WEST HOLLYWOOD • It was a high-wattage room even by this city's standards. Actresses Emma Stone and Jessica Chastain were there, dressed to the nines. So were actors Judd Apatow and Jeff Bridges. As hunky waiters passed out hamachi tacos and mini bottles of champagne, Kate Beckinsale, Chris Pine, Naomie Harris and Casey Affleck breezed by.
But the guests of honour at Catch LA that night last November were three young women who are rich but not yet famous: Sophia, Sistine and Scarlet, the spawn - just to be alliterative about it - of Sylvester Stallone.
Oh, yes. The Stallone Sisters have arrived.
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which bestows the Golden Globe awards, selected them - Sophia, 20, Sistine, 18, and Scarlet, 14 - to serve collectively as Miss Golden Globe at this year's ceremony, which NBC will broadcast live on Sunday.
In many ways, getting picked is the Hollywood version of being presented to society. Over the years, the role has gone to such film-world offspring as Melanie Griffith (daughter of Tippi Hedren), Laura Dern (daughter of Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd) and Rumer Willis (daughter of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore).
"We didn't realise the magnitude of this," a gushing Sophia said that night at Catch, flanked by her sisters, her proud father and her mother, model and skin-care entrepreneur Jennifer Flavin.
Let's not get carried away. Miss Golden Globe's duties involve holding statuettes, lurking (elegantly) in the background and shooing winners offstage. It is a bit like the Vanna White of awards gigs.
Kelsey Grammer's daughter, Greer Grammer, who did the job in 2015, advised comfortable shoes. "You're in them all day, from morning rehearsals until the after-parties," she said.
The honour of Miss Golden Globe is also an openly nepotistic one. The press organisation, which is made up of 85 active members, has given the role to celebrity offspring since the 1960s.
Publicists typically pitch candidates, said Mr Lorenzo Soria, the group's president.
"They will say things like, 'Isn't this one cute?' 'As you can see, this one is interested in theatre,'" he said. They end up with a bunch of names and pick one or two.
The Stallones were an exception. They caught Mr Soria's eye last year, when they accompanied their father to the ceremony, where he won Supporting Actor for the film Creed.
"I remembered seeing the girls on the red carpet: elegant, smiling, fresh, happy," Mr Soria said. He called Stallone to float the idea. "I said, 'Discuss it with them and let me know.' And he said: 'I don't need to ask them. The answer is yes.'"
Sistine, at least for now, is clearly the star of this sister act. Sophia, a student at the University of Southern California, has more Instagram followers (293,000 to Sistine's 279,000), but that may change soon.
Last month, Sistine hired the public relations agency 42West, which represents Kylie Jenner (82 million followers), and not long ago, she signed with IMG Models.
Sistine has appeared in Teen Vogue and an Express advertising campaign; Dolce & Gabbana flew her and a flock of other model- celebutantes to Milan Fashion Week last September, where she made a splash in a leather bustier and black lace leggings.
Town & Country magazine put Sistine on its September cover as a "modern swan", a designation the magazine uses annually to describe "world's most stylish - and talked- about - young women".
Its editor-in-chief Stellene Volandes said that Sistine came onto her radar about two years ago, when she arrived in the magazine's Manhattan offices accompanied by her mother.
"I was impressed with Sistine," Ms Volandes said. "She was humble. She was polite. She sent a follow-up e-mail thanking us for our time."
She added: "You could look at that cynically, but, having met her, I think it was genuine. It's certainly not typical."
NYTIMES
