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In an unusual twist for premieres in Los Angeles, New Line kept the crowd dancing into the wee hours.
You know a premiere party is rocking when the film’s director doesn’t leave until 2:15 AM. At the opening of Domino, New Line Cinema’s gritty movie about the late bounty hunter Domino Harvey, director Tony Scott kept the party going long after the scheduled midnight shut-down—even star Keira Knightley was still wiggling on the dance floor at 1. The party was overseen by New Line’s Maggie Swisher.
One of the secret weapons wielded by the planners at Moondance Events and Entertainment was celebrity DJ Samantha Ronson, whom they hired in part because, like Knightley, she resembles the waifish Domino. Ronson played a nearly hypnotic mix of eclectic mash-ups on stage at the Highlands, a cavernous venue totally transformed for the event.
New Line had asked Moondance to design an "edgy and raw" space, said company co-owner Benita Karroll, so the planners literally cleaned house. Karoll and her partner, Wendi Mirabella, removed virtually every trace of the luxe lounge feel of the venue. Down came the curtains to reveal the city lights beyond large windows opening onto the terrace. Some of the paintings and the usual DJ booth were hidden behind a photo backdrop of bail bond storefronts that had been used for press junkets. Artwork and large mirrors over one of the bars were hidden behind a mesh scrim, which served as a screen for the film’s name and clips, also projected behind Ronson.
Moondance also used industrial-feeling mesh atop speakers, dotting it with white votive candles, which helped suffuse the space with a soft light. Moondance had taken down the venue’s chandeliers and used hazers to create an especially subtle veil that would help diffuse the light. On the dance floor below the stage, two beams of light slowly rotated among the dancers. “We were looking to create a cross between the raw urban action vibe, coupled with an ambient vibe, because people were coming in to chill,” Mirabella said. The dance floor was surrounded by V.I.P. tables topped with bowls of red verandah goldfish, which were paired with two votives to spotlight the fish and help keep them warm. The fish were inspired by Domino’s lifelong preoccupation with their brethren, which prompted her to sport a koi tattoo.
In a back room past the DJ, the more adventurous guests happened on an intimate temple to celebrity tattoo artist Ed Hardy, who has a shop on Melrose Avenue. There they picked up some 500 T-shirts emblazoned with Hardy’s signature designs, some of which were fastidiously custom-snipped by master shirt-shredder Adam Saaks while their new owners were wearing them. “It’s something that’s very showy and it’s interactive,” Mirabella said. “It has that whole kitsch strip thing going on.” Revelers could also line up for airbrush tattoos and studded, embroidered caps after grazing from assorted buffets filled with antipasti, sushi, Mexican food, and desserts.
—Irene Lacher
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