‘Locusts’ and Paparazzi Descend

The Scene: Wednesday’s premiere of Orion’s “The Locusts” at the Fine Arts theater in Beverly Hills. A party followed at Georgia. The film was described by co-star Jessica Capshaw as “a darkly twisted tale of rural Kansas and what can go wrong.” Others compared it to Tennessee Williams but with more incest. Suffice it to say that no one thought it would ever be a Christmas stocking-stuffer video.

Who Was There: The film’s stars, Vince Vaughn and Kate Capshaw, with husband Steven Spielberg; co-stars Jeremy Davies and Jessica Capshaw; director John Patrick Kelley; producers Brad Krevoy and Steve Stabler; plus 500 guests, including Rita Wilson, Ellen DeGeneres, Anne Heche, Catherine O’Hara and Jon Favreau, Rose McGowan, Guy Pierce, Mark Johnson, Nick Reed and Tom Sizemore.

Quoted: “I’d never been asked to play a part in a complex drama like this before,” said Kate Capshaw. “I think the ad line describes the film very well: ‘Every betrayal begins with trust.’ For me the movie is about issues of trust, because it’s all about people who don’t trust and why they don’t trust.”

On Fame: Vaughn has had a stratospheric career rise, going from the ultra-low-budget “Swingers” to “The Lost World.” “Vince has been famous since high school,” said “Swingers” co-star Favreau. “It’s just taken this long to convince everyone else.”

Chow: A Southern buffet with BBQ ribs, fried catfish, fried chicken, mashed potatoes and banana coconut cream pie. “This is food you eat when you’re hungry,” said Georgia co-owner Brad Johnson, “and tomorrow you work out.”

Dress Mode: It was an indie film crowd, but in the late, rather than early, 20s. They were in that delicate, awkward fashion phase between grunge and Armani.

Recounted: Spielberg and Capshaw were in a now-famous car accident on the way to Tuesday’s premiere of “The Peacemaker.” The director, whose sprained right arm was in a sling, said he’d “never been in a real accident where you’re hit from the front” (he’s been rear-ended twice “but that’s common in L.A.”). Spielberg described the experience this way: “We were pushed out of the intersection, spun 90 degrees, air bags went off, glass shattered, the car filled with the acid smell from the air bags and the horn stuck, which is a cliche I would never have put in a movie.”

Trend: The new crew of professional autograph hounds. Usually males in their early 20s, they wear T-shirts, shorts and running shoes and look like skateboarders, as opposed to the old crew, who look like bewildered Thorazine users. In addition to posters, press kits and photographs, some have portable filing cabinets with alphabetized listings of stars’ photos. These are the real paparazzi of the ‘90s.