by Eric Beteille
AFI FEST Daily News

Actress Sharon Stone arrives at the Opening Gala Presentation of BOBBY, Grauman's Chinese Theater, November 1, at AFI FEST 2006 presented by Audi. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

For those who keep track of such things, Sharon Stone has starred in films, including 1990's TOTAL RECALL, grossing a total $692 million.

And Laurence Fishburne, of THE MATRIX trilogy, has starred in films earning some $1.1 billion at the box office.

Add Stone and Fishburne to their co-stars in the celeb-studded BOBBY, the Opening Night Gala Presentation of AFI FEST 2006 presented by Audi, and Wednesday night's US premiere may be one of the richest openings Hollywood has seen.

The top ten grossers in BOBBY's cast have racked up nearly $9 billion in box-office magic.

Introducing the film Wednesday to a packed Grauman's Chinese Theater, Estevez was humbled by the talent assembled.

In interviews and from the stage, Estevez has called finishing his film - a re-imagining of the night Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated at the Ambassador Hotel on June 5, 1968 - a "miracle."

And it may have been a miracle a lifetime in the making.

Estevez's early roles in ensemble films like THE OUTSIDERS (1983) and ST. ELMO'S FIRE (1985) seem prescient moves for someone who would one day direct a film like this.

As AFI FEST Director of Programming Nancy Collet remarked from stage Wednesday night, Estevez made a lot of friends early in his career, it seems, just so he could cast them in BOBBY.

Laurence Fishburne arrives at BOBBY. (Photo by Frazer Harrison, Getty Images)

By following 22 fictional characters on the fateful eve the Presidential hopeful was shot, BOBBY forges an intimate mosaic of an America as it careens toward shattering change.

As the characters navigate prejudice, injustice, chaos and their own complicated personal lives, they seek the last glimmering signs of hope in Kennedy's idealism.

And in exploring the diverse experiences of ordinary people, the film celebrates the spirit of an extraordinary man and servers as a snapshot of this emblematic time in history.

BOBBY's imaginative, stirring re-creation of that catalytic day begins just a few hours before Kennedy's assassination.

Party-goers, performers, hotel employees, hotel guests and campaigners prepare for the big night. They include:

Actress Lindsay Lohan arrives at BOBBY. (Photo by Frazer Harrison, Getty Images)

• A retired doorman (Anthony Hopkins)
• His retired friend (Harry Belafonte)
• The hotel manager (William H. Macy)
• His wife, the hotel hairdresser (Sharon Stone)
• Hotel switchboard operators (Heather Graham, Joy Bryant)
• The hotel's kitchen workers (Christian Slater, Laurence Fishburne, Freddy Rodriguez, Jacob Vargas)
• Coffee shop waitress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead)
• Lounge singer (Demi Moore)
• Her husband (Emillio Estevez)
• Young bride-to-be (Lindsay Lohan)
• Young groom-to-be (Elijah Wood)
• A socialite (Estevez's father, Martin Sheen)
• His younger wife (Helen Hunt)
• Kennedy campaign aides (Joshua Jackson, Nick Cannon)
• A Czech journalist (Svetlana Metkina)
• Novice volunteers (Brian Geraghty, Shia Lebeouf)
• A drug dealer (Ashton Kutcher)

Actor Ashton Kutcher (L) and wife Demi Moore arrive at BOBBY. (Photo by Frazer Harrison, Getty Images)