With the Academy Awards on Sunday, I keep thinking back to sitting on the Red Carpet at last year’s show and The Night Before Party that I attended with my wife. I thought some might enjoy my reposting this VC post from February 29th, 2004:
THE NIGHT BEFORE: So while in LA for the Southern California leg of my book tour, my wife and I attended the Second Annual “Night Before Party” at the Beverly Hills Hotel. It was an amazing scene, and hard to believe that so many A-list celebrities ever attended the same event. The pool had been covered up, and a tent erected over it. Reebok was giving guests their choice of shoes, and Krispy Creme served donuts covered with ice cream or topped with strawberries and whipped cream. Cell phones and cameras were not permitted, but security only stopped you from bringing in cameras–or camera phones. I did not hear a single cell phone go off the whole night, and only noticed a few people furtively using theirs. The celebrities dressed casually with a noteworthy lack of affectation–except of course for Elton John who sat surrounded by younger men. No one wore sun glasses at this evening event. All the celebs were gone by midnight.
It turns out I am very bad at recognizing even very famous actors in a crowd, but fortunately my wife is excellent at spotting them. Were it not for her, I would have missed most of the following (don’t write me about misspelling their names): Sylvester Stalone (a little waxy looking), Tim Robbins & Susan Sarandon, Martin Short, David Spade, Ben Kingsley, Ben Stiller, Courtney Cox & David Arquette, Steven Speilberg, Will Smith (with body guards), Rene Zellweger, Christian Slater, Angelina Jolie, Patricia Clarkson (“Pieces of April,” Aunt Sarah on “6 Feet Under”), Michael Chiklis (The Shield, The Commish), Kristen Davis (Charlotte on “Sex and the City”), Bonnie Hunt, Antonio Banderas & Melanie Griffith, Luke Wilson, Tom Arnold, Roma Downey (“Touched by an Angel”) who touted her lates made-for-TV flick to us, John Spencer (“The West Wing,” “LA Law”), Leonardo DiCaprio, Alec Baldwin, Pierce Brosnan, Clint Eastwood, Kevin Spacey, Bruce Dern, standing nearby his daughter Laura Dern, Tom Hanks & Rita Wilson (the only one we noticed smoking), Kevin Spacey (in a Kangol-style cap), Jill Hennessee (Law & Order), Camryn Manheim (“The Practice”), Ted Turner and Donald Trump (hair looking a little more like normal hair in person). It was very crowded, especially at the beginning, and we must have missed a lot more who were there. We know Tom Cruise left just before we arrived, and we somehow managed not to see Michael Douglas with Katherine Zeta-Jones though we were told they had stood in the same spot for nearly an hour.
Most of the males actors are much smaller, not just shorter, than you expect–especially Banderas–except DiCaprio who you’d expect to be small, but is really normal size and height. Alex Baldwin is a bit bulky of course, and Pierce Brosnan is a remarkably big guy, who is not shy about wearing gray stubble. The tallest was probably Tim Robbins, but taller than you’d expect were Tom Hanks and Kevin Spacey. Not surprisingly on the tall side were Ted Turner, Donald Trump, Will Smith, Bruce Dern, and Clint Eastwood.
I asked Eastwood if he was a libertarian, and he replied that he agreed with the libertarian philosophy, but had not changed his registration from Republican, though his wife had. Besides, he noted, that used to be the philosophy of the Republicans. Though it seemed like he was warming to the subject, I did not get to ask him what made him think so because Jeffrey Katzenberg of Dreamworks and one of the hosts of the party (and another little guy), just then interrupted to thank Eastwood for coming, so we moved on.
It was a pretty awesome to see in one night, in one place, and very informally, more prominent actors and actresses than we will ever see in our whole lives–except for on the Red Carpet later today at the Oscars. But that’s another story.
In this report, I neglected to mention that, after Katzenberg interrupted our conversation with Eastwood and we started to move on, Eastwood turned away from Katzenberg and said to my wife, “It was very nice to meet you” (just the way Clint Eastwood would say that). In the context of the crowd scene at that spot, it was a very classy move.
At the party, the actors were really expert at not making eye contact, as you might imagine. The only two I recall making eye contact with me as I walked by were Courtney Cox (two different times for so long that I smiled back–I must have looked like someone she knew) and, yes, Elton John. ‘Nuf said about that.
The next day we sat on the red carpet in the bleachers. After the attendees exit their cars, they must have their credentials checked before they can walk the red carpet (which all attendees except for presenters are required to walk). We sat on the shorter stretch of red carpet closest to the street and before the big security tent that all attendees must enter before walking the longer portion of the red carpet that you see on TV.
From this vantage point we could see the attendees drive up and leave their cars. Lots of people you would not recognize drove their own cars (which were valet parked), most arrived in limos (with a few driving up in chauffeur-driven Toyota Prisms). More limos in one place than you could possibly imagine. Eventually, SIX SOLID LANES OF LIMOS as far as we could see. We were told that they bring limos in from Las Vegas just for this one night.
For a long time attendees drifted in slowly but as show time approached, a pretty huge crowd forms waiting to have their IDs checked before they can get into the line on the red carpet to enter the security tent. We then discovered that the A list matters here too. When Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones arrived, for example, security somehow manages to spot them as the exited their limo. They were then escorted through the crowd of academy members, past the ID table, and to the end of the line on the red carpet before the security tent; they did have to wait in THIS line on the red carpet itself.
While in the line all the stars smiled and waived to the bleachers and were applauded in return. No one ignored the stands if their name was shouted out. Unlike the previous night which felt like a real party where we all were dressed casually while standing around side-by-side and queing together for drinks, food, and free Reeboks, this felt like, well, a movie in which they played the waiving movie stars and we played the cheering fans.
Of course, we could not recognize most of the attendees. But I remember one time when three attractive young women were walking in (before the line formed) one of the women started pointing to her friend and shouting to the stands who she was or what movie she was in. Not being recognized by the fans, while others standing next to you are being wildly applauded, must feel humiliating for some of the actors in a very status conscious business. I’ll bet some really hate the red carpet.
I know that, after our experience last year, watching the Oscars on TV will never be the same for us.
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