Scene Magazine » Alec Baldwin

To Do Friday: Memoirs of a Gala

Daniel D'Addario — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 08:00:39 -0400

We’ve been Out East for a couple of weeks (we’re “working remotely”—checking emails at 1 p.m. and segueing into cocktail hour!), and wouldn’t you know it, all of our trashy beach reads are depleted. We’re especially craving a new memoir by someone like Paris Hilton (Confessions of an Heiress was way too long ago!), and “Celebrity Autobiography,” a reading at Guild Hall, will likely scratch that itch, as the likes of Alec Baldwin, Christie Brinkley and Tovah Feldshuh read from the literary works of Vanna White, Sylvester Stallone and the Jonas Brothers. Don’t make too much fun, Alec—we haven’t forgotten that book you put out about the Kim Basinger years!

Guild Hall, 158 Main Street (East Hampton), 7pm and 9pm, tickets and information can be found at guildhall.org.

To Do Saturday: Hamptons Double-Header

Daniel D'Addario — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 09:00:01 -0400

We’ll be lazing around the manse today, awaiting delivery of the antiques we snapped up yesterday—but we’re just conserving energy, as we have a busy evening ahead! The artist Ross Bleckner is hosting a benefit for the AIDS Community Research Initiative of America at his home; the Champagne, we understand, is provided by Veuve Clicquot. Meanwhile, the recently wed Hamptons International Film Festival big cheese Alec Baldwin is to present Detropia, a documentary about the city of Detroit’s attempts to rebound from calamity. The ironically staged screening, at East Hampton’s Guild Hall, is to feature a discussion afterward with Mr. Baldwin and the filmmakers.

ACRIA benefit at Ross Bleckner’s residence (Sagaponack), 6pm cocktails on the lawn, 8:30pm dinner in the studio; tickets and information can be found at acria.org. Detropia screening, Guild Hall, 158 Main Street (East Hampton), 8pm; tickets and information can be found at guildhall.org.

Woody Allen Had to Accept His Oscar, and More Notes from the To Rome With Love Premiere

Daniel D'Addario — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 14:00:12 -0400

Woody Allen (Patrick McMullan)

Last night, Woody Allen and wife Soon-Yi Previn arrived promptly for the The Cinema Society, Piaget, and Hollywood Reporter-hosted screening of Mr. Allen's new European romp, To Rome With Love; while star Penelope Cruz sipped a soda nearby and paparazzi-embattled star Alec Baldwin breezed past the press into the theater, Mr. Allen walked the rope line of journalists, Ms. Previn trailing closely behind.

Given the sheer volume of stars with whom Mr. Allen has worked--in this film alone, Mr. Baldwin, Ellen Page, Jesse Eisenberg, Greta Gerwig, and Ms. Cruz--we asked Mr. Allen who'd done the best job of playing "the Woody Allen part." You know, the shy young nebbish Owen Wilson played in Midnight in Paris or that Mr. Eisenberg played in this film? Mr. Allen demurred: "They're very different! Owen Wilson is a sweet kid from Texas, speaks slowly, serves my script great! I would have played that part, but Owen played it better than I ever could have. Jesse Eisenberg is a fast mover, talks kind of like me--and he was great!

"The truth is they're both better actors than me. I'm a writer who can play his own material. They're actors who can play Chekhov."

Mr. Eisenberg is a new casting call for Mr. Allen, but this is the director's second film with Penelope Cruz (and the first, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, won her an Oscar.) Is she his latest "muse"?

"She called me before I went to Barcelona and said, 'If you're making a movie in Barcelona, I want to be in it.' So I said 'Great!' Then she called me and said 'I speak Italian perfectly.' So I wrote this part for her." He mused that Ms. Cruz speaks French perfectly, too--perhaps a return to Paris, with Ms. Cruz in tow, is in the future.

We'd have asked, finally, where Mr. Allen keeps his recently procured Oscar, for writing Midnight in Paris, but we weren't even sure he had it--as is his wont, the director skipped the ceremony. "They mailed it to me! You can't avoid them."

Mr. Allen's star, Ms. Gerwig, told us that she'd made unnecessary preparations for the part: "Well, I'm a nerd--sort of professionally. It was originally called The Bop Decameron, so I read The Decameron. No relation! Didn't need to do that. That was unnecessarily dorky. I got those audio book on tapes to learn Italian, and I'd repeat the phrases while on the elliptical machine. I looked insane!"

The screening (to be followed by a party, held, less-than-fortuituously given the heat, in the sweltering Casa Lever Gardens, though guests remarked how preternaturally cool Julianna Margulies looked in the air-conditioned indoors) began with Letty Aronson, producer, thanking the cast by name. "Am I forgetting anyone?" she asked.

"Woody!" an attendee shouted.

Ms. Aronson noted that she'd thanked Woody effusively.

"Woody Harrelson!" the attendee rebutted.

Woody Harrelson is one of the few stars not in To Rome With Love.

At Last Night’s New York Premiere, We Found the True Stars of Rock of Ages: the Simian Sidekick, Mary J. Blige’s Weaves, and Tom Cruise’s Belly

Spencer Rothman — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 14:15:59 -0400

Rock of Ages director Adam Shankman, Padma Lakshmi and star Julianne Hough. (Paul Bruinooge/PatrickMcMullan.com)

Something you should know: Showgirls is one of our favorite films. It isn't a cinematic masterpiece, but it's always fun to watch and count how many times Elizabeth Berkley storms out of the room flailing. Should you choose to watch the new Tom Cruise vehicle Rock of Ages adapted from the Tony-winning musical of the same name, I highly suggest having similar expectations.

Last night The Observer headed to the Landmark Theaters Sunshine Cinema for the New York premiere of the film, attended by leading lady Julianne Hough and director Adam Shankman.

Mr. Shankman made the following pronouncement before the film rolled: "I just want to let you all know that this movie was made all out of fun. Everyone sing along! Please, dance in the aisles! The theater is going to kill me for saying this, but someone pull a chair out of the ground and throw it at the screen in true rock and roll style!"

Ms. Hough explained further, "We were actually paid shit [to make the film], but it really was all made out of fun."

Immediately after their introduction, Mr. Shankman and Ms. Hough ran up the stairs to greet John Waters who sat directly behind us.

“I can’t believe you actually came! Oh my god! This is so great! This is John Waters!”

A publicist ran over to Mr. Shankman and pried the still-on microphone from his hands.

We had previously scoped the bizarre W magazine cover featuring Tom Cruise flaunting his Stacee Jaxx tattoos and reemergent six pack, and were deeply disappointed to discover that appeared to be nothing more than a careful Photoshop job. Throughout the film Mr. Cruise's mildly protruding stomach was more of a distraction than his monkey sidekick (whom the woman seated next to us loved so much that she insisted on slapping her knee and then grabbing our knee with glee every time the little guy appeared on screen.)

Other highlights: Paul Giamatti reprised his role as what another reporter on the carpet described as “that creepy entertainment business guy from that Frankie Muniz movie where he’s blue.” We refrained from telling her that was another of our other favorite bad films to watch. Catherine Zeta-Jones thrusts in a Nancy Regan style pantsuit. During the end credits there was more applause for the monkey then for Ms. Hough.

But overall, the film is fun and we’ll probably end up buying the soundtrack. Mary J. Blige was the musical highlight, and also rocked approximately thirty different weaves in her role as the owner of a Sunset Strip strip club. But remember: go to the theater in the mood to watch monkey sidekicks and hear Journey songs and you won’t be disappointed.

The evening, sponsored by the Venetian in Las Vegas, continued at an afterparty at Sons of Essex. We helped ourselves to a combination pizza salad and a dangerously delicious Red Bull cocktail and were approached by a waiter who leaned over to ask if any big names were attending that weren’t involved with the film. I mentioned that the girl from the T-Mobile commercials was there, and a girl who may or may not be Ali Lohan. He wasn’t pleased to hear that. Later, a man walked in and a woman standing next to us insisted that he was Alec Baldwin.

It wasn’t Alec Baldwin.

To Do Thursday: Dancing Tweens

Daniel D'Addario — Thu, 03 May 2012 08:45:50 -0400

Alec Baldwin (Getty Images)

Our feet are sore from all that skating (those skates pinch!), but thankfully our dancing shoes are forgiving. The National Dance Institute celebrates its 35th anniversary tonight, and we’d never pass up an opportunity to meet honorary chair Alec Baldwin. His voice ... it’s so mayoral! The evening features a performance by the kids who study at NDI as well as a presentation by Barbara Walters, whose daily chatfest on ABC gives the dance world a run for its money on the catfight index. But no worries—tonight’s all about the kids!

Best Buy Theater, 1515 Broadway, 6pm; tickets and information can be found at nationaldance.org.

Alec Baldwin, Martin Scorsese, and Spike Lee Walk Into a Tisch Benefit…

Drew Grant — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 12:24:34 -0400

Last night, NYU's Tisch School of the Arts held its 2012 Gala, the theme being Ordinary Miraculous. Big name stars like Martin Scorsese and Spike Lee dropped in to congratulate Dean Mary Schmidt Campbell on her 20th year at the school, but of course all anyone was paying attention to was the size of Alec Baldwin's fiancee Hilaria Thomas' wedding ring.

Maybe that's why Ms. Thomas chose to hold her hand over her stomach all evening...though it could certainly fuel some pregnancy rumors for the newly-engaged couple.

(Photos via Patrick McMullan)