Gala one-upmanship
During this week of extravagant affairs, it’s not who you are that counts -- it’s where you are. Party invites represent far more than free martinis and caviar-topped hors d’oeuvres. They measure one’s status in Hollywood.
While no one will admit it, there’s an unspoken rivalry among party hosts -- many of them magazines and movie studios -- to hold the event that draws the most glamorous guests and inspires the most (glowing) morning-after chatter.
Harvey Weinstein’s soiree has traditionally dominated the Saturday night before the Sunday Oscars ceremony. For years, he has offered a few hundred people, many of them actors, agents and Oscar nominees, the opportunity to watch A-listers spoof scenes from nominated films on a night when “everyone is still a winner.” And with Miramax Films’ landslide of nominations this year (40 in all), the event at the St. Regis Hotel was sure to be this Saturday night’s hottest ticket.
That is, until DreamWorks SKG co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg announced a second event -- “The Night Before Party,” a fund-raiser for the Motion Picture & Television Fund to start at the Beverly Hills Hotel just as Weinstein’s bash ends.
While the timing alone grants this party huge cachet, Katzenberg also recruited a glittering host committee: Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt, Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck, Halle Berry and Eric Benet, Kate Capshaw and Steven Spielberg, Cameron Diaz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Denzel and Pauletta Washington, Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, and Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas. Tickets to the cocktail party, expected to raise $3 million, are offered in packages that start at $25,000.
“This is the one thing we were hoping for,” Katzenberg says. “It has instantly turned into the place ... people want to be on Saturday night.”
While the party’s success remains to be seen, Katzenberg has worked tirelessly to keep the event in the press. This year marks his 10th as the MPTF Foundation chairman, a position he took at the recommendation of the late, legendary fund-raiser Lew Wasserman.
He announced the party Feb. 25, two weeks after the Oscar nominations, in a two-page ad in Variety with the host committee’s names prominently featured. Then he offered up Wilson and Warren Beatty as spokespersons for his cause. (Beatty’s comments never materialized, but Wilson offers a bright endorsement: “It’s a great time to raise money,” she says. “People are all in good moods.”) During the last few weeks, he has also met with A-list agents to promote it. However, he and MPTF Foundation CEO Ken Scherer vigorously deny any deliberate one-upmanship.
“This is not a DreamWorks event,” says Scherer. “We are Switzerland. This is about all of us coming together. This is not about one studio.”
“Literally, the first thing I did was to call Harvey and say, ‘This is your year, your night. I wouldn’t want to do anything to infringe on that,’ ” Katzenberg says.
To prevent ill will, he says, he called Weinstein before he announced the party. Weinstein, in turn, donated an undisclosed sum to the fund-raiser and offered up members of Miramax’s stable of stars: Diaz and DiCaprio, who star in “Gangs of New York,” Zeta-Jones from “Chicago,” and Kidman, who stars in “The Hours.” (Miramax publicist Matthew Hiltzik would not comment on the issue.)
Parties aside, the disparity between the two studios -- which are historic rivals -- is striking this year.
Miramax Films’ nominations include three of the five for best picture: “Chicago,” “Gangs of New York” and “The Hours.” Harvey and his brother Bob Weinstein are also listed as executive producers of best-film nominee “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.”
On Saturday, about 600 people will gather around 5 p.m. in the St. Regis ballroom (decorated with several original Picassos) for the “Max Awards,” a spoof on the Oscars based on the evening’s skits. The event is a fund-raiser for the Robin Hood Foundation, a nonprofit that supports poverty-fighting groups in New York City. On Sunday, the studio hosts a post-Oscars celebration in the same ballroom.
DreamWorks executives, on the other hand, say they won’t be hosting any parties next weekend. While the studio received 11 Oscar nominations, including a best supporting actor nod for Paul Newman for his work in “Road to Perdition,” many are for less glamorous technical awards. Nevertheless, Katzenberg has ensured that his name will be in the mix on Oscar weekend, among some of Hollywood’s most influential do-gooders.
