Stars' trek to fest flabbergasts guests

The parade included Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, Leonardo DiCaprio, Warren Beatty, Jennifer Aniston, Cameron Diaz, Harrison Ford, Jodie Foster, Mike Myers, Billy Crystal, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Drew Barrymore and Jeffrey Katzenberg.

As Hollywood's biggest stars kept appearing on the BevHilton stage, one incredulous question kept rippling through the audience: "How did they ever get these people to show up?"

There were a few keys to the drawing power: the honorees knew in advance they were winning (nine of 21 kudos were life achievement-style awards); each honoree secured his own mega-name presenter; and, even though it's early October, awards-campaign season has shifted into gear.

On such simple formulas do major events grow.

That's not to say that all the attendees were in a festive mood. Several were seen to be grumbling about the whole thing, and the acceptance speeches were sassy. When Spielberg accepted the movie of the year award for "Minority Report," he said: "A lot of unusual things happened this year. 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding' outgrossed my big fat Tom Cruise movie."

And Naomi Watts, saluted with the Breakthrough Acting Award, sighed that it was the latest newcomer award she'd received for a movie that was released a year ago ("Mulholland Drive") and wondered "Do I ever get to arrive?"

But other awards shows can only envy the star power. The A-List turnout is especially impressive considering that the sixth annual dinner was put on by the non-profit Hollywood Film Foundation (founded by Carlos de Abreu), which according to its most recently available tax records had $399 in net assets. (By comparison, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has roughly $53 million more than that).

Certainly the dinner didn't have the production values of the Oscars. After presenter Matthew McConaughey was flummoxed by tech mishaps, one studio exec gasped, "It's like watching 'Waiting for Guffman.' "

Still, there were times when the presentation schedule seemed to be juggled (deftly by director Lionel Pasamonte) to accommodate whichever heavyweight presenter arrived next at the BevHilton's backdoor. This must have been what a mid-1950s Golden Globes was like.

But the stars turned out. "It's about loyalty and friendship," one publicist said. Thus you had Robert Towne accepting a screenwriting award from Beatty; Schwarzenegger saluting Jack Valenti's leadership (he accepted with a mercifully short speech, at least by Valentian standards); and Janusz Kaminski taking the cinematography award from Spielberg.

Though the loyalty and friendship extended to presenting the awards, it usually didn't stretch to sticking around afterward. Stars would appear from behind the black curtain adjacent to the podium, give a heartfelt speech, present the award and skedaddle through the curtain to the Santa Monica Boulevard exit.

And as with most kudo dinners, self-absorbed gratitude was the norm for most of the acceptance speeches; however, there were a few stellar moments.

Towne led the crowd into a thoughtful pause when he said: "Until a screenwriter does his job, no one else has one."

And Hanks, pulled from his table to present a screenwriting award to Carole Bayer Sager in place of a no-show Elizabeth Taylor, stood at the podium with a cell phone and ad-libbed: "Yes, you have a sore throat, and a head cold and a vicious bloody nose . . . OK, yes, thank you Mrs. Burton."

The Fest also honored three films shown at the festival -- the winners in each category were not known in advance -- which produced an eruption of cheers from the triumphant table of young filmmakers. They were Villa Des Roses for best feature film; Hava Kohav Beller for documentary; and Cary Cremidas for short.

Other presenters included Garry Marshall, Emily Mortimer, Danny DeVito, Lucy Liu, Hans Zimmer, Benicio Del Toro, Janice Pennington, Ashton Kutcher and Estella Warren; honorees included McG, Marcia Ross, Harold Michelson, Marc Shaiman, Tyler Hoechlin, Doug Wick and Lucy Fisher, Jody Williams and Pietro Scalia.

"Historically a lot of these types of shows start out with people saying 'Oh, God, not another one,' " said co-chair David Permut. "But sometimes, like the Independent Spirit Awards, and now I think the Hollywood Film Festival, they rise to the occasion."