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Emma's Gossip
Seen
Around Town
Bill Rancic
(entrepreneur, Trump's first Apprentice,
husband of E! News anchor Giuliana and star of reality show
Giuliana & Bill) in the lobby of my doctor's
building on Sep 3.
'08/'07/'06/'05/'04/'03/'02>>
E-Briefs
November: Brad Pitt was at the
Obama party in Grant Park on Election Night, apparently in town
to tape an Oprah interview.  Jun 7: Where have I
been?...looking after baby I suppose....but how could I have
missed the fact that Johnny Depp was in town last month shooting
Public Enemies at the Biograph Theater on Lincoln Ave?!
'07/'06/'05/'04>>
E-Thoughts: Awards Season
'07
SAG Awards/Jan 28: Again I'm too lazy to write much, so
here are pictures of some of my favourite outfits worn by Helen
Mirren, Cate Blanchett, Eva Longoria, Joy Bryant and Sandra Oh:
Golden Globes/Jan 15: I'm not going to mention much about the
dresses at this year's Golden Globe Awards, just to say that Reece
Witherspoon looked lovely in yellow, Eva Longoria in navy,
Drew Barrymore in very pale pink, Penelope Cruz in black and Demi
Moore in royal blue --
and congrats to Helen Mirren on her two awards.
'06/'05>>
Hoffman & Ferrell at Opening Night
of Chicago International Film Fest
   Oct
5 '06: Mike and I attended the US premiere of Marc Forster's
Stranger Than Fiction at the stunning Chicago Theatre.
First up was the presentation of the Lifetime Achievement Award to
Dustin Hoffman
and a retrospective of his career. On accepting the "Hugo",
he noted that it was two inches taller than
the Oscar statuette; he signed off with "Go Bears!". Then
the double Oscar-winner, who has a supporting role in the film
- which was shot in Chicago and also stars Emma Thompson,
Maggie Gyllenhaal and Queen Latifah - was joined on
stage by the producer,
Lindsay Doran,
and leading man,
Will Ferrell,
who earlier had driven the crowd into a frenzy when he walked the
red carpet.
Late
Show with David Letterman
 Jul
12 '06:
While in New York I went to an early evening taping of CBS's
Late Show at the Ed Sullivan Theatre on Broadway. Having
picked up my ticket (won through a lottery) earlier that day, I
returned at 4.45pm and queued in the rain, but the nice people
there gave me an umbrella before seating me in the heavily
air-conditioned theatre.
After his opening monologue and
a sketch involving the neighboring deli-owner,
David
Letterman chatted with two guests: first comedian and
Rescue Me star
Denis Leary;
and then third baseman for the New York Mets and recent National
League All-Star
David Wright (I
don't usually post pictures of the guests, but Mr D. Wright was
such a cutie: see right).
Finally, there was music from country/folk band
The Wreckers featuring
Michelle Branch and
Jessica Harp.
The View
  Jul
12 '06:
Eager to see the show that I watch every day, I turned up at New
York's ABC Studios early Wednesday morning and was put on the
standby list (there's a year's wait for tickets). I returned
an hour later and was guaranteed a seat for the second taping, so
off I went again, coming back at 11.15am for the 12.45pm taping
(lucky I had time to kill!).
Barbara Walters,
Joy Behar,
Elisabeth Hasselbeck
and special guest co-host Deborah
Roberts of ABC's 20/20 opened
the show with Hot Topics, during which the ladies were
joined by Anya Kamenetz, a
25-year-old Yale graduate and freelance journalist who spoke about
the overwhelming debt facing young people in America (I
purposefully left my copy of her book Generation Debt in
Starbucks!). Next, Shawn,
Marlon and
Keenen Ivory Wayans, the brothers behind Scary Movie,
White Chicks and Little Man, were interviewed on the couch.
Then Barbara's personal make-up artist, Lori
Klein, did a segment
  on
make-up for the ages (at last, free gifts I can use!), and
Dr Donnica Moore answered the most
popular questions women are too embarrassed to ask their
gynecologists.
My Day As An Extra
 Aug 23 '05: A
call-time of 7am brought me to the Chicago Hilton for the start of a long
hot day on the set of
Peyton Reed's The Break-Up. My role, along with 500 or so other extras, was that of
art fair patron. After wardrobe-approval and breakfast (in
that order), we went to Grant Park for the first scene.
John Michael
Higgins (Best
in Show) was the leader of a cowboy ensemble called the Tone Rangers;
he and
Justin Long
(Dodgeball), dressed as an Indian, lip-synched to a song while
we stood in front
of the stage and applauded, walked through the crowd or drifted
away. Next, they shot close-ups of the band while we
roamed around near the fountain as if arriving at or leaving the
fair. Then we were part of the cheering audience once
more while
Vince Vaughn
(a producer) looked on. Back to extras' holding
for lunch, and then it got altogether more exciting
as both Vince and
Jennifer Aniston
were in the next scene. We had to wander between stalls, pausing to look at
the art; of course
everyone tried to get in a shot with one of the stars so it got
quite crowded in front of camera! I spent the time between
takes studying Jen's famous hair (her stylist tweaked it
constantly) and cute outfit,
as seen here
in a magazine article. Finally, we returned to the concert scene for crowd close-ups.
The shoot
wrapped at 7pm; the wrap party was at Bella Lounge and the
House of Blues, where Jen and Vince reportedly continued
their mutual flirtation. Update: The release date for
The Break-Up has been pushed back from February to June 2
'06 in order to compete with the summer blockbusters.
The Lowdown on The Break-Up
 Jun/Jul '05: Tipped off by my
sister who saw Jennifer Aniston filming
at the lakefront, I headed
down there only to find everyone on lunch break.
After a while Jen emerged from her trailer and came over
to meet her fans before going off to rehearse the next
scene (aboard a tour bus in the parking lot). Tiny and
very tanned, she seemed happy to sign autographs and pose for pictures
-
talking of which, check these out!
That afternoon, to the delight of all the sunbathers, she and co-star
Vince Vaughn filmed a scene on North
Avenue beach. A few days later I walked down a residential street in Lakeview
where Jen was filming an apartment building scene; and the following week
Mike and I saw Big Vince in River North where he was
shooting a nightclub scene at Sound-bar. We saw him again a week later
taking a break from filming at a makeshift gallery next to the Gap on Michigan Ave (more photos);
Jen was sitting in the window. Other
filming locations
have included the aforementioned tour bus outside the Wrigley Building, a
tour boat on the Chicago
River, a bowling alley on Fullerton, the Barnes & Noble on Diversey,
a Cubs game at Wrigley Field, Smith & Wollensky's steakhouse and
an Old 97s concert at the Riviera. Update:
A friend of a friend is playing Vincent D'Onofrio's
wife, so I now have Elaine to look out for when this movie comes
out next year, as well as Becky running by in the lakefront scene!
Oprah:
Queen of the Chat Show
 Oct
7 '04:
Caz, Steffi and I went to a taping of the
Oprah Winfrey Show at Harpo Studios (get it?) in Chicago's West Loop.
We sat in a waiting room for a couple of hours during rehearsals,
slightly
apprehensive about what the subject matter might be as recent topics had included 'Emotionally-tortured wives' and 'Can this suburban mom stop
drinking?', before taking our seats
at the back. Oprah
Winfrey,
trim in black, brought on first Julia
Roberts, heavily
pregnant with twins, and then Brazilian supermodel Gisele
Bundchen; the
link being their hairstylist Serge
Normant
- there to promote his new photo book Metamorphosis
- who had made over two of their friends with the help of
make-up artist Laura
Mercier. The
second half of the show featured two performances by the recently-reunited Destiny's
Child (whose new album, Destiny Fulfilled,
is out the day after the show airs in
November) and a chat with those sexy, southern belles Beyoncé
Knowles, Kelly
Rowland and Michelle
Williams, watched from the front row
by their stylist, Beyoncé's
mother Tina Knowles.
Clooney & Co Hit Chicago
 Apr
'04: The Ocean's 12 cast has descended
on Chicago to shoot the new Steven Soderbergh movie, to be
released
December. George Clooney was first seen charming the locals in Lake Forest
then he reunited with Julia Roberts in Winnetka. Matt Damon and Andy Garcia
shot a scene at a Lincolnwood restaurant and went to a Cubs
game on their day off. Uptown's
Green Mill Jazz Club and a Bucktown beauty salon will be
other shooting locations. George and Matt have been seen at Billy Goat's Tavern,
the bar at the Peninsula and - with John Cusack and Jason Patric
- at Tavern on Rush;
most
recently they
attended
a cast party at Gibson's with Brad Pitt, Carl Reiner and Elliott Gould.
So much for
Brad having quit smoking: he was seen having a puff on the terrace
of the Museum of Contemporary Art!
Production moves to Europe at the end of the month. Related
Gossip: The Weather Man with Nicolas Cage and Michael
Caine has just wrapped in Chicago; John Cusack and Billy Bob
Thornton are here filming The Ice Harvest (the
first movie to commit to shooting in Illinois under the first round
of the new tax credit); and exterior scenes for Batman Begins
will soon be shot in the Loop district. Once again, Chicago is the Hollywood of the
Midwest!
The Academy
Awards
 Feb
29 '04:
Could the Oscars get any duller? The LOTR: The Return of the King swept the
board and tied
for most wins ever (11). There were no surprises -
in fact, the winners were the same
as at the Golden Globes. Uma Thurman was the
only red-carpet catastrophe; everyone else played it safe.
Worth a sartorial
mention were a v. tanned Charlize Theron (whose cousin, a former
South African rugby player,
engaged me in conversation on the bus yesterday!), Naomi
Watts, CZJ, Keisha Castle-Hughes, Angelina Jolie, Diane Lane, Liv Tyler (chic in black amidst all the
nude and jewel tones and white) and Nicole Kidman, who redeemed herself after that disastrous YSL
'figure-skating outfit' at the Golden Globes. Last week Mike and I were at the Kodak Theater
on Hollywood Boulevard, where the Academy Awards are now held, to see the Oscar statuettes.
On-Air
With A Hollywood Hottie
 Feb
23 '04: While in LA Mike and I also attended a taping of Fox's
new entertainment show
On-Air with Ryan Seacrest at the Hollywood & Highland
Center.
Despite being among the last to enter the studio, we were seated
in the front row and so quite likely to be on national television. Ryan
Seacrest opened
the show by commenting on the previous night's Sex and the City
series
finale; and entertainment reporter Rosanna
Tavares, wearing
a black tutu-style dress, was in
mourning for the programme. Ryan was joined
on the couch by actress Eliza
Dushku, star of Fox drama Tru
Calling, and then San
Francisco band Train
played a couple of songs from their new CD, My
Private Nation.
It was fun to see behind the scenes of a live TV show, even if
we were constantly being encouraged to laugh, whoop and applaud by the warm-up
guy placed amongst the audience!
The
Screen Actors Guild Awards
 Feb
22 '04: Mike
and I joined the paparazzi in the rain (it reminded me of being at
Cannes!) outside LA's Shrine Auditorium for the
red-carpet arrivals at the SAG Awards. The list of movie
and television stars we saw goes something like this: Clint Eastwood,
Al Pacino,
Alec Baldwin,
Michael Douglas,
Catherine Zeta Jones,
Renee Zellweger, Tim
Robbins,
Benicio Del Toro, Liv
Tyler, Bernard Hill,
Andy
Serkis, Ben
Kingsley, Charlize Theron,
Naomi Watts,
Heath Ledger,
Patricia Clarkson,
Maria Bello,
Marcia Gay Harden,
Diane Keaton, Jake Gyllenhaal,
Andie MacDowell,
Kiefer
Sutherland, Jennifer
Garner, Anthony LaPaglia, Sam Waterston,
Tyne Daly, Peter
Boyle, Brad
Garrett, Patricia
Heaton, Doris
Roberts,
Debra Messing, Sean
Hayes, Megan Mullally, Lisa Kudrow, Matthew
Perry (where were you, Jennifer?),
Kelsey Grammer, David Hyde
Pierce, Jane Leeves, Cynthia
Nixon, Kristin
Davis, Richard
Schiff, Bradley
Whitford and Jane
Kaczmarek. Click
for photos.
Midwest
Movie Premiere at the
Chicago International Film Fest
 Oct
2 '03: My parents accompanied me to the Chicago Theatre for
the Festival's Opening
Night Film, The Human Stain, adapted from Philip
Roth's novel. We made our way through the crowds lining the red carpet in time for the pre-screening
tribute
by
Bill Kurtis
to three-time Oscar-winning director and screenwriter Robert
Benton, who later received the Festival's Lifetime Achievement
Award from Michael Kutza.
To the delight of the audience, Gary
Sinise, one of the film's supporting
actors, donned a Chicago Cubs cap
before speaking animatedly about working with the director. He was joined on stage by fellow cast members
Anthony Hopkins,
Wentworth Miller
and
Anna
Deavere Smith, producer Tom
Rosenberg and the night's honoree.
Here are some pics.
Update: The gorgeous Wentworth Miller went on to star in Fox's
Prison Break.
Gwynnie & Jake
Go Back To School
  Sep
26 '03: Chicago seems to be one continuous film set
these days: no
sooner had the cast and crew of Barbershop 2 left town
than
Oscar-winners Gwyneth Paltrow
and Sir Anthony Hopkins arrived with young
Jake Gyllenhaal
in tow to film Proof (directed by John Shakespeare in Love
Madden) about a woman caring for her mentally-ill
father, a brilliant maths professor. I went to watch the
shoot at the University of Chicago
campus, and saw a scene which featured Gwyneth
and Jake arguing in front of Rockefeller Chapel.
(I wonder whether Chris Martin was waiting in his fiancée's
trailer? They were seen munching on organic turkey burgers
in a Chicago steakhouse a few nights ago, and are said to love our
paparazzi-free town. FYI: the gorgeous Jake is dating
actress Kirsten Dunst.)
Gere
& Lopez Forgo Windy City...
For
Winnipeg
 Sep
4 '03: Having
wrapped filming of Shall We Dance? in Winnipeg, Canada at
the end of August, J.Lo presumably busied herself with last-minute wedding
arrangements while Richard Gere came to town to
shoot the 'L' train scenes needed to give the Chicago-based movie some
authenticity. One of the filming locations was under the
'L' tracks near Mike's work, so we went along to watch: 50 or so extras, dressed for winter, exited the
office building at 333 W Wacker Drive; RG emerged from the
throng and crossed the street to where we stood. In one of
the takes, he was waiting for the lights to change when an unsuspecting cab-driver
stopped to pick him up! Despite his assistant's protests, Richard
Gere stopped to talk to me on the way back to his trailer -
he didn't understand a word I said, but shook my hand nonetheless.
Footnote: Now that Gov. Blagojevich has signed legislation giving filmmakers a tax
break in Illinois, perhaps more
Chicago-set movies will be shot here rather than in Canada
as has become the trend.
Film Festival Honours Nic Cage
 Jul
19 '03: Mike and I
put on our glad rags for the Chicago International Film
Festival's Summer Gala, held in honour of one of our favourite
actors, Nicolas Cage.
After an open bar and silent
auction (we are now the proud owners of an autographed
movie poster!) came a tribute hosted by veteran
journalist
and TV anchor
Bill
Kurtis, which included eulogies from
Norman Jewison
(who directed Cage in Moonstruck),
Tribune film critic
Michael Wilmington,
Sun-Times columnist
Bill Zwecker
and, via video, Cher, Francis Ford Coppola, John Malkovich and
Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert.
When Nicolas
Cage came on stage to accept his Career Achievement Award from
Festival Founder and Artistic Director
Michael
Kutza,
he said he would be filming a movie in Chicago next year and was looking
forward to returning to the city because of
all its great restaurants. Later we saw
him posing for photos in the lobby before being whisked away in a limo past all
the unsuspecting tourists on Navy Pier. It's a pity he
didn't stay on for the live
auction, dancing and fireworks. (See E-Pics.)
The Bachelor Comes To
Town...
With His Fiancée
  May
27 '03: Mike and I showed up at the Bin 36 restaurant on
Dearborn to see Andrew
Firestone
(ABC's The Bachelor) and to purchase some of his
family's wine which he was there to promote. Despite the
long line of single gals waiting patiently to meet him, he seemed
happy to chat to us for as long as we wanted, perhaps because his
mother is English (he told us that she once danced for the National
Ballet and that his grandfather designed Woking Cathedral).
Elsewhere in the restaurant were Andrew's fiancée - and fellow reality TV star
- Chicagoan
Jen Schefft,
190N reporter
Michelle   Alegria and
rejected bachelorette Liz Terzo.
Here's me with America's most eligible
bachelor. Update: Andrew and Jen split six months
later, and she's now TV's new Bachelorette.
Surviving Christmas...
But Not A Chicago Winter!
 Jan
'03: One celeb sighting I failed to make was
Ben Affleck, who was in town filming romantic comedy Surviving Christmas with Christina
Applegate, James Gandolfini and
Catherine O'Hara. J.Lo joined her fiancé in the Windy City, staying, I believe, at
the Peninsula where she is said to have
enjoyed the luxurious day spa. 'Mag Mile' retailers weren't
disappointed, however, as she also found time to hit the stores, spending
$1,200 on Jo Malone perfume in Saks. Jen and Ben visited
Lincoln Park Zoo together, and were reportedly good tippers at an all-night diner in
suburban Skokie. Having shot the obligatory wintry scenes (Millennium Park ice-skaters, Marshall Field's festive windows,
Daley Plaza's Christmas tree, etc), production moved to nearby
Arlington Heights, but the weather proved too cold for Ben (a
Boston native, no less!) and the shoot was
cancelled. Despite rumours that the project might be abandoned
altogether as it just wasn't funny, cast and
crew decamped to California where Chicago was recreated in the warmer climes of
Orange County. Update: Surviving Christmas was released into
theatres in
October '04, debuting poorly and playing on only a few screens three
weeks later ... it was out on DVD by Christmas!
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