The holidays started early in Tinseltown (and elsewhere), beginning with James Cameron missing his own “Avatar: The Way of Water” Hollywood premiere, knocked down with a bout of COVID and moving on to New York’s first look at “Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody.” Santa turned up at Christina Moore and John Ducey’s “I Believe in Santa” Netflix premiere and there was even a Christmas Con! Meanwhile, Damien Chazelle brought a much less family-friendly flick, “Babylon,” to the City of Angels in another splashy premiere.
“Avatar: The Way of Water”
Dolby Theatre, Hollywood
It was well worth the wait! Disney transported fans into Pandora for the “Avatar: The Way of Water premiere” at the Dolby Theatre. Stepping inside, it was as if you were transported into the breathtaking world created by visionary director James Cameron. Filled with illuminated trees and plants, the setting allowed the lucky attendees to feel as if they had left Earth and entered the forests of Pandora. The scene even included a massive, lit-up waterfall, which was the spot for countless selfies.
But poor Cameron wasn’t on hand to enjoy the wonder, as he was down with COVID, sadly. His wife, Suzy Amis Cameron, led the blue carpeted extravaganza, along with new Disney boss Bob Iger, who’s just recently returned to helm the massive entertainment company once again.
Iger got right into the fray, joining fans of the film who turned out costumed up in their favorite Pandora gear for some selfie action; some fans even went all out blue, transforming themselves into members of the Na’vi people, standing out in the swirling scene of evening gowns and sharp suits as guests chose widely different looks for the much-anticipated premiere experience.
Fans lined Hollywood Boulevard, cheering and shouting as the stars arrived including Zoë Saldaña, Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang and others made the raucous scene.
In a quick chat with TheWrap, Saldaña revealed how her own experiences as a mother prepared her for this sequel. “I just had feelings that I was going through, that I felt were parallel to [my character} Neytiri, good feelings of exhilaration and feelings of fear, and those were things that I was tapping into as a mother that I know for a fact that Neytiri was as well.” – Elijah Gil
“Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody”
AMC Lincoln Square, New York
Director Kasi Lemmons brought her talented cast to the New York premiere of their music-filled biopic “Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody,” with British actress Naomi Ackle leading the way. Ackle stars as Houston, whose life and death is perhaps on of the saddest stories in the history of Hollywood, while Stanley Tucci plays music producer Clive Davis, the man who helped make Whitney a household name.
Davis, the perpetually spry nonagenarian, was also on hand to see Tucci’s performance; the party brought out many friends of the singer whose life was cut way too short because of her addiction to drugs. Co-stars Tamara Tunie (who plays Whitney’s famous-in-her-own-right mother, Cissy Houston), Clark Peters (as her father, John Houston), Nafessa Williams (as Robyn Crawford) and Ashton Williams (as Bobby Brown) also joined in the celebration of the film and of Whitney’s star-crossed life.
“I Believe in Santa”
Warner Bros. Lot, Burbank
It seemed cold enough to snow in Burbank as Santa came to town! That’s why “I Believe in Santa” director Alex Ranarivelo hit the red carpet at the Warner Bros. Studios premiere of the family Christmas comedy wearing a festive red and white sweater — one that we saw turn up later in the movie. “I don’t usually keep things from my films,” he admitted with a laugh at the jam-packed after party, “but I thought this one might just come in handy.” It sure did that night, as everyone was bundled up (or freezing).
The Christmas movie is the latest brainchild of producer Ali Afshar and his EFX Entertainment production company. He, along with Ranarivelo and the powerhouse acting couple of Christina Moore and John Ducey (and a married couple in real life), have been producing, writing and sometimes starring in a series of movies produced for EFX with homes on Netflix, HBO Max and other streaming services.
Moore and Ducey star in “I Believe in Santa” along with youngster Violet McGraw; their holiday flick hit Netflix that night as the clock struck 12 and it’s riding high on the weekly Netflix Top 10 film list as we write, coming in at No. 2 globally. The comedy also stars Lateefah Moore, Sachin Bhatt, sisters Missi and Meredith Pyle and Mark W. Gray as the big man in red. It’s the last in a string of Christmas films that EFX has released this year, including three currently found on HBO Max – “A Christmas Mystery,” “A Hollywood Christmas” and “Hollywood Harmony.”
“We just sit around for hours at John and Christina’s house and come up with the stories and the scripts,” Ranarivelo told TheWrap, “and make fun of each other as we go along! The whole process of making these movies has been a joy.” And is making for a very merry holiday in all their houses, it seems.
“Babylon” World Premiere
Academy Museum, Los Angeles
Writer-director Damien Chazelle enlisted his massive “Babylon” crowd of cast and crew to join the festivities as his three-hour epic ode to early decadent Hollywood premiered at the Academy Museum in Los Angeles. Look one way, there was Brad Pitt, clad in a standard-issue black suit (we preferred the skirt and work boots he wore to the “Bullet Train” premiere earlier this year!), look another and Margot Robbie was wowing the crowds in a belly-baring black ensemble.
Chazelle seems to have sent out the “black clothes memo,” in fact, as the rest of the film’s famous faces mostly went for the funereal tone. Jean Smart and Diego Calva, Tobey Maguire and Olivia Wilde, Eric Roberts and Max Minghella all donned black for the celebration as well, but happily their co-stars Flea (of the Red Hot Chili Peppers fame) and Jovan Adepo added some spice to the scene. Also on hand for the party were more stars of the film: Li Jun Li, P.J. Byrne, Lukas Haas, Olivia Hamilton and Rory Scovel.
TheWrap’s 5th Annual Power Women Summit
Changemakers Dinner
The Proper Hotel, Santa Monica
It was an evening of empowerment and celebration at the 2022 Changemakers dinner celebrating the conclusion of TheWrap’s 5th annual Power Woman Summit. Top female Hollywood movers and shakers both in front and behind the camera joined TheWrap’s founder and CEO, Sharon Waxman, at the Santa Monica Proper Hotel, where she revealed what the event meant to her.
“I like to connect people, it’s one of the things we do at TheWrap, part of our mission is to build community and bring diverse people together,” Waxman told the crowded ballroom.
Thuso Mbedu, breakout star of “The Woman King,” spoke to TheWrap about what it meant to be honored as one this year’s Changemakers. “I’m just grateful, I feel like I’m in a place in life that I can add value to someone else’s life, and it’s always been my intention,” she said. “It’s always been my main mission and to finally be in that place where you can have conversations with women who can make a difference, it excites me.”
“Women Talking” star Claire Foy mused on what the summit and evening’s celebration meant to her. “It’s a really brilliant event,” she said. “There are lots of women who are really inspiring and it feels really great to be a part of this event and to be involved.”
Other powerful women in Hollywood and beyond also made the scene, including Niecy Nash, Christy Carlson Romano, Stephanie Hsu and many more. – Elijah Gil
Academy Sets March Date for 2025 Oscars
Unforgettable: The 20th Annual Asian American Awards
Beverly HIlton Hotel, Beverly Hills
It’s been 20 years since Character Media began putting the spotlight on “Asian Pacific Islander creatives and leaders in entertainment, the arts and culture,” and they did it again in 2022 at the Beverly Hilton, where plenty of familiar faces joined in the party.
Eugene Cordero hosted the bash, which featured Daniel Dae Kim and Lisa Ling as keynote speakers and a crowd of the hottest Asians and Asian Americans working in Hollywood today. Award winners included “Everything Everywhere All at Once” actor Ke Huy Quan, who’s starting to look like the shoo-in for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar, that film’s directors The Daniels (Kwan and Scheinert) and fellow star Stephanie Hsu. Julia Cho, Domee Shi and steven Yuen also took home trophies for their work in Hollywood.
Others in the packed ballroom included Marvel star Simu Liu (looking sharp in Fendi) and Kelly Hu, who made having some gray in her hair look absolutely smashing.
“Armageddon Time” Special Screening
The Roxy Hotel Cinema, New York
As the quest for Academy Award nominations continues right up until Christmas Day (and beyond), lots of big guns are lending a hand at special screenings, receptions and chats being held from Hollywood to New York.
Sean Penn turned up to host a special screening of “Armageddon Time” at New York’s The Roxy Hotel Cinema, touting director James Gray’s film as a distinct contender. Penn, who isn’t involved in the movie, lent his star power to filling the audience; then the film’s star, Jeremy Strong, took to the stage with actor-writer-director (and Oscar winner) Tom McCarthy to share some personal notes about his experience on the shoot.
“James was very permissive, and gave us a lot of latitude and ownership over something that’s so personal to him,” Strong said.
“Armageddon Time” also stars Anne Hathaway, Anthony Hopkins, Banks Repeta, Jaylin Webb and Tovah Feldshuh, who was also on hand for the special screening of the drama.
“In a lot of ways, the movie is about integrity, the impossibility and the difficulty of living with integrity,” Strong added, extolling the movie that already has numerous awards and nominations under its belt as we head toward the Oscar nominations, which are revealed on Jan. 24.
2022 Key to the Consulate Canadian Holiday Party
The Highlight Room at the Dream Hotel, Hollywood
The celebration of everything Canadian at a holiday party hosted by the Consul General of Canada in Los Angeles hit a new high this year, as Consul General Zaib Shaikh took the party to The Highlight Room, way atop the Dream Hotel in Hollywood. There, the ex-pats from our northern neighbor could look out on the L.A. skyline and see the world they left home to conquer.
And the two women honored at the convivial event have definitely taken Hollywood by storm, as Deborah Chow is the go-to director for the “Star Wars” streaming franchise these days, helping to helm both “The Mandalorian” and “Obi-Wan Kenobi” to huge success. That’s why she received the 2002 Key to the Consulate award at the bash, along with Domee Shi, a fellow Canadian who directed and co-wrote Pixar’s “Turning Red.”
“We wanted to celebrate what I love about being Canadian — our quirkiness, our sense of humor and our diversity of backgrounds and cultures,” Shi told the cheering crowd. “With our film, we hope to show that culturally specific stories can be universal experiences everyone around the world can relate to and love.”
“Euphoria” Special Screening
Paramount Pictures Studio, Los Angeles
As Sundays in L.A. go, this was a memorable one on the Paramount Pictures Studio lot, as voting members of the CCA, SAG and other Hollywood types turned out for a special screening and Q&A with the stars of the hit HBO show “Euphoria.” Prior to the unspooling of an episode from Season 2, guests mingled outside the theater nibbling on chicken and waffles, sliders and more.
The episode was full of the show’s usual intense and cringey moments, which kept the audience engaged. And even more engaging were stars Zendaya, Sydney Sweeney, Maude Apatow and Hunter Schafer, who took to the stage for a special discussion about the past season.
Zendaya got things rolling: “What’s so beautiful about the process of ‘Euphoria’ and working with Sam [Levinson, the show’s creator] is that it’s such a collaborative process and I think we’re all finding the characters as we go and breathing life into them.”
The two-time Emmy winner for her work on the show also talked about the fear of not doing the show justice.
“I was terrified to take it on because I feel like it deserved to be taken on in the right way,” she admitted. With a current nomination from the Critics Choice Association adding to the accolades for her work, it seems she made the right choice to take it on. Season 3 of “Euphoria” has not yet been given a release date. – Elijah Gil
That’s4Entertainment’s 3rd Annual Christmas Con
New Jersey Expo Center, Edison, NJ
Move over, ComicCon. For the third year, That’s4Entertainment presented a Christmas Con extravaganza in New Jersey (a place Santa Claus definitely has on his list). Think of all the Hallmark holiday movies you’ve ever watched and then shut your eyes and click your heels to discover that a huge bunch of the stars of those romantic flicks have descended on the Garden State!
Lacey Chabert, Chad Michael Murray, Melissa Joan Hart, Mario Lopez, Danica McKellar and event host Jonathan Bennett led the way, as 30 stars of past holiday movies hit the corridors to sign autographs, take selfies and even saying “Ho Ho Ho” once or twice.
There were panels full of familiar faces including Catherine Bell, James Denton, Bethany Joy Lenz, Jesse Metcalfe and many more, who also discovered what the fans already knew – this Christmas Con is also full of holiday vendors, ready and willing to suggest that perfect present for under the tree. We just hope they were all romantic choices, as Hallmark’s idea of Christmas movies is all about the romance. No vacuum cleaners for the holidays, please!
Inauguration of the Instituto Cervantes
Instituto Cervantes, Los Angeles
It isn’t often that an honest-to-goodness queen turns up in Los Angeles, so when Her Royal Highness Dona Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano, who just happens to be the Queen of Spain, comes to town, it’s a happening.
It was the opening of the new Instituto Cervantes of Los Angeles that brought her over from Europe, as that nonprofit center dedicated to a “mission to promote the teaching of Spanish and the co-official languages of Spain, as well as to foster knowledge of the cultures of Spanish-speaking countries” opened for the first time on Barham Blvd. in L.A.
The queen joined Spanish actors Alessandra Rosaldo and María Valverde, Mexican actors Eugenio Derbez and Kate del Castillo, composer Pedro Osuma and Gustavo Dudamel, the famed conductor and current head of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, in commemorating the center. Also on the scene were L.A.’s Deputy Mayor for International Affairs Erin Bromaghim, U.S. Rep. Linda Sánchez (D-California) and Santiago Cabanas, Spain’s ambassador to the U.S.
Central to the new Instituto Cervantes of Los Angeles is the Pedro Almodóvar Library, which opens in 2023 and will serve as a center for Spanish cinema in Hollywood. The center also features opportunities for learning more about the languages and the culture of Spain, including classes and cultural events.
Luis Garcia Montero, the director of the new institute, told the crowd that the center will be a hub for Hispanic learning and information, saying, “we know we have many stories to tell, to proudly claim our culture and to give more prestige to the Spanish language here in Los Angeles.”
Please send event invitations to Jenny Peters at jenny.peters@thewrap.com