Just got back from dinner with James Ivory. We had the best time! My girlfriend Kris made 2 kinds of raita, one spicy, one the normal one. There was a shrimp dish, a chicken dish, delicious rice with fruit and pistachios, broccoli in a garlic sauce, and for dessert, a flourless chocolate cake.
I brought 2 bottles of a Pinot Noir recommended to me by a lover of Indian food at our local, very good, wine shop. TheHHW comments about avoiding tannins and oak were right on the money! And also a bottle of Sancere? (Can't remember how to spell it.) There were 9 of us and we seemed to put away quite a bit of alcohol. James Ivory made martinis for us before dinner, too.
I was assigned the DJ task and put together 3 hours of music, with some tunes I wondered if Jim would notice, covers of pieces used in his films, a couple Eartha Kitt cuts from THE WILD PARTY (I never saw Jim's version of this but will probably try to get it.)
Jim seemed totally entertained and wanted to know where everyone was from, so we had to go around the table and tell our origins. It turns out that Jim is from Oregon, the same small town where Greg went to school (near Clamath (sp?) Falls.
He told a lot of great stories, including watching ROOM WITH A VIEW at a screening in England for the Queen. She had a lady-in-waiting on either side of her, but next to the lady was Jim, and he imitated her reaction when the nude scene took place. She lifted up her knee (he noted that she had very tiny feet!) and then started laughing her head off.
He also talked about all the "relationship meetings" he had gone to. This is something that agents would do, and they would usually happen when as star was on their way up, or their career was declining. He met with Sally Field and John Travolta when they were on the decline. He wanted to cast Travolta in SLAVES OF NY but Travolta didn't think the role was right for him, because at the time, Travolta considered himself a character actor and there were only 6 characters he could do.
He also said that he hasn't been watching much tv because the air conditioner drowns out his TV, but he will start watching it again once it gets cooler. (I'm assuming this is in his NY apartment, not his estate in upstate NY.)
We all laughed so much, and I can't repeat a lot of it, because this is a family site, but it was a great evening!
Now...back to working on taxes before our meeting tomorrow!
And dinner again with James tomorrow night but at a slightly larger table this time!
