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Charles Finch fixes his beady eyes on me in that sort of British professorial manner to make it clear that the cocktail soiree followed by dinner that he and Chanel are throwing Saturday night at the Beverly Hills Hotel’s Polo Lounge “is not about me meeting some famous people.”
Actually, Finch would’ve made an interesting choice to play James Bond back in the day, but I digress.
The event started out three decades ago as a celebration of international filmmakers and actors “who didn’t have anything to do on a Saturday night” before the Academy Awards “and they’d come and have a plate of pasta,” Finch explains.
However, as much Finch wants to play it down, the event has become a big deal, and every year there’s an unseemly scramble to be included on the guest list.
The trick, though, is that Finch and his associates along with Chanel’s team are the ones who do the inviting. They don’t respond well to those who ask.
“And so on Saturday night,” Finch begins, “we have people like Julian Schnabel and [Conclave director] Edward Berger and [The Substance director] Coralie Fargeat and Ralph Fiennes and [The Brutalist director] Brady Corbet and Adrien Brody and Demi Moore.”
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He continues, citing Walter Salles and his I’m Still Here star Fernanda Torres. And the Dune films director Denis Villeneuve.
“How am I doing?” he asks.
Consulting cards, he reads out Penelope Cruz’s name. “Yes, Penelope’s coming,” he exclaims.
Florian Zeller, who directed Anthony Hopkins’ Oscar-winning performance in The Father, will be there, as will Finch’s old friend Willem Dafoe. Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong from The Apprentice will be there too.
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“There will be a lot of cool people coming,” he says, tiring of me pushing for more.
What about Timothée Chalamet and the cast of James Mangold’s A Complete Unknown? And Wicked’s Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande? Finch pretends not to hear.
The Wicked stars were out Thursday night at a big private party hosted by producer Marc Platt at his house. Cast, creatives and crew were there. I hear it was a pretty swell affair.
Erivo and Grande are singing on the Oscar show, so they have to rehearse through much of Saturday.
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Finch mentions a bunch of other names from the worlds of literature, commerce and art. Saturday night’s gonna be alright, that’s for sure.
Finch and his Finch + Partners firm is always expanding. He wants to purchase a newspaper in the UK but refuses to tell me which one. He wants to publish screenplays through his Rabbit’s Foot imprint. He’s keen on screenplays of films that were made — and ones that weren’t.
I ask which filmmakers and screenwriters has he been meeting with. “Their agents will kill me if I tell you,” he responds sharply.
That’s a hackneyed line, I respond. Just tell me one name, I ask ever so politely .
Not going to happen, he says.
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“We’re going back into the archives of some of the greatest work never actually made into movies. And there are plenty around or movies that have been made that we could publish, there’s a treasure trove,” out there, he says.
As I leave him, I idly wonder how many of this year’s Best Picture contenders will be remembered half a century from now?
On the flight over, I rewatched, for the umpteenth time, The Godfather and The Godfather Part II. For me, these two movies never, ever date.
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I remembered that Al Pacino was nominated for a best Actor Oscar, but I’d forgotten that he lost to Art Carney for Harry and Tonto.
In all honesty, who remembers Harry and Tonto?
And who will remember half the movies nominated at Sunday’s Academy Awards?
