Daniel Radcliffe, no entourages or attitudes, is sweet. Easy. Gracious. Friendly. Smiling. “Just call me Dan,” he says. His green suit, blue shirt, brown shoes fashion sense let’s don’t discuss.
Star of the new “Kill Your Darlings,” about beatnik poet Allen Ginsberg, he says: “I love poetry. I know lots about it. I read it, I wrote it at 17. Some intense, some personal, some impossibly structured.
“And I auditioned for this role. Over coffee I sat with writer John Krokidas, did a little improv, broke down some scenes, even rewrote a few lines.
“And I played Ginsberg as a young man with his New Jersey accent.”
Krokidas: “Shooting almost 24 hours straight, he nailed the American sound with no help. Only when we wrapped and he addressed the staff in his natural speech the last day were we shocked. First time we’d heard that British voice.
“As a closeted gay kid in those days, I idolized Ginsberg, who was great about sexuality. I’d done a book with producer Christine Vachon, so with this idea, instead of saying, ‘What is this?’ she said, ‘Let’s do it.’ ”
Monday Tom Hanks’ premiere provided me a welcoming seat outdoors, so Tuesday organizer Shane Kidd got me a bright red canvas director’s chair fronting the Paris Theatre. Sitting higher than a Jones Beach lifeguard, I saw everybody.
So author Gay Talese, here viewing another writer’s life? “No. I just never turn down an invitation — especially if it comes with dinner.”
So actress Parker Posey, what’re you doing? “Just tested a new script at the Labyrinth Theater. That’s what New York must do. Create new productions.”
So Jack Huston, grandson of John, same family as Danny and Angelica, “Boardwalk Empire” star, why you here? “Because I’m in it. I’ve seen myself in this once already. It’s enough. My baby’s 6 months old, so I don’t get out much.”
So Dane DeHaan, who are you? “In this film, Ginsberg and I have a special relationship. Inspirational. Also romantic.” Dane’s wife, Anna Wood, actress on TV’s “Reckless,” snapped shots of Radcliffe with, “We’re very close with Dan.”
Perched high I saw Cinema Society host Andrew Saffir bending in very tight pants. “Not tight,” he snapped. “Tailored.” So tailored I nearly saw his boxer shorts underneath.
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Arrest not shocking to me
Sunday LI attorney Dominic Barbara’s arrest dredged up an experience. I knew him when he repped Joey Buttafuocco, preacher Jim Bakker’s ladyfriend Jessica Hahn and when he was arrested for harassing his then-wife, whom I knew. Knowing also an occasional stumbling with the truth, I realized I wanted no part of him.
Later, at an East Side Italian restaurant, he approached me. Loudly. I sent him away. He returned. Loudly. The captain removed him. He sent over wine. We sent it back. He then shouted at me. And we left.
Lawyer Dominic Barbara needs more than a lawyer.
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What I hear
Lifetimes’s upcoming “House of Versace” movie starring Gina Gershon had zero help factually or stylistically. Wanting no part in this re-enactment, Versace washed its hands and patterns from it . . . Rupert Holmes, who wrote B’way’s now-rehearsing legal drama “A Time to Kill”: “Courtroom dramas are thrilling. Courtrooms are theater.” . . . Jade Jagger: “I’m a pathetic aesthetic. I can’t understand having ugly people working for you.”
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NYC story. Pizza delivery boy Dave Blum had a Dial-A-Dinner idea. The plan was, telephone and full menu meals, personally delivered — and not by a bicyclist in a greasy apron — would be delivered to the city’s classiest eaters from the city’s classiest eateries. This former pizza deliverer now earns $30 million a year.
Only in New York, kids, only in New York.