HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_012703.jpg

a I i Chloe Malle and 4s= Candice Bergen Anderson Cooper Diane Von =a . Furstenberg a4 Jon Hamm and Inifer Westfeldt Lynn Wyatt Crawford, Claire Danes and Hugh Dancy, Darren Aronofsky, director John Wells, Kerry Washington, Piers Morgan, Rachel Zoe, Sean Parker, Zack Braff and Leonardo Dicaprio with Bar Rafaeli. Speech filmmakers are function- ing on high anxiety. SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 27 Producer Donna Gigliotti is my date to the awards. We are both so nervous we arrive at the Kodak Theater at 3 p.m. and nobody is there. We are driven around for an hour. When we arrive back at the world’s most famous red carpet, I guide Donna through security check-in to the extreme right to make sure we get on camera. I teach her the red carpet hustle, which is five steps forward, three steps back, one inch behind a couture-clad nominee. We greet Kevin Huvane as Sandra Bullock is talking to ABC-TV and a billion people see me wearing a black Marchesa gown. Five steps forward, three steps back, we next meet Gwyneth Paltrow, and I hook up the back of her dress while another billion people see me correct the fashion malfunction. Five steps forward, three steps back, were now posing behind Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban. Our Blackberrys begin buzzing; the world has seen us. James Franco and Anne Hathaway are hip hosts. This is the year of no surprises. But it isn’t until Hilary Swank yells out Hooper’s name for Best Director that Harvey’s gang finally realizes they are getting the Oscar for Best Picture after all. Harvey is sitting in Spielberg’s seat as Spielberg announces the win from the stage. Producers Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin leap up and kiss each other. Six months of grueling work have finally paid off. King George VI and Harvey Weinstein now share the journey of a single man who triumphs over adversity. At the Governor’s ball, held above the Kodak Theater, the winners triumphantly sachet around the room holding their heavy eight-pound gold statues. An hour later there is a migration to the Vanity Fair party hosted by Graydon Carter at Jeff Klein’s Sunset Tower Hotel. The invitation features a gold hologram that trans- mits a radio frequency of a photo and details about the guest to VF staff as they arrive. The next day “Page Six” will report that the backup private security firm is run by a former Israeli operative, when in fact they are Irish Catholics from Staten Island. There’s a hierarchy of arrival times. At 5 p.m. the inner circle of Graydon’s 141 best friends attend a seated dinner. They include Barry Diller and Diane von Furstenberg, Francis Ford Coppola, Jon Hamm and Jennifer Westfeldt, Betsey Bloomingdale, Tory Burch and Lyor Cohen, Carolina and Reinaldo Herrera, VWren Scott and Sir Mick Jagger, Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber, Wendi Stark, George Hamilton, Judd Apatow, Jackie and Joan Collins, Donna Karan and Steve Martin. The best and the brightest talent in town arrive at 9 p.m. Every single winner shows up. Also there are Justin Bieber and his date Selena Gomez, Michelle Williams, Emma Stone, Steve Tyler and Liv Tyler, Andrew Garfield, Jude Law, Armie Hammer, Vera Farmiga, Donald and Melania Trump hy Saal * la“ Kevin Spacey, Charlize Theron, Anne Hathaway, Winter’s Bone star-of-tomorrow Jennifer Lawrence, Taylor Hackford Fran and Helen Mirren, Scarlett Johansson, Isla Fischer and ‘e>owitz Sasha Baron Cohen, Tom Hanks, Sean Penn, Renee Zellweger and Bradley Cooper and Jane Fonda after her play, 33 Variations. I introduce Melania and Donald Trump to David O. Russell as The Trumpster gushes about The Fighter. David tells Donald he used to be a waiter/bar tender at many of Trump’s parties. Donald smiles as if looking at yet another apprentice. He then offers me a ride home on his plane; he’s leaving in 10 minutes. Too bad James Franco didn’t know because he is presently sitting on a commercial flight back to school, skipping his own after-party. The rest of the guests’ social standings are determined by half-hour increments. VF's Beth Kseniak, Matt Ullian and Jane Sarkin tell me the list is cut down to 800 this year. At 11:30 p.m. there is another celebrity migration up the hill to Madonna manager Guy Oseary’s house. Earlier in the Chace | Crawford evening, Madonna came down the hill to pose in a risqué see-thru outfit with daughter Lourdes. Madonna and co-host Demi Moore are able to lure the créme de la creme with the promise of dancing and no cameras. A winner’s work is never done. Colin Firth, Tom Hooper and David Seidler show up at 4:30 a.m. at The Four Pa Seasons Hotel for a live broadcast on “The Today Show” | Functioning on an adrenalin rush, they return to the Kodak Theater with Geoffrey Rush to appear on Oprah’s live broadcast. By the end of this year’s thrilling race between two great producers—Scott Rudin and Harvey Weinstein— Facebook and Twitter are credited for aiding political justice from the streets of Cairo to Tripoli. But the British film with the most heart wins as one single human voice can still make a difference. The king has spoken. # 1 | HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_012703