SUNDAY 3 PM Pacific
Time: I hear that ABC
dramatically lowered expectations about tonight's ratings to
advertisers. Word is even Hollywood interest in the show is at
its lowest point in recent memory. This may be the 80th Academy
Awards, but because of the writer's strike, this show was put
together with only 13 days of major preparations instead of the
usual months and months, but also the endless ceremony always
seems like it lasts 11 hours.
The Red Carpet arrivals are
beginning... I spy Ryan Seacrest.. he has no one to talk to yet.
His jacket makes him look like a waiter.
more a little later!
4:10 pm... I just grabbed another juice.
It's hard to see the stars from where I am.
Some of the reporters are back to our room and said they were talking to fans
and not surprisingly the people's choice movie is 'Juno'.
I think I'm getting the hang of this blogging and posting. There have been a
few issues that I hope we have all worked out.
Really until the ceremony starts all we're doing is watching E's coverage. I can
see better with this than peeking out.
4:30 pm. I just heard a veteran,
well-known insider predicting that Paul Thomas Anderson will win instead of the
Coen brothers for Best Director. His reasoning? No one in Hollywood actually
likes the Coen brothers... and we all remember what happened to Eddie Murphy
another one who's not well liked.
5:00 pm: More reporters are streaming into the room getting ready to
settle in. The buzz is about Gary Busey... I missed his antics, but apparently
he was acting bizarre (is anyone surprised) with Jennifer Garner.
5:30 pm: And it's starting...
5:40 pm: First award given out... it was kind of hard to hear what Jon
Stewart was saying and as far as the first award it's not one of the biggies but
it signals the first round of someone coming into our room to speak.
6:00pm: Jeez... the winners barely get ANY time to speak before being
cut-off. I admit that some speeches are long, but this is a little ridiculous.
Even though it is hard for us to hear it back in the press room we have all
noticed they're not up there long!
6:23 p.m.:
"It wasn't a problem," Oscar-winning La
Vie en Rose makeup stylist Jan
Archibald says of convincing
Marion Cotillard, the
film's star, to shave her eyebrows. "She wanted to look as
good as possible."
6:25 pm: Javier Bardem wins and the
whole press room is cheering... it's the first exciting award. I know I'm
anxious to have Javier visit the press room.
6:35 pm: I've said it before the press room
is probably the WORST place to watch the Oscars, but from what I'm seeing, the
show looks pretty boring. Of course I can't always hear things being said, so I
hope the segments are funnier than they look.
6:43 pm: Wow... the first big shocker...
Tilda Swinton wins. There's a very noticeable silence in the room. What happened
to the cheering? Come to think of it, where is everyone showing up for the
interviews here? I've been drinking a bunch of coffee and need to visit the
ladies room, but I'm worried I'm going to miss a star showing up here.
7:14 pm: Tilda Swinton pronounced
herself “stoked” at winning best supporting actress and when one of the
reporters expressed they were surprised that a non-American actress won, she
said, “Dude, Hollywood is built on European actors.”
She's telling us that she is absolutely giving her
Oscar away -- to her agent who she says looks exactly like the Oscar statue.
Swinton says she thought that anybody but herself was going to win the award.
She's extremely humble and lovely and thinks that being in here with us all
facing her with our held-up numbers is like "playing bingo." We all love her.
7:18 pm: It may be a night of upsets...
Marion Cotillard, the French ingenue, won best actress for La Vien Rose. This
makes her the first French-language winner in an acting category.
7:19 pm: A colleague next to me solves the mystery for me of... where
have I seen Marion Cotillard before? Marion Cotillard was in "Big Fish" and "A
Good Year."
7:22 pm: I'm noticing
not all my posts are posting... I wonder what is going on. Sometimes technology
is a pain in the butt!
7:35 pm: Marion Cotillard. says she wanted to marry Peter Sellers when
she was a little girl. I'm wondering if she was even alive when Peter Sellers
was!
Someone asked her what Edith Piaf song best reflects this moment for her and
would she sing. And she said the song "Padam" and sang it. Very nice moment.
7:40 pm: A little about being backstage, here's how it works, just so you
know. All us press people are sitting in chairs facing that stage where the
winners are brought. Just like an auction, we all have numbers, so when a winner
is brought out and we have a question, we hold up our number and hope to be
picked. The only downside? ONLY the winners are brought, no random non-nominated
celebs... and I'm a HUGE John Travolta fan so I won't be seeing him :(
Also there's sooooo much food here. Everywhere you turn there's something to eat
or drink.
8:18 pm: It's a sweet story of Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, who won
Best Original Song for the film Once. (The two also, apparently, fell in love
during filming, too!). They tell us that after this, they're going to tour the
U.S.
Marksta Irglova explains quite
matter-of-factly that she didn't realize the mic was cut when she went up to
give her acceptance speech, but once she got backstage, she was assured she'd
get a chance to say thank you. She's so low key, it's hard to tell if there's
more of a story there. Her professional and personal partner Glen Hansard is
equally down to earth. Asked about whether he'd go back to busking (i.e. singing
on the street), he answers that he was just doing that a few weeks ago in
Barcelona: ''It's a great way to get to know a city.''
8:23 pm: A cute moment that got a chuckle, Robert Elswit,
Best Cinematography winner for There Will
Be Blood, steps up to the stage just as
an Academy official asks ''Are there any
questions for Best Cinematography?'' Elswit
says under his breath, ''God, I hope not.''
8:50 pm: Javier Bardem has turned every
woman in the press room, and some men too, into quivering messes. He is so hot.
And a giant of a man too.
Have no idea what he's saying.
8:52
pm: Daniel Day Lewis won Best Actor, The Coen Brothers won for Best
Director(s), and No Country For Old Men for Best Picture. None of these guys
have made their way back here yet; no doubt they are getting so many
congratulations that it will take some time getting through the long backstage
hallway to us.
I'm hoping it's not too long. I have a flight to catch, don't you love
red-eye's?
8:55 pm: Okay, I've got to start packing things up... last year it took
me a couple of hours to get out of here. I'm going to stick around to get the
interviews of the last winners, but I'm going to disconnect all the Internet
stuff... so I'll post the rest when I get back into town.
9:02 pm: Yeah.. .my girl Diablo Cody (who's
grew up just a few miles away from me) finally makes it backstage. She's
grinning and is so easy going. No, she's not going to name her statue anything
other than ''Oscar.'' And if you heard those rumors that she's wearing wearing
million-dollar shoes (as had been reported elsewhere) — the answer is NO... she
says, ''if I had a million dollars, I'd help people.'' No, she didn't mean to
make a statement about pregnancy when she wrote the film — ''it's Juno's story,
hence the title.''
She added, ''you grow up in the suburbs in the
Midwest, you don't know any screenwriters, so it just doesn't seem like a
realistic career possibility.'' And no, she has no opinion about pregnant teen
Jamie Lynn Spears — ''I'm not going to kick her while she's down.''
What's with the stupid questions people? Of course I'm not asking anything, I'm
furiously trying to type!
9:12
p.m. Finally...
The Coen Brothers and Scott Rudin are
here... blank-faced as usual, but a reporter
finally gets some words — and, even better,
a broad smile — out of Ethan Coen, when she
asks how Roderick Jaynes (i.e. the pseudonym
the Coens take for their editing work) is
taking his loss. ''He's elderly and
unhappy,'' jokes the younger Coen, ''so
probably not well.'' Otherwise, he was
predictably taciturn.
9:19
p.m. And, at long,
long last, Javier Bardem, the night's first
acting winner, is one of the last folks to
make it back to the press room. But darn
it!... I knew I should've paid more
attention in my Spanish classes... his
first, second, third, and fourth
questions-and-answers are in Spanish!
9:29 p.m. Finally,
some questions for Javier in English! He's
heaping praise for his fellow nominees:
''Casey Affleck, the whole journey is a
piece of [pause] jewelry. Jewelry? Like
every piece [was] on time in order to create
a spectrum of a ghost.'' Not sure what
he's talking about, but it sure sounds nice.
9:35 p.m:
Surprisingly most of the questions to Daniel
Day-Lewis are light-hearted. Have you
been offered a lot of complimentary
milkshakes? ''I'm very much looking
forward to all the milkshakes I'm going to
have over the next 25 years.''
What do you do for a laugh? ''The great
thing about that is I don't have to talk
about it. I'm not telling!' Oh, why not?
''Because it's none of your f---ing
business!'' (He says this with a wry smile.)
Are you aware how big the milkshake line has
become? ''I am completely aware of it. I
think it's fantastic. I mean, if people
absorb something that you've done, if that
gets absorbed into the culture in such a way
that people can make something else from it,
that's delightful to me.... We call it ''slagging''
in Ireland, taking the piss in England.''
Why did you kiss George Clooney on your way
to the Oscar stage? ''Because George has
been there for me, and he was the closest
fellow nominee.... George is just so
incredibly generous. He's a great guy,
really. I had to kiss someone. I kissed my
wife, and in the interests in parity, I
kissed him too.''
9:49 p.m. Daniel
Day-Lewis has left and with that, I'm outta
here too! Good night and see ya back in
Chicago!
