Partyhopper

From In Style's Ali Forman and Karen Levy: Entering Tom Rothman's house the other night—with the fireplace glowing, the piano playing and family photos decorating the walls—felt like going home to Mom and Dad's for the holidays. Only in his living room, Meryl Streep was hanging out by the piano, and Tom Cruise was getting a bear hug from Forrest Whitaker in the doorway. Hmm—guess we weren’t in Kansas anymore!

Rothman, who heads up Fox Filmed Entertainment (which owns Twentieth Century Fox), was hosting the intimate soiree to celebrate some of the studio's awards-season hopefuls before the announcement of nominees. (Not a bad idea, judging by the still happy faces everywhere in the room!)

Ali, Virginia Madsen and Karen

Outside near the bar, we bumped into former Oscar and Golden Globe nominee Virginia Madsen. (Remember Sideways?) With her long, curly blond mane cascading down her back, she looked pretty amazing. So of course we had to ask who does her hair (she loves Byron Williams, on Robertson). Then we talked about dogs (she has three, and she hired Dog Whisperer Cesar Millan to help with them), about kids (her son, who has a cool Mohawk, wants to act) and, of course, about the reason we were all there: films.

Virginia told us that one of her favorites is Little Miss Sunshine. We love that one, too! (How amazing, by the way, is Abigail Breslin, who plays the little girl Olive? Seriously, if you haven’t seen the film yet, you must.) Speaking of Sunshine, we spotted one of its stars, Greg Kinnear, chatting up Peter Rice, the president of Fox Searchlight. (Perhaps they were discussing the six Independent Spirit Awards nominations the film just received!)

Another Searchlight film being celebrated was Thank You for Smoking, featuring our pals Aaron Eckhart and Maria Bello, among others. So when we saw its director, Jason Reitman, we offered our congrats—not only for the movie but also for the recent birth of his six-week-old daughter, whom he proudly showed pictures of on his phone.

Trying to avoid a potentially embarrassing pool fall, we slowly made our way through the backyard crowd and noticed adorable Anne Hathaway chatting up her Devil Wears Prada co-star Stanley Tucci. We also chatted with Lauren Graham (of Gilmore Girls) and her uber-manager, John Carrabino. (He’s got his hands full managing Bello, Reese Witherspoon, Renée Zellweger, Angie Harmon, Regina King, Elisha Cuthbert, Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon, Gretchen Mol and Josh Duhamel, among others!)

We think we actually managed to persuade Graham (who can be seen soon in Because I Said So, alongside Diane Keaton and Mandy Moore) and even Carrabino to join us at an evening trapeze class. (We’ve been trying to plan this class for months now—and seem to have won over everyone from Bello and Kim Raver to our bureau chief, Glynis Costin. Now we just have to do it!)

Forest Whitaker and Ali

Anyway, the best part of the night was getting our own hugs from Whitaker, who is getting rave  reviews—as well as major Globes and Oscars buzz—for his portrayal of Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland. (By the way, the National Board of Review just announced on Wednesday that he had won their Best Actor award for Last King.) He is so sweet, as is his gorgeous and charming wife, Keisha. Somehow, we have the feeling that we are going to be seeing a lot more of him in the next few months. Stay tuned. And let us know who you think should win an Academy Award this year!

-- James Patrick Herman