The Party Report: Season of Giving Kicks Off With Starry Galas and the Return of TheGrill

It may not be the holidays just yet, but early October is the beginning of the season of giving, as Hollywood bands together at glittery charity galas. Plus: film festivals, premieres, special screenings and The Grill, TheWrap’s annual conference about the state of Hollywood 2022.

From Hollywood to New York to London (and beyond), the movers and shakers of the entertainment world are out in force at events filled with fabulous clothes, beautiful people and even some giving back. Join us in a quick look at what’s been going on as Fall arrives, bringing awards season festivities along with the slight chill in the air.

By Jenny Peters

2022 Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Gala
Barker Hangar, Santa Monica

Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel (clad in a feathery Giambattista Valli Haute Couture gown) led the charge at the 2022 Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Gala, helping to raise a record-breaking $5.5 million for that medical center dedicated to healing children. Timberlake put on a show that had the whole place up and dancing, as Chris and Robert Pine served as hosts of the party held at the Barker Hangar, which is a perfectly mutable space with plenty of parking, making it a favorite of the charity gala crowd.

The cause is very close to Biel’s heart, as her niece had successful heart surgery at CHLA; Jimmy Kimmel joined the festivities, too, for his baby boy also had life-saving surgery at the hospital (he is now 5 years old). Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas made the scene, as did Chuck Lorre, Matt LeBlanc and Nikki DeLoach.

Timberlake performed for about 40 minutes and gave a heartfelt tribute to the medical staff at the hospital from the stage. “My kids have not had the need to be at CHLA,” he said. “I think about all the lives that all of you have saved and I just want you to know that y’all are not unnoticed, especially to a father like me with a 7-year-old and a 2-year-old.”

Barbara Berlanti Heroes Gala Benefiting F*ck Cancer
Barker Hangar, Santa Monica

Another important fund raising gala happened at the Barker Hangar on a different night, as the Barbara Berlanti Heroes Gala Benefiting F*ck Cancer brought together honorees Rachel Zoe, Jennifer Salke and Julie Plec and a host of famous faces ready and willing to lend their support to the cause of eradicating cancer. The event raised $1.4 million as Julie Plec (known for her work on the “Scream” movie series as well as “The Vampire Diaries”) revealed that she personally fought off kidney cancer recently and lived to tell the story.

“In the spirit of recognizing my privilege, but also celebrating that privilege and that it allows me to do what I’m about to do, I would like to join Barbara Berlanti in saying, “F— cancer!” And I would like to pledge $100,000 so that we can keep fighting the good fight by saving everybody,” Plec emotionally told the cheering audience.

Stylist Rachel Zoe’s life has also been touched by cancer, as she revealed when accepting her award. “[Cancer] has plagued my entire family and countless people in my life,” she said. “I do dream of a day where none of us gets this award, and we don’t have to have this gala. When there is no more cancer, and we stop it.”

En Vogue put on a lively performance as the crowd that included Hailey Beiber, Tyler Hoechlin, Jesse L. Martin, Aisha Tyler and Joshua Jackson got on their feet for the music. Jackson, whose next TV series is a reboot of the film “Fatal Attraction,” gave TheWrap an inside glimpse of what to expect while on the red carpet – see that here. – Red-carpet reporting by Elijah Gil

The Carousel of Hope
Beverly Hilton Hotel, Beverly Hills

There was an exuberant atmosphere at the Beverly Hilton Hotel for the 36th Annual Carousel of Hope fundraising auction, dinner and show — held in person again at long last. At the fundraising event for Barbara Davis’ Children’s Diabetes Foundation, the glitterati (also known as “Friends of Barbara”) showed up in ball gowns and tuxedos to celebrate the founder’s 92nd birthday.

The huge party also honored Diane Keaton and culminated in an intimate concert from EGOT-winner John Legend.

The evening began with hundreds of donated items up for grabs at the massive silent auction, including a guitar from Taylor Swift, an autographed hat from Diane Keaton’s collection, a live painting demonstration, plus travel, sports and entertainment packages. The most popular spot in the room was with the puppies up for adoption, where crowds gathered to receive unconditional love and kisses from a dozen of the cutest and friendliest canines imaginable.

Comedian Howie Mandel hosted, but struggled a bit with the audience, as his jokes and stories just couldn’t quiet the excited buzz of attendees happy to be out with friends old and new. Happily, the live auction raised almost $500,000 for the foundation, including a $25,000 pledge from Keaton; the event as a whole raised $1.7 million, bringing the total over the years to a whopping $110 million-plus.

Keaton channeled the love in the room for Davis, saying, “I love you, Barbara! You are such a spectacular woman and an inspiration for us all.”

Familiar faces at the ball included everyone from Clive Davis and Berry Gordy to Jimmy Jam, Nigel Lythgoe and Ed Begley, Jr., with AnnaLynne McCord doing some serious dazzling in her golden sheath; Andy Grammer and Deborah Cox also performed, and everyone toted home a giant goodie bag, marking the return of one of the Carousel of Hope’s signature elements.

The 7th Annual Imagine Ball
The Peppermint Club, West Hollywood

Imagine LA, the nonprofit created to end the cycle of family poverty and homelessness, put on its 7th Annual Imagine Ball in an intimate setting at The Peppermint Lounge – but the stage was big enough to hold Ciara, who performed a couple of tunes, as well as David Foster and Pia Toscano, who followed her with a set of their own and eventually brought out Foster’s dulcet-toned wife, Katherine McPhee, to close the show. Happy listeners included L.A. Lakers hotshots Ervin “Magic” Johnson and Kurt Rambis, who helped this worthy cause raise over half a million dollars in the course of the evening.

“Black Adam”
AMC Empire Theaters, New York, NY

The “Black Adam” Warner Bros./DC Comics worldwide roadshow made an official premiere stop in New York City this week as Duane Johnson and company roll toward the finale, the Los Angeles premiere on October 22. The Rock and co-stars Pierce Brosnan, Aldis Hodge, Odelya Halevi and a host of others are hitting carpets from Mexico City to Toronto, and London to Madrid leading up to the film’s release on October 21, with Warner Bros. hoping that this time out a DC Comics hero that isn’t Superman or Batman will make a box office splash.

“Below the Belt”
The Director’s Guild Theater, Los Angeles

As the executive producers of “Below the Belt,” Rosario Dawson and Corinne Foxx have dedicated years to bringing the documentary that focuses on the women’s disease of endometriosis to audiences. They made the film’s premiere a family affair, as Corinne’s dad Jamie Foxx and Rosario’s mom Isabel Celeste joined them to ensure that women around the world understand more about that insidious disease. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Mae Whitman also serve as executive producers on this documentary that can actually save lives.

“Tár” Special Screening
The Academy Museum, Los Angeles

Cate Blanchett continued her for-your-consideration tour with a special screening of “Tár,” the classical music opus directed by Todd Field, at the Academy Museum in Los Angeles. After a little party and the unspooling of the film, they both took the stage to chat about the awards contender.

“If it’s working, something is flowing through you, and to an audience,” Blanchett said, by way of explaining how she transformed into her character, a famed orchestra conductor. “I have a profound and acute sense of audience, and that you have to sort of step out of the way in order to reach an audience. I’m constantly thinking about the world in which we are living. When you’re playing something as intense as this experience is, it made me feel alive. I felt more alive making this than I had for a long time, making anything.”

Her co-stars Nina Hoss and Sophie Kauer, along with the film’s composer, Hildur Guðnadóttir, editor Monika Willi, costume designer Bina Daigeler and production designer Marco Bittner Rosser joined in the night’s conversation, which skirted around the word “Oscar” but nevertheless was a definite campaign stop for the film set right in the heart of the beast.

“The Watcher”
The Paris Theater, New York City

Ryan Murphy is suddenly on a roll at Netflix and next up for the prolific producer is “The Watcher,” which premiered in New York as his eclectic cast joined in the celebration of a weird but true story about a New Jersey couple whose new house holds way more than they bargained for. Naomi Watts and Bobby Cannavale star, along with Mia Farrow, Margo Martindale, Christopher McDonald, Terry Kinney and a gaggle of others; everyone, as well as Netflix boss Ted Sarandos, crowded onto the red carpet with Murphy. Just in time for Halloween, “The Watcher” is one strange, cautionary tale that reminds the world to vet your neighbors before signing those mortgage contracts.

60th New York Film Festival
Lincoln Center, New York City

Celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2022, the New York Film Festival runs from September 30 to October 16 and unspools countless feature films, documentaries and revivals of classic movies. This year brought Robert Downey Jr. in support of “Sr.,” Chris Smith’s documentary about Downey’s namesake father, an actor and filmmaker best known for the 1969 advertising world satire “Putney Swope.” The younger actor and his wife, Susan, served as executive producers, while Norman Lear, Paul Thomas Anderson and Alan Arkin appear in the film.

Canadian filmmaker Sarah Polley also made the trek to the fest, along with all of her “Women Talking” cast, as that searing drama of molestation within a Mennonite community continues to gain steam heading into awards voting. And the “Tár” gang hit the festival before heading to L.A., too, as did Tilda Swinton and her “The Eternal Daughter” director Johanna Hogg. All in all, 32 “of the most exciting new feature films from around the world” (according to the fest) made up the NYFF Main Slate this year.

The 66th BFI London Film Festival
Venues Across London and the UK

Hollywood’s Oscar-winning elites descended on the 66th BFI London Film Festival from October 5-16 to help tout their new movies to adoring crowds, including Jennifer Lawrence bringing a dazzle of glamour to the carpet of her military drama “Causeway,” directed by Lila Neugebauer.

And Eddie Redmayne and Jessica Chastain had plenty of close encounters with fans at the premiere of “The Good Nurse,” which already made a splash at the Toronto Film Festival in September, as they gamely signed autographs and took countless selfies with the Brits who turned out in droves to see those two A-list favorites.

The London Film Festival goes beyond movies, presenting shorts, television series and more, including their BFI Player, where fans located in the UK can pay to watch selected films that unspooled at the fest (as well as the short films for free) at home.

New York Comic Con
Jacob Javits Center, New York City

New York Comic Con came back strong in 2022, with a packed program at Javits Center that included an almost unrecognizable Jack Black, who brought his own personal throne as part of his launch party for “The Super Mario Bros Movie” (arriving in theaters in early 2023).

That animated feature promises plenty of laughs, but maybe not quite as impressive as the ones that Drew Barrymore and Jamie Lee Curtis indulged in during NYCC, as they promoted Curtis’ positively, for sure, no doubt about it final encounter with Michael Myers in “Halloween Ends,” screaming into theaters on October 14. All the cosplayers and comic-book fans who shelled out $80 per day (the price for ages 12 and above) for the four-day extravaganza of all things related to comics, superheroes, anime, sci-fi and (of course) genre movies went home grinning with happiness.

Please send event invitations to Jenny Peters at jenny.peters@thewrap.com.

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