That Parker Posey gave a loopy, improvisational performance recently isn't unusual. It's just that, this time, she wasn't filming a movie.
The indie urchin, obviously not cowed by the presence of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Eli Wallach, Clint Eastwood, Forest Whitaker, Pedro Almodovar, Oliver Stone, Jonathan Demme, Penelope Cruz, Djimon Hounsou and a barefoot Helen Mirren, had them belly-laughing as she admitted after several minutes of improv at the National Board of Review Awards at Cipriani, "I'm rambling."
Posey, who did appear in Superman Returns but makes quirky pictures like A Mighty Wind and Best in Show a specialty, riffed as she presented her For Your Consideration co-star Catherine O'Hara with the best supporting actress award, saying: "I live in the East Village" and "It's like I'm chatting on the phone. In fact, I wanted to bring it up here."
When Mark Wahlberg mounted the stage with his Departed co-star Vera Farmiga, he said, "Could we get two of whatever Parker Posey had?"
But the audience got serious when gemstone giant Nicola Bulgari said 10,000 rioters had burned down the sets of Deepa Mehta's Water even though she had 300 armed troops on location. And some people complain when craft services is out of soymilk.
Spielberg was a little show-off when he thanked Hounsou in his native language, Mende.
Scorsese, after Kalashnikoving the titles of 30 films he watched just for flava before he started filming The Departed, said he regretted never doing a Western. "I make Easterns," he said.
Screenwriter Ron Nyswaner praised The Painted Veil star Ed Norton for his honesty. "Who else would kick off his Oscar campaign by depriving academy members of their $100,000 gift bags?"
Bette Midler said she was freaked out by the city's first December without snow since 1877. "It's hot here in New York City, and it's not just me and my menopause," said Midler, who presented the best documentary award to Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, which seeks to reverse global warming.
If there is a planet left in 100 years, we'll be watching movies, said film history award winner Donald Krim, president of distributor Kino International. "We're on the brink of a terrific new era. With video on demand and downloads, we're going to put out a lot more films economics wouldn't allow us to before. I think the future is bright."
Side dish
New couple of the week Mandy Moore and Adam ("DJ AM") Goldstein exchanged numbers over New Year's in Miami, right under the nose of her ex Wilmer Valderrama. We saw the songstress dash into a New Year's Eve bash at Mansion hosted by Valderrama with Goldstein as the featured DJ, and a source tells Us Weekly, "Even though she was with Wilmer in Miami, she and DJ made plans." Our spy confirms Moore and Goldstein are dating, saying: "It's pretty new, but they look cute." ...
Beyonce checked out the latest improvements at boyfriend Jay-Z's state-of-the-art private studio in Chelsea. ...
Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Nicole Kidman, Catherine Keener and Dermot Mulroney turned out for Christopher Dillon Quinn's God Grew Tired of Us, a documentary about three men growing up against the backdrop of the Sudanese genocide. Kidman narrated the film, while Pitt, Keener and Mulroney helped produce. Quinn told us, "I worried if there was a double-edged sword, and I wondered, 'Oh no, will The Village Voice like my film because I have these people in it?' The truth is that nobody would help me with my film except for these guys."