Hollywood--on a Budget

It was almost impossible to navigate through the elbow-to-elbow crowd clutching drinks and tapas in the small, low-ceilinged cantina on the Raleigh Studio back lot in Hollywood. Guests leaned against the red bricks and stucco of the Spanish-style walkways, balancing plates on their arms while they talked about the film they had just viewed--”ivansxtc.”

Most were incredulous that it had been made for so little--only $136,000. Others were struck by the intensity of the plot. “Studios have been afraid to do real drama like this,” said one man. “Maybe that will change now.”

Directed by Bernard Rose, the film tracks the tumultuous, drug-fueled decline of a Hollywood agent, played by John Huston’s son Danny Huston, after he is diagnosed with a terminal illness.

The story, conceived as an update of Tolstoy’s “The Death of Ivan Ilyich,” was inspired in part by CAA uber-agent Jay Moloney, who was fired from the agency in 1996 for alleged cocaine addiction; he hanged himself in 1999.

At the premiere’s after-party Tuesday night, Huston collected praise for his work. His sister Anjelica Huston played host, escorting Kelly Lynch and a leather-clad Sheryl Crow to the bathroom, and then sharing a drink with Billy Zane, who wore a gray fedora.

Meanwhile, Salma Hayek gave exuberant congratulations to the film’s star. Between mouthfuls of tiny cubes of cheddar cheese, the actress went on to talk about her latest project--she’s soon heading for Utah to direct a film called “The Maldonado Miracle” for Showtime.

(The movie, which she’s also producing, is about small-town residents who believe that the blood they see on a religious statue is miraculous, when in fact it is from an injured Latino boy hiding from the INS.)

Once word filtered through the group about Hayek’s plans, a friend summoned a film crew member and asked him to sign on for the project.

He smiled as though he’d be only too happy to follow Hayek anywhere.

“We have to shoot 14 scenes a day,” she gasped. Her audience nodded sympathetically while Hayek shook her black curls and called out, “No. You don’t understand!” Sounds like this one may be interesting behind the scenes.

Food for Thought

“Our generation has to share,” said 33-year-old Steven Arroyo, sitting at the Hillmont, his new Hollywood Boulevard restaurant near Los Feliz Village. Behind him, a glass sign spelled out his vision: Super Communal. As in, sharing tables with strangers.

Arroyo’s been honing his restaurant visions since he was 25, when he made the leap from selling Illy espresso machines to opening Boxer, a small place on Beverly Boulevard soon touted by The Times’ magazine as one of the best in the city. None of his staff was over 30. “It made it more vibrant,” he said.

Boxer closed in May 2001, and two months later, Arroyo replaced it with Cobras & Matadors, which has a tapas menu and serves no liquor. (Diners can bring beer or wine or buy it next door at Bicentennial 13, the Spanish wine shop he owns.)

Arroyo has a stripped-down aesthetic. The Hillmont has exposed brick walls and simple black-and-white family photos.

“I’ve always had a tight budget, and it forced me to be more creative,” he said, adding that he gave up tablecloths because it annoyed him when they were placed unevenly on the table.

“I want to be able to concentrate on the important things in dining: What’s on the plate, how you’re greeted ... creating something I can live with.”

So far, he said, his biggest challenge has been earning the respect of food purveyors.

But, he added, the restaurant business is “a very romantic way to make a living.”

Quote/Unquote

“Hollywood is looking for the Next Guy. The guy they can tell, ‘You’ve got the ball on the one-yard line and you gotta go 99 yards.’ Because the Old Guys are getting old. Like me.”

--Bruce Willis, in the July issue of Vanity Fair .

Times staff writer Kwala Mandel contributed to this column. City of Angles runs Tuesday through Friday. E-mail: angles@latimes.com.