Jon Hamm cut to the front of the line, Adrian Grenier tore up the dance floor, and Heidi Klum ripped her designer gown. Read our dispatches from last night's hottest parties. Plus, watch the 16 funniest moments from the Golden Globes.
The first major week of Oscar season ended at the Beverly Hilton Sunday night where there were five floors of parties, and enough people at them to fill a large sports arena. The party to be at, presuming you weren't CAA talent (the agency had their own no-press bash at the Sunset Tower, at which winners like Meryl Streep and Sandra Bullock were celebrating) was clearly the HBO fete, which was held poolside at Circa 55, the restaurant in the pool area of the Beverly Hilton. Although it poured rain all night, the place was full of celebrities and Hollywood royalty, among them Martin Scorsese, Drew Barrymore, Leonardo DiCaprio, Harrison Ford, Calista Flockhart, Arianna Huffington Ricky Gervais, George Lucas, Chloë Sevigny, Ari Emanuel, and Bill Paxton. Jon Hamm came too, despite that his show Mad Men is broadcast on AMC.
Click Image to View Our Gallery of the Red Carpet and Parties at this Year’s Golden Globes
He managed to cut the line, which was lucky, because even people with invites waited for as long as 45 minutes to gain admittance, after the fire marshals came and threatened to close the thing down.
Jason Reitman, whose Up in the Air won the best adapted screenplay award, hit the bar. "I've been drunk less than ten times in my life. But tonight is one of them," he said with a smile.
The official after-party, hosted by NBC/Universal, was a graveyard—although it wasn't a bad place to catch your breath. In the end, NBC President Jeff Zucker decided not to come to the Globes after all, which was probably just as well, given his role in the Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien debacle, and the way people in this town currently feel about him.The better-liked Ron Meyer, who heads up Universal Pictures, was holding court in the center of the room, but aside from him and Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels, the crowd was slim pickings, as far as celebrity sightings were concerned.
By 10:30, much of the Hilton action had moved down the hall to a party In Style and Warner Bros hosted with sponsor Godiva.
Morgan Freeman was sitting on a couch in the back, Diane Kruger was laughing it up with a couple of friends, and the boys from The Hangover were all over the place.
Also there was Heidi Klum, who came with her husband Seal. She showed up in a gorgeous Roberto Cavalli gown, but the dress's train did not survive the night fully intact. "We cut a piece off already," she said. "I went to the bathroom and found someone with a Swiss Army Knife. And see this?"
She showed off a newly damaged piece on the front end of the train.
"This piece is going next," she said.
At the couches in the back, we bumped into Courteney Cox, who'd been nominated for her starring role in the ABC show Cougar Town. Tackling the role didn't require much research into the mysterious ways of cougars, she said. "I've been one for years." (Her husband David Arquette is seven years her junior.)
Others hit the dance floor. Entourage's Adrian Grenier was putting the moves on a mystery blond, with whom he was boogie-ing down to the sounds of Lady Gaga and Neil Diamond. This was a surprise to no one.
And Inglourious Basterds' evil Nazi player Christoph Waltz showed up soon after, carrying his award in his hand.
Where will you keep it, someone asked?
"Right here," he said, and pulled the award closer towards his chest.
Pete Docter, who directed Up, was more relaxed with his trophy. He popped into the In Style party with what appeared to be the entire crew from his movie, his Globe nowhere in sight. "I think it's on its way to the chocolate table," he said.
For Docter, whose been doing hit animated films since Toy Story, the reaction to his latest film is still a bit unexpected. "We opened the Cannes Film Festival, which had never been done before with an animated film. It was pretty weird. Usually, we get kicked out of things like that. We're not used to big-ticket serious things like this...To be recognized like this is fantastic."