Julia and Javier

by Erica Blumenthal

How did I get so lucky to attend the world premiere of Eat Pray Love in NYC? Let’s get straight to the miraculous point: I brushed shoulders with Julia Roberts last night, a serious OMG moment. She’s luminous. Her body and hair, perfect. Her wardrobe, elegant and classic. She wore a black Stella McCartney jacket and black, short Diane Von Furstenberg
shorts and gold Coomi bangles.

Before that, the night was off to a shaky start because my dear friend Kelley, who held my ticket in, was caught in a brutal battle with NYC traffic. So for a while I loitered around the Ziegfeld Theater in the heat and humidity, all dressed up with a place to go but no way in. Then Elizabeth Gilbert, the book’s author and film’s reason d’etre,  emerged in a long ruffled floral frock looking red carpet ready and all  smiles. As much as I tried to keep my excitement in check, that was the moment the night kicked into high gear. Then my ravishing date finally arrived and the night was ready to get started!

Author Elizabeth Gilbert

The movie itself is wonderful– fans of the book will feel indulged. Naturally, some things have changed with its screen adaptation, but I felt they stayed true to Liz Gilbert‘s emotions– from feeling depleted and lost to gaining control of her life and feeling blissfully happy. The male supporting performances by Billy Crudup, James Franco, Javier Bardem, and Richard Jenkins are all incredible.

But enough about the cast. All I can think about after this movie is Italian food. If I could drop everything and go to Italy tomorrow to become a professional pasta and pizza eater I would happily say arrivederci.

After the movie we walked to the Metropolitan Club on 60th St and 5th Avenue for the  celebratory afterparty. Flower pedals everywhere, mountains of pasta and desert, and a quickly moving open bar. We scoped the scene and went into a back room with tables reserved for Roberts, Bardem, Murphy, Jenkins, etc etc. We saw Javier Bardem at his table eating pasta. He is absolutely stunning and watching him eat for a moment was heavenly. In real life, he’s all that more amazing. We kept exploring and stopped dead in our tracks at the sight of Eddie Vedder, who penned a song for the film. Kelley and I found a corner to talk by a grand staircase and I looked up to see Julia Roberts and her husband, Danny Moder. Again, radiant perfection. That’s when our shoulder brush happened. She mingled in the main room and ordered a drink from a very delighted bartender before making her way to her table. There were tons of Food Network personalities in the room and we saw Gail Simmons which all seemed very appropriate given the film’s intense adoration of food.

After hanging around for a couple more glasses of wine and passed appetizers– like mini pizzas (Italy!), samosas (India!), and shrimp fritters (Bali! I think) we sailed out of the party. And in distinctly non-moviestar fashion, I took the subway home, blasting Florence
and the Machine‘s “Dog Days are Over” (the song from the trailer)  all the way to my apartment door.

Eat Pray Love is in theaters this weekend. Do yourself a favor and “let yourself go.”



I’m not actually sure why I liked it so much either. Maybe it was because the movie intentionally played on all the clichés of action/hero movies in the past? Maybe it was all the crude language (the villian’s last name is “Cunth”) and spotlights on Macgruber’s butt? It could have been because neither Macgruber nor Kristen Wiig annoyed me and Ryan Phillippe was adorable. Regardless, there were so many hilarious scenes, like a graveyard sex scene, that you have to see for yourself! Let me know what your thoughts because I think you are going to be surprised too!

From the looks of things, this photo shoot’s a lot sexier than The Bounty Hunter itself. But we haven’t seen the movie yet– we’d love to be proven wrong! We’re definitely not feeling the trailer though.

Meg and Me

If I get invited to one more party packed with celebrities like Robert de Niro and Colin Firth I’m not going. I don’t know how many more nights I can take sharing the same air with good-looking celebrities draped in designer duds and diamonds. And if you haven’t picked up on my sarcasm by now then I’m never taking you to one of these parties with me! Just kidding! I’m kidding about everything, well, just the sarcasm because I had one of the best nights I’ve ever had in Los Angeles on November 5th at the British Academy of Film & Television Arts’ Annual Britannia Awards. Let me break it down for you:

The night started off with a fabulous reception sponsored by Beefeater 24. I went for the “London 24” it consisted of: refined sugar, lemon juice, Beefeater 24 gin and Perrier-Jouet Champagne! Yummy, yum, yum! As I sipped my cocktail (as sophisticated as one can possibly sip) I took in the stunning scene (I’m not talking about you Meg). Beautiful people aside (now I’m talking about you Meg), the Philippe Starck-like furniture and dim lighting set the perfect ambiance for the night that was about to unfold.

I sat down at table 54 to a beautiful plate of tomato, mozzarella and basil awaiting me. Before I even took a bite I overheard (actually, she was intentionally loud, so I overhead nothing!), regardless, I heard, “We are in California, can’t they at least get decent tomatoes?”   Then the entrée, Chicken Wellington, all I have to say is my table started talking about how bad British food is even when you aren’t in Britain.

Celebrity Interlude: Freida Pinto sitting at dinner, GORGEOUS.  Minnie Driver, very pretty and skinny! Benicio del Toro, no comment. Dev Patel, cute! Not cuter than Freida Pinto, but cute! Oh, I stood in line for the ladies room next to Claire Danes, mmmhmm. Jealous? I thought so. Onto dessert! It was divine!  It was a chocolate sponge cake inside hard chocolate…heaven!

The big show! Celebrity galore! Ok, so at the Britannia Awards, BAFTA is basically honoring actors and filmmakers (there are no surprise winners, the honorees know ahead of time). However, there were lots of celebrity surprises!

Arnold Schwarzenegger presented Kirk Douglas with the Britannia Award for Worldwide Contribution to Filmed Entertainment.  Comments: Arnold, surprisingly HOT (please don’t judge me, maybe it was his suit or maybe it was the Beefeater Gin, either way, I liked what I saw). Kirk Douglas was adorable and it was amazing to see someone who has evolved with the movie industry.

Ewan McGregor presented Danny Boyle with the John Schlesinger Britannia Award for Artistic Excellence in Directing. Comments: Ewan, sexy! First thing I looked for was a wedding ring and alas, there was one! Danny, amazing director, I love Slumdog Millionaire and Trainspotting.

Amy Adams presented Emily Blunt with the Britannia Award for British Artist of the Year. Comments: Amy was adorable and truly seemed honored to give the award to Emily. Emily, she looked very pretty and her man John Krasinski (Jim from The Office) is a lot manlier in person and looked very handsome in his tux.

Tom Ford presented Colin Firth with the BAFTA/LA Volvo Humanitarian Award. Comments: If you love fashion then you love Tom Ford, so this was a particularly big moment for me because never in my wildest dreams did I think I would see Tom Ford (sexiest man ever) standing next to my high school love Mr. Darcy (aka Colin Firth). I love you both. I was so impressed by Firth’s humanitarian efforts for Oxfam International and his tenacity in fighting fair-trade. It was lovely to see someone use their celebrity for good and be awarded for it.

Last, but certainly not least, Ben Stiller presented Robert de Niro with the Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award for Excellence in Film. Comments: Ben, very funny and very short. Robert, who is also referred to as “Bob” by friends was humble and gave off a sweet vibe – as an Italian I was very excited about this celebrity run-in, I called Papa Salerno first thing the next morning!

All in all, my celebrity filled evening was a success. Next time maybe Tom Ford can be my date. Hey!  A girl can dream right?

Lauren lives in L.A. and writes about fashion and beauty and everything fabulous. Check out more at glow.com.