For me, Friday night was ladies night. Sisters, WAGS, and miscellaneous chicitas ruled the room. Lots of industry-looking men around, gloomy and snooty, while their female counterparts enjoyed every minute of it. They smiled, they were friendly, and they seemed to be genuinely having a good time… whoever they were.
THE KING’S SPEECH
Brilliant, Brilliant and Brilliant.
You’ll read the reviews and see the nominations/awards pile up. Spontaneous standing ovation. Feeling ferklempt on behalf of the writer, in tears at the reaction to his film. Fabulous storytelling, spectacular dialogue and incredible performances will speak for themselves when you see this. Which you will.
As for The Room….Assorted nervous producers and behind-the-scenes folks milled about. British and nervous and polite. Colin Firth was there with his wife, Livia, and I have to say, she was breathtaking. In and out. Didn’t hurt that she’s a friend-of-a-friend, but she was so smiley and lovely and friendly. Lots of the ladies wanted to hate her bc she was married to Col. Impossible. He’s the one who scored there. That said, he’s far more attractive in real life, and reeeeeeally knows how to wear a suit. Call it the Tom Ford affect or whatever… it’s working…. And then there was the seemingly shell-shocked Geoffrey Rush. He may have hung on to his character in Shine. Just a bit.
TRUST
Let’s start with the room. The director is David Schwimmer. It was all I could do to not call out “Ross!”… He was there with his magnificent girlfriend and lovely sister. Who doesn’t love that? It was a real family affair as the producers, their kids and their families all piled into the room. Again, lots of cranky Hollywood types. Not sure what they have to be so moody about….Star of the movie was Clive Owen. Swoon… Clive Owen!? Not. Normal. The man is ridiculously handsome. No one could look at him. His publicist wouldn’t let him be photographed, but then, on his own, he obliged. And then there was Catherine Keener… You know when you think you could be friends with a movie star? I’ve always thought Matt Damon and I would be pals if we met under the right circumstances. For real. Anyhoo, I love Catherine Keener. Feel like she could be my sister from another mister. And I told her. I couldn’t help it!! And she couldn’t have been nicer. And now I kind of feel like we’re friends. Or were. For about 6 minutes.
The flick. TRUST. This had made-for-tv written all over it. Except for the cast: Clive Owen, Catherine Keener, and most of all the young and supremely talented Liana Liberato. A family is shattered after the 14-year old daughter has a sexual encounter with a man at least 20 years her senior, who’s been posing as a teen in an internet chat room. Given the subject matter, it’s pretty devastating whether you’re a parent or not. Intense, emotional, raw. With a side of creepy. Hope it finds a distributor as subject matter is challenging.