This image was lost some time after publication, but you can still view it here.

While some were busy downing cocktails at the Friars Club on Wednesday night, others with access to a slightly more glamorous crowd were being entertained at the Variety V Life party at ne plus ultra hack director Brett Ratner's newly-renovated home. (Ratner, you may or may not remember, "guest edited" a recent V Life issue.) While our correspondent doesn't mention if things in the house explode for no reason, the place is equipped with a nifty photo booth—but thinking about acts that the booth has probably captured on its strip-film makes us instantly queasy.

Mudslides and expensive homes sliding down canyons? Hah! No reason for industry insiders to miss the recent V Life Oscar Contender Party at Brett Ratner’s Benedict Canyon home, Hillhaven Lodge home, infamous as the onetime residence of Ingrid Bergman and hubby Peter Lindstrum.

Why the big bash at Ratner's private residence? Inside buzz is that it must have been part of the deal for featuring his historic home in the last issue of V Life. Seems Peter Bart asked the Rat Man to "guest editor" an issue and the clever director/producer got in spreads on his famous home and $1 billion imaginary studio, photographed his heros Al Pacino and Kirk Douglas AND wrote a snarky piece blasting the snooty Hotel du Cap in Cannes for giving him a bad room. So there!

Special FOB's such as his ex-squeeze Rebecca Gayheart, Javier Bardem, Erika Christensen, and Harvey Weinstein, were ushered to an upstairs room, away from the common folk. Industry honchos Peter Guber, director
Kevin Williamson ("Scream," "Dawson's Creek") and the infamous Robert Evans were seen also floating around with the common folks out by the pool.

When Lara Flynn Boyle arrived, she immediately hit Ratner's outdoor photo booth (just like the ones in local malls). Maybe she wanted to check out her latest collagen injections?

Word is Ratner is planning a follow-up of his recently published "Hillhaven Lodge: The Photo Booth Pictures," ($35) featuring stars in his private photo booth.

Guests left the party with lovely parting gifts from VLife, a copy of the issue, a laser light pen, a box of matches and an Aston-Martin car catalog. Gee, thanks a pantload.

But Ratner's pals left lugging big boxes containing XACT Stream|Jockey satellite radio receivers and boom boxes with a free subscription to SIRIUS Satellite Radio.

The pricey gifts, given exclusively to VIPs, were also the cause of a major publicist panic when two of the gifts “went missing” from the patio area where they were stored.

Theft? At Hollywood's highest levels? We're shocked! Shocked!