Recluse on the Loose in Holly-Woody

There he was, Woody Allen, relaxed and comfortable and definitely coming out of the woodwork Monday night to promote his latest movie at his old favorite--Musso & Frank Grill--in, of all places, Hollywood.

The famed recluse was personable and charming, and admittedly reluctant to talk to the press. “I don’t like to do it,” he said. But DreamWorks Pictures cleverly orchestrated a publicity tour to coincide with performances of Allen’s jazz band. “They know that’s a weakness with me,” said Allen, who plays clarinet most Mondays at Michael’s Pub in Manhattan.

On this Monday in Los Angeles, however, Allen worked the room like a pro, chatting up publicists and reporters about his film “Curse of the Jade Scorpion,” due out Aug. 24.

As he made it our way, we went for it: Mr. Allen, you met wife Soon-Yi when she was so young. After all these years, what keeps you two going? “There’s a certain sweetness about her. She was always so sweet.”

So, there you have it.

Charlize Theron, whose role as the glamour-puss heiress in the new film is her second Allen project, praised the actor-writer-director’s “organized” work style. “You know what you’re getting yourself into,” she said.

Helen Hunt looked fabulous, but spoke to few strangers. Jeffrey Katzenberg came and went, driving a 1988 Mustang. Julia Ormond was her elegant self. She instructed us that people in the States have her name all wrong. It’s OR-mond, rhymes with OS-mond.

Stepping Out

Nicole Kidman didn’t wear her high heels as she was escorted to the Hollywood Film Festival by Ewan McGregor on Monday night at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills. “I’m with Ewan tonight,” Kidman said, holding on to her slightly shorter “Moulin Rouge” co-star. Is he getting tired of hanging out with the Australian star yet? “No. You kiddin’?” McGregor said, laughing.

Kidman and McGregor won actress and actor of the year for their performances in “Moulin Rouge.” Director Baz Luhrmann walked away with an award for movie of the year for the film. He’d just flown in from Sydney and was leaving for Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday and said he’d had little time to catch any of the festival films. “When I’m promoting a film, I just can’t watch movies because I just find it destroys the experience.”

Luhrmann has had time to sneak a peek at the new “Star Wars” movie, currently being filmed in his hometown of Sydney. “Natalie [Portman] would come down to my little office in her costume,” Luhrmann said, but didn’t want to reveal much about the project. “It would make a [great] musical ... the all-singing and dancing Darth Vader.”

Sydney Pollack also attended the festival gala, with a cast on his left foot. “I’d rather not talk about it,” he said, before hobbling away. “It’s really so stupid. I did a dumb thing, tripped and broke my ankle.”

“Practice” at Play

Loud funk music echoed overhead as Lara Flynn Boyle stood before a hand-held mirror, furiously brushing her shoulder-length bob. To the untrained eye, the brunette’s ‘do looked perfect. But Boyle wasn’t pleased. “I’m just letting it be crazy today,” she said.

Boyle was among 90 ABC actors hustled through a series of photo shoots last weekend at Raleigh Studios in Hollywood for publicity stills and the network’s on-air promos.

Celebrity photographer Norman Jean Roy guided Boyle and her co-stars from “The Practice” into irreverent portraits. He positioned Dylan McDermott, Camryn Manheim, Steve Harris and Kelli Williams, against a plain-cloth backdrop, and then walked among them, shooting rapid-fire to get the “dramatic shadows and intense faces” that reflect the mood of the show. Meanwhile, Manheim’s 3-month-old son Milo got a diaper change. The cast, exhausted from shooting their series the night before, got punchy as the shoot wore on. During one break, Boyle puffed away at a much-needed cigarette. “Got to get as many in as possible,” she joked. Michael Badalucco sat listlessly slumped on a chair munching celery. McDermott tossed grapes at fellow cast members, several landing squarely on Boyle’s head. “Who’s doing that?” she asked, unaware.

Who says Hollywood isn’t glamorous?

Dinner With Friends

Elizabeth Hurley says that yes, she has been out to dinner at the Hollywood restaurant Ammo with Mick Jagger--but only as a member of a big party that included a whole bunch of other people. Hurley disputes our sighting last week that placed her at a couple of Ammo lunches with the Rolling Stone. Her lawyer, Marty Singer, says she has never been to lunch at Ammo, and most certainly hasn’t lunched there alone with Jagger. Singer said Hurley was with her boyfriend of the past year, but he wouldn’t identify the beau.

Sightings

Courtney Love showing up for the premiere of Nastassja Kinski’s new film “An American Rhapsody” after photographers had left the Paramount Theater on Melrose ... Also at the premiere were Cameron Crowe and the film’s director-writer Eva Gardos and producer Colleen Camp ... Tyra Banks, Mimi Rogers, Selma Blair and Daisy Fuentes at a recent “girls only” birthday party for “Pearl Harbor” associate producer Jennifer Klein getting pampered and munching on fried chicken ... James King gave Klein a Catherine Malandrino T-shirt .... On Will Rogers State Beach, Red Hot Chili Peppers Anthony Kiedis, John Frusciante, Flea and Chad Smith mugging with pink instruments for magazine photographer David La Chapelle ... Charlton Heston and Meredith Baxter shopping at Gelson’s in Pacific Palisades ... Fabio shopping at the garden department of Home Depot in Canoga Park.