About Town
People, Places,
PreoccupationsTHE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 26 AUGUST 21, 2019
KOSTICH: COURTESY OF SUBJECT (2). OPRAH: @DAVIDGEFFEN/INSTAGRAM. CBS: PATRICK T. FALLON/BLOOMBERG VIA GETTY IMAGES. REUNION: COURTESY OF JOAN DENNEY.One publicist whose client has
been photographed on Rising Sun
says that while A-listers value
discretion, there’s not much of a
downside to appearing in Geffen’s
feed. “It’s a glamorous, mega
millions yacht and his groups are
always the best, so you’d be hard-
pressed to find somebody who is
like, ‘Nah, I’m good, I don’t need
my picture taken,’ ” says the rep.
“It’s a status thing. When Paul
Allen used to have big parties in
Cannes on his yacht, people would
try to pay money to get on the
boat because if you’re seen there,
it would be worth something.
Same for David Geffen.”
But good luck scoring an invite.
“There’s no way to catapult into
that world without already being
in that world,” explains the rep.
“If you have fame, great. If you
have money, great. But otherwise
there’s no chance.”Swimming With (Real) Sharks
Participant’s Alex Kostich wins elite open-water races from Manhattan Beach
to Waikiki, but he’d rather Hollywood not see him in a Speedo By David PreizlerI
t’s 6 a.m. and before heading to Participant
Media, where he’s senior vp of creative
marketing, Alex Kostich is at Culver City
Plunge getting in his laps. Nothing unusual about
that. Hollywood is full of driven, health-conscious
execs who hone their edge training for triathlons
and CrossFit competitions. At Participant alone,
“Our head of narrative production,
Robert Kessel, has run 33 marathons
and our COO, Gabriel Brakin, just
climbed Kilimanjaro,” says Kostich,- But unbeknownst even to most
of his colleagues, Kostich — who
worked on Oscar winners Green Book
and Roma and was admitted to the
film Academy this spring — is an
accomplished open-water swimmer who tends to
win his races. Lots of them.
He won a 5-kilometer swim in Santa Barbara
this summer and placed second in Manhattan
Beach’s 2-mile Dwight Crum Pier-to-Pier Swim on
Aug. 4. While in San Francisco for work in July,
he won the Swim Around the Rock (i.e., Alcatraz).
The son of Yugoslavian immigrants — both
accomplished swimmers — Kostich grew up in
Boston and swam at Stanford, where he trained
with future Olympian Janet Evans. As a member
of the U.S. National Team, he won three gold med-
als at the Pan American Games in 1987 and 1991.
Up next is the Waikiki Roughwater Swim
on Sept. 2, an annual 2.4-mile race that draws
swimmers from around the world,
including Olympians; Kostich has won
or placed in the top 10 every year
since 1993. “I only have one ocean to
swim in, so I love that I’m able to work
on projects that raise awareness
about climate change,” says Kostich,
who’s currently focused on upcom-
ing docs as well as Todd Haynes’
(non-swimming-related) legal drama Dark Waters.
“As far as the inevitable ‘swimming with sharks’
parallels, my encounters with sharks — and I do
have them — have been far more agreeable than
some of the encounters I’ve had in the business.”
When supportive colleagues ask to watch him race,
“I generally dodge the question,” he adds with a
laugh. “I prefer they don’t see me in a Speedo!”C
BS’ page program may
lack the cachet of NBC’s
storied apprenticeship
(highlighted on 30 Rock, it counts
Michael Eisner and Aubrey Plaza
as alumni). But since its 1952
launch, the Tiffany Network’s
program has trained the likes of
CAA’s Bryan Lourd and Warner
Bros.’ Sue Palladino. More than
70 current and former pages will
gather Aug. 24 at L.A.’s Holly wood
Roosevelt hotel to reminisce
about their days in the iconic redblazer — the third reunion since
1989, all organized by 1978-1980
page Joan Powers Denney. “She’s
the den mother who gets us all
together,” says 1978 page David
Roessell, a producer on Hulu’s
Future Man. Mike Gutierrez, a
1976 page who appears on PBS’
Antiques Roadshow, still laughs
about the time when he was an
usher on The Price Is Right and a
contestant jumped up and down
so excitedly that her breasts “flew
right out” of her top on live TV.CBS Page Reunion Sparks Price Is Right
Memories and Career One-UpmanshipThe reunion will include a tour of CBS’ Television City, sold in December for $750 million. Right:
Pictured in 1979 were pages Joan Powers Denney (front row), David Roessell and Sue Palladino.Alex Kostich
this year
became
the first to
complete a
solo swim
around Pitcairn
Island in the
South Pacific.Kostich (left) with husband
Steve Childers of Warner
Animation at the 2018 Oscars.“It was the talk of the studio for
a week,” he says of the episode
(viewable on YouTube). Brad
Tu r e l l, a 1980 page, recalls the Bob
Barker show less fondly. “There
was a producer who’d been rude to
me,” says the ICM Partners exec,From left: Oprah Winfrey, Julianna Margulies,
Geffen and Rita Wilson on board in 2018.who was working at Fox when
he encountered this individual
(whom he declines to name) at the
1989 reunion. “At that point I was
doing better than he was and I
couldn’t wait to talk to him.”
— BRYN ELISE SANDBERG