‘O’ Brother, Where Art Thou?

Two years and a court battle later, director Tim Blake Nelson finally was able to celebrate the premiere of his controversial film “O,” an update of Shakespeare’s “Othello” starring Josh Hartnett, Julia Stiles, Mekhi Phifer and Martin Sheen.

But Monday night’s bash at Loews Century Plaza in Century City was a low-key affair. The younger cast members seemed too tired to kick up their heels. They were virtual unknowns when “O” started filming. Now, they’re among Hollywood’s hot young thangs , which makes them busy, busy, busy.

Hartnett flew in from his home in Minnesota, where he’s taking a time out. It’s exhausting being an It Boy, what with the worldwide press junket for “Pearl Harbor” in Honolulu and the shoot of director Ridley Scott’s “Black Hawk Down” in Morocco.

Stiles, who is working on “Carolina” with Shirley MacLaine, had to return to the set at 5 a.m., so she called it an early night. But as she worked the press line, the actress tried to look at the bright side to the delay. “As frustrating as it was,” she said, “it kind of worked out for the better because I think it’s getting more attention than it would have back then.”

The film, which depicts a high school shooting motivated by an interracial relationship, originally was set to open in late 1999. But concerns about good taste prevailed in the aftermath of the Columbine High School massacre, and Miramax held the release indefinitely. Nelson sued Miramax and a settlement was reached at about the same time Lions Gate Films bought the domestic rights in May.

Nelson called the career ascensions of his cast as “one of the strange ironies of the project,” adding, “Sadly, the film remains relevant.”

Hartnett agreed. “It’s a good message for adults, I think,” he said. “Parents should pay more attention to their kids.”

All Righty!

Kyle MacLachlan, who plays Kristin Davis’ performance-challenged, mama’s-boy husband on HBO’s “Sex and the City,” is engaged to marry his girlfriend, fashion publicist Desiree Gruber, according to the Associated Press. The two have been dating for more than two years after meeting at a chiropractor’s office. Naomi Campbell is among Gruber’s clients. Since the wedding is planned for April 20 in Miami, we doubt he’ll be wearing a kilt.

Truth Is Out There

Suspended Variety Editor in Chief Peter Bart waxes forth on the art of the Hollywood lie in his column in September’s GQ. The piece was written before the big flap erupted over a Los Angeles magazine profile of Bart, in which he is reported to have sold a script to Paramount under his wife’s name, an ethical no-no, and to have made racist remarks. (He denies the allegations and says he was misquoted. Writer Amy Wallace stands by her story.)

Bart, who was once a studio player, writes in his column that he kept track of the lies he told to pump up movie projects. The lies were detailed, much to Bart’s professed embarrassment, in a file he recently discovered in his desk drawer. They weren’t exactly lies, Bart writes. He prefers the term “distortions, exaggerations and con jobs.”

We read his final lines with interest: “You’ve got to keep your hyperbole straight if you’re going to be a career sociopath. I ultimately decided not to become one. I went back to being a journalist, and as we all know, journalists always are paragons of candor and veracity.

“Well, let me give that lie some more thought .... “

Life With the Judds

Between takes for “Hollywood Squares,” Naomi Judd called to give us the scoop on daughter Wynonna’s recent engagement in Tennessee. “My husband was in the backyard, reading,” she recalled, when suddenly he spotted a horse-drawn white carriage on the road, carrying a “flaming-red-haired woman” who looked an awful lot like the romance novel version of Wynonna.

“We jumped in the truck,” Judd said, and hauled on over to their daughter’s house, which happens to be next door. They arrived just in time to see that Wynonna’s boyfriend, D.R. Roach, had cracked open a bottle of champagne, put on a romantic CD and was proposing.

“We adore him,” Judd said.

At the Judds’ 1991 farewell concert, Roach was head of security and Wynonna was so impressed she hired him as her personal bodyguard. Now, after a year of dating, they’re engaged. No date has been set.

Dish and Decor

Christopher Lowell, the Emmy Award-winning host of a Discovery Channel interior decorating series, recently spruced up Jay Leno’s green room, where guests cool their heels before show time. They now can park it on what he calls “unisex” furnishings.

“It’s eclectic furniture--a mix of 20th century furniture with a ‘50s sense of humor,” Lowell said. The spiff-up cost $4,000.

During our recent phone chat, he couldn’t resist taking a gentle jab at Martha Stewart. “Martha shows you how to invest $10,000 in bees and you’ll get honey at the end of the millennium,” Lowell said. “It’s voyeuristic--welcome to Nirvana, the perfect world of Martha,” he said. “We love watching her do that. We know she has staff of a thousand, but we look and go, ‘um, that’s nice.”’

Quote, Unquote

“My mom always told me I was dancing in her womb. I think I was born dancing. I love dancing. Even if I have to dance in the shower, I’ll definitely be dancing for the rest of my life.” Kamar de los Reyes, who plays a passionate choreographer/elementary schoolteacher in tonight’s VH1 movie “The Way She Moves.”

Times staff writers Gina Piccalo and Louise Roug contributed to this column. City of Angles runs Tuesday-Friday. E-mail: [email protected].