| It was hard to find an actor who wasn't wearing some kind of peace pin on Oscar night. But as war invaded the Academy Awards, a few stars were willing to let President Bush finish what's he started.
"We can't go back now," Brad Pitt told us. "We're in this together as Americans. We're going to have to go in and get the job done as soon as possible."
Pitt remains skeptical about "the connection between Saddam and Al Qaeda. Why attack now?" But he respects Bush for "pushing the issue, so people were forced to take a stand." Now that diplomacy has failed, Pitt said, "we have to be productive instead of concentrating on what we should have done. Where do we go from this day forward?"
Joe Pantoliano, who lost his head as Ralph Cifaretto on "The Sopranos," also has embraced the wisdom of decapitating Iraq's leadership.
"I didn't vote for [Bush]," he said. "But now that the war is on, there's something compelling about a photo of hundreds of Iraqis kissing U.S. Marines."
"8 Mile" star Brittany Murphy sent kisses to An Nasiriyah.
"Thank you to the troops and to their families," said the barracks pinup. "USMC - Semper Fi!"
No comedy for Ameri-max
Miramax co-chairman Harvey Weinstein ordered up some patriotism on Oscar eve at the party for his battalion of nominees.
Before the war, Weinstein planned to carry on his company's tradition of comic sketches. There was supposed to be a "Dating Game" spoof in which Daniel Day-Lewis would have been dragooned into playing Salma Hayek's character, Frida Kahlo.
But the comedy was canned. Instead, Michael Feinstein performed a number of songs from "Chicago." He also invited everyone to join him in singing "God Bless America." Guests, who included Hayek, Bono, "Chicago" supporting actor John C. Reilly and Richard Gere, raised their voices with varying degrees of gusto.
"Everyone has to find their own way," Day-Lewis told us afterward. "I think many people have ambivalent feelings."
Not that he appears so ambivalent. What would his murderous, flag-bandaged "Gangs of New York" character, Bill the Butcher, think of the bloodshed in Iraq?"Oh, he'd be all for it," said the actor, holding the hand of his 4-year-old son, Ronan. "He'd be the perfect poster boy for Bush."
Moore on Iraq
Other Hollywood war opponents have stepped up their strikes at the White House.
"You have to speak out even louder now," Oscar-nominated filmmaker Michael Moore told us. "The best way to make sure no American boys and girls are killed is to bring them home."
Moore, whose antigun documentary, "Bowling for Columbine," takes its title from the Colorado high school where two students killed 13 people and wounded 20 others before killing themselves in 1999, told the crowd at Saturday's Independent Spirit Awards: "The lesson for the children of Columbine this week is that violence is an accepted means by which to solve a conflict."
We told Moore that Canadian Jim Carrey was due to protest the war by dropping out as presenter. "Jim Carrey isn't a citizen, and we'll be removing his green card immediately," quipped the Spirit winner.
Julianne Moore, who won a Spirit for her star turn in "Far From Heaven," said she and her fiancé, Bart Freundlich, "teach our children not to fight. Fighting's not the answer.
"Secretary" star Maggie Gyllenhaal said the war was about "oil and imperialism."
Derek Luke, who won a Spirit Award for his role as a troubled sailor in "Antwone Fisher," declined to send a message of support to members of the U.S. Navy in the Gulf. "I don't want to get into politics," he told us.
Director John Waters suggested the Bush administration needed new writers. "I mean 'shock and awe?'" said the king of trash filmmaking. "It sounds like one of my movies."
Unworried about charges of Hollywood frivolity, the Spirit Awards emcee joked, "Saddam Hussein, George Bush - no one will stop me from getting my gift bag!"
Side dishes
Susan Sarandon has been lobbying to bring some charity to future Oscar ceremonies. When she wasn't shopping at Anand Jon for her presenter dress, Sarandon was pressing Academy honchos to turn the show into a benefit. She's suggested Doctors Without Borders ...
Elizabeth Taylor, gracing a pre-Oscar party, was met by a fan who said, "I've seen all your movies." Replied La Liz: "Oh, you poor thing"...
When he's not playing moody psychos, "Catch Me If You Can" star Christopher Walken paints - just for himself. The abstract works "are very large," he said. "I just wrap them up when they are finished, and I store them in a warehouse. Painting by actors is nothing special. I will never show them. No one would like them. They are no good." He adds: "I got my start as an actor when I was only 14 months old. I posed naked snuggling with two cats for a series of calendar pictures, which were a big success" ...
Richard Gere is keeping his song-and-dance talent from the Dalai Lama. Asked if he'd be sending a DVD of "Chicago" to His Holiness, Gere told us: "No, I don't think he cares at all" ...
Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson checked out Gucci designer Tom Ford's new Chalon Drive house at a party before the Oscars. Ford and partner Richard Buckley also showed the black- and-white minimalist spread to slimmed-down Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen, Kelly Lynch, Cornelia Guest and lawyer Richard Golub.
Surveillance
Joan Rivers refused to let the war lower her glam quotient. She borrowed an $8 million Harry Winston canary 75-carat diamond on a diamond chain. Also availing themselves of Winston's rocks were Steve Martin, Queen Latifah, Anjelica Huston and Sissy Spacek ...
Jade Jagger came solo to Hollywood to promote Garrard gems. Her romance with Pharrell Williams is said to have lost its luster.
Source: Daily News Daily Dish | |
