Last night at the premiere of David Arquette’s new absinthe-era short film, “The Butler’s in Love,” I stormed the “green carpet” (the hue of the strong herbal liquor) and was snapping photos of celebs and attacking them with my brilliant questions…okay, not really brilliant, but I did charm Mayor Gavin Newsom and his fiance Jennifer Siebel, the first couple down the green carpet (if you don’t count the random people entering the theater beforehand.

When Mr. Mayor found out I was a fashion writer he immediately joked and said, “Well, I’m wearing Versace.” He wasn’t wearing Versace, but I was mesmerized by his coif. His hair is always finely groomed into this sculptured masterpiece. I didn’t ask what kind of product he used, but he did talk about how San Francisco isn’t being used as a hot-spot locale for movies.

“If you look back on the history of filmmaking in San Francisco, it’s extraordinary,” says Newsom. “It’s a who’s who of world class talent that has come through our city. Some of the biggest and most successful movies in the history of American cinema have come through San Francisco.”

Siebel, who stars in the short (did I mention it was 3-D? Well, I did in this post) as the early 1900’s absinthe-sipping love interest of a butler (hence the title) wore a no-fuss Pucci dress and also thought that SF should be a hot spot for movies.

“I fly down to Los Angeles for work and I would love not to have to get on a plane every week,” says Siebel. “Obviously, I don’t like leaving (Newsom). This is such a creative city and I would love to embrace all the creativity.”

When David Arquette and Courtney Cox-Arquette arrived (Coco was at a sleepover in case you’re wondering), cameras went crazy, but I was admiring Courtney’s head-to-toe black outfit…

The short film (which also stars Elizabeth Berkley and Thomas Jane) is something that David and Tourmented Films (a joint venture between French Absinthe Le Tourment Vert and Converge Entertainment) worked on - and he was more than excited to go more in depth on this personal project of his.

“It’s a really romantic and beautiful painting,” says Arquette. “When you see it, it has so much love painted within it. I just never forgot it.”

Still, I couldn’t wrap my head around what kind of style the “absinthe era” was. Siebel said it was a provocative, youthful and free-spirited time. And David gave his own two cents on the herbal alcoholic time in history:

“I wasn’t there,” laughs Arquette. “But it was an artistic era. It was real time of expression. Art was going through tremendous changing at the time and poetry was really exciting. Le Tourment Vert came to me and said that the ban on absinthe has been lifted after 96 years and we want to promote our product through art to recapture the essence of that era and what absinthe stood for at the time.”

Alison Merriam from PopSugar interviews the Cox-Arquettes

David Arquette says some thank yous before the screening

I asked Jennifer her favorite movie set in San Francisco and she said, “Pacific Heights.” I asked David and Courtney - and they were kind of stumped! I felt kind of awkward standing there because they were searching for an answer.

Courtney laughed and said, “You have to prompt us with a question like that!”

Both of them finally referenced “Bullitt” and “Escape from Alcatraz” - with a little prompting from me of course.

But the whole time I couldn’t help but stare at Courtney’s shoes:

I would’ve asked, but I was too drunk on absinthe to do so - okay, not really. I just forgot.