Then You Do the Actor Thing

The Scene: Wednesday’s celebrity screening of Universal’s “Heart and Souls” at the Motion Picture Academy’s theater. A party in the lobby followed the screening. One guest dubbed the comedy about four ghosts who come back to resolve their lives, “It’s a Wonderful Afterlife.”

Who Was There: The film’s star, Robert Downey Jr. with his very pregnant wife, Deborah Falconer; co-stars Elisabeth Shue and Kyra Sedgwick, with husband Kevin Bacon; director Ron Underwood; producers Nancy Roberts and Sean Daniel; plus 1,000 guests including Marisa Tomei, Cathy Moriarty, Angela Bassett, Ed Begley Jr., Samuel Jackson and Universal execs Tom Pollock, Perry Katz and Casey Silver.

Ambience: Schmooze gridlock. Putting 1,000 guests into the Academy lobby is like squeezing the population of Manhattan onto Catalina.

Fashion Statement: Downey came in a bright green blazer that made him look like the winner of the Masters golf tournament. In an odd kind of way it went with the Tootsie Pop he was sucking as he arrived.

Chow: The film is set in San Francisco and the menu from Along Came Mary reflected the Bay City’s appetites: Chinese dumplings, pizza, fried calamari and sundaes with Ghiradelli chocolate.

Quoted: Downey, on being the focus of attention at a movie premiere, “It’s a little sweaty and it makes me a little nervous. You just can’t watch the movie. Afterward you have to do The Actor Thing. It takes a lot of energy. It’s very psychically demanding.”

Also Quoted: “You know how they call Broadway the Fabulous Invalid?” said one studio exec, discussing Hollywood’s current hot box office. “Well, if the movie industry is in decline, then this was the summer of its remission.”

The State of the Media: E! Entertainment Television sent two film crews. One to ask arriving guests questions about Heidi Fleiss, the other to ask the stars about the movie. One guest compared being in Fleiss’ book to being on Nixon’s enemies list. “It’s like it’s an insult if you’re not included,” he said.