Big Toast to Little Children

Among those sipping Chianti and nibbling on arancini and mini pizza margaritas in the subterranean dining room of Madeo’s last Wednesday evening in Los Angeles, in honor of New Line’s “Little Children,” were the film’s producers and hosts Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa, director Todd Field, novelist Tom Perrotta, New Line bigwigs Toby Emmerich, Rolf Mittweg, Russell Schwartz and David Tuckerman, and CAA agent Hylda Queally.

The general mood was one of either resigned reacclimation to the vagaries of awards season after brief holiday sojourns, or the sighs of fatigue from overworked handlers who won’t be able to come up for air until after the Oscars. But certainly congratulations were in order, not only for the film’s three Golden Globe noms but for the recent Producers Guild nom for Berger and Yerxa — only it was for their other “Little” film, “Little Miss Sunshine.”

Clearly the producers take the most pride in Field’s suburban drama, and still hold out for additional recognition before all is said and done.

A relaxed-looking Field had flown in from Maine for an event that conveniently coincided with a Saturday night gala at the Palm Springs Film Fest, where he, Winslet and Cate Blanchett are being honored.

The Madeo soiree also served as a sort of prelude to an SRO event at Book Soup at which Field and Perotta signed copies of Perotta’s novel and their just published joint effort “Little Children: The Shooting Script.” (S. Chagollan)