DENVER—“I think the most interesting thing I’ve seen so far is all the secret deals that have been going on,” said the actor Josh Lucas at the Going Green event hosted by Bank of America on Monday night. The American Psycho star is at the Democratic National Convention, making the rounds of the Creative Coalition circuit of events. “It’s been happening everywhere. ‘I’ll give you two tickets to the J.Lo party, you give me two tickets to see Fergie on Thursday.’ It’s been happening everywhere. It’s like serious drug dealing going on.”
Earlier that day, Mr. Lucas had been in an SUV heading to one of the many events sponsored by the Susan Sarandon-founded nonprofit when one of the organizers received a phone call. “She got a call from a guy who said, ‘Hi, this is Bill, I have 20 passes to the convention.’ She was like, ‘Who’s this?’ The guy’s like, ‘I’m just saying this is Bill and I have 20 passes. What are you gonna give me for them.’ She’s like, ‘I don’t understand, what do you want for them?’ He’s like, ‘I want 100 Black Eyed Peas tickets.’”
The man refused to identify himself but suggested a transaction location at a certain gate. No deal!
Mr. Lucas described his trip to Denver as a fact-finding mission. He’d only been in town two days but said he’d already learned a good deal about the Congressional Black Caucus from Spike Lee and about labor unions from Danny Glover at an event earlier that day.
Mr. Lucas said he’d had his issues with unions, but not ones involving factory workers. The one issue Mr. Lucas feels comfortable speaking about is the environment. He recently built a green home—complete with solar panels on the roof—in Laurel Canyon.
“It was an incredible learning process,” he said. “It cost four times as much as it would have. That’s the sad reality. But that’s changing as we speak.”
Mr. Lucas said he wasn’t in Denver to do any stumping of his own, just eager to see the world of politicians intermingling with all their counterparts. “If you’re an actor, you better have a very, very clear knowledge of what you’re deciding to spend your time talking about.”
Nearby, Alan Cumming was making fun of newly minted Creative Coalition co-chair, the actor Tim Daly, for donning yet another pair of designer glasses.
“They’re recyclable frames,” Mr. Daly, who is actress Tyne Daly’s younger brother, shot back.
Mr. Cumming had no problem claiming his issue. “As an actor, I’d much rather have a political voice than talk about things that aren’t important, like what I’m wearing,” he said. Last year he released his own fragrance, “Cumming,” to highlight the absurdity of celebrity product endorsement. “I want equal rights for gay people in America. I think it’s insane. … Obama’s pretty good in that respect. I think that’s the last civil rights struggle in this country.”
Matthew Modine was busy handing out yellow buttons with bicycles on them. He’s heading up a national bicycle initiative.
The Transom caught West Wing star Richard Schiff on his way to the Creative Coalition caravan, which was about to rumble toward the convention itself. Mr. Schiff was Joe Biden’s only celebrity stumper in his failed bid for the nomination. The actor, who played inimitable political strategist Toby Ziegler, said Mr. Obama had made an excellent vice-presidential choice. Mr. Schiff allowed that in the time he spent with Mr. Biden, he had advised him on a few small things, like answering questions in a clearer, more concise fashion.
“He ended up becoming, I think, the winner of a lot of those debates,” he said.
The Transom admired Mr. Schiff’s glistening bald dome. Did he resent Biden’s plugs?
“You know, I wanted to ask him about that. I never got around to it,” he said. “You can put me on record as being against plugs until the day I get some.”
smorgan@observer.com
