Gentlemen, Start Your Attitudes

This is Tom Florio’s first movie premiere, so please be kind. The first one he’s thrown, that is.

The publisher of GQ navigated the rush-hour crowd outside the Universal Amphitheatre on Tuesday, hailing the magazine’s guests--a.k.a. big advertisers--at the premiere of New Line’s “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.”

And this was one hot ticket. In fact, someone had stolen 100 tickets from the New Line mail room the week before. Oh, yes. Here’s a bulletin for any of our readers who happen to be criminals: New Line noticed.

The company called the police, and the thief apparently heard about it because he or she bailed from the caper. A paper bag full of “Austin Powers” tickets turned up at Ticketmaster, like a baby on a doorstep. Police took custody of the foundling, saving GQ people from finding doppelgangers in their seats at the premiere.

But hey, it’s been a rockin’ eight weeks since the voluble Florio took over as publisher of Conde Nast’s sophisticated men’s title. And the magazine’s link-up with hot Austin Powers clone Mike Myers is only one weapon in its buffed-up marketing arsenal. (Myers appears on the cover of GQ’s June comedy issue, which was thoughtfully provided to the demographically correct hordes at the premiere.)

And listen, men, this really is a war. Men’s magazine upstarts like the randy Maxim have been nipping at GQ’s heels in the marketplace and in interviews with the press. Maxim’s editors have been trashing stalwarts like GQ and Esquire for being old and stuffy. And Florio is nipping back.

“[Maxim is] not the sensibility of the GQ guy,” said Florio, 43, as we made our way to the bar. “It’s for kids. There’s always going to be a market for ‘T and A’ in one form or another, for the same reasons that porno Web sites do well. And it’s going to be funny for some people the same way ‘Beavis and Butthead’ was funny to some people.

“There’s a real kind of liberation for guys in this country, but there are going to be some people who are never going to get over the fact that they can’t jump on their secretary anymore and get away with it. That’s their problem, and there will be magazines for them, I guess.”

Forsooth. Is that the sound of a gauntlet being thrown down?

*

How flattering is TNT’s original movie about cyber stars Steve Jobs and Bill Gates? The title is “Pirates of Silicon Valley.” Enough said.

Since Microsoft magnate Gates is merely one of the wealthiest men in the world, we wondered how the filmmakers got away with it. Martyn Burke, who wrote and directed the tale of Gates’ rise and Jobs’ fall, talked about it at Wednesday’s premiere party at the Sky Bar at the Mondrian Hotel, where stars Noah Wyle and Anthony Michael Hall were with the cast and friends.

Burke said the film was heavily researched and scrutinized for accuracy by TNT’s lawyers, potentially putting Microsoft in an awkward position when “Pirates” debuts June 20.

“Because Microsoft is in the middle of the whole thing with the Justice Department, they can’t really be seen to comment,” he said.

When “Pirates” opened the Seattle Film Festival in May, Microsoft didn’t exactly jump at festival organizers’ offer of tickets for the first-night gala.

“They couldn’t get their calls returned,” Burke says. “After eight or 10 calls, they finally got through to a PR guy who panicked. The reaction was, ‘OK, we’ll take two tickets.’ And the festival people said, ‘Two tickets for 30,000 employees?’ The guy said, ‘Two is fine,’ and hung up the phone.”

* Irene Lacher’s Out & About column runs Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays on Page 2. She can be reached by e-mail at socalliving@latimes.com.

* For audio interviews and additional photos from the “Austin Powers premiere, go to The Times’ Web site at https://www.calendarlive.com.