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Access Atlanta > Blog > Archives > 2007 > May > 08 > Entry
Red-carpet rumor gets rise out of actress
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We had a front-row, red-carpet vantage point Monday night to witness the current state of celebrity journalism, during the world premiere of “Georgia Rule” at the Woodruff Arts Center in Midtown.
And it has us seriously reconsidering that career as a dental hygienist.
As actress Felicity Huffman started down the carpet, she was repeatedly pummeled with increasingly more inane questions about a recent interview she gave to Parade magazine where she made a joke about boozing it up on the set of the Jane Fonda/Lindsay Lohan film, due in theaters Friday.
Thanks to the Internet, by the time Huffman hit the carpet Monday, the humorous aside had mutated into a story posted on the celebrity blog site dlisted.com as “Somebody Was Drunk on the ‘Georgia Rule’ Set: Felicity Huffman has confessed that she was the drunk one on the set of ‘Georgia Rule.’ “
While Buzz took the apparently outdated approach of actually attending a press screening of the film (Huffman plays an alcoholic, you see), poring over production notes and doing advance interviews with star Jane Fonda and director Garry Marshall before the premiere, we can only assume our fellow working journalists spent five minutes on Google before getting their hair blown out at a local salon.
After Huffman calmly debunked the story for a second time on the carpet, and then was asked yet another uninformed follow-up question by our broadcast journalism brethren (bless their hearts), the exasperated Oscar nominee finally let fly with “I guess that I just [expletive] up your whole line of questioning, didn’t I?”
Thankfully, the local reporter then had the good sense to be embarrassed.
Inside at the live auction, Huffman appeared fully recovered. As she helped Fonda auction off a “Desperate Housewives” walk-on role for $65,000, the actress cracked: “You can come to the set in your pajamas. I do it all the time. They’ll turn you into a movie star. Plus, I have a full bar in my trailer.”
Photos: Jane Fonda movie premiere
SPARKS STILL FLY
Later, things got downright flirtatious at the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention benefit, when Fonda helped auction off a weeklong trip to ex-hubby Ted Turner’s ranch in Argentina. When bidding temporarily stalled, Fonda herself placed the winning bid of $100,000 before telling Turner and the sold-out crowd inside Symphony Hall: “See what I’ll do to keep other people out of your bed?! ” Turner then graciously handed over another week’s stay at the ranch that raised an additional $60,000 as reps from Delta tossed in complimentary airfare.
Fonda told the winning bidder as the entire room erupted in laughter: “And you get to stay in a really nice house that I decorated, [expletive]!”
ADVICE FOR LOHAN
While “Georgia Rule” actress Lindsay Lohan didn’t make the trip to Atlanta, on Monday afternoon director Garry Marshall recounted a notable conversation he had with the troubled actress.
“We just talked together,” explained Marshall, who has previously helped introduce the world to Julia Roberts and Anne Hathaway, directing them in “Pretty Woman” and “The Princess Diaries,” respectively. “I said, ‘Lindsay, your father’s in jail, and your mother, well, she’s not calling so much, young lady. Right now, I’m your best shot. I’m too old to be your father. So think of me as a grandfather figure. Let’s get down to work here.”
Of the gag reel he created from outtakes from the shoot, Marshall told us: “Jane was difficult to get in there because she doesn’t make many mistakes. But she has this little dog, Tulea, that popped up unexpectedly a couple of times. We had a good time.” Marshall says the gag reel may well be included on the film’s DVD release.
USHER MOVES ON
Apparently the “U” in Usher stands for unions on one hand — and untyings on the other.
First the Atlanta R&B superstar, 28, announced he was engaged to longtime stylist Tameka Foster. Then on Monday he issued a statement affirming his mother, Jonnetta Patton, is no longer his manager. Now, after nine years, publicist Simone Smalls has announced that she, too, has parted ways with the singer.
“Change is good!” the vice president of Susan Blond Inc. said in a statement. “I’m just moving in a direction professionally that will not allow me to dedicate the same undivided attention I gave him for nearly a decade.”
“Usher and I still remain friends,” said Smalls, who still counts Atlanta talents Lil Jon, Keyshia Cole and Ne-Yo among her clients. Meanwhile, Patton was reached Tuesday by the AJC, but said she had no comment.
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
CBS News correspondent Mike Wallace is 89. Actor Albert Finney is 71. Producer-director James L. Brooks is 67. Actress Candice Bergen is 61. Singer Billy Joel is 58. Actor John Corbett (“My Big Fat Greek Wedding”) is 46. Singer David Gahan of Depeche Mode is 45. Rapper Ghostface Killah of Wu-Tang Clan is 37. Actress Rosario Dawson (“Grindhouse,” “Rent”) is 28.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“It’s the third one, and you’re in it. How good could it be?”
David Letterman, explaining to guest Regis Philbin why he didn’t see “Shrek the Third” prior to interviewing Philbin Monday night on “The Late Show With David Letterman”
Contributing: Sonia Murray and news services
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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