Oscar Watch: American Gangster Party

Universal's Ron Meyer, Marc Shmuger, David Linde and producer Brian Grazer threw an Oscar-season party at Ago Saturday night to honor American Gangster director Ridley Scott. It's a measure of the Brit's clout that he was surrounded by actors. Paying tribute were Gangster star Denzel Washington, Leonardo DiCaprio (talking to Jeremy Piven), Armand Assante and Edward James Olmos, who starred in the recently reissued Blade Runner.

Scott shot commercials in Manhattan back in the 70s, when American Gangster was set, and took pictures in Harlem, which he consulted when prepping the movie. Screenwriter Steve Zaillian, who collaborated with Scott on Black Hawk Down and Hannibal, sent his draft of American Gangster to the director, who managed to talk Washington into coming back on board after a later script fell dormant. Zaillian is trying to adjust to not writing, he said. Strike talk filled the party, with most folks assuming that the forthcoming DGA talks were most likely to yield some results.