Bad News for Baz

Jay McInerney is one of America's most celebrated writers having published many best sellers including the legendary Bright Lights Big City and The Last of The Savages. Bright Lights was made into a movie in 1998 and starred Michael J.Fox. A re-make of the film is underway.

Amy Fay Collins & Jay McInerney in New York

McInerney contributes to prestigious publications like Vanity Fair and The New Yorker and does book reviews for The New York Times and the Times Literary Supplement. He's the sort of hip writer that defines the new American urbane author- sophisticated, connected, knowledgeable and in demand.

He's just contributed a piece to the UK Guardian titled : "why Gatsby is so great". It's an ode to the great F.Scott Fitzgerald and his brilliant novel The Great Gatsby. McInerney is clearly a Fitzgerald fan and enthuses over the book and the extraordinary eight hour West End play Gatz which is receiving rave reviews. He likes Gatz because it presents the book in it's entirety and he clearly loves the poetry and mastery of Fitzgerald's writings.
It seems then he would be looking forward to the upcoming Baz Luhrmann production The Great Gatsby (in glorious 3D) to be released in early 2013.
Alas, no. As Jay says:

This is just one reason why I avoided the 1974 version starring Robert Redford and Mia Farrow, with a screenplay by Francis Ford Coppola. And why I will almost certainly be skipping Baz Luhrmann's film, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, much as I would love to see Isla Fisher in the role of Myrtle Wilson, the floozy mistress of Gatsby'

 Read more at The Guardian here  and see Jay McInerney's website here
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Andy Warhol once famously said of New York photographer Patrick McMullan " If you don't know Patrick you should go out more".

McMullan at work

Along with 81 year old Bill Cunningham he is a regular fixtures on the New York social, party and fashion scene. McMullan even has his own TV show and online magazine PMc Magazine. If you have party in New York and Patrick isn't there (or at least one of his snappers) it's a dud!

Sydney publicists could probably learn a few things from a night out with Patrick. There are probably three of the old guard snappers left in Sydney (Melbourne prs are far more civilised) who really know what it's all about, know the new and old faces and aren't bedazzled by the latest X Factor contestant.
The above snap of Jay McInerney is by McMullan who has worked on projects with the writer- here are a few of his latest pics from New York:

Anne Hathaway & Jim Carrey at Stella McCartney's fashion show.

Dita Von Teese

Bill Cuningham

NY Photographer Honoured

The career of the legendary New York snapper Bill Cunningham , now 81 years old, was celebrated when he was awarded a Medal of Excellence at the Waldorf Astoria hotel at a charity gala that raised over a million dollars for Carnegie Hall's Well Music Institute.

Bill &Anna Wintour

Cunningham is one of the last residents of the few apartments in Carnegie Hall and he has been a fixture on New York streets and at fashion shows and parties for decades.

The movie on his life (trailer below) should be required watching for the coterie of Aussie publicists who often exude a demeanour far grander than their clients and armed with their precious 'communications' degrees, really have no clue what the business is all about.
Sydney must be one of the few major cities of the world where the unkempt aggressive paparazzi are taken seriously by many publicists and public relations 'experts'.

Sarah Jessica Parker

At red carpets openings. movie premiers and such  the press pen will be packed with ghastly paparazzi - the same snappers who prowl the streets and beaches of Sydney, are aggressive, rude and have nil interest in their subject apart from the few dollars that may be made from a picture.

There are probably four genuine photojournalists in Sydney who operate like Cunningham , who have respect for the people they photograph yet are shouldered aside by the bores of the pap world. These snappers tend to like getting to know their subject, often chatting to them and building up a rapport. The paps on the other hand are mostly filling their files with generic snaps of celebrities for future use.
 But who are we at the Shuttle with a combined 100 years of experience to tell these woolly newbies how to work?                              
 Photographs : www.patrickmcmullan.com

Oscar Update

 
Aussie actress Mia Wasikowska shines in an Antonio Berardi gown at the 2012 Vanity Fair Party held at Sunset Tower on Sunday in West Hollywood, Calif. 
Mia has four films soon to be released : Oddboy, The Double, Wettest County and the Stoker. As her star continues to rise so does her bank balance. In 2010 she tied with Johnny Depp as the second highest grossing actor after their appearances in Alice In Wonderland.


Mia first hit the public eye in the TV series In Treatment that also stars Melissa George. She's also an amateur photographer and her portrait of co-star Jamie Bell from Jane Eyre hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra.
              

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If you aren't a regular reader of New York snapper Patrick McMullan's online  PMc Magazine  start now!

McMullan is a contributor to Interview, New York Magazine , The Village Voice and he's a contributing editor on Vanity Fair.

PMc features an exclusive interview with Oscar winner Demian Bichir from The Artist. It's by Tyler Malone..click here.                                      

Lots Of Movie Stars!

Next Monday brings the long awaited premiere in Bondi of A Few Best Men, the latest offering from Stephan Elliott (left) whose career has enjoyed something of roller-coaster ride since picking up an Oscar for his 1994 success Priscilla Queen of The Dessert.

The movie stars Xavier Samuel, Kris Marshall, Kevin Bishop and Olivia Newton-John and the word is Olivia puts in a great performance as the mother-of-the-bride in the love romp and the ‘wedding- goes-wrong’ comedy set in the Outback.

Ann Dexter-Jones and Alan Cumming

Now that Beach Haus regular Leo DiCaprio has departed these shores (he’ll be back early February to wrap up filming on The Great Gatsby), Sydney is devoid of Hollywood stars when usually, with such glorious summer weather we could expect at least 3 or 4 stars to be hanging around town

Its' the opposite in New York with the town chock a block. 

Darren Criss and Susan Sarandon

Last Monday Glee star Darren Kriss was the guest of honour at a shindig at The Darby hosted by Alan Cumming, Parker Posey, Lily Rabe, Andrew Rannells and Jordon Roth The party was to celebrate the Broadway debut of Darren in "How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying."

Stacey Keible and George Clooney

Naomi Watts

The following night at Cipriani 42nd Street recent Sydney visitor George Clooney received the Best Actor for The Descendants at the National Board of Review Gala with Tilda Swinton receiving Best Actress for her role in We Need To Talk About Kevin while Christopher Plummer was awarded best supporting actor for The Beginners, and Shailene Woodley received best supporting Actress for The Descendants.
It won’t be the last you hear of The Descendants. Get ready for the flick to pick up a few Oscars.

No bash worth its salt in New York is complete without the USA’s top society snapper (and Social Shuttle pal) Patrick McMullan who has sent us some great snaps from both nights.

All New York photographs  by Patrick McMullan (c) www.patrickmcmullan.com

Naomi Watts at The NYC Ballet

                               With photographs by Patrick McMullan www.patrickmcmullan.com

When actors Attack! Naomi Watts & Sarah Jessica Parker go for each other's throats

WHILE  her co-star from the film Edgar, Leonardo DiCaprio is winning hearts and minds in Sydney on the set of The Great Gatsby, Aussie actress Naomi Watts has been hitting the social circuit in New York. Last week she attended the world premiere of Paul McCartney's Ocean Kingdom for the New York City Ballet 2012 Fall Gala, McCartney's first original orchestral score for dance.

Stella McCartney, Naomi Watts, Sarah Jessica ParkerJessica Seinfeld

Apart from Edgar ( a surety for Oscar nominations ) due for release in 2012, Watts has two films due around the same time -The Impossible and Movie 43 a comedy with Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet and Uma Thurmann.

Critics haven't been too kind to McCartney with his first ballet score. The Huff Post says it's "a ballet not much worth cheering" and of the A-List opening night crowd "Every single person in that theater ... is there for one reason -- not for the ballet, because of Paul ".

Paul McCartney & Nancy Shevell

The New York Time's says “Ocean’s Kingdom,” is in no way an important addition to the corpus of ballet music, but it deserves a better staging than the one it’s been given by New York City Ballet."

The New York Observer says : "Ocean’s Kingdom is a fairy story with no subtext, no resonance—it’s not about anything except its water-logged plot. " Ouch!. 

James McCartney & Lorne Michaels

Still, the after party was great fun from all reports and that's what matters to us here on the Shuttle.

Dylan Lauren, Ralph Lauren, Ricky Lauren, David Lauren

The event was a family affair with Paul's kids  Stella McCartney and James there to cheer on their dad's show as was soon-to-be bride Nancy Shevell.
 Also on hand, a host of Laurens with the newly married David Lauren and his dad Ralph Lauren.

Paul McCartney takes a bow at the opening night of Ocean Kingdom

All photographs by Patrick McMullan (C) www.patrickmcmullan.com

New York Fashion Week

Anna Wintour and Valentino

The New York Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week is in full swing so naturally we turn to our New York pal, top society photographer Patrick McMullan to provide us with a few snaps.

If McMullan is normally full on, fashion week brings an extra dimension. Armed with a fist full of invitations he is almost a blur rushing from one precinct to another,  often with a film crew in tow.

One event he has just covered-The Couture Council of the Museum of FIT  luncheon last Wednesday on the Promenade of the David Koch Theater at Lincoln Center to honour couturier Valentino.

Photographs : Patrick McMullan
        www.patrickmcmullan.com

Lizzie Tisch and Cameron Silver

Rod Keenan and Lisa Boone

Daphne Guinness 

 

 

 

Valentino and Diane von Furstenberg

See more at Patrick's on-line magazine PMC

Hemmes New York Move

Tom Waterhouse & Hodo at the Cosmo bash

One happy looking couple at Wednesday's Fun Fearless & Female awards sponsored by Cosmopolitan Magazine were bookmaker Tom Waterhouse and his new bride Hodo Vakili.

 The pair have just returned from their Italian honeymoon after marrying on the Mediterranean island of Sicily in front of two dozen family and friends who jetted in for the nuptials.

Tom, who at 29 has now become Australia's top bookmaker and is a regular at the race tracks in Melbourne and Sydney told the Shuttle that his new online betting business is going gangbusters and he and Hodo plan to buy a home in Melbourne where he is increasingly spending more time.

No word yet on whether we can expect a Waterhouse junior any time soon but the couple say they're working on it !
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Hotel and nightclub entrepreneur Justin Hemmes who has a $200M empire employing over 3000 people is planning to expand to the Big Apple next year and has been spotted checking out locations in the trendy Soho area of Lower Manhattan.

Although Hemmes has said he plans to first open a restaurant based on his successful Potts Point Lotus, our New York spy says the nightclub mogul was seen inspecting a building in Tribeca that was large enough to contain a hotel and restaurant complex.

Justin Hemmes-headed for New York City

With a swag of smart boutique hotels including the Establishment and Ivy complex and several pubs around inner Sydney, Hemmes seems to have the golden touch. Where he goes the punters follow and much of that is down to his talented sister Bettina Hemmes who designs the decor in all his nite spots.

Top New York photographer Patrick McMullan, an editor on Vanity Fair and corespondent for a swag of US magazines like Ocean Drive, Interview and New York Magazine says there is already a buzz in NYC about Hemmes who has been seen at several smart parties in recent months.

As no function in the city that never sleeps is complete without McMullan and his attendance at a party is a guarantee of social success, when Patrick starts mentioning your name, you know you have it made !

Just so Justin can get in a Big Apple mood-here's young Liam Burrows who blew away the audience last week on Australia's Got Talent with his version of New York New York. Perhaps Justin should invite him to sing at the opening of his new US nite-spot !

Going Ga Ga-Lady GaGa on Our 'Lesbian' Prime Minister

photo : Patrick McMullan www.patrickmcmullan.com  http://pmc-mag.com/

It's a sad fact but whenever a celeb comes to Sydney or Melbourne all life as we know it ceases. And so it is with Lady GaGa in Sydney on a three day photo opportunity and taking the town by storm.

arriving at Nevermind

The Shuttle went to the Channel Nine studios for GaGa's interview with Tracey Grimshaw and was pleasantly surprised when the great pop star performed singing two songs in a giant perspex box with a minimum of backing,

and leaving Nevermind

And she was good, bloody good and far better than other unnamed pop goddesses (although the name Madonna springs to mind). Yesterday GaGa tweeted her fans with non too subtle messages about the gay clubs Nevermind and Arq which she duly turned up to last night. She arrived in one outfit and departed in another. At both clubs. That's four outfits for the cameras who obliged.

Earlier in the evening Lady GaGa went to the Town Hall and received a certificate proclaiming her an honorary citizen from Lord Mayor Clover Moore for her work for gays and lesbians (she tweeted "just do it" to local politicians referring to gay marriage).  She also made a gaffe during her interview with Grimshaw and wondered why the Prime Minister Julia Gillard as a lesbian didn't support gay marriage. That didn't make it to air.

The majority of those who queued from 3pm for tickets to Arq and Nevermind -both gay clubs, were heterosexual teens but it's the thought that counts. GaGa sang two songs at Arq. Tomorrow night she gives a special show for 1000 fans at the Town Hall and by what we've seen so far, it should be one special night.Not bad for a singer who came to Sydney in 2009 as a support act for The Pussycats.

Go to Channel Nine's A Current Affair website to watch the Lady GaGa interview and performance.

A Current Affair

A Date in New York City

Diary note for our New York readers (around 500 a day !)

photograph by Patrick McMullan (c) PMc

A missive arrives from New York (and America's) most famous social photographer Patrick McMullan (left):

"Next Wednesday I, alongside Jacqui Rosshandler and Arthur Shorin, am co-hosting a really exciting launch party for the revolutionary breath freshener, EATWHATEVER. It should be an absolutely 'kissable' event! Limited copies of my book KISS KISS will be available to buy and have signed. So check out the invite below, RSVP to eatwhatever@gita-group.com and meet up with us at the Museum of Sex next Wednesday at 8:30PM. Hope to see you all there!"

No party in New York , Miami or Los Angeles is complete without McMullan or one of his trusted snappers present. He visited Australia in the late 90's ( courtesy of the Social Shuttle) and hosted an exhibition in Kings Cross on the premises that are now Hugo's nightclub and welcomed a host of local social figures like Lady Sonia McMahon, Kirk Pengilly from INXS, Min Keating and Deeta Colvin. There's talk that McMullan may visit Sydney and Melbourne in the near future to check out the local scene.

Read Patrick's internet magazine PMc here.

Miranda Kerr-looking fabulous

New mum Miranda Kerr and hubby Orlando Bloom attended the "Alexander McQueen : Savage Beauty" Costume Institute Gala at the New York's Metropolitian Museum last Monday as our exclusive pic from PatrickMcmullan.com shows.
See much more at Patrick McMullan's on-line magazine PMc.

All photographs by Chance Yeh for Patrick McMullan Company (c) 2011

PR Bitch-Fest Spans Two Continents!

It's been the talk of the town in coffee bars and at smart shindigs over flutes of champers and canapes. Sydney-siders excitedly discussing the slap-down given by Murdoch newspaper columnist Ros Reines of the Sunday Telegraph to local charity boy Rupert Noffs and New York celebrity fashion publicist, author and reality TV star Kelly Cutrone.

 Reines called Cutrone's recent visit to Sydney for Noffs and a Gideon shoe store opening 'tragic' and accused her of 'creating mayhem' and infuriating organisers of the $2000-a-head Prix de Marie Claire Awards when Cutrone and Noffs failed to appear after being given tickets to the event. The full piece can be read here.

Not that the Awards themselves got off easy. The host of that event and editor of Marie Claire, Jackie Frank got a good dressing down as well.

Trying to get anyone to go on the record about the spat though has been a Herculean task. No-one locally seems to want to  upset Ms Reines and in the Big Apple it seems Ms Cutrone's name carries considerable weight as well.

Michael Musto, top columnist on New York's Village Voice responded with an enigmatic : "I don't really know what to say about Kelly. Perhaps you should talk to Patrick (McMullan), he knows her well".

Patrick McMullan, New York's top society snapper, a contributing editor on Vanity Fair and host of a TV fashion show  was oddly silent and didn't return the Shuttle's call. Messages left for McMullan usually bring a response at an ungodly hour when he returns from his nightly rounds of New York's top parties and he's always up for a good natter about the latest happenings.

Reines, whose twitter moniker is 'tabloid terror' and who described herself as 'ruthless' in a Spectator piece continued : "On Twitter last week, Cutrone asked whether I was OK or just "vicious". When it comes to being vicious, it takes one to know one."

Calls to Cutrone's New York People's Revolution public relations firm for a comment were met with "we'll get back to you with a statement eventually". It never came.



Kelly Cutrone at Gideon Shoes. sassisamblog.com

Two other top New York publicists agreed to speak as long as their names weren't used.

One who said he regularly ran into Cutrone socially and at industry events said:



 "Kelly doesn't suffer fools gladly but she can be  forthright at times and has upset some people. But she's so damned good at her job she's readily forgiven. She's had an amazing ride to the top and I really respect her. Reading the piece by Ros Reines though-she should be writing for one of  the New York dailies, they could use her !"

A female publicist who has worked with Cutrone on various projects said :

"there's been quite a bit of chatter about the Ros Reine's piece and everyone thinks it's a bit of a scream. Most people seem to think that if Reines and Kelly met under other circumstances they'd get on like a house on fire, they seem so similar. Gideon's by choosing Kelly to promote their shoes in the US made a wise choice, there is none better at pr"

Rupert Noffs



As for Rupert Noffs he simply sent a diplomatic " Ros is just doing what Ros has to do " reply to our email.

Perhaps the last word should go to a well known Sydney face and a regular attendee of the town's best parties who was at Paddington's swish La Scala restaurant's first year birthday bash last Tuesday evening :

  "oh thank God for Ros. She breathes some sort of life into what at times seems like a completely moribund social scene."

Coming up : Rupert Noffs-charity runs in the family

A Night In New York City

Courtesy of New York Social Diary.


Curtain call

Thursday night : the opening of Robin Williams' Broadway debut in Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, at the Richard Rodgers Theater.
 All photographs by PatrickMcMullan.com (c)2011

Mercedes Ruehl



Robin Williams and Susan Schneider



Trudie Styler and Sting

 

Tyne Daly



 

Nathan Lane

Same night same city : at the Barrow Street Theater for the debut of Mike Birbiglia's My Girlfriend's Boyfriend, a new comedy written by (and starring) Mr. Birbiglia.





Mike Birbiglia and Nasim Pedrad


Sunday on the Shuttle :
The PR War of Words stretching from Sydney to New York