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Was
it the Duchess of Windsor who said, “You can never be
too rich or too thin?” Or, for Julia
Roberts, at least, “have
too many homes?”
The most recent rumored real estate acquisition for Hollywood’s
most bankable actress is the $4.9 million, 15-acre, three-bedroom
get-away that once belonged to the late designer Geoffrey
Beene.
Already
the owner of a ranch in Taos, New Mexico, a place at Venice Beach
(California), an apartment in Manhattan, and a spread in Georgia,
the “pretty woman” is said to be very interested in
the former Beene house – a neoclassical, Palladian-style
country house tucked away in an Oyster Bay, Long Island cove.
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Julia
Roberts and Danny
Moder
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It would make sense, for Julia and husband Danny Moder and
their twins to locate a weekend place in the New York environs
since
Julia will be working in the city, making her Broadway bow this
spring in the play, Three Days of Rain, for a limited
12-week run.
Our source tells us that Julia fell in love with the house – though
she reportedly has yet to make an offer – and really flipped
over its greenhouse where Mr. Beene had as many as 20,000 orchids
in bloom at one time. Julia is a big fan of Beene’s designs
and recently received a private viewing at Sotheby’s of the
upcoming Geoffrey Beene design retrospective and auction at its
New York location on September 17 through 22.
With the recent upsurge in the crime rate in Venice, Julia is said
to be saying goodbye to California. But when we saw her and her
family having lunch recently at Gladstone’s in Malibu, Julia
told us that the report is just not true. As a matter of fact,
they are building a place with an ocean view in Malibu, she said. “We
will always have a place here,” she said.
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Joe
Mantello
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That makes sense since it is where both she and Danny work. She
told us that she and Danny were going to the Pantages later that
evening to see Wicked, the hit musical directed by Joe
Mantello who will also be directing Julia in Three
Days of Rain.
In parting, we congratulated Julia and Danny on their plans to
adopt a brother or sister for twins Phinnaeus and Hazel, something
which we’d read in one of the tabloids. (The report went
on to say that a “third child would make their family complete
and that adopting would avoid another difficult pregnancy for Julia.”)
Julia just laughed, saying “I haven’t heard that story
before. But it’s not true.”
After lunch we accepted an invitation from friends to
join them at Malibu’s Cross Creek Shopping Center. No sooner
had we parked the car when we saw Leonardo DiCaprio and Gisele
Bundchen.
Having read reports (those danged tabloids again) that Gisele,
after five years of waiting, is pressuring Leo to pop the question,
we decided to pursue it. But the couple denied the reports and
insisted they are both happy “just the way things are.”
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Leonardo
DiCaprio and Gisele Bundchen
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And
they added, as they walked away with their French bulldog, “We’ll
let you know if and when we make a decision.”
We also spotted the same day in Malibu, Universal Studios chief
Ron Meyer and his wife Kelly and real estate developer Richard
Weintraub and his wife Liane, who live on eight acres above Latigo
Cove.
Richard is about to bet $120 million on Malibu’s future.
He will soon break ground for a 146-room hotel and spa on 25 acres
near Pepperdine. Gone are the days when Malibu was perceived as
a weekend community for celebrities and entertainment heavy hitters
who just wanted to disappear from the world. We ambled over to
the beach in front of Michael Klein’s spectacular
home, and there was diet and fitness guru Nikki Haskell house-guesting at
the Kleins, catching some rays and working her StarCruncher to
a fare-thee-well before an appreciative audience of beach-combers.
That Oscar buzz we hear is coming from all those Hollywood insiders
who’ve been lucky enough to get into an advanced screening
of 20th Century-Fox’s soon due Walk the Line, a
movie chronicling the lives and careers of “the man in black,” Johnny
Cash and his wife June Carter Cash. The film was co-written and
directed by James Mangold. Johnny had enough highs and lows in
his life for a half-dozen films and for 35 years, he shared them
with June, the daughter of a country music matriarch, Mother Maybelle
Carter. The legendary couple died within four months of each other
in 2003.
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Johnny
Cash and June Carter
Cash
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Portraying Johnny and June are Joaquin Phoenix and Reese
Witherspoon,
who, incredibly, do their own singing in this biopic, which is
loaded with songs associated with the Cashes. Phoenix even learned
to play the guitar for the role. How, you may ask, do Joaquin at
five-foot-eight and Reese at five-two pull off the impersonation
of the six-foot-two Johnny and the five-foot-six June? Sheer Hollywood
magic.
The film was shot almost entirely in Memphis, les than an hour’s
plane ride from Reese’s hometown of Nashville, the home of
the Grand Old Opry and the epicenter of country music. “I
grew up with country music, and have always loved it. June Cash
and Dolly Parton were my idols,” said this
former debutante, of the musical genre whose fan base is not known
to be from the
upp clah-sesses.
This was Reese speaking to us when we happened upon her shopping
for back-to-school clothes at Neiman Marcus with her adorable six-year-old,
Ava. Reese and Ryan Phillippe have
been married for six years and take turns working – one does
a film while the other stays home with Ava and two-year-old Deacon
so there will
always be a parent at home with the kids.
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Joaquin
Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon in
Walk the Line
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Reese’s devotion to children helps to inform her work with
the Children’s Defense Fund, which fights childhood
poverty by helping families to access social services and benefits.
Not
only does she support the fund financially, but she also meets
with each year’s college scholarship winner.
What a treat it was to meet the lovely Lady Victoria
Hervey for
lunch at the Polo Lounge and to get her first hand report about
the latest goings-on in London. She’s just returned from
a visit there with her family and a week of non-stop parties, including
the Cartier International Day, the polo event that is one of the
high points of London’s summer social season.
She told us that Prince Harry “was fighting fit and back
in the saddle,” as he helped his Princes of Wales team to
an 8 to 4 victory at the Guards Polo Club. (Victoria will be portraying Andy Warhol “superstar” Baby
Jane Holzer in our film
Factory Girl.)
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Kate
Middleton
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Bringing a touch of Hollywood glamour to the event were Angelica
Huston and Cate Blanchett. The Royals were represented by no less
a personage than Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II.
Hearing Lady Victoria’s report, we were reminded of something we’d
just read in one of the pulp papers: That Prince William scoffed
at the idea of a Royal Wedding for him and his steady gal Kate
Middleton and was quoted as saying, “look, I am only 22 years
old, for God’s sake. I don’t want to get married until
I am at least 28 or 30.”
Is Wills ready to re-think that statement? We don’t know;
but we do know that his 23-year-old former college roommate recently
paid a visit to Buckingham Palace where she was given a private
preview of the spectacular exhibition of the late Queen Mum’s
famous “White Wardrobe,” designed by royal dressmaker Norman Hartnell. Consisting of 12 outfits, each painstakingly embroidered
with sequins and diamante, the wardrobe was specifically created
for a state visit to France in 1938 by King George VI and Queen
Elizabeth where the Queen caused a sensation, with one
newspaper report at the time proclaiming, “We have taken
the Queen to our hearts. She rules over two nations.”
As she considered the collection of historical, handmade dresses,
an awe-struck Kate was overheard to say, “I would love to
borrow this dress (of the finest cobweb lace). Can you imagine
being married (in it)?” When we got wind of this, we immediately
placed a call to Buckingham Palace, where someone took our number
and promised to get back to us. (They didn’t.) Whether gossip
or just something that sprang from the fertile imagination of some
royal flack, it tends to show that Kate Middleton has excellent
taste and must love the Queen Mum’s sense of style. |
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