Twelve years of production followed by 13 months of promotion ends for the “Boyhood” team in two days. Are they “Show me the money” ecstatic to reach the finish line?
“Is that why (Cuba) was dancing? Because it was over? Maybe that was it,” Linklater chuckled at my suggestion on Thursday night at Cecconi’s.
“It feels about time. I’ll be happy Sunday night no matter what,” the director/writer/producer who is personally up for three Oscars admitted at the West Hollywood benefit for the Austin Film Society. (Linklater is the Artistic Director of the Texas film oasis.)
“This (benefit for Austin Film) is wonderful,” he continued. “I’ve been looking forward to this all week. It’s kind of cool to see Austin Film Society up there next to (hosts of the night) Vanity Fair and Chrysler.”
Star and daughter Lorelei came off as ready to quit the gab-circuit as she was to quit the production years ago. Is she sick of talking about the movie? “Yeah,” she said, exerting minimal effort in delivering a monosyllabic status update.
A true actress though, she flipped a switch to show both of the above faces (above right) seconds of each other.
John Sloss, Linklater’s attorney and fellow producer, who has been denied producer status for awards purposes, mingled near the bar. Above him, an age-progression panoramic of Ellar Coltrane wrapped around the hub of the bar. Sloss admitted it took a lot of “divine intervention” for the film to land.
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It might not need as much divine intervention to win. Vegas bookies have it heavily favored in some categories, though narrowly behind “Birdman” for Best Picture.
Inside the early evening cocktails, writer-director Michael Sucsy and Demitri Sgourakis mixed with a crowd that included “How to Get Away with Murder’s” Karla Souza, Gina Gershon, Nolan Funk, fashion consultant Bronwyn Cosgrave (working on a doc about Manolo Blahnik) and Brittany Snow, attending with her boyfriend Tyler Hoechlin, who stars in Linklater’s next movie “That’s What I’m Talking About.”
Ethan Hawke was occupied promoting his documentary debut about pianist Seymour Bernstein.
One non-bold face name in a green scarf and sunglasses asked “Are there any celebrities here?” only to rush over and bug Patricia Arquette for photos after being casually informed that he was looking at the Oscar nominated star of the film being celebrated at the party surrounding him.
Cue him up for the #SNL50 revival of “The Californians”.
Over at Soho House, Giuliana Rancic marshaled a group of media friends for a trunk show of her “G by Giuliana Rancic” line for HSN. The timing was ironic because in years past, Thursday night of Oscar weekend was the night when rival QVC would host a big and oddly positioned bash at the Four Seasons.
The unironic, and downright painful timing, is that Rancic, Goreski, and Kelly Osbourne will be shooting the post-Oscars “Fashion Police” pre-dawn on Monday morning while many are still out at parties.
Down sunset at the Chateau, the one time “King of the Oscar World” James Cameron threw his “Red Carpet Green Dress” party as Ron Meyer and Universal also chose Thursday night to celebrate before the weekend onslaught.