From Creative Coalition, a Hollywood Boost
Friday, February 2, 2007; Page C03
Does the Creative Coalition seem just a little more glittery now that the Democrats are back? The group of stalwart Hollywood activists co-hosted a party with Capitol File at B. Smith's restaurant Wednesday and produced some new names who, if not full-on A-list, at least gave off some Us Weekly-type heat.
Sure, Heather Graham and Alan Cumming were also promoting a movie here, but both took turns (along with Wendie Malick, Ernie Hudson and Fran Drescher) reading the Constitution out loud, Cumming's Scottish accent somehow stretching the word "construed" to about six syllables.
Tim Daly said he had been meaning to join the group since running into prez Joe Pantoliano at Sundance some time back. He was impressed by the day's meetings on Capitol Hill: "It feels like there's a coming wave of issues that are going to break through." Then he kindly fielded our geek-fan queries about his new-but-sadly-doomed series "The Nine" and his spooky performance as David Koresh in a '93 TV movie. (Yes, we remembered.)
Meanwhile, Graham (lithe in a silk flower-print dress) was buttonholing industry reps to complain about trouble getting a PG-13 rating for her film "Gray Matters." Seems the ratings folks got riled about a scene with her lesbian character fantasizing about a semi-topless woman. Why do they balk at sexuality, she wondered, while okaying all kinds of blood-and-guts?
HEY, ISN'T THAT . . . ?
Morgan Fairchild at the Four Seasons yesterday with Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson. The actress, in town for the Creative Coalition festivities, was in a long brown sweater and jeans with the high-security-clearance fun couple; they lunched on soup, salad and a shared mushroom risotto.
LOVE, ETC.
City Hall triangle: San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom apologized yesterday for an affair with the wife of his campaign manager. "I want to make it clear that everything you've read is true, and I'm deeply sorry about that," said Newsom. The campaign aide, Alex Tourk, quit Wednesday after he confronted the mayor about the affair with Ruby Rippey-Tourk, which took place during Newsom's 2005 divorce from Fox News host Kimberly Guilfoyle. More recently, the mayor, 39, has been linked with student Brittanie Mountz, 20, and actress Jennifer Siebel, 32.
THIS JUST IN . . .
The fashion police came to the rescue of World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz, who made worldwide headlines by revealing his holey socks at a mosque in Turkey last weekend. A Gold Toe rep delivered 21 pairs of dress socks to his office yesterday (labeled "rush delivery"), Turkish sock manufacturers mailed a dozen pairs, and employees also presented him with a pair.
The Motion Picture Association of America has snared two Oscar nominees, Will Smith and Clint Eastwood, for its "Business of Show Business" symposium in D.C. Tuesday. Smith's headlining the breakfast panel; Eastwood's receiving the first Jack Valenti Humanitarian Award.
The seventh and final Harry Potter book will be released at midnight of July 21, author J.K. Rowling announced yesterday. "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" will complete the story of the boy wizard, which has sold more than 325 million copies in 64 languages. Start stocking up tissues: Rowling has warned she'll kill off two main characters . . . Meanwhile, 17-year-old actor Daniel Radcliffe, who shot to fame as Potter in the movie adaptations, is nakedn the posters for the play "Equus" on London's West End. "I hope people will stop and think, 'Maybe he can do something other than Harry,' " he told Newsweek.
