Las Vegas Weekly

April 3, 2009 · 11:53 AM

Photo Gallery: Stars shine bright at 2009 ShoWest Awards

By Robin Leach

The cast of Sorority Row: Margo Harshman, Leah Pipes, Rumer Willis, Briana Evigan, Jamie Chung and Audrina Patridge.

Photo: Erik Kabik/Retna/www.erikkabik.com

Superstar Hollywood legends and newcomers turned the Strip into a glittering version of Tinseltown last night -- and my old friend Sir Michael Caine said he has to stop accepting Lifetime Achievement Awards for fear he’s being pushed into an early retirement!

“This is the fifth lifetime achievement award I’ve received,” he said when I asked him if he was nearing retirement. “I’m beginning to get the hint, but I have no intention of retiring,” the 76-year-old British actor knighted by Queen Elizabeth II told us.

At the other end of the spectrum at ShoWest’s awards banquet in the Paris was 22-year-old High School Musical heartthrob Zac Efron. He made his ShoWest movie debut only two years ago in Hairspray when it was shown at the 2007 convention.

I asked him how it felt to be growing up in front of America on the big screen, and Zac said: “It’s odd and strange to watch myself. But I’m pleased with all the work I’ve done so far on film and look forward to more.” His newest flick is 17 Again, which opens April17 and co-stars Matthew Perry.

Our contributing photographers Denise Truscello, Erik Kabik, Scott Harrison and Scott Doctor were all on duty at the annual movie industry convention for our photo gallery.

Other stars in attendance included British beauty Sienna Miller, who told me: “I’m not a rebel, but I am a free spirit!” Sienna, named Supporting Actress of the Year, will be seen this summer in the big-budget G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra. Sienna hit the blackjack and craps tables at Planet Hollywood during her visit to Vegas.

Rumer Willis, daughter of superstar Bruce Willis and Demi Moore, told me her proud pop was thrilled when she told him she won a Female Star of Tomorrow Award along with Audrina Patridge, Briana Evigan, Leah Pipes, Jamie Chung and Margo Harshman, her co-stars in the new film Sorority Row. The girls celebrated after the awards at Tao in The Venetian.

The other award winners were Rachel McAdams, Female Star of the Year; Dennis Quaid, Male Star of the Year, who was with gorgeous wife Kimberly; Bradley Cooper, Comedy Star of the Year; and Chris Pine, Male Star of Tomorrow, who will play the young Capt. Kirk in this summer’s Star Trek.

Transformers director Michael Bay received ShoWest’s Vanguard Award for Excellence in Filmmaking. His movies have racked up $3 billion at the box office. Michael’s sequel Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, will be released this summer, and he says he came in $4 million under budget on its $200 million cost but still expects it to beat the original’s $700 million haul back in 2007. Michael was one of the few attendees to label the increasing number of 3-D movies as simply “a passing fad” and “a gimmick.” Watchmen mastermind Zack Snyder won Director of the Year and was busy promoting his No. 1 film.

Vegas DeLuxe will feature our Q&A sessions with the stars next week, along with our one-on-one interview with the box office baron who predicts that, despite the recession and worldwide economic doom and gloom, this will be the first year the industry will sell $10 billion worth of tickets.

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

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