Director Paul Greengrass finally hit the town this week, including a modest but lively gathering at Luques in West Hollywood yesterday evening. The usual crowd of talent and journos milled about: Kim Masters, Anne Thompson, Sasha Stone (yes, she makes it out from time to time), Jeff Wells, Pete Hammond, the Peters, Bart and Guber, actor/director Peter Berg (excited for "The Kingdom," he is), the "United 93" on-screen team of Ben Sliney, Christian Clemenson and Trish Gates - so on and so forth.

Oh! And "The Bagger" himself, David Carr landed on the left coast for a week-long stint, and boy does he get "quote of the night" honors left and right. If you're gonna be at a party, there are worse places to be than in the vicinity of Mr. Carr.

The man himself, Mr. Greengrass, couldn't weather enough compliments aimed at his soft-hearted nature. It really is true. He's a physically imposing guy on one hand, but past those large, round eye-glasses you almost see a kid looking back at you.

I spoke at length to Mr. Clemenson at one point about the casting process of the film. I haven't read about this much elsewhere, but he said the audition consisted of improving a variety of flight scenarios: checking in, boarding and realizing the flight had been hijacked. A very interesting process, and really, the only process if you think about it.

Mr. Greengrass will be accepting the Los Angeles Film Critics Association's Best Director prize later this evening.