Susan Sarandon, Christian Ashdale, Peter Jackson, and Saoirse Ronan at The Lovely Bones premiere in New York City, on December 3, 2009. Photographs by PatrickMcMullan.com.
"I didn't even recognize you!" Susan Sarandon said to an Alexander Wang-clad Saoirse Ronan last night before the lights dimmed at the New York City premiere of the film The Lovely Bones. In the movie, which is based on Alice Sebold's 2002 novel of the same name, Ronan, 15, plays Susie Salmon, who is murdered in 1974 and watches from heaven as her family tries to track down her killer. Sarandon plays Susie's booze-bag grandma who helps the Salmon family cope with the tragedy.
"It's great as a young actress to get to be in the company of such great actors who have been around for a very long time and who are extremely comfortable on set," Ronan said of her Oscar-winning co-stars Sarandon and Rachel Weisz, along with Oscar-nominated Mark Wahlberg and two-time Golden Globe winner Stanley Tucci. Ronan herself was nominated for an Oscar for her spooky portrayal Briony Tallis in the 2008 drama Atonement. "I would do something like a comedy," Ronan said yesterday evening. "The first movie I did was a romantic comedy, so I would like to go back to that. I'm always joking and trying to be funny."As guests including model Helena Christensen, television personality Dan Abrams, and actress Patricia Clarkson took their seats, director Peter Jackson discussed making the movie. "We had a wonderful time shooting on location in Pennsylvania and in New Zealand," he said. "When you see the movie, they walk outside they're in Pennsylvania, and when they walk through the doorway they go to New Zealand, so it's really a time travel film."
The lights went down, and as the drama began to unfold on the screen, Martha Stewart scurried into her fifth row seat. Further into the film, as Sarandon's hard-partying granny came into the frame and lightened the mood, real life hard partier Courtney Love climbed her way into the fourth row. And as the heavy film continued to progress, a separate action movie began in the audience as Love proceeded to … douse herself with perfume.
After the screening, guests crossed the rain-soaked street from the Paris Theater to the Plaza Hotel, where the Paramount Pictures and Cinema Society after-party took place in the storied Oak Room. Like restaurants, parties have power tables, and last night's event was no exception. In the back room at the center table against the wall, Stanley Tucci sat by Patricia Clarkson, while Susan Sarandon's table was to the left. Mark Wahlberg and co-star Michael Imperioli talked near Peter Jackson, and socialite Olivia Palermo's boyfriend Johannes Huebl gave other party-goers a lesson in good manners by using a napkin to reach into the passed basket of french fries, much to the embarrassment of those who had simply grabbed a fistful of pommes frites with their fingers.
Meanwhile, Ronan worked the space, describing how the most difficult aspect of the role was labeling the steps that Susie takes throughout the story. "She changes so much," Ronan said. "When she's on earth, she's a protected teenager with a very strong family, and she has to become this strong woman who fights for the acceptance of her death, so that was interesting and challenging."
And just like Sarandon lightened the mood in the movie, the young Christian Ashdale, who plays Susie's brother in the film, lightened the mood at the party. Running around with two tiny pals—not a sight you often see on the New York City party circuit—Ashdale sipped a red iced beverage out of a wine glass. As guests stopped to pat the little guy on the back—"Hey buddy, good job!" we said, giving him the thumbs up—Ashdale practiced what will probably some day be his Oscar acceptance speech: "Thank you!"
