From flirting with insolvency to having only one serious Oscar contender, Inglourious Basterds, the Weinstein brothers aren’t having a very good year. But despite the lumps they’ve taken, they can still throw a party like winners. The crowd was enormous at last night’s Weinstein Company pre-Oscar party in West Hollywood and while some stars (Leonardo DiCaprio, Emile Hirsch, Carey Mulligan, Gabby Sidibe) sailed past the line, others, like last year’s golden girl Freida Pinto, weren’t so lucky. The Slumdog Millionaire star and a friend had a hell of a time convincing security to let them reenter the party. After much pleading and flashing her gift bag to prove that she’d already been inside, Pinto was finally let past the ropes.
Eli Roth, who killed many a Nazi as the Bear Jew in Inglourious Basterds and appears in the studio’s upcoming Piranha 3-D, had no trouble getting in. But even with the raucous party around him, his mind was on the big show tonight. “Well, for preparing, we’re going to the gym and primping — you know, tweezing our eyebrows and all those things,†he told New York.
By the end of the night, it became clear that not everyone was going to make it inside. But even the rejects had the chance to party with each other. Waiters and waitresses brought the Champagne and cocktail shrimp outside, so even though those stuck in line couldn’t toast with the best of ‘em, at least they got to toast with each other.