As you can imagine being at the ceremony can be kind of mind spinning. On the
plane I had more time to reflect and look over my notes. Here is some more
information on what went on backstage where we greeted the winners.
It was sometimes frustrating when Ang Lee was in the press room. He received a
lot of questions in Taiwanese which left me and most of the reporters not
knowing what the heck was going on.
The same can be said for the Frenchmen of "March of the Penguins," speaking
French. It was really amazing how many journalists from around the world there
were and how all laughed at Jon Stewart's jokes when we could hear him.
You feel a little disconnected from the actual ceremony because you are paying
(or trying to) pay close
attention to the winners backstage and be respectful of them.
The one time this really wasn't obvious was when the winner for Sound Mixing was
with us... we all heard the announcement that Three 6 Mafia had just won for
their song and there was a loud gasp in the room.
Here are comments from some
of the big winners as they joined us backstage at the
78th Annual Academy Awards:
George Clooney: When asked what gay movie he would do, and if he was dating
Terri Hatcher. He said thanks for getting right to the point. He said "another
Batman movie" would be gay and that he never talks about his personal life.
On his win for "Syriana," George said he will continue to do movies that
reflect what is going on and important in today's society. He
handed out compliments and told the journalists that asked him questions how
nice they looked. Damn I couldn't get noticed by him... my number to ask a
question didn't get called.
Someone said "in the unlikely event that you don't win
again, I need to ask you something about "Good Night and Good Luck," everyone
laughed — especially Clooney. He said that producing movies out of the
mainstream doesn't mean you won't get people to see your movie. About Ang Lee,
Clooney joked: "I don't like that guy. I've seen him a lot. I've seen him
stealing." Seriously, he said to be in the category with the likes of Ang Lee
and Steven Speilberg as a director is a real pleasure and honor.
Rachel Weisz was asked if she thought the
nominated movies actually made commercial sense.
She said none of them had big-budgets, but they all grossed enough to cover
costs, so they were, in fact, commerically successful. She said the baby was
going crazy in her belly when they were announcing the category, but when she
got up to give her acceptance speech, the baby was calm. When asked what the man
next to her whispered when her name was called, she replied that he said, "I
love you."
She said she'd be going to the
Governors Ball and then to the Vanity Fair party, but then she might have to put
on flat shoes before continuing.
Robert Altman was asked about doing a gay film, he said there's man-and-man,
man-and-woman, and woman-and-woman … "oh, I like that one." So, he didn't really
answer the question, but it was very funny.
Robert a class act all the way and 81-years-old, had a hard time following the
questions and actually apologized for answering some questions incoherently.
Reese Witherspoon said to get ready for the show she fed the kids, chased them around
the house, then got her hair, nails and makeup done and was "out the door."
When asked what she'll do next, Reese said she has no idea. She has no work and
hopes this isn't the end of the line. She thanked her grandmother and said she
taught her about being a lady and how to use phrases like "thank you sir" and
"yes ma'am."
Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, who won for writing the "Brokeback Mountain"
screenplay, said it was a bittersweet victory, after their film lost in the best
picture category. McMurtry was wearing jeans with his tuxedo jacket — a decision
that was made both in honor of the film and because it was comfortable.
Ang Lee said he was glad that the audience embraced "Brokeback Mountain" and
that audiences were hungry for a movie about love, complexity and maturity. He
said he felt it was a story that needed to be told.
Lee was asked how Heath Ledger felt about losing in the race for best actor. Lee
said he thinks people will always remember his performance and that people have
said it reminded them of a young Marlon Brando. He said he didn't know if the
movie was slighted in the best picture category because of it's subject matter,
but he said he didn't know since the movie did the best of all those nominated
at the box office. He said it wasn't hard to embrace the Western elements of the
story, even though he's Taiwanese. He said he learns fast as with "Sense and
Sensibility." He said he thinks he does drama best, especially anything dealing
with repression or folks that are repressed.
Phillip Seymour Hoffman was asked what it was like to shoot
"Capote" in Canada. He said, "cold." But he said it was a great place
to shoot, and he got to know the people in town and loved being there, despite
the weather.
Kathy Sherman (one of the winners for Crash) was asked why she thanked her "husband and her wife." She
didn't know she said "wife" and meant to thank her daughter. They all cracked up
and were flipped out that they didn't remember what they said and it proved how
really shocked they were to win over "Brokeback."
That's about it... it's all still a blur and I'm thinking I would've enjoyed the
show more at home with my family. Maybe I'm just getting too old for this!
Have some fun and see a classic video clip of
celebrities getting Punk'd on the
Red Carpet:
