Pete Hamill story, ‘Yellow Handkerchief,’ Premieres In Hollywood With Stars Hovering

An indie film that got plenty of attention in Sundance last year, “The Yellow Handkerchief,” had a Beverly Hills premiere at the WGA Theater last night with stars William Hurt, Maria Bello and producer Arthur Cohn in tow.

The film, a beautiful tone poemy love story etched by director Udayan Prasad, was a pleasant diversion from the normal shoot-em-ups in Hollywood, as producer Cohn lamented in his introduction.

He was right.

It doesn’t start off as anything but dreary. But Prasad’s slow-paced styling pays off with stellar performances from Hurt, Bello, Kristin Stewart (who is hot right now because of the phenomenal box office turn with her film “Twilight”) and newcomer Eddie Redmayne.

The unsung irony that, though based in Louisiana backwoods swamps, the story of three lonely drifters coming together comes from hard-core New York journalist Pete Hamill of all people.

Hamill didn’t attend the premiere, but we all were wondering what could possibly have inspired this piece.

Hurt dashed in and out quickly, but not before he could say hello. Ten months ago, Hurt made a surprise appearance at a screening of my film, “Running with Arnold.”

Sid Ganis, chairman of the Academy, was also in the audience.

Though it doesn’t have a domestic release date yet, producer Cohn said the piece should be opening in Japan in April.

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