West's Runaway

KANYE CAN “RUNAWAY,” BUT CAN’T HIDE: At a screening last night in Hollywood of his new 35-minute movie, Runaway, which will be included as a DVD in his new album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Kanye West told an invited audience he contemplated suicide, but now feels a responsibility to make a creative contribution to pop culture and art. "There's so many people that will never get the chance to have their voice heard," West said in an often-rambling speech from the stage. "I do it for them." West stars in the film, which he directed and Hype Williams wrote, driving a black MTX Tatra down a country road, where he encounters a fallen phoenix played by nearly nude model Selita Ebanks in pink, gray and brown feathers. Ebanks sits on a lawn with a deer, rabbit and sheep, then joins West in a parade featuring a large float of Michael Jackson’s head before repairing to a large banquet table, where Kanye hops on top of a piano and serenades a troupe of ballerinas in the often-Felliniesque film. The movie includes parts of nine songs from his new album, including “All of the Lights,” with Elton John, Alicia Keys, Rihanna, Fergie and John Legend. Among those who turned out were Pete Wentz and Ashley Simpson, Ryan Phillippe, Morgan Spurlock and a host of music and radio industry execs. West said, “after a long, hard year,” he’d found his creative sweet spot by “thinking like a five-year-old” at all times. “I’m not so scared anymore. I so don’t care,” he says about his critics. (10/19p)