Tough Guys Take In "American Gangster"

Jenny Peters Tue Oct 30, 1:42 PM ET

Los Angeles, CA - It's certain that awards season is right around the corner, when companies like Universal Pictures put on an "industry screening" (not a premiere, mind you) complete with long red carpet, screaming photographers, and some of Hollywood's biggest stars. That's what happened Monday night at the Arclight Cinemas on Sunset Boulevard, as "American Gangster" began its optimistic trek toward Oscar.

Boasting two Academy Award-winning actors in the lead roles – Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington, who both worked the red carpet hard – as well as another, Cuba Gooding, Jr., in a key role, the film tells the real-life tale of 1970's Harlem drug kingpin Frank Lucas and the New Jersey cop who brought down his empire.

Crowe joked that Washington "kept bringing his Oscar to the set every day," to which Denzel countered, "I brought two of them! I brought them both, they play like little men, they fight."

But there's no joking about making sure their film is positioned as a contender as awards season heats up; that kind of buzz is worth millions in box-office receipts, which is why they hit the carpet hard, smiling happily along with the film's producer Brian Grazer and beautiful breakout star Lymari Nadal.

Plenty of their famous tough guy friends turned up to check out the dark, compelling flick, from Mel Gibson and Ben Foster (Crowe's memorable co-star in "3:10 to Yuma,"his other contender this year) to Jeremy Piven, John Singleton, John Schneider, and Olivier Martinez. Also on hand to be one of Tinseltown's first to see the film were Julie Delpy, Marion Ross, Destiny's Child singer Michelle Williams, Niecy Nash, and even Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

The film, opening Nov. 2, was so popular that it took up multiple screens at the Arclight, including the cavernous Cinerama Dome, and caused its own Hollywood mini-traffic jam as the huge crowd exited all at once, since there was no after party.