The gathering has reached its crescendo: black SUV's lining up the driveway, the triple j's together: Justin Timberlake, Jimmy Fallon, and Jay-Z, the bar was running out of alcohol, and the bathroom was filled with celebrities doing lines of coke on the stall.
Eventually, Jimmy Fallon came up and gave me a pat on the back, "Damn it, Conan came to you first. Its true that the Irish are lucky"
I half smiled, "He needs all the luck he can get after you know-"
"He would succeed anywhere. Just set up a camera and he would be all right" Fallon said with a smile.
"I don't want to keep you long but after the Looper premiere you can come any time" l noticed the authenticity as he excused himself.
GQ-editor-in chief Jim Nelson offered by early next year—during Sundance—to do a feature spread inside the first 10 pages. His Tokyo Teese cocktail was almost finished and as he said his congratulations, he bullet trained to the bar to get a dirty vodka martini. l was flattered but dismissed it straight away.
Finally, the food came: spicy tuna tartare, spaghetti bolognese, the linguini and clams made its away to the outside checkered patio. And as l looked around, l could not but be helped to see the reputation of the Marmont live up to its name.
Chateau Marmont is Hollywoods ultimate-high-thread-count clubhouse, part no-tell motel and part royal roost, where fuckboys and grandees, Bohemians and TMZ trash, novelists and ne'er-do-wells, blue-chip artists ad blue-haired ladies congregate, freely mixed with the public and staff. The eight decade saga of glory and shenanigans played out against a cycle of decay, renovation, and reinvention was visible and left me feeling unpleasant.
My thoughts were stopped when Emma Roberts came up and ask about the spicy tuna. She was wearing a bright, saturated red cocktail dress with a black Prada envelope clutch.
"It's fine. Not spicy at all though" l smiled as l offered her to sit down.
She put the handbag on the table, her legs brushed against mines as her dark eyes fall on the logo of my shirt.
"Are you also wearing Prada. l'm sorry, l don't mean to be noisy, fashion is so interesting "
"No, no. My agent put it all together, this all new to me though. l'm out of my element in LA"
"Me too. Where are you from?"
"New York. Can't wait to go back for Thanksgiving."
The music was louder—Kanye West, "All of the Lights"—l leaned in closer, and her pearl skin looked almost radiant against the red dress, as if the last reach of sunset had found her while the room fell into darkness, the same current l would eventually drift into myself.
But she seemed so unaware of the current — or perhaps so aware of it that she had learned to accept it with grace.
"I from New York too, was born in Rhineback." The conversation soon fell into mutual friends, she worked would soon work in American Horror Story.
All of the lights, All the lights
"That's exciting, Zach has told me great things about it"
"l wish l can work with him. He's so dedicated"
Turn up the lights in here, baby
l tapped my fork on the plate, "He wants to go back to Broadway so bad, l dont blame him. It's beautiful when you get to do the same thing every day but—"
"But it's not the same" Emma smile rose slowly and the party froze: just like the second before a director says action.
"Exactly!" l leaned in closer. "Sure, it's the same script, the same song and dance, but it's never the same. With a new audience, a new day, and a new moment, what you see one day will never be born again."
"And that what makes the end, the closing of any show, so full of mourning because the performance has to die, you have to let it go!" l tightened my fist and allowed myself to breathe as l saw that Emma did not seem bothered by my tangent.
We going all the way this time, We going all the way this time...
There was long pause and l could feel my body combusting with fear. "Silly m—"
"My father grew up in a theater family. His family was cruel but maybe it was usual for the time. And my father inherited it too. He loved the awards and attention so l had to say goodbye to a version of father that never was there. But in the theatre or a set, God!, he never gave up and loved it." She gave a full smile and the room turned black.
"Do you fear turning into that?"
A longer silence. "No. Because acting is great but living is better."
Rain was pouring down and it looked like Renoir's The Umbrellas . She was the woman on the left staring at him while the rest of the staff pulled out umbrellas for the guest; so singular amid the onslaught of umbrellas, her red dress was untouched by the rain.
The partygoers were drifting away to the valets as they brought them their cars.
The conversation shifted into that close friendship one has over shared dreams: Emma wanted to start a website about books, she had just loved and enjoyed The Talented Mr. Ripley, they would both go to Sundance—she had a supporting role in Celeste and Jesse Forever—the award season they were both happily uninvited to, and their favourite topic was shitty co-workers and directors they had worked with.
Eventually, almost everybody left and the staff kept giving the pair stares so they both got up.
l asked a staff for an umbrella and quickly received one.
"Oh, please!" Emma laughed. "Just like in the movies."
"What do you mean? This is just for me" l smirked, "The horror queen is losing to rain?"
"The charismatic, emerging actor can't share an umbrella" She pouted her lips.
"Who said l was charismatic? The Onion?"
"I believe the magazine was written by Jordan Schlansky"
"Oh no, lm getting PTSD. Don't scare me"
She leaned in closer and touched my shoulder,
"Don't worry l'm your therapist"
They approached the exit. The rain was getting louder.
"God, l think my friend left me. She was my ride here."
"What a bad friend. If you want to my apartment is like 5 minutes away, l could drive you home."
She laughed, "Do you say that everyone?"
Whats next, she smiled, "Whats next, you take off—"
I immediately take of my jacket and wrapped it around her in less than 4 seconds. We both explode in laughter and we decide to walk to my place to get into shelter. We walked to Sunset Boulevard and past iconic attractions: The Whisky A Go Go and numerous comedy clubs such as the Laugh Factory. We were both tipsy and we eventually gave up on the umbrella as we half-ran to my home. She took off her heels and sprinted ahead of me. l would never forget the freedom she had as if there was no one around and the world had no consequences.
l screamed, " Your so fucking fast, you should play a runner!"
"And you should play Barney from How l Met Your Mother, where is it?"
"Right to your left." l eventually caught up. "Hey lm faster than him" l said out of breath.
She went in first, inside the old six-story building. The lobby smelled liked rain and cigarettes. We both took a second to collect ourselves inside the elevator and l as l walked towards my door, nerves flooded through me.