Stephen Dorff, whose movie “The Motel Life” opens Friday, is the actor who creates those electronic cigarettes ads.
“Happened because I did that first electronic cigarette campaign. I was the one made the video, which became this huge commercial. Me and my partner, know where we shot it? In Peru. Can you believe it? Machu Picchu.
“Listen, I used to smell like an ashtray, I started at 18. Two packs a day. I’m trying to cut down on smoking.”
OK, the movie.
“It was a novel, which HarperCollins is now re-releasing. Takes place in ’96 in Reno. Two brothers who love each other have nothing. No money. No path of glory. Rock bottom. They escape their dismal situation by painting mental pictures of a beautiful life.
“Kris Kristofferson, my friend, said it’s the finest movie he’s been in. We did ‘Blade’ together in ’98. He was tired and on the road with his band. I said we got to do this script I read. In three days, I got him. Then I got Emile Hirsch to play my brother because I always thought in real life he reminded me of my younger brother. Although Emile thought I should get a restraining order, that’s what he plays in this.
“The one with the problem getting the part was me. The two Polsky brothers who directed this didn’t see me in the role. Returning from Tokyo with Sofia Coppola, with whom I’d just made a movie, she told me, ‘Go for it.’ I did. I followed them, fought my way, and convinced them.”
So, with those electronic no-smoking ads, have you kicked the habit?
“Well . . . occasionally I cheat with one cigarette.”
We’re good for something
Resident Magazine’s November cover story lists “25 New Yorkers to invite to a dinner party.” Like: Jamie Dimon “so he can pick up the tab.” Martha Stewart “so she can set the table.” Mike Bloomberg “so he can watch our calorie intake.” Dr. Oz “to tell us the million vitamins to take.” Ronan Farrow “to find out if he’s really Sinatra’s son.” Cindy Adams “who knows everyone, seen everything in New York City.”
‘Bound’ to rai$e a lot for PTSD
Alan Alda, Joe Mantegna host “Homeward Bound,” Sunday’s four-hour telethon to help vets with post-traumatic stress disorder. Candice Bergen donated $20,000 . . . 4 p.m. chef Mario Batali at the bar of his own downtown hasheteria Otto Enoteca Pizzeria . . . Sandra Bullock on aging actresses getting less work: “I don’t want to go to pasture. I’m allergic to grass, and the cows are mean.” . . . Rebel Wilson on her ABC-TV series “Super Fun Night”: “I’m the creator. I’m the producer. I’m the writer. I’m the star. I put in real stories, like about my real family. I’m totally single. I’m not about fashion. It’s an anti-‘Sex and the City’ thing. In my show, nobody gets laid.” . . . Separately. Simultaneously. But not together. Two divas in 75th & B’way coffee shop Viand: Tina Fey and Joan Collins . . . “Standing Up,” Charles Grodin’s comedian daughter Marion’s memoir out this week . . . You’ll know yule’s coming. Already out, Mary J Blige’s “A Mary Christmas” album and Mariah Carey pushing her “Merry Christmas ll.”
***
Reader calling herself “Toots” writes: “Supreme Court, NY County, 60 Centre St., Motion Assignment Part. I’m sitting front-row, waiting to be called. Staring at the ceiling. Seeing what looks like spaghetti hanging from a lighting fixture. It was dozens of rubber bands dangling off that chandelier bowl. Manhattan’s dutiful clerks have been sitting there off-hours playing rubber-band basketball with the chandelier.”
Only in New York, kids, only in New York.
A previous version of this column wrongly stated that Stephen Dorff had been diagnosed with emphysema.