A Day In The Life Of Brett Ratner
The UK Telegraph recently asked four ostensibly representative Hollywood citizens (a director, a screenwriter, a wannabe, and a producer) to keep one-day diaries of their lives. In an absolute stroke of genius, they wrangled noted fauxteur and man-about-town Brett Ratner for the piece, whose day (a "busy" one, admittedly) plays like a name-dropping, starfucking version of the It's A Small World ride at Disneyland, a kingdom only slightly less magical than Ratner's. Some selections from his diary follow:
8am I'm incredibly busy at the moment, so I get up early despite having had a bunch of people - Paul Allen, Quincy Jones, Salma Hayek - over for dinner last night. My housekeeper prepares my breakfast and, while I eat, my assistant, Mike, goes through my call sheet - all the people I have to call today and all the people who've called me. On an average day I receive about 50 phone calls. Normally there are about ten things happening simultaneously.
9am I get into my Bentley and drive to Fox Studios, where I'm currently editing X-Men. The movie stars Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry and Kelsey Grammer and is going to be awesome. Editing is done on state-of-the-art digital equipment in three different bungalows, and I move constantly between them. [...]
1pm Lunch at Mr Chow on Camden Drive with Roger Birnbaum, who is producing the next Rush Hour movie. I'm friends with Mr Chow and normally go there for dinner - when it's more of a scene - but it's nice for lunch as well. While I'm there I catch up with Oliver Stone, who's sitting two tables down from us. He's made a documentary on Fidel Castro that hasn't been released yet. I'm dying to see it - I love documentaries - and he says he'll send me a copy. Courtney Love, who's a good friend of mine, is also there. She's sitting at the table next to me with Mike De Luca, the former head of New Line and DreamWorks.
6.30pm Take a limo to the Cosmo party with my grandparents (who live in my guest house) and my girlfriend, the model Alina Puscau. The party is fun. I catch up with Matt Dillon. We were friendly at NYU film school, but I haven't seen him for a long, long time.
10pm Carry on to Pen lope Cruz's house. She is throwing a party for Paul Haggis, the director of Crash. All the cast are there: Sandra Bullock, Brendan Fraser, Thandie Newton and Don Cheadle.
Sadly, our little industry Candide's diary doesn't end with a hot-tub session in which he and best pal Robert Evans rub each other's feet and discuss their days navigating the Hollywood dream factory. But then again, Ratner's third acts are always a little disappointing, aren't they?
