Marie Antoinette Chanel Party - Chateau Marmont (Hollywood, CA) - Tuesday, September 26, 2006

by Suzanne Baran
5 October 2006

The lyric “the problem of leisure / what to do for pleasure,” from GANG OF FOUR’s “Natural’s Not In It” plays in a background scene in Marie Antoinette—aptly describing the film and the Chanel-hosted after-party on Tuesday. The Chateau Marmont hotel in Hollywood was converted into a microcosmic Versailles, including a ballroom, crystal chandeliers, Louis XIV chairs, defined rugs, huge gilded mirrors and bouquets of pink roses and gardenias. Champagne flowed, patrons enjoyed a decadent dessert banquet toppled with marshmallow squares, tiny ice cream cones filled with colored icing, cotton candy, pastel-colored French macaroons, tarts, and cupcakes.

Writer/director SOFIA COPPOLA’s soiree gathered its own royal family—Hollywood, that is. Celebrities and industry types gathered to celebrate the queens of the film—Sofia and lead actress KIRSTEN DUNST. Dunst stayed put at a table where a flock of family gathered, including her brother. She was dateless, so it seemed.

But her ex-boyfriend ORLANDO BLOOM happened to be five inches from where I stood at the outdoor bar. I approached, having just read an article in The World Tribune, a Buddhist publication. The piece recorded his experience meeting DAISAKU IDKEA, President of Soka Gakkai International (SGI), a Buddhist association of more than 12 million members in 200 countries and territories, and founder of several educational, cultural and research institutions. Being a member of said practice, I asked Bloom what it was like to meet this peace-driven man, also a United Nations Peace Proposal writer.

“The most thrilling experience…the mentor-disciple relationship is incredible, but that the same time our sensei does not make you feel beneath him, but as if you are walking along side him,” he said. He asked me if I practice day and night; I said yes, except not tonight. He laughed. He has been practicing 8 years, and wants to speak further but indicated the vodka in his hand. I said, “Nam Myoho Renge Kyo,” he said it back and smiled. It’s the chant we say morning and night—in brief—devotion to the law of cause and effect, what you put out you receive, this is how you change your karma, gain inner peace, and clarity. Others become influenced by this serene energy and soon it spreads to create world peace, which was President Ikeda’s goal when he spread this Buddhism across the globe.

For me, that was the highlight of the party—connecting with an otherwise celebrated actor not on his film career, but his spiritual path. Other highlights included seeing PENELOPE CRUZ on the arm of one of my favorite directors, PEDRO ALMODOVAR. I stood with my friend at the Goth doors leading to the outdoor courtyard. It was the perfect space for sightings. GEOFFREY RUSH walked in and lit a cigarette within seven inches of where I stood; SLASH walked past me on his way out and paused for a photo opportunity. LINDSAY LOHAN walked by in a black hat and leather jacket, and within minutes she exited. Other guests spotted coming and going: COURTNEY LOVE, SAMANTHA MATHIS, MIKE WHITE, BEN LEE, DREW BARRYMORE and beau FABRIZIO MORETTI, ROBIN TUNNEY, DONOVAN LEITCH, MARIA BELLO, IONE SKYE, MISCHA BARTON, writer-director MIRANDA JULY, ROSE MCGOWAN, JASON SCHWARTZMAN, JAMES FRANCO and KELLY LYNCH.

Chanel generously sponsored gift bags, but on my way out I noticed Drew Barrymore left hers behind, despite the outstretched arm of a party attendant. I would gladly have taken another. Chanel cosmetics are not cheap: the three swag items cost a total of roughly $80.

My friend, who could easily pass as talent, remarked, “One day I’d like to be as jaded as her so as not to accept the freebies.”

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