Good guy Zach Grenier, who’s in “The Good Wife”: “I play snarky family lawyer David Lee. And, you know, a show’s atmosphere is dictated by the star’s personality. Wonderful Julianna Margulies has a calm. She’s like a Brooklyn mother.”
About his fancy name: “My grandfather, born Grenier, was French Canadian, a little Alsatian, little Pennsylvania Dutch and Polish. I got christened James Hampton, but, a rebellious kid, I ran away from home and took the name Zachary Winston. I dropped ‘Winston’ and became Zachary.”
About his flaws besides rebellion? “Everybody’s got something. Me, none — except I’m prone to great anxiety.”
About why’s he at a doc about casting agents: “My grandfather was an art director, and casting’s a living art form. This documentary spotlights Marion Dougherty, who discovered Dustin, Redford, and did 74 titles like ‘Midnight Cowboy,’ ‘The Graduate,’ ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,’ ‘Bonnie and Clyde.’
“My first experience was, I’d just moved to New York, saw the play ‘The Elephant Man’ and thought, ‘I can do that.’ So I knocked on a casting agent’s door.
“She said, ‘You’re auditioning for ‘The Elephant Man’? Please. You’re too ugly to play the world’s most ugly man.’”
“Casting By” is on HBO Monday.
A decade of decadence
Lindsay Lohan. Out of rehab. A-OK. Good to go. We met when she was 17.
Fresh-faced, different face than now. She was filming as her father walked up and back. On his cell. He disconnected. It rang again. He talked more.
Finished. Another call. While I spoke with Lindsay, again on his cell.
What’s she do with all this money she’s making? Michael, covering the mouthpiece, whispered: “My daughter bilks me every week. Lindsay’s smart. Puts her money away.” Returned to his cellphone.
Hundreds of professionals loaded the Times Square setting. Trailers, trucks, campers, lights, cameras, makeup people, hair people, Disney people, director, assistants, crews, extras, script writers, cops shooing a Softee driver because, “That truck’s a pain in the ass.”
This was 10 years ago. The Sturm und Drang and headlines and p.r.? She loves it.
Smurf ’n’ turf
At the “Smurfs 2” premiere, Britney Spears, Neil Patrick Harris, George Lopez, Vivica A. Fox had their kids. Katy Perry brought her grandma, age 92, dressed in a blinged-out Smurfs T-shirt . . . Russell Simmons’ annual auction items include a Josh Groban visit, Tyler Perry movie walk-on, Ice T meeting, Magic Johnson dinner . . . Bruce Willis keep all his old films? “No. I’m not a collector. But I know someone has them.”
Bitty baby bit
Attention Duchess: Christina Aguilera’s baby’s bris (daddy, Jordan Bratman) was decorated with penis balloons.
Odds & ends
Questions get answered in Brad Meltzer’s “History Decoded.” Like, is Fort Knox empty? Why was Hitler hot on capturing the Roman Spear of Destiny? I know borscht about his panting after a spear, but if you care — the Workman book’s out October . . . Graydon Carter producing a Nora Ephron documentary. Shooting celebs and friends all summer and autumn . . . Aug. 17. A Hampton benefit. The Artists & Writers thing — popcorn, hot dogs, burgers, ice cream, announcers Ed Burns, Matt Lauer, Carl Bernstein.
God, please
Reader Sally Sherwood asked about a golden telephone on a column at St. Peter’s. A priest said it’s a direct line to heaven and the call’s $1,000. In a Jerusalem synagogue, a similar phone, also “a direct line to heaven,” was 25 cents. Asked why, the rabbi said: “You’re in Israel now. It’s a local call.”
Only in Israel, kids, only in Israel.