When it comes to getting girls to strip for his camera, photographer Steve Wayda says Kim Kardashian has the edge over Ashley Dupre. “Kim was much more relaxed right off the bat,” says the master nude portraitist, who recently shot both ladies for Playboy. “Maybe that was because of her sex tape.” Former gubernatorial service-woman Dupre, on the other hand, was “guarded. So she was a challenge initially. She said, ‘I can’t be shot from that angle – my legs will look too thick …’ She also wasn’t too big on the dominatrix-in-the-dungeon idea at first. But I won her trust.” Ashley was holding hands with new guy Casey Ashby at U.S. Weekly’s Hot Hollywood Style party in L.A. on Thursday.
While crusading Attorney General Andrew Cuomo continues to elude the press, those who know him best talked with us for a profile in May’s Esquire. Among those revealing what New York’s probable next governor is really like: his father, Mario, his bro, ABC News‘ Chris Cuomo, former mayor Ed Koch, columnist Jimmy Breslin, political operative Hank Sheinkopf and George Arzt, his delicious TV chef girlfriend Sandra Lee, and others.
That cursed Icelandic volcano kept Brad Pitt from flying over from Europe to see Tanzania‘s President Jakaya Kikwete dub Brad’s brother, Doug, a goodwill ambassador for the country. Doug, who partied with Lauryn Hill and Anthony Edwards at the Plaza Athenee dinner, was honored for his work with the Africa 6000 International charity. He told us he’s looking forward to climbing Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro next January. “We’re going to ride bikes down,” Doug said. Is Brad coming? “I can’t say he’s been real receptive. But I’ll keep at it.”
Back to that volcano: the lava-belching crater also kept French screen legend Catherine Deneuve in Paris. She was due to receive a style award from the Savannah College of Art + Design at the James Cohan Gallery here in Chelsea.
Barney’s creative director Simon Doonan was crestfallen when he showed up, only to find out she wasn’t coming. “When even Deneuve is stuck like us mere mortals, you know it’s bad,” quipped Doonan.
Meanwhile, Virgin Atlantic chief Richard Branson thinks Icelandic officials could have handled it better. “They could have taken the test flights sooner, so the problem wouldn’t have gotten to this level,” Branson told us at Thursday’s Britweek Gala benefitting Save the Children and Virgin Unite. Then again, the billionaire adventurer half-hopes Eyjafjallajökull will blow again. “I’m running my first marathon this Monday in London. So, in a way, I wish another volcano would go off [so I couldn’t get there]. But I’m doing it. I’ll be showing off my legs.”
Barbara Walters better brace herself for Bill Madden‘s new book, “George Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball.” Though the two have insisted that they’re just good friends, Steinbrenner’s wife, Joan, apparently has doubts. During the 2000 Yankees-Mets World Series at Shea, the Yankees security staff was thrown into a panic when they learned Babwa and Joan were both headed to Steinbrenner’s private box.
Look for another gay celeb to burst from the closet on May 5. PR maestro Howard Bragman, who has orchestrated major media coverage of the self-outing, won’t say whether the “beautiful and courageous” star is male or female. He does tell us that, unlike Ricky Martin, Clay Aiken and Sean Hayes, this one won’t be stating the obvious: “It won’t be ‘Duh,’ it’ll be ‘Wow!'”
Michael and Diandra Douglas are still shattered by Judge Richard Berman‘s stinging critique of their parenting skills at the Tuesday hearing where Berman sentenced their drug-dealing son, Cameron, to five years. Having been branded as “distant” and “immature,” a tearful Diandra tells us, “I met Michael when I was 19. I did the best I could in an insane situation. I wasn’t an absentee parent. I wasn’t flying all of the world trying to become a movie star.”
Kate Hudson got comfy with Thom Yorke at Palm Springs‘ Ace Hotel after the rocker’s Atoms for Peace show at Coachella. Also there were Yorke’s bandmates Flea, Nigel Godard and Joey Waronker (whose mom, ’60s pop star Donna Loren, is making a comeback). Stopping by, too, was Beyonce, who told Yorke she was “dying” to cut some rock with him. Even her hubby, Jay Z, showed his reverence for the Radiohead frontman, telling writer Hal Lifson, “That dude is dangerous.”
Mike Meyers, who returns as everyone’s favorite green giant in “Shrek Forever After” adores Antonio Banderas‘ Puss in Boots. Despite the paunch that the sword-wielding feline has put on in the new flick, Myers tells us: “I want Puss to live at my house.” Meyers, whose Dr. Evil character also loves kitties, keeps two cats in his New York pad. “I don’t overfeed them. They’re the appropriate weight for their height.” The man of a thousand voices still thinks he was right to give Shrek a Scottish burr. “Most fairytales are about class struggle,” he said at Thursday’s premiere party at the Museum of Modern Art. “I thought of the ogre as a working person. He needed an earthy, working person’s accent.” As for his coming attractions, Meyers has long ago scrapped the idea of re-making “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.” But he hasn’t written off a movie about The Who‘s overindulgent drummer, Keith Moon. “I love music. I was a punk rocker in high school. I went to England because I loved The Clash, the Sex Pistols, the Buzzcocks. But I got hired by Second City, [the Chicago comedy troupe]. I still love to make music I play drums and bass. I’m not terribly good at either but I record them on Garageband. Every movie I’ve done has had a strong musical undercurrent, Austin Powers started from my hearing a Burt Bachrach song.” Expect Mike to announce his next project in about a month.
What music publishing president has been pressuring a Grammy-nominated composer to collaborate with the exec’s teenage son? The songwriter is afraid to say no.
Saying no to temptation is a popular theme at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival. In Dana Adam Shapiro‘s “Monogamy,” Chris Messina plays a wedding photographer whose romance with his fiancée (Rashida Jones) is endangered by a mysterious vixen (Meital Dohan), who hires him to take pictures of her in intimate moments. (Dohan never utters a line of dialogue; she’s so nut, she doesn’t need to.) Meanwhile, Edward Burns‘ charming new romantic comedy, “Nice Guy Johnny” deals with a young would-be groom (Matt Bush) who tackles the dilemma of whether to trade in his fiancée (Anna Wood) for a gorgeous Hamptons blond (Kerry Bische). Burns said at Friday’s premiere that the movie is “my most personal film since ‘The Brothers McMullen.'” Not that he jeopardized his own engagement. “My wife would not be sitting here if that were the case,” said Burns, putting a smile on the face of Christy Turlington.
Calvin Klein hosted a dinner at Freeman’s to celebrate photographer pal Christopher Makos‘ show of vintage Polaroid SX-70 images. Four of Makos’ pictures of his beloved Andy Warhol – listed at $16,000 – sold for an undisclosed amount to a London buyer. The exhibit at Nolita’s Christopher Henry Gallery also features Makos’ portraits of Deborah Harry, Lou Reed, Man Ray, and John Kennedy Jr. “No one was afraid of being photographed back then,” Calvin Klein reminisced, “It was more likely that a picture would end up in the back of someone’s drawer than on Facebook, YouTube, or the front page. So people were free, spontaneous, and a little exhibitionistic.”
Sad news: Marc Berkley, the “king of gay dance parties,” in the nineties, died in his sleep Saturday. Berkley, who grew up in Queens, founded HX magazine, and promoted gay nights at the Saint and for club owner Peter Gatien at his clubs Limelight and The Tunnel. “Marc took the velvet rope,” said EDGE mag editor Steve Weinstein, “and put everybody on the right side of it.”
CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin and attorney Casey Greenfield are still wrestling over their love child. They had a date in Manhattan Family Court last Wednesday to hash out visitation… Alicia Keys toasted her mom Teresa’s 60th birthday at Hudson Terrace….Sports Illustrated model Jessica White gets around. You heard she was out with actor Ryan Phillipe the other night. Three hours before, she was partying with Jets star Bryan Thomas at CV… “Pretty in Pink” star Molly Ringwald will be reading from her memoir on Tuesday at Barnes and Noble in Tribeca. The book is called “Getting the Pretty Back,” which Molly did by dropping nearly $3,000 at Trina Turk Fashion Island….Betty White is a bunch of nerves as she gets ready to host “Saturday Night Live” on May 8. “I’m panicking,” suddenly-hip Betty told us at the opening of “Nightmare Alley” at the Geffen Playhouse in L.A. “I’m not a New Yorker, so I’m a fish out of water. But I can’t wait to work with those kids!”…Rock legend Ian Hunter belted out “All the Young Dudes” with Joe Hurley at the City Winery. Sunday night at Joe’s Pub, Hurley hosts a show that benefits a documentary about 80-year-old “Hair” composer Galt MacDermott, who’ll be in attendance…. Broadway columnist Ward Morehouse III is working the lights and sound on his own Off-Broadway play, “Gangplank” at the Chernuchin Theatre. Co-written with Mark Druck, the comedy is about an ex-journalist running a nightclub on a boat on Lake Ontario…. Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, Peter Lindbergh, Nigel Barker and Roxanne Lowit are some of the photogs whose work will be on sale at Tuesday’s Smiley Faces Foundation benefit at the Red Bull Space. It’s hosted by publisher Adam Bell.
Liev Schreiber took his and Naomi Watts adorable tow-headed child to see “How to Train Your Dragon” at a downtown theater …
Just as BBC golf reporter James Pearce is found to have covered the Masters from another golf course, the British network’s biggest morning deejay Chris Moyles did his show from New York. At least he was honest about it. Moyes was stranded here due to that blasted volcano, and Sirius XM radio peeps were nice enough to let him broadcast from their Rock Center studios. Moyles couldn’t believe how many celebrities he randomly spotted in our fair city, including Josh Groban at Mr. Chow, John Legend at Abe & Arthur’s, and Val Kilmer just walking by …
When Twitter founder Biz Stone visited Farm Sanctuary’s shelter in Watkins Glen, N.Y., it changed his life. He and his wife Livia became vegans after seeing how rescued farm animals at the 175-acre spread had been mistreated at factory farms. Stone will celebrate 10 years of life without consuming animals by speaking at the Farm Sanctuary in California May 1st to raise money for their good work. You can help by adopting a goat, horse, cow, or other creature, or visit Farm Sanctuary, near Watkins Glen.
First, David Pecker‘s National Enquirer gets considered for a Pulitzer Prize for its outstanding reporting on John Edwards and his mistress; now on Apr. 29 at the Wall St. Cipriani, Donald Trump will present him with an award from Pace University for his serious work helping the school’s Dyson Master’s in Publishing program, as Maria Bartiromo fondly looks on. Pecker, the chairman of American Media Inc, which also owns Star Magazine and Men’s Fitness, mentors Pace students, and endows a scholarship at the downtown campus of the college – one to watch, as it is just $1 million away from $100 million Pecker and other business school alumni like Verizon chairman Ivan Seidenberg have raised to totally transform the school.
