Marshall Heyman
Let’s face it, Marshall Heyman is at this point the most influential columnist in New York City.
He has been writing the Heard & Scene column in The Wall Street Journal for oh, the last several years, and he covers the arts, society dos and showbiz like the proverbial blanket. He gets invited to absolutely everything on both coasts, goes to what he thinks he will enjoy writing about, and turns down most entreaties (he skipped Art Basel Miami this year, for the first time).
It helps that Mr. Heyman is unpretentious, loves music and interesting people, and is usually in a generous mood. He sits through a lot of dreary evenings without kvetching. But he has a keen eye for the ridiculous and the self-serving, and he punctures pomposity with razor-tipped arrows.
Jonathan Demme at NY premiere of Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love on June 4, 2009
At the annual awards ceremony held by the National Board of Review at Cipriani 42nd Street, he shot a couple of sitting ducks. Because Marshall is a superb stylist—even while typing into his Blackberry at the table—let me quote his prose exactly as it was published:
“This particular event—which this year was hosted by Willie Geist—isn’t necessarily long. The ceremony runs about two hours. But there are so many speeches. And everyone is so earnest. And earnest speeches are genuinely the most exhausting kind of speeches, especially when they’re being given by Hollywood people.”
Matt Damon at Golden Globe Awards on January 10, 2016
“Matt Damon {who won Best Actor for The Martian} started the evening off-track by saluting Mr. Stallone for refusing to take no for an answer when he wanted to star in “Rocky”, a screenplay the actor had also written. That uphill climb involved ‘an incredible amount of courage’, said Mr. Damon, and paved the way for him, he added, and Good Will Hunting.”
“Insert eye roll here.”
“The other amusing throughline over the course of the night were the questionable choices in menswear. There were tieless or Nehru collars and foulards and strange sweaters made from bandanna material.”
“Somehow director Jonathan Demme was able to incorporate each of these.”