Forget the Hollywood heavy hitters anointed as kings of their world at the Golden Globes ceremony Sunday night, including Leonardo DiCaprio and Clint Eastwood. The most powerful man on the scene was the Beverly Hills fire marshal, who, with a swift wave of his hand, managed to temporarily shut down each of the four post-parties at the Beverly Hilton (where the awards show also took place) just minutes after they had started. Hundreds of A-listers found themselves momentarily stuck on the wrong side of the velvet ropes while trying to party hop.
Not everyone, though. Evidently, the E-ticket in was a golden trophy. “It’s hard not to be giddy tonight,” beamed Natalie Portman, who sailed into the Miramax/Glamour party at Trader Vic’s clutching her Best Supporting Actress award.
Inside the gold-draped tent, Martin Scorsese and DiCaprio held court in one booth, while the rest of the guests lined up to congratulate them on their Best Picture and Actor wins. “I got to touch him,” Zach Braff, of “Scrubs” and “Garden State,” boasted after shaking the director’s hand. The super laid-back winner for Best Original Song from “Alfie,” Mick Jagger, poking fun at the endless schmoozing, sarcastically gushed: “I told him I loved ‘The Aviator’ because I want to work with him on my next film.”
It’s not all fun, after all, at these things, pointed out Elizabeth Banks. “It’s more like work. You’ve got to shake hands and say hello to people you’re making movies with.” That said, she shrugged, “I’m going to In Style/Warner Brothers to have fun.”
Overcapacity issues plagued parties off-site, too. P. Diddy, clad from shoulder to toe in black velvet, vamped his way through the bash before splitting for the Four Seasons down the road, where he partied with Jamie Foxx until the hotel had to squash the rowdy revelers, many of whom got stuck in overcrowded elevators.
Back at the Hilton at the HBO party, new lovebirds Portia de Rossi and Ellen DeGeneres finally went public, clasping hands and posing for photos, while Drea de Matteo locked lips with her date, Shooter Jennings, all night. “Actually, we’re broken up, but we’re having a really good time!” she laughed.
Halle Berry, Kevin Spacey and Kristin Davis satiated themselves with late-night vittles and Moët & Chandon. Noticeably absent was Sarah Jessica Parker, who was on vacation because, Davis explained, “Family does come first.” Luckily, the missing style maven gave her co-star a helpful tip: “I have two purses because I couldn’t fit everything into my one Jimmy Choo bag. Sarah taught me this. Sometimes she would have three!”
Over at the In Style fete, Best Actress winners and longtime pals Hilary Swank and Mariska Hargitay congratulated each other with kisses and hugs. “You’re just beautiful!” Swank gushed. “No, you are,” replied Hargitay. And so on and so on.
“I think I’m exhausted from having too much fun,” sighed Mischa Barton. “I presented. I mingled. And now, I’m done.”
Granted, it had been a packed weekend, one that kicked off Thursday with the In Style/Diamond Information Center luncheon at the Beverly Hills Hotel, where tweed suits and Titanic rocks prevailed, as did pretty young things like Katie Holmes, Lake Bell and Mena Suvari.
At Louis Vuitton on Rodeo Drive, another set of Ladies who Lunch — Cheryl Tiegs, Rita Wilson, Kathy Hilton and Wendy Goldberg — joined hostess Irena Medavoy, who might have lost her much-ballyhooed fight against the creators of Botox, but didn’t let that keep her from her annual Vanity Fair-funded partython, including a Saturday night bash at her Beverly Park manse.
The high-wattage noshing upped a few notches on Friday at the Four Seasons when the American Film Institute honored the best in TV and film, courtesy of Ellen Tracy. “Sideways” actress Sandra Oh buzzed about what all the attention on the film means for her wardrobe: “The calls definitely have been coming in,” she laughed. The lunch was the first of several stops Friday for DiCaprio, who also dropped by Tod’s Rodeo store to toast production designer Dante Ferretti, whose genius can be seen on-screen in “The Aviator” and throughout a new tome, published by the Italian house. Scorsese was there, too, along with Tod’s USA ceo Claudio Castiglioni, Kelly Lynch, Liz Goldwyn and Angela Bassett.
Around the corner at Mr. Chow, Izak Senbahar and Simon Elias feted Richard Meier, whose show of collages opened that night at the Gagosian Gallery a few doors away. Benedikt Taschen, Lisa and Eric Eisner, Gina Gershon, Brad Dunning and Andre Balazs were among the friends at the cozy dinner.
On Saturday, the Brit Pack and those who love them gathered for BAFTA’s annual tea party at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Century City. “Truthfully, I never had a cucumber sandwich in my life before I came to a BAFTA event,” said Manchester native Marsha Thomason, who wasn’t the only expat bucking tradition.”I’m not a regular tea drinker,” admitted Joely Richardson “but it’s a bit early for cocktails.”
The place to always be the night before the Globes is Colin Callender and Chris Albrecht’s private HBO glam slam at the Chateau Marmont in Hollywood, where the bar is bottomless. Tom Ford and Lisa Eisner held court in the courtyard while Harvey Weinstein, China Chow, Diane Kruger, Eastwood, several stars of “The Sopranos,” Swank and Portman (with bodyguard) filled the indoors. When a momentary power surge left a couple of hundred guests in the dark, Eve, waiting her turn in the powder room, wondered aloud: “Whoa, are they trying to pull the plug on this party?” She needn’t have worried, because she, DiCaprio, Fabiola Beracasa and de Matteo just moved the action to the Bar Marmont next door, where they caroused until 3 a.m.