Root Beer Is Back; Starbucks Cuts PricesPlus: rumors of financial troubles for David Bouley, and Stephane Beck arrives at the Pierre, all in our morning news roundup.
‘In Touch’ Buys Angelina’s PregnancyBrad Pitt and Angelina Jolie laughed at a Best Western sign on 49th and Lex. Jennifer Aniston bought a condo in the financial-district building that used to house the Chase Manhattan Bank office. Secret Service agents protecting Jenna Bush while she taped an appearance on The Early Show mistakenly locked themselves out of their car. Russian billionaire heiress Anna Anisimova debuted her new breasts at Russell Simmons’s surprise birthday party. In Touch wanted to run the story, “Is Angelina Jolie Pregnant,” so they bought up a bunch of pictures of her with a flat stomach so no one else could use them. Production on Sex and the City the movie had to be stopped a few times because Evan Handler, a.k.a. Charlotte’s bald husband, had the chronic hiccups.
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Inventing Drama at the ‘Sleuth’ PremiereLike any good red-carpet watcher, at the premiere of Sleuth, we did our best to sniff out some drama between stars Jude Law and Michael Caine, director Kenneth Branagh, and writer Harold Pinter. With all those egos on one set, sparks must have flown! But apparently, unlike catty actresses, men can get along on a set. “They’re extremely funny and easy to work with,” said director Kenneth Branagh, as Caine and Law told us they “loved” each other. Well, fine. They all “love” screenwriter-playwright Harold Pinter, too, apparently. “Thirty years ago, I did a monologue from a Pinter play for my audition for drama school, and it’s taken me 30 years to meet the guy and work with him, and it was a real thrill,” Branagh told New York. “When I knew him, he was an actor called David Baron,” Caine said, one-upping Branagh (ooh, let’s project some tension here!). “He decided to write plays, and he thought, ‘I’ll use my real name,’ he told me, which is Harold Pinter,” Caine explained. “And so I did his first one, and then he wrote all this great stuff, and I wasn’t in any of it!” Caine says that though he and Pinter are friends, this is only the second of the famous scribe’s works he’s performed in. “I thought, I’m the one who started you, and then no one gave me any more,” he said. “I was sort of pissed off!” Yeah, that’s right. Fight, fight, fight! –Bennett Marcus
Find more photos and chatter from Bebe Neuwirth, Joan Collins, and others at our complete coverage of Sleuth’s New York premiere.
