Read TheWrap’s Complete Oscars 2011 Coverage
Over the din of rain pelting the roof, Melissa Leo, Amy Adams, Jacki Weaver and 19 other female nominees huddled up around Women In Film president Cathy Schulman at the Women In Film cocktail party on Friday.
Schulman told the crowd that 41 of the 202 nominees overall are women, “up by one
” from 2010.
She acknowledged David O. Russell (standing front and center within arm’s reach) for “making a movie about fighters that is really all about women.”
(Left, Schulman, second from left, president emeritus Jane Fleming, Amy Adams, and MAC’s John Dempsey, who told TheWrap that he had his beauty line in six of the nine live-action features nominated for Best Picture and most of the makeup on Natalie Portman in “Black Swan.”)
Original screenplay nominee David Seidler told TheWrap he’s been warned by his daughter/date on Sunday night, “Dad, don’t disgrace us — don’t cry.”
Seidler said he was looking forward to getting back to work, “even paying bills, doing dishes, doing laundry” after a long campaign that started for him in Telluride last September.
Berry and the young Hailee Steinfeld crossed paths as the Roof Garden happy hour event was winding down around 7 P.M. and the Soho house staff was turning the room over for another event a little too briskly.
Amidst the blustery winds on the beach during the Spirit awards on Saturday, actors, agents, sponsors, and armies of publicists sought refuge in the backstage tents that needed “flap handlers” to manually hold the doors shut and keep the wind from barreling through.
As (Supporting Male winner ) John Hawkes (“Winter’s Bone”) was telling the audience in the main tent to look up his co-stars and crew on IMDB, one those co-stars, Supporting Female winner Dale Dickey (left), was a one woman cheering squad yelling “Yes! Yes!” while glued to one of the multiple LG mega-screens inside On3Productions’ official suite backstage.
Nicole Kidman and Naomi Watts walked in holding hands minutes later, making a bee line for the LG 3D Cinema displays at the back, where they answered a test-question and signed off to get one of the new 3D panels sent to their homes.
The swag was flowing in “annual-sized” portions, with Jeremy Renner, Rainn Wilson, Anna Kendrick, Vanessa Hudgens and more getting “annual” supplies of Altoids, AMC movies, Crunch Gym memberships (with New Balance Revlite sneakers to break in), and Pure Dark chocolate to indulge in after working out.
Curiously, Renner sported sunglasses inside during the daytime event, the same style choice he made at the BAFTA Tea the day before the Golden Globes.
After the Spirit awards, the Weinsteins held their night-before-Oscar party at Soho House at the same time that Jeffrey Katzenberg hosted his official “Night Before” party at the Beverly Hilton.
As media partner, People Magazine has the exclusive details on the surprisingly laid back (once inside) soiree. With the Weinsteins feeling good about their chances Sunday night, they have quickly added another party for after the show on Sunday night at the Chateau.
Organizers were just starting to reach out to sponsors for integration on Friday night.
Meanwhile, down in Hollywood, it was predictably louder and more raucous. What’s more rock and roll than breaking your instruments?
The “legendary Roots crew” (also Jimmy Fallon’s house band) suffered a broken tuba and various guitar parts after parading in to the Rolling Stone’s Awards weekend party mid-song like they were a New Orleans Brass Band.
From that start, they put on a powerful one hour show for nominee Aaron Sorkin, Sam Trammell, Mark Salling, Sarah Silverman, Joan Rivers, and others, but not 50 Cent.
The rapper/film producer left abruptly after a guest snapped a photo of him on the sly.
Keeping “film” alive at the music heavy event, T-Mobile USA showed off their new 4G phone that comes with nominee “Inception” loaded for free. (I fast forwarded to the “Paris folding” scene and it legitimately looked great.) Sponsorship for the party at Drai’s atop the W came from SKYY Infusions Dragon Fruit.
Hours after his win in Santa Monica, Thierry Guetta (above left) was still sporting the exaggerated “I’m a winner” face at Peter Travers’ Rolling Stone soiree. (Photo by Chris Weeks.)
