Woody Allen and Greta Gerwig at To Rome With Love Premiere
Photo: Patrick McMullan
Penélope Cruz, Woody Allen and Greta Gerwig.
A Woody Allen film, Penélope Cruz on the red carpet and the possibility of an Alec Baldwin sighting meant mayhem at the Paris Theater in New York City last night.
The photographers were out in full force to catch all the stars walking the carpet at the screening of Woody's new film, To Rome With Love, hosted by The Cinema Society with The Hollywood Reporter & Piaget.
Cast members Woody Allen, Alec Baldwin, Penélope Cruz, Greta Gerwig, Alessandra Mastronardi and Carol Alt were joined by an A-list audience including Jon Hamm & Jennifer Westfeldt, Chris Rock, Woody Harrelson, John Legend & Chrissy Teigen, Josh Lucas, Mariska Hargitay, Ralph Lauren, Julianna Margulies, Dylan McDermott, Calvin Klein, Matthew Settle, Melissa George, Elettra Wiedemann, Nicole Miller, John Demsey and Terry Richardson.
Walking into the theater ahead of Mr. Woody Allen himself, Chris Rock made his way through the crowd, telling us his favorite thing about Italy, "Gelato, baby!."
Woody followed, taking a moment to talk to FashionEtc about Rome and romance.
When asked which city—Paris, Rome or New York—would be the most romantic to fall in love, Woody said, "It's always Paris. Paris is the most romantic city in the world, while New York is probably the more exciting city. For romance, it's hard to beat Paris."
The most compelling part of the filming process: "When they took me around to find locations, every day they would show me a dozen spots for every one I used so I really got to see everything in Rome; every building, every street, every corner, and it was fun to look through locations and pick the few that I used in the picture."
Any funny moments with the cast? Woody raised an eyebrow and said, "I never have any funny moments. We just move from crisis to crisis."
Walking the carpet after Woody, Greta Gerwig took a moment to talk to us about the film, "When I got to Rome, I went directly to the costume fitting. Everything was surreal and crazy and Alec Baldwin comes in and says, "Ladies, let's go to dinner." And then Jessie showed up and it felt like I was suddenly on an alien planet of hyper talented people and good times."
On working with Woody: "I love Woody. He really is my favorite writer and favorite director so I'm impossible to impress because I already am. I appreciate it that he approaches making movies so unglamorously."
On prepping for her role: "I did lots of dorky actor things, like I created a whole back story. I took a lot of it from what the other actors were doing. I thought, so this is a girl who would be dating Jesse Eisenberg, studying in Rome and whose best friend is Ellen Page, and who is that girl who surrounds herself with these people. In a way, its a cliché, but you really are able to be a better actor because the people around you are so good, so I took my performance off of them."
After the film, the packed theater headed over to Casa Lever for a night of dancing and Italian-inspired Disaronno cocktails.
Certainly was a star-studded buona notte!