Hollywood Shows Home Is Where It's Free

By Elizabeth Snead

Fashion Wire Daily LA December 5, 2002 - Two big events in one Hollywood night! Well, sort of.
There was a low-luster star turnout for the LA premiere of Roman Polanski's new film "The Pianist" at the Loews Cineplex in Century City benefiting the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony and the National Foundation for Jewish Culture.
The film, based on a true story of a talented Jewish pianist who survived WWII in a Warsaw ghetto, was feted with a huge bash in Cannes last May and even took home the film festival's coveted Palme d'Or award.
But at Wednesday night's event, only the film's stars Adrien Brody and Thomas Kretschmann -- along with Simon Rex, Fran Drescher, Martin Landeau and Bruce Vilanch -- walked the red carpet.
Jack Nicholson and his sometime love, Lara Flynn Boyle, wearing a chic white wool coat with black heels, literally ran into the theatre without talking to anyone. Boyle later came outside for a smoke but was barely able to hold the cigarette in her huge collagen-injected lips. She took a few pained puffs and then ducked back inside.
But across town, the stars turned out in droves for the VH1 "Big in 2002" awards show at the Grand Olympic Stadium. And many of them took time in between commercial breaks to do a little celebrity-style Christmas shopping. Hot couples Kid Rock and Pamela Anderson, Bo Derek and John Corbett, along with Ritchie Sambora, Nora Jones, Andy Dick, Christina Aguilera, Jill Hennessey, Jessica Alba, Brittany Murphy, Michael Imperoli and Kelly Osbourne stopped by the freebie tent sponsored by Backstage Creations to check out Bella Dahl cords and jeans, Red Monkey leather and brass belts and watches, Eisbar sportswear, Baliton French athletic shoes, exotic silver jewelry from Lois Hill, shades from Calvin Klein and Cassey Maxwell's new bath line and patented moisturizer.
For the VH1 show, companies paid a fee to the organizers to have a booth in the Talent Retreat tent. Stars get to come in and pick whatever they like for free and most of them were happy to pose for photos with their chosen gifts.
Rock picked out a pair of Bella Dahl low-rise lace up jeans for Pammie, while Sambora, a close pal of Dahl designer Steve Joina, grabbed their star logo sweats for wife Heather Locklear who "lives in them." Aguilera loved BD's white low rise jeans and Bo Derek wore her bum-hugging BDs on the red carpet with her "Sex and the City" sweetie John Corbett. Hey, these pants clearly work for her. She's 50-something, he's in his early 40's.
Rock and Sambora also grabbed silver cuffs (around $500 each) for their sweeties (see them on www.loishill.com), as well as cool hefty chains for themselves.
All the celebs got free one-year memberships to the haute new Manhattan designer gym, Clay, (soon to open in Hollywood), two round trip business class trips to London on Virgin Airlines and a free weekend at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas.