Rubbing Elbows With Boris and Natasha in the Corporeal Flesh

Hollywood premiere fund-raisers are strange beasts. Take “The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle” benefit for Save the Children last Saturday. The privileged few who could afford to attend the screening and after-party with its overflowing food tables will probably never experience the poverty Save the Children works to relieve with its international hunger relief efforts and educational programs.

But the organization’s president, Charles MacCormack, who was scheduled to fly to Ethiopia hours after the premiere, refused to be cynical.

“Everybody has their own reality,” he said diplomatically. “My job is to bring those realities together.”

The film’s non-animated stars, Robert De Niro (Fearless Leader), Rene Russo (Natasha Fatale) and Jason Alexander (Boris Badenov) took cover from the afternoon sun under umbrella tables. Tori Spelling was there with her parents, Candy and Aaron Spelling, co-chairs of the event. Assembly speaker Robert Hertzberg joked about that morning’s Metro section photo of him planting a big smooch on the mayor’s cheek as they rode the new subway.

Russo said her biggest challenge was giving her cartoon character life. Because the original “Rocky and Bullwinkle” cartoon was so cheaply made, Russo explained, Natasha only had two poses. “Luckily, I had a wonderful movement coach, Lynn Hockney, who studied all the original animation and helped me give the stiff character a whole range of motion.”

The costumes were “some of the best I’ve ever had in a movie,” she said. Long, hourglass-shaped suits in purples and deep reds with cuffs, and chic hats to match were made “from scratch” by costume designer Marlene Stewart. “She bought nothing,” said Russo, “but the shoes.”

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Attention, creatures of the night: If you’ve noticed camera crews intruding on the Sunset Room, Dublin’s, Garden of Eden and other hot spots lately, documentary filmmaker Danielle Gardner is to blame. The acclaimed director of “Soul in the Hole” is turning her lens on L.A. night life for the upcoming “Guest List Only,” which follows Paris Hilton (the 19-year-old hotel heiress) and her friends to their favorite haunts.

The documentary was inspired by “Shadow Hours,” an indie feature film starring Balthazar Getty, Peter Weller and Rebecca Gayheart, to be released July 14, which delves into the seedy underbelly of L.A.’s night life--S&M; clubs, opium dens and all.

“We shot three or four nights at clubs for ‘Shadow Hours,’ ” said Peter McAlevey, who is producing both films. “And once I realized what was out there, I knew we had to capture it.”

Hilton, an aspiring singer, moved to L.A. from New York just months ago to record her first album.

I caught up with her at the Sunset Room a night before she left for Europe to attend Prince William’s 18th birthday party.

“I’ve met his father before,” said the supermodel-thin blond, dressed in a long black Moschino tank dress. “But I’ve never met him. He’s gotten really cute, though.”

Hilton, the daughter of Rick Hilton, said New York’s club scene is better than Hollywood’s but that L.A. has its advantages: Here, she lives in a house rather than a hotel, and she can take her BMW out for a spin any time.

A convertible, I asked?

“No,” she said. “Daddy says it’s too dangerous.”

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Booth Moore can be reached at booth.moore@latimes.com.