New York, November 27, 2006 – While a screening dedicated to the late Robert Altman was taking place at the Walter Reade Theater on Monday, the great Chinese director Yimou Zhang was very much alive and breathing in another part of Lincoln Center, at the premiere of his latest, Curse of the Golden Flower. The film stars Gong Li, perhaps China’s most famous actress, and she popped into New York for the premiere. Costars Jay Chou, a popular Taiwanese R&B singer, and Chow Yun-Fat, who is much better known to American audiences, couldn’t make it.

Attendees included Bebe Neuwirth, Candice Bergen, Moby, Michael Nouri and tenor Placido Domingo. Glenn Close refused to say what mishap caused her to have her foot in a cast, but it couldn’t have been overly embarrassing since she laughed when we teased her about it.