AL PACINO’S NEW MOVIE PREMIERE BRINGS OUT ALL-STAR CAST
First Planet Hollywood Resort hit the jackpot with Kevin Spacey’s box-office success 21 movie. Now owner Robert Earl is hoping another set of numbers also come up winners. This month the 88 Minutes chiller-thriller starring Academy Award winner Al Pacino premiere’s here tonight (WED). The Oscar–heralded superstar has won a turnout of all the cast principals: Alicia Witt, Amy Brenneman, Deborah Kara Unger, Benjamin McKenzie, Neal McDonough and the current cover-actress of our sister VEGAS Magazine, the gorgeous Leelee Sobieski. (Go to vegasmagazine.com for her sensational cover photo and sparkling interview). Tomorrow (THURS) Leelee and VEGAS Magazine publisher Michael Carr host a party at Tao Beach in The Venetian.
Pacino plays the role of Dr. Jack Gramm, a college professor who moonlights as a forensic psychiatrist for the FBI. When Gramm receives a death threat claiming he has only 88 minutes to live, he must use all his skills and training to narrow down the possible suspects, who include a disgruntled student, a jilted former lover, and a serial killer who is already on death row, before his time runs out. The one-hour, 48-minute Sony Pictures movie, which was filmed in Vancouver, Canada will be released on Friday and critics are already applauding its unique story and taut drama. The flick is described as having “disturbing violent content, brief nudity and adult language.”
All eyes will be on handsome young actor Ben McKenzie on Planet Hollywood Resort’s red carpet. He commuted back and forth between Los Angeles and Vancouver while continuing to film his hit The O.C TV series where he played bad-boy Ryan Atwood for four years. Now he’s the college student who gets to square off with Pacino in the movie. “It was an entirely new experience for me to work with such a legendary figure. I mean, after all he was the Godfather star. It was a little nerve-wracking for other reasons though. I have never ridden a motorcycle before and one scene called for me to pull my motorbike right up alongside him. I was convinced I’d screw up, hit the gas instead of the brake and kill him. I broke into sweats thinking I’d be forever known as the kid from the TV show who killed one of the greatest living actors. I think Al was aware of my fears and after a few tries and me falling we decided that he would be safer if we used his stunt double and that wound up better for the shot.”
Spacey’s 21 flick, that premiered here last month, held the No. 1 spot in the box-office statistics for two consecutive weeks following its release and is now going into its fourth national release weekend still in the No. 3 spot!
The red carpet for 88 Minutes starts at 6:45 p.m. this evening and after the premiere the cast will celebrate at the new Privé nightclub. As always Luxe Life will have first photos right here tomorrow (THURS).
It’s my second premiere in less than a week. My pal, John Melendez who appears nightly on The Tonight Show, released his new National Lampoon DVD comedy One Two Many yesterday (TUES). He wrote, stars and produced his debut movie venture which took seven years to get to the screen. John even had the tables turned on him and became Jay Leno’s guest on the talk show last night (TUES)! I saw Jay at the premiere along with The Tonight Show bandleader, Kevin Eubanks, my longtime friends Alan Thicke and Kim Kardashian and her mom Kris, now married to Bruce Jenner. Also there was TV’s Nancy O’Dell and Ming Na. John, who studied moviemaking at the NYU School of Film, was a daily regular on Howard Stern’s shock radio show and filmed Get Me Out Of Here in Australia with me for ABC-TV. We’ve been friends ever since. Our pal “Downtown” Julie Brown who filmed with us also in Australia showed up to wish him well, so it was a wonderful fun reunion for us. John’s cast mates, savage comic Jeffrey Ross from Weeds and actress Bellamy Young from Dirty Sexy Money also attended the Hollywood Arclight Theater premiere and the after party at the Cabana Club.