'Precious' takes Hollywood by storm

Using the AFI Fest as a Hollywood launch pad, "Precious" made quite a debut in the industry's hometown on Sunday. The gala premiere at Grauman's Chinese had all the trappings of an end-of-season victory party rather than an early November awards season launch. Stars like Jamie Foxx and Will Smith turned up on the red carpet, admitting the incredible advance hype about the movie drew them there.

Clearly, with a series of standing ovations even before the film started, there was much anticipation from the locals for this Sundance, Toronto, N.Y. Festival sensation. Among the stars of the film showing up to hobnob with the press were Mariah Carey, Mo'Nique, Paula Patton, Sherri Shepherd and, of course, Precious herself, Gabourey Sidibe, along with director Lee Daniels.

There was much anticipation about Mo'Nique's appearance. For several weeks awards bloggers have been speculating on just how much effort this supporting actress front-runner would put into plugging the film. After all, she hadn't made any festival appearances since January's Sundance doings. Perhaps the fact that she was launching a daily BET talk show in Atlanta might have had something to do with her no-shows?

At any rate, Mo'Nique gave it her all on the AFI red carpet and also at a Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. news conference and an "all-guild" screening and Q&A earlier in the day. With several TV appearances planned this week including Ellen,Oprah, Craig Ferguson, plus a couple of magazine covers coming up, Mo'Nique looks anything but AWOL on the stump for "Precious."

At the all-guild screening Sunday afternoon at Pacific Design Center a raucous crowd ate up the emotional wallop the movie delivers and stayed for a lively Q&A I moderated right after. During the intros, Sidibe, Mo'Nique and Daniels received standing ovations. There was a fourth one that also greeted the ending of the event . Unprecedented.

Also on the panel were writer Geoffey Fletcher, co-stars Patton and Shepherd and singer/songwriter Mary J. Blige, who contributed the tune that was added after its initial success in Sundance, "I Can See In Color."

Blige performed the song live at Sunday's premiere after-party at the Chateau Marmont, where she was introduced by none other than co-executive producer Oprah Winfrey.

"Ultimately, this is a movie about hope and Mary J. Blige is all about that," Winfrey told the partygoers. "Mary and I are in the sisterhood of support for this film."

Winfrey and colleague Gayle King attracted a crushing crowd wherever they went at the party. It was like seeing a shepherd leading her flock. Where Oprah goes, people follow.

Mo'Nique's whirlwind appearance (she and fellow talk show host Shepherd had to catch red-eye flights to make it back east in time to tape their respective shows) was a great success for the "Precious" awards campaign. She killed during the Q&A session by saying that when director Daniels sent her the script he noted he would probably be [messing] up her entire career with this highly unsympathetic part. Now that critical acclaim is being heaped on her she turned to him and said 'thanks for [messing] up my career, Lee."

There were numerous Academy and Golden Globe voters attending the "Precious" festivities Sunday and the vibe was strong that a best picture nomination in both contests is almost a foregone conclusion. One veteran voter confessed this was the second time he had seen the movie, originally catching it at an early-morning festival screening months earlier. He said he was so moved by it initially that he couldn't talk when he ran into Daniels immediately afterward.

Incidentally the Chateau Marmont is distributor Lions Gate's good luck party place of choice. It is the same setting where they threw their Oscar night victory soiree for "Crash" in 2006 as well as this year's "Mad Men" Emmy win celebration.

AFI Fest also had a swell opening night on Friday, with "Fantastic Mr. Fox" launching the proceedings. Director Wes Anderson and stars Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman were in attendance and the mood was bright as word spread that two more animated movies -- "The Missing Lynx" and "A Town Called Panic" -- were getting Oscar qualifying runs. If true, and they submit the required paperwork by 5 p.m. Monday, it would seem likely that there will be 17 eligible entries for animated feature (you need 16) likely triggering a category with five nominations instead of three. That can only be good news for "Mr. Fox" (which will play at Tuesday's Envelope Screening Series at the Landmark with Anderson and Schwartzman participating in a Q&A moderated by Patrick Goldstein).

Updated at 1:45pm 11/2:  A couple of minor corrections were made to original post regarding Mo'Nique's tv  appearances and the fact that the fourth standing ovation should have indicated that it came at the end of the q&a event.  ---- Pete Hammond

Photo: "Precious" director Lee Daniels shares a moment with co-executive producer Oprah Winfrey at the film's AFI Fest premiere in Los Angeles. Credit: Getty Images