Mark Ruffalo, Liev Schreiber, Michael Keaton celebrate at ‘Spotlight’ producers’ pre-Oscar bash
Call it what you want — this was a “Spotlight” celebration.
Liev Schreiber, Michael Keaton and Mark Ruffalo, with wife Sunrise Coigney, all made it to “Spotlight” producer Michael Sugar’s pre-Oscar party just hours after the film took four Independent Spirit Awards, including best feature.
The film is up for six Oscars, with nominations including supporting actor for Ruffalo, supporting actress for Rachel McAdams and best picture.
The event, co-hosted by Sugar’s Anonymous Content colleagues Steve Golin (also a “Spotlight” producer) and Doug Wald, started late Saturday and ran over into Sunday morning high atop Sunset Tower in West Hollywood.
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Olivia Wilde rocked a casual, natural look early in the evening as she chatted with friends near the bar, topping black jeans and chunky platform shoes with a satin bomber jacket emblazoned with palm-tree silhouettes against sunset colors.
Patrick Stewart, with wife Sunny Ozell, connected with Meg Ryan for a lengthy conversation near some reserved-for-VIPs seating, while Tim Robbins, fresh off his Camera Award honor at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, passed by them flying solo.
Dancing broke out more than once — not always a given at a Hollywood affair — near the main bar inside, as DJ Spider mixed this year’s Grammy-nominated hits with classic dance riffs and old-school tunes.
Near the impromptu dance space, Keegan-Michael Key casually held court, easily moving from conversation to conversation. Also spotted: Alexander Skarsgard, Casey Affleck, Anthony Mackie, Jessica Szohr, Nina Dobrev, Jessica Stam, Zach Braff, Famke Janssen, Matt McGorry, Chace Crawford and 2012 Oscar winner Octavia Spencer.
The evening’s biggest logistical challenge was navigating the bottleneck at the handful of stairs that lead from the indoor part of Sunset Tower’s rooftop space out to the pool area — though on this night, the pool was cleverly covered to allow more room for to 400 or so guests and another bar, with the lights of Los Angeles spreading out to the south as a backdrop.
How challenging was the bottleneck? Even 6-foot-3 Schreiber, who can cut through a crowd like a knife, got hung up at the stairs.
A happier slowdown had some at the door, where guests were greeted with a choice of Grey Goose cocktails, including “Le Fizz,” the event’s signature sparkling drink, served in a flute with a branded metal swizzle stick. An abundance of sliders, fries, spicy chicken bites and other hot morsels were passed around to guests right up until the curtains — literally, curtains — were drawn on the main bar promptly at 2 a.m.
Follow Christie D’Zurilla on Twitter @theCDZ and Google+. Follow the Ministry of Gossip on Twitter @LATcelebs.
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