Love and Labor
The A-list began to arrive in Denver on Tuesday, as Academy Award-winner Charlize Theron accompanied her beau, Stuart Townsend, to a CQ brunch at which they promoted “Battle in Seattle,” their upcoming film based on the WTO protests in 1998. He directed, and she stars.
Looking radiant in a print mini-dress, black jacket, gold shoes (and two tiny tattoos on her right foot), Theron was immediately mobbed (one well-wisher gushed about her performance in “Devil’s Advocate”).
Upon taking their seats on the panel, Townsend joked that he thought it was a GQ event. “I was expecting models,” he said, eliciting a “Hey, hey, hey…” from his main squeeze.
But it was all an act, as she began stroking his neck while he spoke and his hand found its way to her knee, even while fellow panelists Jimmy Hoffa Jr. of the Teamsters and Leo Gerard of the United Steelworkers recalled their stories of spit and vinegar from the protests.
“We were able to cause a lot of disruption,” boasted Hoffa. “We started chaos in the city.”
“The ultimate death of the WTO is about getting this movie shown and kicking the [expletive] out of John McCain,” added Gerard.
Now clutching Townsend’s hand, Theron joked that her involvement came from being “fortunate enough to know the director. We’re very supportive of each other. I read the script and thought, ‘This is the end of our relationship.’ But it was brilliant.”
