It’s award season. Staten Island’s best dishcloth wiper could probably grab a statuette.
This year it began with the Gotham Awards and with downtown Cipriani’s David Dougherty re-stocking my canapes and drinks — even if Bernie Sanders won a makeover, I wouldn’t have cared.
A tribute went to Rachel Weisz for “The Favourite.”
It’s about Britain’s 18th-century queen and Her Majesty’s court females pleasuring other females. We’re talking petty meanness and petticoats.
“Wearing those costumes took strength. They pulled the corsets so tight, so hard, you could feel the stays which actually left lines on my body. We shot 10 weeks in Hatfield House, a north-of-England Elizabethan mansion, and were allowed to touch only certain things. Antique guns was another difficulty. Gun powder kept getting in your eyes.”
Tributee Willem Dafoe, who played Vincent van Gogh in “At Eternity’s Gate”: ”I actually read his letters, which were available through his biographer. Van Gogh lost his ear but never his focus, which was always his art. When painting, he was in ecstasy.
“Director Julian Schnabel taught me how to hold a brush in my hand. How to mix the colors. How to make mark by mark. I actually had to learn to paint.”
Tom Bernard and Michael Barker, of Sony Pictures Classics, brought us “The Wife” starring Oscar-worthy Glenn Close. Say hello, and Tom says: “A Palm Springs festival’s honoring Glenn.” Say hi to Michael, and it’s: “A Santa Barbara festival’s honoring Glenn.” Say bye, and it’s “On Monday, the Museum of the Moving Image is honoring Glenn.”
Our governor’s live-in lady Sandra Lee about her Made in NY award: “It’s for the documentary about my 2015 surgery. The diagnosis and post-op was tough. I took time for me, but to overcome difficulties it’s important to not just focus on yourself. Though I gained a dozen pounds, I did learn to do for others.”
Best actor Ethan Hawke wore a cream-colored suit: “Brioni. Back to the store tomorrow. Paul Dano and I start our new Broadway play ‘True West’ at the Roundabout tomorrow, so I can’t get too drunk tonight. My film ‘First Reformed’ is doing great, but without marketing millions behind it, you can’t connect and become commercial. Small movies get caught in the undertow.”
PR wrangler Emily Maroon collared Kieran Culkin, who said: “I never did TV before. People like HBO’s ‘Succession.’ The response is positive. They actually wanted me for a different character, which wasn’t for me, so I asked to read for this other part. If I like a film, I don’t care what’s with it afterward. It’s out of my hands. But I know we’re doing a second season.”
Interesting was watching everyone. Like seeing a long evening gown over sneakers. And New York’s predominant color being black. And a fotog on whom he’s shooting: “Whothehell knows. Tonight it’s all only indies and nobody knows who’s anybody.” And someone else about her hairdo: “I got the whole fake thing uptown on 125th Street.”
Let’s call him Senator Grandpa
Attention: Sen. Chuck Schumer is a first-time grandpa. Daughter Jessica, her husband, Michael, and both first-time grandparent families just welcomed 7- pound, 21-inch Noah Melvin Schumer-Shapiro at NYU Langone’s Tisch Hospital.
This happy Brooklyn baby’s middle name honors his adored great-grandfather, NYC cabbie Melvin Weinshall. Gramps Chuck is already teaching Noah his first word — Democrat.
Keep some floss handy this holiday season
Dating rules for a female as per a local Plato: “If hooking up with some dude you found on the internet, know that nothing’s less seductive than a guy with broccoli in his teeth.”
Only in New York, kids, only in New York.