Hollywood stops red-carpet fanfare amid deadly California wildfires

Hollywood has cut back on the glamour trappings of movie premieres, as a vast wildfire has destroyed or imperiled the homes of celebrities and other Southern California residents.

A red-carpet event for the Sandra Bullock film Bird Box was cancelled, and one planned for Under the Silver Lake, with Andrew Garfield, was switched to a photo-op. That followed a decision to call off the red-carpet ceremony for The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, by filmmaker brothers Ethan and Joel Coen. Also, a red-carpet ceremony and after-party for Instant Family, with Rose Byrne and Mark Wahlberg, was scrapped by the studio, citing the “ongoing, active fires being battled in the area”. Food for the party was donated to the American Red Cross.

The wildfire has destroyed more than 400 homes. It began on Thursday and raced towards Malibu and the Pacific Ocean, prompting evacuations.

Celebrities, including Gerard Butler and Caitlyn Jenner, shared their loss or luck online after discovering the fate of their properties. Singer Robin Thicke thanked firefighters, as he escaped the blaze with his family.

Actor Shannen Doherty said online that “our house is fine,” adding that she was heartbroken that a friend’s Malibu home, where she was married in 2011, had burned.

Pop diva Lady Gaga, who evacuated her Malibu home and posted online on Friday that she was wondering if it will “burst into flames”, visited a Red Cross shelter on Sunday. Her property’s condition was not known on Monday. “This is an emergency, but you are not alone,” the actor-singer, lead of the film A Star Is Born, told evacuees in a video.

© DUNKIND / W BLANCO / BACKGRID A still from Bird Box

Stills from Under the Silver Lake (top); and Instant Family (above)

A still from The Ballad of Buster Scruggs