Having a peak experience at ‘Mountain’

In the beginning, there were the words. And the words were good.

That’s no doubt why, at the “Brokeback Mountain” premiere after-party, E. Annie Proulx, author of the original short story, and screenwriters-producers Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana were the hottest stars at the Tuesday night fundraiser for the Screen Actors Guild Foundation.

It turns out that McMurtry read Proulx’s concise masterpiece only after Ossana forced him.

“I read it one night in 1997 and was floored by it,” Ossana recalled. “I was awake with insomnia and read it in the middle of the night. The next morning I reread it and was even more affected .... We called Annie and optioned it with our own money, and here we are, eight years later.”

Making a movie from Proulx’s words was a “once-in-a-lifetime experience” for McMurtry. And Proulx sounded equally blissed out with the end results of McMurtry, Ossana, director Ang Lee and all the actors’ hard work.

“When Larry first talked about making my story into a film, I was dismayed, horrified, and I was sure that it was impossible,” Proulx admitted. “But I was wrong.”

Watching Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger’s portrayals of Jack and Ennis brought her characters back to life.

“I thought they had been finally exorcised, but they came right back to life in my head when I watched the film. I was filled with these men whom I had tried so hard to get rid of. They break your heart, they just break your heart.”

Lohan & Co. after-party

Super-stylist Rachel Zoe dressed Lindsay Lohan for her busy Tuesday night-on-the-town. First the newly brunet actress vamped it up at the “Brokeback Mountain” premiere in Westwood in a brown Balenciaga halter top, slim black slacks and a navy Chanel jacket.

At the after-party at Napa Valley Grille, Lohan sat at a table and looked pretty, with sooty dark eyes and pale lips, nibbling dinner, occasionally sneaking a peek at Jake Gyllenhaal. But despite rumors of a secret romance between the two, Jake stayed with his sister Maggie and her beau, Peter Sarsgaard, while people congratulated him on his “Brokeback” performance.

Around 11:30, Lohan made a beeline for Courteney Cox and David Arquette’s private cocktail party at Guy’s in West Hollywood to celebrate their new TBS show, “Daisy Does America.” Lohan joined the posh party packed with the usual nightlifers -- Jack Osbourne, David Spade, Vincent Gallo, Matthew Perry, Brandon Davis and “Walk the Line” star Joaquin Phoenix, who all watched Gyllenhaal’s on-again-now-off-again squeeze Kirsten Dunst dancing up a storm most of the night.

Zoe, by the way, is so busy keeping all her girls looking fabulous that she has been putting dresses, shoes and accessories aside for several red carpet-bound regulars.

So the very mention of possibly helping garb her client Nicole Richie for “The Simple Life” TV season was too much to think about. “I have no life as it is,” Zoe said. “I just cannot even imagine. But I haven’t heard anything about it yet, so I plead the 5th.”

And you thought Hollywood life was all glitz and glamour.

Claire Danes, golden ‘Shopgirl’?

Can Claire Danes’ performance in Steve Martin’s “Shopgirl” get any attention this awards season?

Disney sure hopes so. The studio is mounting a best actress Oscar campaign for the Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actress (“My So-Called Life”). You may not have heard much about Danes, what with all the noise over Charlize Theron’s legal battles, Naomi Watts’ monkey shines, Felicity Huffman’s switch-hitting, Reese Witherspoon’s Cash flow, or Maria Bello’s sexy stair climbing. But that may change.

Danes is currently filming “The Flock” in New Mexico with Richard Gere and is reportedly excited about the campaign. She’ll no doubt be back in L.A. to promote her newest: “The Family Stone,” which premieres Tuesday at the Mann Village Theatre.

Disney will also be pushing for a best adapted screenplay Oscar for Martin, who adapted the script from his novella about modern Hollywood romance. And it’s worth remembering that Martin won a Writers Guild of America award for his adaptation of “Roxanne,” based on Edmond Rostand’s play “Cyrano de Bergerac.”

Director samples Hollywood style

Billion Dollar Babes, Los Angeles’ biggest designer sample sale, is where Hollywood’s hippest young actresses -- those who are in the know but not yet on designers’ payrolls -- go to find fabulous fancy frocks for the awards season.

The quarterly BDB sale starts today with a VIP preview from 5 to 9 p.m. Gold members usually file in around 3 p.m.

It’s not too late to join the Not-So-Rich and Famous as they go shopping for the latest from Catherine Malandrino. Michelle Mason, Pegah Anvarian, Ted Baker, Agent Provocateur, Suka, Teenage Millionaire, Rosasen, Petro Zillia, and Oliver Peoples eyewear.

There’s still room for more shoppers at BDB, especially if they happen to be Hollywood hunks. BDB is offering an expanded menswear selection in the sale’s new location at Quixote Studios in Hollywood.

“The Chronicles of Narnia” director Andrew Adamson (“Shrek,” “Shrek 2”) and his wife, Nikki, will be there. Partly because they’re good pals with BDB founder and fellow New Zealander Shelli-Anne Couch, and partly because Adamson needs chic bundles for “Narnia’s” European press junket.

By the way, we hear there’s no reason for Adamson to be shaky about his first live-action feature, even if the Mouse House is banking on “Narnia” to bring in big box office and awards.

Bob and Judi fight a good fight

Better refill your antidepressant prescriptions.

Kinda hard to be Christmas cheery after watching racism, rape and murder in “Crash,” crooked politicians and unethical AIDS drug suppliers in “The Constant Gardener,” and terrorist recruiting clerics, corrupt kings, politicians and greedy oil companies in “Syriana.”

But then there’s “Mrs. Henderson Presents,” a movie based on the true story of a feisty, wealthy widow (Judi Dench) who buys a ramshackle London theater and hires the fiercely stubborn Vivian Van Damm (Bob Hoskins) to run it.

With Mrs. Henderson’s considerable money and political pull and Van Damm’s stage expertise and moxie, they put on a wildly successful revue at the Windmill Theatre that mimics the shockingly bare theatrics at Paris’ Moulin Rouge. But it’s not all bare breasts and buttocks. When Hitler begins his blitz of London, Henderson and her troupe show fighting spirit to keep the theater open.

Word is the Weinstein Co. plans to fight the good fight with Oscar campaigns for Dench (best actress) and Hoskins (best supporting actor).

“Mrs. Henderson” premieres in Los Angeles on Monday at the Cecchi Gori Fine Arts Theatre on Wilshire Boulevard, with a star-studded reception afterward at the Four Seasons Hotel. Dench, Hoskins and two of their costars, Kelly Reilly and Will Young, are confirmed to attend.

Elizabeth Snead writes “Styles & Scenes” as a blog for The Envelope (theenvelope.com), a Times website devoted to Hollywood’s awards season. She can be reached at elizabeth .snead@latimes.com.