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The Insider

Celebrities | Politics | Media

Stars Brad Pitt and Acclaimed Chinese actress Joan Chen (The Last Emperor, television’s Twin Peaks) was in town recently for the San Diego Asian Film Festival, staying at the Doubletree in Hazard Center. She was promoting her latest film, the acclaimed independent production Saving Face by hot young Asian director Alice Wu, also at the festival. Also spotted in the hotel: Dustin Nguyen of 21 Jump Street fame, there to talk up his latest project, Little Fish, in which he stars opposite Cate Blanchett as a recovering heroin addict.

Democratic Representative Bob Filner leads the San Diego congressional delegation in fundraising for next year’s elections, having already amassed a war chest of $555,205 for his bid for an eighth two-year term, financial disclosure forms show. Top contributors include the law firm of Rancho Santa Fe class-action litigator William Lerach ($28,250), Duty Free Americas ($10,000) and the International Longshoremen’s Association ($8,500).

Among Republicans, Representative Duncan Hunter is out in front with campaign contributions totaling $353,525 in his bid for a 14th term. Top contributors include BAE Systems North America ($20,000), L-3 Communications ($16,250) and CC Distributors and Northrop Grumman (each with $10,000).

San Diego director Cameron Crowe is the talk of Hollywood with his romantic comedy Elizabethtown, starring Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst. This time, though, it’s not the sort of praise he attracted for earlier endeavors like Jerry Maguire and Almost Famous. Elizabethtown’s theatrical bow was met with a series of sour reviews, including one from Variety that said the film “suffers from arch editing and surfeit of whimsical subplots” and “at 138 minutes, running time is far too baggy.” The Hollywood Reporter opined, “Tedious humor and sentimentality bury what could have been a pretty good road picture.”

Price Center Plaza at the University of California, San Diego was the site of a gala DVD release party for season one of Veronica Mars, the hip TV series filmed here in town. Cast members who came out for the shindig included Kristen Bell, who plays the lead character; Percy Daggs II (Wallace); Teddy Dunn (Duncan); and Jason Dohring (Logan). The stars mingled with more than 400 guests and signed autographs—and DVD covers—until 11 p.m.

From the any-publicity-is-good-publicity department: During the American League division playoffs between the New York Yankees and the Anaheim Angels, the outfield collision between Bubba Crosby and Gary Sheffield that allowed the Angels to score two runs took place right in front of a San Diego Zoo sign. A photograph of the collision ran in several daily newspapers, including the front page of The New York Times.

Best-selling author Lauren Weisberger (The Devil Wears Prada) was holed up at the chic W Hotel in downtown San Diego recently. She was in town on a promotional tour for her hot new book, Everyone Worth Knowing, an insider’s look at what really goes in the exclusive nightclubs frequented by New York’s party-hopping elite.

Another famous face seen in San Diego: Paul Reiser of Mad About You fame, in town for a private screening of his movie, The Trouble with My Folks, which costars Peter Falk as Reiser’s dad and Olympia Dukakis as his mom.

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