie). While Hackman and Davis were among the many celebrity no-shows, Harris (with wife Amy Madigan), Glenn, Haysbert, Marshall and Hardin did make it and were joined by James Woods, James Caan, Christian Slater, John Cusack, Castle Rock partners Martin Shafer and Andy Scheinman and Warner co-chairman Bob Daly. Mingling with the Hollywood glitterati was a political and law enforcement posse that included Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti, some L.A. county supervisors and representatives from the police and sheriff’s departments.

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Money Matters: Tickets were $50 to $150. More than $115,000 was collected for the Los Angeles County-USC Violence Intervention Program. Executive Director Astrid Heger spoke and showed a film about the program before the screening.

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The Buzz: The talk was more about O.J. Simpson than Eastwood. And while there were some laughs during the film, suffice it to say that no one mentioned the word “Oscar” in association with this directorial effort.

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Overheard: The feel of the evening could best be conveyed in this overheard colloquy. “So did you hear the verdict? $8.5 million.”

“That’s about what you get for writing a script.”

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Why We Love Clint: “It’s so wonderful to work with someone who is so confident and clean that they don’t ever even have a hint of a video monitor ever on the set,” Glenn said. “This is a guy who never talks about himself. I’ve been around a bunch of quote-unquote action stars who are just full of themselves. Now I’m around a guy who’s the real deal.”