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Sarah Grothjan

By Sarah Grothjan 8/13/12 11:30am

Movie making

Roman Coppola. (Daniel Torok/PatrickMcMullan.com)

Roman Coppola and Michael Pitt Launch the “Four Stories” Screenplay Competition at the W Downtown

“I’m looking for a strong voice and somebody that’s completely original,” actor Michael Pitt told The Observer last Thursday. “Something crazy. Something I haven’t read before.” He was referring to the benchmark that vying screenwriters must reach in order to nab a winning spot in the Four Stories screenplay competition, of which he is a judge.

A cocktail hour at the W New York Downtown commenced the competition, which beckons burgeoning scribes to submit work in a global contest sponsored by Intel and the W and curated by director Roman Coppola.

Despite the abundance of circulating champagne glasses, we noticed the cocktail-less Mr. Pitt was out of step with of his Boardwalk Empire character, the typically imbibing Jimmy Darmody.

“I learned a very long time ago that when somebody’s got a tape recorder in their hand you shouldn’t have a drink in yours,” Mr. Pitt told us coyly. Read More

By Sarah Grothjan 8/09/12 1:45pm

movie screenings

Jon Abrahams and Mickey Sumner. (Taylor Hill/Getty Images)

Love All Around at the GenArt Opening Night Screening of Missed Connections

“I knew of you,” Jon Abrahams admitted boldly to his Missed Connections costar Mickey Sumner, describing their relationship before making the indie romantic comedy. He turned nonchalantly back to The Observer. “I was stalking her.”

Last night, in a sea of swarming guests and red carpet entrants, The Observer snagged a short cocktail conversation with Ms. Sumner and Mr. Abrahams before they sashayed toward the packed screening at the School of Visual Arts Theater, the first of the week-long GenArt film festival. (Full disclosure: The Observer Media Group is a sponsor of the festival.) Waris Ahluwalia, who plays Pradeep in the film, mingled nearby with other movie patrons as we caught up with Ms. Sumner and Mr. Abrahams.

Though the pair displays palpable chemistry onscreen, we wondered aloud whether it transcended off screen as well. Read More

By Sarah Grothjan 7/25/12 1:55pm

Musical Musings

Fluxblog

“10 Years of Perfect Tunes”: Writers Share Their Favorite Songs at FluxBlog Listening Event (With Playlist)

The seats were filled with the type of people who pair fancy garb with worn sneakers or vintage loafers. Pabst Blue Ribbon, Brooklyn Lager and a couple glasses of wine circulated through the book-rimmed room while several speakers took their respective turns at the mic.

FluxBlog, a unique pinprick on the blogosphere upstarted by Matthew Perpetua (who will start his gig as BuzzFeed’s first music editor next Monday) that satiates the MP3 appetite of the music niche, celebrated its 10 years “of perfect tunes” at Housing Works Monday evening, inviting speakers like Gawker’s former co-editor Emily Gould and an editor at Rolling Stone, Rob Sheffield, to each play a carefully selected single for the relaxed crowd.

“He was like, ‘I’m so excited someone’s going to talk about a song that’s so uncool to admit you like,’” exclaimed Amanda Petrusich, recounting a remark she received from Mr. Sheffield at the start of the evening. Read More

By Sarah Grothjan 7/17/12 3:20pm

The Pen and the Plate

Mr. Anderson reads an excerpt from his book, True Believers

Kurt Andersen and Meg Wolitzer Bond with Readers Over Dinner at New Salon

Wednesday evening, Alison Eighteen played host to 50 guests, hungry for Alison’s cuisine, full wine glasses and the readings from two authors, Kurt Andersen and Meg Wolitzer. It was the first installment of The Pen and The Plate.

The Pen and The Plate is a collaboration by Woodstock Writers Festival and Alison Eighteen, who aimed to create a literary salon series that brings best-selling authors to mingle with fans and read excerpts from their works during a three-course meal.

Martha Frankel, executive director of Woodstock Writers, said the idea to pair books with food came to her after learning that Alison Eighteen was opening a restaurant on 18th Street (after the close of her first restaurant on Dominic Street).

Six white-draped tables seated the guests, with an empty chair placed at each to accommodate the roving authors as they rotated from one table to the next. Feasting and conversation among guests was only broken between courses, when Mr. Andersen and Ms. Wolitzer sauntered to the front of the room to read aloud five-minute excerpts from their published works. Read More

By Sarah Grothjan 7/12/12 1:00pm

Shaking Up Shakespeare

TKTKTKT. (Lee Wexler/Images for Innovation)

Zombie Hunters and Mad Men Gather to Read King Lear to Benefit the Frog and Peach Theatre Company

“No actor likes falling on his ass,” actor Ryan Tramont told The Observer. Especially while under the glare of Emmy-nominated Jeffrey DeMunn, who plays the RV-driving Dale on Walking Dead.

Mr. Tramont, who one might recognize from his appearances on Law & Order and 30 Rock, recounted his on-stage blunder (complements of a missing page in the script) after performing in the Frog and Peach Theatre Company’s celebrity reading of King Lear on Monday, staged to benefit the Shakespeare ensembles’s future performance of The Taming of the Shrew.

“[Mr. DeMunn] is staring at me and I’m like, ‘You’re looking at me for the cue. I’m screwing this up, oh my god,’” he divulged, giving us a peek at an actor’s inner monologue. (For the record, the audience didn’t even notice, and Mr. DeMunn, who read the part of King Lear, told us he didn’t have any problem with Mr. Tramont’s lost script page.)

Despite the slipup, the audience was enraptured by the emotive reading by Mr. DeMunn and other actors, which included BeBe Neuwirth, Darrell Hammond, Rich Sommer of Mad Men, Peter Gerety and Eric Doss. Read More

By Sarah Grothjan 6/27/12 5:20pm

New York in Film

Isaac Mizrahi and Derek Blasberg at W New York Downtown.

Grand Classics “New York in Film” Series Starts with a Screening of Isaac Mizrahi’s Pick: Sweet Charity

Last night, a group a fashion moguls, designers, models and perfectly dressed men and women, made their way to the W New York Downtown hotel to view the first film screening in in the Grand Classics series “New York in Film.”

The evening commenced with a cocktail hour, rife with fashion editors and a lingering music crowd. It was a fitting precursor to the film screening of Sweet Charity–a personal pick by Isaac Mizrahi, a New York fashion icon who knows all about sexy.

“There’s a difference between when you put air quotes around something, and it’s actual meaning, you know what I mean? So it’s like ‘sexy’ is not as good as sexy, and this is a really sexy movie,” Mr. Mizrahi told The Observer, sincerely. Read More