Making a Spectacle of ‘Friends & Neighbors’

The Scene: Hundreds gathered Monday night to witness a spectacle about sexual impropriety and deceit. Not the one broadcast live on all the networks, but the premiere of Gramercy Pictures’ “Your Friends & Neighbors” at the Directors Guild of America theater. “On this evening of high national security, I’m glad you could all make it out,” joked Gramercy Pictures’ President Russell Schwartz, addressing the audience at the same time President Clinton was addressing the nation. The film stars Amy Brenneman, Aaron Eckhart, Catherine Keener, Nastassja Kinski, Ben Stiller and Jason Patric, and was written and directed by Neil LaBute, whose first film, “In the Company of Men,” was an indie hit. Afterward, the crowd shuttled over to a post-screening poolside party at the Sky Bar in the Mondrian Hotel.

Who Was There: The cast and director were present, joined by a crowd that included Patricia Arquette, Cameron Diaz, Diane Keaton, Elisabeth Shue and director Steven Soderbergh. Keener, however, didn’t arrive until after the screening because she was shooting the upcoming film “Being John Malkovich.” “I missed Clinton. I missed the movie,” she said. “I was getting pulled through a portal into John Malkovich’s brain.”

Chow: The champagne and cabernet flowed along with plenty of hors d’oeuvres. There was also a pasta buffet and a heavy Italian meat buffet, where many guests unwittingly bit into crumbled chunks of provolone thinking they were corn chips.

Quoted: The presence of a strong female character in this film, as contrasted with LaBute’s debut, is the result of “just feeling benevolent, I suppose,” the writer-director said. Asked if he worried about being labeled a misogynist, he replied, “No. If anything, I think I graduated to a misanthrope.”

The Monica Factor: “Considering we made it six months ago, it shows a prescience,” said Patric, who co-produced the movie and plays its least redeemable character. “And anyone who has questions or ideas whether these are extreme characters or not can take a look at the Oval Office.”