The eighth annual Tribeca Film Festival in New York City kicked off on
Wednesday night with the premiere of Woody Allen’s Whatever Works
comedy for Sony Pictures Classics – the first one he’s based in Gotham
for several years. The event was star-studded and glamorous, but
somewhat more low-key than many of the splashier film openings that
have highlighted Tribeca’s landscape in recent years. Considering that
this is the festival that showcased Spider-Man 3 and Speed Racer,
putting a Woody Allen comedy front and center makes a statement.
But it’s the right kind of statement. First of all, based on audience
and critical reaction thus far – Whatever Works won’t open in
theaters until June 19 – everyone’s happy to have Woody back. Stars
Evan Rachel Wood, Larry David and Uma Thurman strolled the red carpet
at the Ziegfeld Theater; Allen himself just zipped on in after a
quick handshake with festival co-founder Robert De Niro. Inside, on the
big screen, Wood, David and Thurman gave what are already being buzzed
about as Oscar-worthy performances.
Traditionally, Vanity Fair has held a lavish dinner for select festivalgoers following the opening night screening, and, despite the economic downturn (and a smaller festival overall; Tribeca has reduced the number of films on its slate this year), this remained a constant. The VF dinner was held Tuesday night downtown at the Supreme Court building on Centre Street, and celebrities taking the carpet this time included Bono, MTV’s Judy McGrath, CBS’s Les Moonves, Rolling Stone’s Jann Wenner and Kanye West. Inside, there was even one more surprise: The usually retiring De Niro spoke to the crowd, telling them, “It’s great to have everyone here. It’s just great.”
Couldn’t have said it better. -Randee Dawn
Tags: festival, film, oscar
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