Drawing a premiere crowd

It might have lacked the old-school glamour of Cannes and the high-altitude cachet of Sundance -- those other film festivals everybody knows and loves.

But opening night at the 2006 Los Angeles Film Festival kicked off Thursday with a gala premiere for the Fox dramedy “The Devil Wears Prada” in Westwood Village. And Broxton Avenue was transformed into a down-home block party -- albeit one with a trip-hop DJ, a fountain spewing microwave popcorn, an eclectic celebrity turnout and an obligatory visit by L.A.’s ubiquitous mayor -- celebrating the city’s most notable export.

“For the last 12 years, this L.A. film festival has been a part of the fabric of L.A., the culture of L.A. and it’s a big reason why L.A. is the entertainment culture capital,” Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said on the red carpet leading into the Mann Village theater. He added: “I go to movie premieres all the time. It’s my job to promote this city. To sell the idea that L.A.’s not just a place. It’s an idea.”

“West Wing” cast member Allison Janney, a Los Angeles Film Festival veteran whose feature film “Our Very Own” was screened last year, was named honorary co-chair this year. She said she felt gratified to be a part of Hollywood’s hometown film fest, an 11-day event expected to draw 80,000 attendees with a mixture of studio films with theatrical distribution and shoestring indies looking for buyers.

“It’s exciting to get behind this festival and make it the hottest one in the United States,” Janney said. Reminded that the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, holds that title, she said: “L.A.’s not the hottest one and there’s no reason it shouldn’t be.... This is the film capital of the world!”

The cavalcade of bold-faced names made its way into the theater: Alicia Witt, director Vondie Curtis Hall, Nicole Richie, Jeff Goldblum, Jane Seymour, Robert Forster, “Baywatch’s” Brande Roderick, Stanley Tucci and Ione Skye among them.

Although “Prada’s” titular hell-spawn, played by Meryl Streep, missed the premiere (she was celebrating her birthday, director David Frankel explained), costar Anne Hathaway floated down the red carpet in a canary yellow strapless Prada dress.

She took a more philosophical approach to explain the local nonchalance toward the LAFF.

“If you live in L.A., it’s always a film festival. There’s always movies shooting here and there’s always a premiere happening,” she said. “In other places, it becomes more of an event. In L.A., it’s like, ‘Oh, movies. Great. Fab. Never seen one of those before.’ ”

“Hollywood is a festival in and of itself,” said Adrian Grenier, who plays Hathaway’s character’s long-suffering boyfriend in “Prada.”

After the screening, guests walked across the street to “Popcorn Alley on Broxton” -- a vast open-air after-party spanning the length of Broxton Avenue that was sponsored by Pop Secret popcorn.

There, TOMMY! (no last name, all in capital letters, with an exclamation mark, thank you very much), director of the festival short “Angels?,” clutched a cold beverage, taking in the scene wearing a plastic gold crown, his chest full of hip-hop-style golden medallions, his black suit pants cut off below the knees.

“My wife’s divorcing me and nothing makes me feel better than free liquor,” he said. “Everyone here is treating me real nice. At the directors’ luncheon today, they gave me hand sanitizer and body butter.”

And there was no question in his mind where the best film festival was.

“Sundance is cold,” TOMMY! said. “What kind of morons go to Utah in winter?”