KATE Moss. She has a country house in Lechlade outside London. She now wishes to build a pub near this house. She intends to stick it in Gloucestershire county. OK by me. Probably also OK by you. The problem is, not OK by the local Gloucestershirians. Her idea being, it’s a meeting place for her cool friends who want to hang out and drink and read poetry. Their idea being, it’s a cesspool for louts and drunks and druggies and her Peter Doherty-type pals who seem to be of the aforementioned persuasion. Right now they need Gen. Petraeus.
IN Jodie Foster‘s new film “The Brave One,” she plays a N.Y. talk-radio host. Director Neil Jordan (Oscar winner for “The Crying Game”) built a realistic state-of-the-art studio in a Brooklyn warehouse and hired talk-radio vet Maurice Tunick, who launched the Sally Jessy Raphael, Dr. Ruth, Deborah Norville shows, as consultant. For extra authenticity, they even made up talk-radio staples like baseball caps and coffee mugs emblazoned with the fictional WNKW’s logo. The lone difference between real and reel life? Tunick says: “Food’s better on the movie set.”
COMING along is a remake of that oldie movie and play, “Sunset Blvd.” They want Glenn Close as the has-been film star played by Gloria Swanson plus Colin Farrell for the young chauffeur lover whose role was handled by William Holden. . . . Finally shedding the last of 45 pounds gained when making “Syriana” in 2005, G. Clooney says: “I’ll never do that again. Too hard to lose it. I felt fat, depressed and old. Like I aged a decade.” . . . Mick Jagger unearthed “Too Many Cooks,” a 30-year-old recording with him doing vocals, Lennon on guitar, Ringo on drums. He plans to reissue and retitle it “The Best of Mick Jagger.” . . . Want a penthouse and can afford to decorate it, check out architect Campion Platt in Architectural Digest. . . . The Helen Hayes Theatre’s “Xanadu,” a musical comedy spoof of Olivia Newton-John‘s 1980 cult classic, so successful that a national tour rolls out next year.
THIS being 9/12, The Day After, I asked Greg Behrman, author of “The Most Noble Adventure: The Marshall Plan and the Time When America Helped Save Europe,” what next? Said this Henry Kissinger Fellow for Foreign Policy at The Aspen Institute:
“The Marshall Plan’s audacious economic recovery assistance policy after World War II helped us rebuild devastated Western Europe and made everyone love and respect America, the beacon of generosity and moral leadership. Western Europe then was today’s Middle East. Millions killed, ancient cities demolished, the economy in shambles.
“Radicalism spawns humiliation, alienation, victimization. Besides hate for us, that area will breed unemployment, stagnation the ‘we’re victims’ atmosphere. Look, the Marshall Plan under President Harry Truman wasn’t wildly popular with everyone when it was formulated. But it worked, as would its concept today. We must develop some economic partnership that emboldens the people and puts pressure on hard-liners and radicals. We must speak to their economic problems.
“Growth, employment, economic development, the way to clean the swamp of oppression in the Middle East – and there’s no evidence this is brewing – is the key to the next century. A modern Marshall Plan would recast our image in that region, restore their faith in our way of life and bring back a time when America was loved – not hated.”
The back of the book states, “The Marshall Plan is code language for governmental caring.”
DEMI Moore and her hairs did George Michael‘s Salon . . . Barack Obama did not do George Soros‘ Hamptons party for him. Fact is, Soros didn’t either. Arrangements got arranged, caterers set, but people weren’t flocking. The fund-raiser was canceled. . . . Anyone aware that in our five boroughs alone 14,000 mortgagees will lose their homes? 14,000! . . . Anyone aware that post-back-to-school surges, Madison Avenue is not doing well? Not! . . . Dalai Lama speaks at the Javits Center Oct. 11. . . . Annie Lennox did her shopping off a street cart in front of the Museum of Arts & Design. . . . Class action lawyer Chris Seeger‘s gym routine is a punching bag bearing photos of opposing lawyers. . . . Jill Scott beat Queen Latifah for her role in director Anthony Minghella‘s Weinstein film “The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency.” It’s the first major movie shot in South Africa, and Botswana’s President Festus Mogae gave a dinner in her honor. Nice – but better she should win a Grammy.
SAM Locklin received Esquire’s invite to “The Power Suit,” an exclusive one-on-one of the finest fall collections at Bloomingdale’s. It told him to “relax with a martini in hand, have a shine and pocket a freshly rolled cigar.” Fine. It’s only that Sam just turned 16.
Only in New York, kids, only in New York.