Gwyneth Abandons 'Oscar' for Scott

March 23, 1999
http://mrshowbiz.go.com/news/Todays_Stories/990323/paltrow032399.html


The prom queen may have found her king. At Sunday night's Vanity Fair
party, Gwyneth Paltrow handed her golden guy to grandpa Buster and
tripped the light fantastic with "her new best friend" Scott Speedman,
reports the New York Daily News.

Speedman and Paltrow are co-starring in the Bruce Paltrow-directed
Duets, with Speedman replacing Paltrow's ex-fiance Brad Pitt. He also
stars in the WB network's Felicity, portraying Ben, the crush-worthy
boy who leads Keri Russell's title character to abandon plans of
Stanford to follow him to New York City (quite the role model,
Felicity is).

Despite the Daily News' claim that the pretty pair held hands at the
Miramax party later that morning, Paltrow's rep insists the
relationship is strictly platonic.

"Scott has become a very good friend of the whole Paltrow family,"
publicist Steve Huvane says. "What you were seeing was a nice, warm
feeling of a good friend toward a family. Scott is like a little
brother to her." Ouch!

"Little brother" Scott, 23, has the approval of 26-year-old Gwyneth's
dad, who told USA Today that Speedman is "very shy, very sweet, and
very talented."

Other Oscar-night flirtations: Jim Carrey and model Carol Alt were
seen snuggling at Elton John's In Style party. Ed Norton and Drew
Barrymore, who insisted that they were merely friends, appear to be
just that — the Daily News also reports that at the Miramax party,
Norton was trying to convince Claire Forlani that it wasn't Joe Black
she wanted to meet …

And then there was Monica. At the Vanity Fair soiree the infamous Ms.
Lewinsky managed to flirt with the likes of Ben Affleck (whom Monica
reportedly called "a hotty," much to the delight of Affleck's friends),
Matt Dillon, and Eric Stoltz, to whom Monica admitted, "I've had such
a crush on you."

While the men were less than dripping with praise for Monica, female
guests at were more verbose.

"I think she's lovely. … She's a young, passionate woman who did her
best to save the President," The Practice star Camryn Manheim told the
Daily News.

And gossip columnist Liz Smith overheard chanteuse k.d. lang confess
to the intern that she'd had a, er, rather intimate dream about her.
The "former" Valley Girl's reported reply? "Wow! That's cool!"