Oliver Platt dished out some strange acting advice to his “Love & Other Drugs” co-star Jake Gyllenhaal — “You are not Justin Timberlake.”
After seeing the movie at a screening Tuesday night, the excitable “West Wing” actor embraced Gyllenhaal, saying, “It was charming, it was great, this is going to be huge for you.” After whispering into his ear, Platt piped up with his mantra: “Say it, I am an actor, I am not Justin Timberlake!”
Turning to friends at restaurant Rouge Tomate, Platt — presumed by onlookers to be poking fun at music stars who try their hand at acting — flailed his arms, rejoicing, “With me, I am not Justin Timberlake!”
Later, Platt told us, “It was a little joke between us on the set, there’s no scandal.” A rep for both Platt and Gyllenhaal said, “Oli and Jake are huge Justin Timberlake fans, especially from the ‘SNL’ videos he does. Oliver just met him at ‘The Social Network’ premiere. The joke is that he can sell millions of records, sing, dance and do everything. He meant [Jake] is a really good actor, but he’s no Justin Timberlake.” Timberlake’s rep didn’t get back to us.
Meanwhile, Gyllenhaal chatted about doing the film’s sex scenes with Anne Hathaway. “We had already lost our cinematic virginity working together on ‘Brokeback Mountain,’ ” he told us. “We rehearsed for two weeks before filming, when we talked about what we thought was sexy and what wasn’t . . . you have to be careful not to objectify women in these scenes.”
Hathaway’s boyfriend, Adam Shulman, sounded less relaxed about seeing her exposed on screen. “I like to stay out of it,” he said sheepishly. “I let her do her thing,”
Director Tom Hooper cozied up with model Veronica Varekova. Molly Sims cozied up to producer Scott Stuber, but barked at a guest who bumped into her in the crowd, “I’m not getting any smaller,” before apologizing for being snippy.