| EVENT REPORT 10.24.07 9:18 AM |
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| Gangster's Playground |
| For the premiere of its new Denzel Washington-Russell Crowe movie, Universal Pictures converted a Harlem playground into a Hollywood-worthy after-party venue. |
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Certain films necessitate a New York debut, and for American Gangster (a film set in 1970s Harlem), the historic Apollo Theater was a natural choice. But with so few venues nearby big enough to accommodate the massive guest list, finding a location for the after-party presented a challenge. So Universal essentially created one from scratch.
“When it was decided to go with the Apollo, ‘cause it was connected to the film, we thought that rather than going back to Midtown, [guests] could just walk outside and be right there,” said Hollace Davids, senior vice president of special projects for Universal Pictures Marketing, who worked with production company Jhada of New York to make the party happen.
Despite the uptown location and the stormy weather, onlookers and attendees crowded both sides of the 250-foot-long red carpet on 125th Street before the screening on Friday. When the movie ended, the 1,400 partygoers walked out the rear exit, where an 18,400-square-foot tent stood on the other side of 126th Street, in the playground of the Harriet Tubman Learning Center. |
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PHOTO GALLERY |
 | The playground of Harlem's Harriet Tubman Learning Center was converted into an elegant, masculine area for the after-party, with mirrored Lucite-topped bars and dark fabric to evoke the mood of the film.
Photo: Francine Daveta for BizBash |
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 | Chandeliers made from shards of smoked clear Lucite and mirrored black and white Lucite hung overhead, reflecting light into all areas of the tent.
Photo: Francine Daveta for BizBash |
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 | Lounge areas with black leather-upholstered couches and chrome accents provided extra room for guests to mingle with their cocktails and dance to music from the DJ.
Photo: Francine Daveta for BizBash |
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 | Among the comfort foods at the buffet stations were pulled-pork sandwiches served on mini brioche rolls with barbecue sauce and papaya chutney.
Photo: Francine Daveta for BizBash |
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 | To raise money, the Boys & Girls Club of America sold the after-party's V.I.P. tables.
Photo: Francine Daveta for BizBash |
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 | Snacks on the V.I.P. tables included crostini with white-bean hummus, tomato salsa, and basil-whipped ricotta and spinach as dipping sauce.
Photo: Francine Daveta for BizBash |
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 | DeJuan Stroud provided the flowers for the night, which included tall arrangements of roses, hydrangeas, and delphiniums. In other areas, Stroud used 2,500 orchid stems.
Photo: Francine Daveta for BizBash |
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 | Arrangements combined fruit and flowers.
Photo: Francine Daveta for BizBash |
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“The tone of the film and the goals of the night demanded that the party not be too over-the-top, so we went with a hot club look ... instead of going for some theme to hang your hat on,” Davids said.
Twenty-one V.I.P. tables—reserved for the likes of Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, and Cuba Gooding Jr., who star in the film, director Ridley Scott, and the Rev. Al Sharpton—sat in the center of the tent between two massive bars that anchored the space. Some guests mingled to DJ Cassidy’s set while others took advantage of Abigail Kirsch’s buffets, which featured smoky pulled-pork sandwiches, crispy fried chicken fingers, and truffled macaroni and cheese. Above them all hung six mobile chandeliers of shattered Lucite that sent light bouncing across the room like an exploding disco ball. The only traces of the playground that surrounded the scene were two basketball hoops, mummified and disguised by velvety black sheets.
The endeavor involved plenty of permits for street closures and use of the park, but given the altruistic nature of the night, the community was eager to help. Washington, who benefited from the Boys & Girls Club of America in his youth and continues to work with the nonprofit today, helped turn the party into a charitable event that raised almost $150,000 for the organization.
Even though the Apollo was an ideal fit thematically, it presented its own production challenges. The trilevel concert venue has been used for film screenings before but is not fully equipped to present films to their best advantage—or at least not to the technical standards of fussy film pros. So the production team brought in consultants, lighting and sound engineers, and projection equipment, and for optimal sight lines the screening utilized fewer than the theater's 1,528 seats.
—Michael O'Connell
RELATED TOPICS
Universal Pictures, American Gangster
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