TAWKING THE TAWK
It’s hard to upstage Fran Drescher, but that’s exactly what happened when The Nanny celebrated her 50th birthday at a small private dinner party at Teatro Goldoni. Although Esther Drescher (Fran Drescher’s compact Pomeranian) couldn’t get a seat at the table, she displayed exquisite manners by suppressing all doggie activities and remaining close to her mistress. In town to garner further support for her Cancer Schmancer Foundation, the lovably nasal actress spent time with reporters and friends explaining her Congressional efforts on behalf of women’s health care and the importance of early detection. “Remember – on the day the doctor tells you that you have cancer, he goes home to eat dinner with his family while you go home to eat your heart out with yours!” Popping in to be sure that Esther was under the same watchful eye as her famous mother, Wayne Pacelle (president & CEO of The Humane Society) joined Susan Hurley Bennett, Daily Café’s Mary AliceWilliams, Christine Warnke, U.S. News & World Report’s Paul Bedard, Linda Roth, Eric Huey, Silvestro Conte and Yeas & Nays columnist Patrick Gavin.

THE REAL MICHAEL CLAYTON
George Clooney wasn’t at the pre-screening of Michael Clayton, but his on-screen persona was so intense he could have been sitting next to you. The actor plays an elite New York attorney known among his colleagues as “The Janitor,” because for 15 years he’s worked behind the scenes to clean up his high-profile clients’ messy personal problems. So who is Michael Clayton? Most certainly not D.C.’S very own MichaelClayton. As reported by The Washington Post’s Reliable Source: “Real-life Michael Clayton is an intellectual property and trademark lawyer. D.C.’s Clayton first heard about the movie months ago via a joshing e-mail from the director of the International Trademark Association. “My first concern was that ‘Michael Clayton’ was going to be some axe-murdererrapist.” Writer/director Tony Gilroy, who was on hand for a Q&A, has had other Washington close encounters – you may recall that sculptor Frederick Hart and the Washington National Cathedral sued Warner Brothers for the 1997 Devil’s Advocate, starring Al Pacino, claiming they used Hart’s bas-relief at the church’s entrance in a “grotesque distortion,” making it appear to be “an embodiment of all things demonic.” Gilroy penned the flick.

SAD,BUT TRUE
“Trade” used to mean what business people did amongst themselves – trade services. Today it is more likely to mean child trafficking – the impetus for Debbie Sigmund, founder of Innocents at Risk, to hold a private screening of Trade which opened in theaters on September 28. Presented by Roadside Attractions and The District of Columbia Human Trafficking Task Force at The Freer Gallery of Art, both producer Rosslyn Heller and actress Alicja Bachleda were there to mingle with guests and discuss the film. Starring Academy Award winner Kevin Klein and written by Academy Award nominee Jose Rivera of Motorcycle Diaries, it’s a frightening story of courage and a devastating expose of one of the world’s most heinous crimes. Inspired by Peter Landesman’s chilling NewYork Times Magazine piece on the U.S. Sex Trade, The Girls Next Door, it was hard to watch; but do. What producers want to project is that if you aren’t seeing this problem in the U.S., or even in your own neighborhood, you just aren’t looking.