Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz’s coziness with each other last week certainly raised some eyebrows. After leaving the premiere of La Bohème, the Gangs of New York co-stars made quite an appearance at Dorsea, which was hosting the after-party for Chambord’s GreenSky Healing Hands charity dinner at Danube. “Cameron seemed mesmerized by Leo,” an onlooker reports. “She was stroking his baseball cap, stroking the hair on the back of his neck. She had her hands all over his head.” Though our spy didn’t notice any lip-locking, things got steamier later on as the two engaged in some dirty dancing until after 3:30 in the morning. “They were bumping and grinding,” the source continues. “She was giving him that sensual, playful, coy look … I would think there was something going on between them.” And 24 hours later, they continued their nightcrawling with a stop at Suede after the Gangs premiere party at the New York Public Library. Another of our spies reports that they were dancing until the wee hours alongside Naomi Campbell, Jimmy Fallon, Joey Fatone, and Damon Dash. DiCaprio’s rep insisted they’re not dating, but cracked, “God, I hope it were so.” As for Diaz, she’s been dating Jared Leto for two years, but her rep declined to comment.
If Billy Bush doesn’t start behaving, he’s not going to have any access to Hollywood. One of our spies tells us that the Access Hollywood correspondent and Caroline Rhea got into quite a tiff at the recent premiere of Analyze That. Bush asked Rhea if she had seen Rosie O’Donnell and girlfriend Kelli Carpenter’s new baby. Rhea responded that she had and that the infant was beautiful. Bush then made some sort of crack about who the baby looked like – O’Donnell or Carpenter. Rhea wasn’t amused and started teasing Bush about being a part of the First Family (his uncle is George W.). When Bush couldn’t take it anymore, he turned his back on Rhea and said, “Who does she think she is?” Rhea snapped, “Are you dissing me?” and shoved Bush with both hands and continued on her way, spies tell us. A couple of nights later, when Rhea arrived at the premiere of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, we hear, Bush pretended to take a call on his cell phone when he spotted her. At that point, a producer from a competing entertainment show screamed to Bush, “You’re a pussy!” This isn’t the first time Bush has rubbed someone the wrong way. As we reported last month, Edward Norton refused to talk to him at the Red Dragon premiere and called him a jackass.
It was an unusual scene of usual suspects at the recent Art Basel Miami Beach, the new Miami edition of the annual Swiss art fair. We’re told that Imitation of Christ fashion designer Tara Subkoff had talked to gallerist Jeffrey Deitch – who represents Vanessa Beecroft and Fischerspooner – about showing some of her own artwork at the fair in his booth. But after Deitch rejected her, the fur started to fly. Subkoff released seven rabbits that had signs around their necks reading JEFFREY DEITCH SAID I’M NOT AN ARTIST into the Miami Beach Convention Center. Nevertheless, Subkoff got to show some of her paintings in a show curated by New York gallerist Kenny Schachter. Meanwhile, at the Art Basel official opening party at the Miami design district, actor Stephen Dorff said he’d be willing to strip for artist-socialite Anh Duong. “I mentioned that he might pose nude,” says Duong, “but I think he said he wanted to keep his Speedo on.” Two nights later, guests were looking for any sign of Karl Lagerfeld at Bed, a restaurant where patrons dine shoeless on beds, for a small dinner hosted by Cologne’s Galerie Gmurzynska in honor of the Chanel designer. The dinner was scheduled for 11 P.M., but he didn’t turn up until after midnight. “Everyone was starving, some had already ordered dinner, and John Waters lost patience and just left,” says one attendee. “But then Karl arrived, refused to eat there because he didn’t want to take his shoes off, and made everyone get up and go to Nobu.”
The Guns N’ Roses tour may have been canceled last week because Axl Rose was a no-show at the group’s Philly concert, but Rose isn’t the only band member who’s been acting strangely. Backstage at Madison Square Garden, after the tour’s now-final concert, eccentric guitarist Buckethead – who wears a KFC bucket on his head and a Halloween-like white plastic face mask – was having a hard time getting out of character. “Chris Rock was saying what a great show it was,” says our informant, “and Buckethead just retreated into the corner and sat there, refusing to take the mask off.” After about twenty minutes trying to speak with the masked man, Rock gave up. He was heard muttering on the way out the door that “that guy is freaky, talking to me with his mask on. Why the fuck wouldn’t he take it off?” For over an hour afterward, we’re told, Buckethead still wouldn’t budge. “He was literally hiding behind some lockers,” our source continues. “His girlfriend came, and I wouldn’t say they were having a fight. I think she was trying to coax him into taking off that mask.”
Denis Leary is happy to see Michael J. Fox smoking again. The comedian told us that the former Spin City star had to quit smoking because of his Parkinson’s disease. But then one day, Fox put a pack of cigarettes on a table. “I was like, ‘What are you doing?’ ” Leary told us during the recent Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research benefit honoring Muhammad Ali at the Metropolitan Pavilion. “And Michael said, ‘I can finally smoke again.’ ” Fox’s treatments had made it possible for him to hold cigarettes. “I mean, it’s messed up that he can smoke,” Leary said. “But it’s messed up in a good way.” Meanwhile, Leary said that he, Fox, and hockey legend Cam Neely are hosting a casino-night fund-raiser in Boston in February to benefit Fox’s organization, Leary’s firefighter charity, and Neely’s cancer group. Whoopi Goldberg warned Leary that he’d better invite her. “Don’t forget about the old black lady,” she cracked. Leary smiled and said, laughing: “That’s right, isn’t it law that every fund-raiser needsto have at least one old black lady?”
Saturday Night Live star Tracy Morgan was recently at Suede, along with Tyson Beckford and Taye Diggs, when he asked to hear three or four songs, including Ludacris’s “Southern Hospitality.” Morgan got so enthused when D.J. Kid Capri complied that he literally started throwing money at the crowd. “He stood up on his chair – with a bottle of champagne in each hand and about six more on his table – and screamed, ‘These are the songs I wanted to hear all night!’ ” a reveler reports. “He pulled some money out of his pocket. It looked like about two or three thousand dollars; it was all hundreds. And it just started flying out at the crowd.” Soon, Morgan’s enthusiasm caught on with the D.J. “Kid Capri got so into it that he dug into his pocket and started throwing money also,” our source continues. “I’m not sure how much, but I doubt it was as much as Morgan.”
Salma Hayek was so happy that Oprah Winfrey displayed one of the paintings the actress had done for her starring role in Frida during an appearance on her show recently that she wanted to show her gratitude right away. She decided that the Kahlo-inspired sterling-silver bracelet she was wearing would be a perfect gift. Only one problem – the bracelet had been given to her by her boyfriend, Edward Norton. Before leaving Winfrey’s Chicago studio, Hayek called Norton and was happy to hear that he had no problem with her giving the bracelet to the talk-show queen.
Hugh Grant may not kiss Harvey Weinstein’s ass, but he sure likes grabbing it. During intermission at the opening night of La Bohème, one of our spies saw Grant goose the Miramax honcho. When Weinstein turned around, Grant replied, “Oh, you don’t like that?” Weinstein cracked, “I liked it better when you used to kiss me.” Grant asked if his quick feel at least gave Weinstein “a bit of a rise.”
Jennifer Lopez dancing with some gal pals during a party her manager, Benny Medina, threw for her at the SubMercer, where he decorated the place with four two-by-two-foot mounted photos of his pop princess. Ben Affleck sat things out on the sidelines, but when Jenny wasn’t dancing, she sat on his lap and smothered his forehead with kisses… . Angie Harmon running into her old modeling pal Drew Riker – now a contestant on the reality show The Amazing Race – at the Hogan store and asking him to help pick out shoes for her hubby, Jason Sehorn… . Interior decorator to the stars Jeffrey Bilhuber – whose clients include Iman and David Bowie, Peter Jennings, and Anna Wintour – moving into the City Club (which he also designed) because he hasn’t found a new apartment to buy after recently selling his place in the East Fifties… . Saks Fifth Avenue honcho Jaqui Lividini attached at the hip to a waiter at a store press luncheon – a piece of her Bill Blass skirt got caught on his back-pocket button. Fortunately, Bill Blass design director Herve Pierre was there with his trusty pocket knife. Meanwhile, Anne Klein designer Charles Nolan told the folks at his table that he’s addicted to TiVo because he can watch Trading Spaces whenever he wants, especially when he has the urge to do some sketching in the middle of the night.
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With Aric Chen.