Celebrity Oscar‑season party gossip with no concrete allegations

into orange chicken on sticks. Larry's girls come around and slip his home address onto laps. This means you have made the cut to attend Larry's after party at his house. lan and | head to Paul Haggis’ intimate Artist for Peace and Justice benefit dinner for 65 at the LA club No Name where a great time set guests back $2,500 for Haiti. We arrive just in time to hear Jeff Bridges sing a song from "Crazy Heart", Jack Black recall "School of Rock " and Rita Wilson sing ABBA's "Dancing Queen". Jackson Browne is the master of ceremonies. | end up at A24's party at the Sunset Tower for their films "20th Century Woman" and "Moonlight". Barry Jenkins wants to know if he is winning the Oscar. | chirp, "Yes, best adapted screenplay is all yours!" Not the answer he was looking for. | should have said, "Yes, you will win best picture, make history and bring the house down." | would have looked like a genius. Finally, | speak to Janelle Monae, who is absolutely stunning. She also wants to know if "Hidden Figures" is winning the Oscar. | assure her that her real win was at the box office. Before passing out in my Sunset Tower suite, | email Damien Chazelle a social wrap-up on the evening, as he is now sick as a dog, in bed with his dog and has had visiting nurses injecting fluids into his flu-infested body all day. He, too, asks if he is winning the Oscar. | write, "It's not if, but how many". Friday, February 24 I’m a gal hell bent on making a fashion statement with every outing, who runs her business from the back seat of a chauffeured black Cadillac with the license plate PEG-FILM. So marching or attending a protest rally is not the likely place to find me. But when | read the United Talent Agency's United Voice Rally was happening at their Beverly Hills headquarters--2,000 of the creative community’s best looking turning out on a gorgeous afternoon to stand together for freedom of speech, and against exclusion and division, it was an invitation | couldn't refuse. This is a substitute for UTA’s traditional pre-Oscar party--and the ten percenters donated and raised $320,000 for the American Civil Liberties Union and the International Rescue Committee. CEO Jeremy Zimmer and clients Jodie Foster and Michael J. Fox speak passionately. The surprise highlight is taped remarks from Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi, nominated for "The Salesman". Farhadi made international headlines announcing he would not travel to Hollywood in protest of President Trump's proposed travel ban on seven Muslim countries. Some Oscar voters do not see all five nominated foreign films, so Trump assured Asghar his Oscar. | stop by the Women in Film cocktail party at Nightingale Plaza where Meryl Streep announces, "| feel like never saying anything again." We hear last year's best actress Brie Larson and activist/documentary nominee Ava DuVernay speak. Back at the Sunset Tower, Livia and Colin Firth host their annual dinner for 50 to celebrate The Green Carpet Challenge and The Journey to Sustainable Luxury. Spotted: Emma Stone, Meryl Streep, Ruth Negga, Kevin Bacon, Tom Ford, Salma Hayek, and Mick Jagger. Kyra Sedgwick arrives late from directing her first film, "Story of a Girl," starring her husband Kevin Bacon. Kyra sits with Meryl over coffee and says how exciting it is to direct. When | ask Meryl if she will join the minute ranks of female directors, the acting icon says, "Never. My job is done at the end of the day. | like to go home at night and let someone else worry about tomorrow's location." HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_019867